Let's give it a go.
Welcome on our stage here.
Great you're here with me.
Let's take a seat and share some
secrets of how you unleash the
full potential of a digital twin.
Looking forward actually to
this topical conversation.
Jochen, it's outstanding.
What you have realized in the
Electronic Works in Amberg.
How did the collaboration
with Daniel start?
I mean, you're all for Siemens,
but Siemens is huge.
I mean,
I have to say that actually they use
Hanover Messe to kind of meet new
colleagues whom we maybe have talked
to because it's potential interesting
suppliers for the one or the other team.
So in that case,
how did your collaboration start?
Yeah,
within Siemens we have a unique situation,
so we are currently using the
products we sell to our customers
in our own factories and this is why
we often act as a customer zero.
Let's say for new product developments
and you're the Guinea pig.
Kind of. you're the test
station for what we are producing,
but we also say we drink our own
champagne because we're so confident
and satisfied with what we produce that
we are using these products as well.
You're right.
And yeah,
we have a very huge production network
and this is where Daniel pitched his
solution idea and we saw value in it.
And yeah,
this is how it started. And
you're responsible for.
Yeah, PCB production in Amberg,
so our plant in Amberg produces
SIMATIC products for Europe and
Americas and we are producing PLC,
HMIs and stuff like that.
And it's quite an impressive number
of pieces you produce there.
Yeah, we are producing about
16 million products per year,
16,000,000 products per year.
Now imagine. Trend upwards.
Wow, really really cool.
So what is the crucial aspect
that they all have in common?
Daniel, now you come into play.
Yeah,
so for us as a Customer Service
we work a lot with with internal
and external customers.
And the interesting thing was
when we were talking with them
they all told us about the same
challenges and they had.
So they said, Daniel we want to do simulation.
We want to use simulation on a daily
basis but we don't have the
people do that we are factories we.
We cannot well do the
simulation stuff every day,
every single day without having those people.
So what can you do about it?
And this is when we decided, OK,
we have to do something completely
new and develop a new solution.
So, new solution you did not have a recipe.
What was the first step?
Well,
the the first step you mentioned
it at the beginning that we
drink our own champagne.
So, usually when we come up with a new idea
with a completely new concept,
we look for a first internal lead customer.
What we call it.
Where we do
a POC, where we have a look at the
technology, how all the different things
interact with each other and
when we know that the technology is
proven then we roll it out, so we scale
it to other factories within Siemens.
But also with first
external lead customers,
because for those external customers the
the architecture is again a bit different
and we have to adapt step by step by step.
Hmm, so what was the situation like
at the Electronics Works in Amberg?
Yeah, as I mentioned before we are
producing a lot of products per
year and so we continuously have to
improve and this is why we switched
almost three years ago from a value
stream orientation in PCB production
to our technology orientation.
To be able to increase our
output with the same amount of floor
space and the same number of people.
And along with this technology
orientation the complexity to
control the PCB production increase.
And yeah, to cover this challenge we
were looking for sufficient solution.
In this case the digital twin assistant
and the challenges you mentioned
they are referring to our Consulting,
Implementation and Optimization
process. Daniel,
can you explain what exactly these
three buzzwords, these three steps mean?
Yeah, sure.
So, no matter if it's an
internal or an external customer,
we act according to what we call
the Consulting, Implementation and
and exactly Optimization approach.
Which means in the Consulting phase,
we want to find out first of all,
what's the vision,
what's the challenge,
which technology we need.
And then from this vision,
and from the the overall perspective
we try
to get down into single feasible
steps to to make this vision
become a reality and break it down
into single feasible projects.
And this is done when the
Implementation phase starts.
So we make the vision come true.
With the small steps, with small projects
and once everything has been implemented
and we know the technology works,
then we also go into the operation
where we constantly optimize our customers
operation and of course our solution that
we've previously implemented.
And how exactly did you implement
this solution in Amberg?
So first of all,
we decided to start a POC together.
So, we installed the MVP and from a tech
MPV, maybe for those who don't
know, minimum viable product.
So, we first wanted to realize
really from a technical perspective.
So, all the elements of
the solution in Amberg.
we built the model,
the simulation model in Plant Simulation.
We had this model in the cloud.
We have the optimization algorithm in
the cloud, we realized the connectivity.
And yeah,
we have all these elements integrated
and then started together this journey.
OK, then you got all your tools set.
You knew how you want to kind
of go on this journey.
What was the outcome?
Yeah,
so from a technical perspective,
really we were able to implement
the complete breakthrough.
So really what I said,
all the elements were installed.
From a user perspective,
let's say, the solution delivers, yeah,
what it promises. So, we wanted to generate
a solution that is accessible for the
worker at the shop floor that he is
able to start the simulation, to run the
optimization run and then to have a,
let's say, autoflow.
He can produce very efficiently in
this machine pool. All right, and user
perspective you mentioned what was
the output, I think it was like
really kind of going up instead
of the numbers you had before?
Yeah yeah,
due to this optimization in the cloud
we realized together, we were able
to produce 15% more products on this
machine pool and we also reduced the
number of setups by 50%. Just by kind
of changing very few little things.
You're right. Very, very impressive.
Sounds almost too easy.
Yeah, this this is kind of
what I'm wondering about.
How come that we did not find out
about these little little steps
you just need to change and then it's ideal.
Is is there some secret behind
that you look into these topics
that you can easily change things
that you maybe look into?
You're working in this digital
twin scenario for long,
so you kind of know like a doctor
looking at some patient and saying OK,
it could be this or that.
Well,
the thing is, the crucial part
during the consulting phase is we
we talk about business challenges.
We talk about what
are the challenges they
want to solve. And then we
have use cases and depending on the use case,
and what we'd like to achieve
from a business perspective.
Then we decide which technology to use.
So in that case it was the digital
twin connected to the shop floor,
but it could be any technology
out there and it's not like,
yeah, in the end it's like a doctor
having a look at his patient,
then identifying what's the
right medicine.
Yeah, yeah, that's what I meant.
Now the doctor kind of diagnosed,
he got a good solution and the patient is
feeling super fit. Looking into the future,
what else will be possible
with this solution, Jochen?
Yeah,
we already planned another
pilot in our factory in Karlsruhe.
We decided for Karlsruhe because
they are or they have already
a metrics production so their
recent production is connected to
their test full via AGVs and to
optimize also this production flow
empowered by the digital twin,
we decided for a pilot in Karlsruhe
as a next step. And after the
successful implementation, we are
really planning to roll this out
in a broader way. Yeah, wow sounds good.
And Daniel, you're supporting again.
Yeah sure sure.
And for us, this was the first
POC we roll it out.
Now we go into the scale phase,
but where that there are two
Well I would say 2 paths that
we will walk in the future.
Well, of course we at Siemens we have
a lot of electronics productions,
but I think you can imagine that the
potential is really high for
other industries like the automotive
sector, F&B, logistics, all of them,
so this would be the first thing
that we will do in the future.
Scale it over other industries
and the other thing is, for Amberg,
it was the scheduling of an X ray
area and to improve the machine
allocation and things like that.
But there are many more
possibilities like forecasting,
having a weather forecast for your
production or doing scenario analysis
or something like a predictive control.
So I would say,
the opportunities are endless,
not unlimited, but
there are various opportunities.
OK, so your ideal day when you go to work?
Are you looking forward to kind of
get a new challenge or you wanna
rather go with your digital twin,
your best companion into like things you
already know? Well, depends on the challenge.
But I'm sure Jochen got few on the table,
working in a big plans like that.
That's absolutely true.
Yeah, the actual situation is
really challenging for us.
Yeah, so the the daily business
is really hard at the moment,
but also then introducing new
technology to improve.
Yeah, don't forget to continuously improve.
This is also very,
very necessary to be upfront.
We are a digital lighthouse so
this is also something you are
challenged day by day. So
we get a lot of visitors.
They want to see new solutions.
So, on the one hand side you
have the daily problems.
Yeah, material supply and so on
and so on. And on the other hand,
of course introducing new technologies,
supporting the development guys
with the new solutions.
And yeah,
it's challenging,
but it makes a lot of fun.
Maybe you can say some more about the
digital lighthouse because it was an
award by the World Economic Forum,
which is a really great award
and a good reputation.
Can you have a few sentences on that
so that our audience learns more about
which really great price we got awarded with?
Yeah,
yeah.
We we were announced really as
a digital lighthouse by the
World Economic Forum last year
already. That was a yeah we had a very
heavy assessment by the guys from
McKinsey and by the World Economic Forum.
And yeah,
then we had different steps and
in the corona crisis it was really
hard because it was virtual and
then we had to use cameras and
to demonstrate really how the
operators are using the technology.
And that's not a slide show
or something like that.
You really had to prove
what is already existing and
then we get announced in
last year and I think 5 days
ago Cedric Neike
received the physical award.
I saw the picture.
This is why I'm asking.
Yeah it was all over social
media, he finally got the award
and we are super proud of that.
So congratulations for that and making
this possible and having the best partner,
the wingman, so to say to find
the ideal optimization steps.
This is of essence for sure.
So you're here at the
stage right now with me,
but where can we find you and
talk to you at our booth?
So I'm at the resilience
and flexibility booth and would
be really happy if you could stop
by and we have a conversation
about digital twin, connectivity
and all topics related so I would
be very happy to meet you there.
But Daniel and he's definitely the
man who can solve your problems
because he analyzes them and then
he finds the right solution.
That's pretty cool and let's
just see it where you guys are at
the booth where the location is.
OK, right at the other side of our wonderful,
impressive, nearly 3000 square metre,
largest booth at Hanover Messe.
This is where we find you Daniel, and Jochen,
you'll be around.
Great,
so your impression so far from Hanover
Messe, we're back to live where
right here at the crowded booth,
how is it for you?
Yeah, it makes really fun.
Yeah, we already had a lot of
conversation about the solution at the booth.
We also had the possibility already
to walk a little bit around.
Also talk to colleagues,
but other booths as well.
So yeah, makes fun.
And Daniel already got a list
of problems to be solved.
No, but well, I'm.
I'm really happy that we are back
now where we have in person
conversations with our customers,
very good conversations and of course
I learn a lot about how our solutions,
how they are applied,
what the challenges are and what
we will have to cover in the future.
So I'm really,
really impressed and happy to be here again.
So these are the best friends
of our digital twin.
And you know how to kind of
tame it and use it.
And further all the best of luck
for you have good talks here.
At Hanover Messe and the big hand of
applause to the two of you, great,
you've been here. Thank you so much.
Thank you for having us.