Alice Chambers |
Partnerships between technology businesses like Siemens and Microsoft are essential for driving forward the future of manufacturing and product development. Together, they are improving operational efficiency for customers by integrating their technologies.
“Our partnership, spanning over three decades, focuses on the integration of key technology like Microsoft Azure OpenAI to enhance customer efficiency and accelerate product development cycles,” says Robert Jones, executive vice president of global sales and customer success at Siemens.
Teamcenter for Microsoft Teams, which has been generally available since November 2023, is an app that connects the Teamcenter product lifecycle management (PLM) system by Siemens with Microsoft Teams, enhancing the connections between people and processes across a business. It allows users to create problem reports, receive notifications and collaborate on workflow tasks within Teamcenter, using Teams, on any device.
“We see a future where Teams and Azure OpenAI components embedded in our software will allow our customers to share manufacturing issues just by speaking in their native language into their phone,” says Jones. “This will create a problem ticket that can be submitted to someone in another country speaking another language, in the recipient’s native tongue. It allows real-time engagement between the factory floor and the manufacturing engineer.”
The system uses AI to automate the product lifecycle process.
“Teamcenter automatically populates problem reports from the manufacturing shop floor, communicates seamlessly with engineers in any language and finds solutions for the problems reported throughout the product lifecycle on any device,” says Joe Bohman, executive vice president of digital industries software at Siemens. “As a result, organisations can reduce quality issues and close feedback loops faster than ever before.”
Furthermore, to stop quality issues altogether manufacturers can use digital twin technology to simulate real-life factory scenarios that predict and prevent potential defects, optimise production processes and enhance product design before physical prototypes are even built, significantly reducing the risk of quality issues in the final products.
“A comprehensive digital twin for production planning validates how well a manufacturing process will work on the shop floor before anything goes into production,” explains Bohman. “By using the digital twin to simulate the process and analyse why things happen, companies can create a production methodology that remains efficient under a variety of conditions. This optimises production to enable more efficient and reliable operations.”
Manufacturers can create their own digital twins with Siemens NX software, which runs on Azure. The solution captures and analyses operational data and helps users to design and deliver new products quickly to stay ahead of competitors.
Manufacturers will be able to use the Siemens NX Immersive Designer solution and Sony XR head-mounted display to visualise the production process
“Siemens NX software revolutionises product engineering with its secure, scalable and flexible architecture enabling seamless collaboration and multi-disciplined design,” says George Rendell, vice president of NX design product management and product marketing at Siemens Digital Industries Software. “Through combining core modelling with industry-specific applications, we are continuously releasing new offerings to suit our users’ evolving business needs. Our upcoming NX Immersive Designer solution and XR head-mounted display – created in partnership with Sony – set a new standard for engineering innovation within the industrial metaverse. Users will be able to visualise the entire process chain before production begins.”
This article was originally published in the Spring 2024 issue of Technology Record. To get future issues delivered directly to your inbox, sign up for a free subscription.