Automation and digitalization offer a significant competitive edge in a volatile market environment

The current situation creates major challenges for industrial companies worldwide – and shows that digitalized and highly automated production is more important than ever when it comes to gaining a competitive edge. This is the only way that companies can react to current and future challenges with the required degree of flexibility. Successful solutions were presented at the Digital Enterprise Virtual Summit by Siemens on July 16. As part of the conference, representatives from numerous companies from the discrete and process industries discussed strategies and technologies for future success under these new conditions. The focus was on topics such as the horizontal and vertical integration of the value chain with simulation and optimization from product creation through to servicing and from field level to the cloud. Other topics included online and remote solutions as well as edge and cloud computing, additive manufacturing, industrial 5G and artificial intelligence.
 
The Digital Enterprise Virtual Summit had around 12,000 registrations from Customers and Partners with already 6,300 live attendees on the day of the event. The Summit is now also available to be viewed on demand at http://www.siemens.com/digital-enterprise-summit.

“Digital and automation solutions proved themselves during this crisis. Companies that had already invested in digitalization were better equipped to handle the new requirements, such as quickly scaling back production, for example in the automotive industry, or ramping up production, such as in the pharmaceutical sector. In future, these technologies will also ensure that companies can react particularly effectively to crisis situations and changing market requirements because they can adjust their production quickly and flexibly,” explains Klaus Helmrich, Member of the Board of Siemens AG and CEO Digital Industries. “This flexibility is also the next step toward autonomous production processes.”

Siemens is therefore integrating future technologies such as artificial intelligence, edge computing and cloud technologies, additive manufacturing or industrial 5G into its Digital Enterprise portfolio and helping industrial companies to work under these new conditions and to meet the requirements of today and tomorrow. Klaus Helmrich: “No company can meet the current challenges on their own. It's all the more important that industrial companies act in ecosystems. All stakeholders - developers, users, partners and integrators - can bring their own strengths and thus increase the value of these ecosystems.”

Siemens Digital Industries (DI) is an innovation leader in automation and digitalization. Closely collaborating with partners and customers, DI drives the digital transformation in the process and discrete industries. With its Digital Enterprise portfolio, DI provides companies of all sizes with an end-to-end set of products, solutions and services to integrate and digitalize the entire value chain. Optimized for the specific needs of each industry, DI’s unique portfolio supports customers to achieve greater productivity and flexibility. DI is constantly adding innovations to its portfolio to integrate cutting-edge future technologies. Siemens Digital Industries has its global headquarters in Nuremberg, Germany, and has around 76,000 employees internationally.

Siemens AG (Berlin and Munich) is a global technology powerhouse that has stood for engineering excellence, innovation, quality, reliability and internationality for more than 170 years. The company is active around the globe, focusing on the areas of intelligent infrastructure for buildings and distributed energy systems, and automation and digitalization in the process and manufacturing industries. Through the separately managed companies Siemens Energy, the global energy business of Siemens, and Siemens Mobility, a leading supplier of smart mobility solutions for rail and road transport, Siemens is shaping the energy systems of today and tomorrow as well as the world market for passenger and freight services. Due to its majority stakes in the publicly listed companies Siemens Healthineers AG and Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy (as part of Siemens Energy), Siemens is also a world-leading supplier of medical technology and digital healthcare services as well as environmentally friendly solutions for onshore and offshore wind power generation. In fiscal 2019, which ended on September 30, 2019, Siemens generated revenue of €86.8 billion and net income of €5.6 billion. At the end of September 2019, the company had around 385,000 employees worldwide. Further information is available on the Internet www.siemens.com.

Source: press.siemens.com