116 INTERVIEW Unlocking manufacturing wins Joe Bohman, Robert Jones and George Rendell explain how Siemens and Microsoft technologies are improving operational efficiency 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 BY ALICE CHAMBERS From left: Joe Bohman, Robert Jones and George Rendell
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