Yogi Berra mentioned, “You possibly can observe so much simply by watching.” On the Siemens Understand convention, it was, “You possibly can hear so much simply by listening.” I used to be shocked by the widespread similarities within the view of what’s necessary within the design and manufacturing software program panorama.
There was a shift in that view over the past three years. Earlier than COVID, an organization’s sustainability program was not a sizzling problem in earnings studies. AI was largely for machine studying, cell robots, and autonomous vehicles. Industrial software program options lived in differentiated buckets (CAD, simulation, provide chain instruments), and provide chains had been very, very lengthy.
Then all the pieces modified. Apparently, industrial expertise firms didn’t snooze in the course of the lockdown. This new industrial outlook was the discuss in all places throughout Understand, from Siemens president and CEO Tony Hemmelgarn to analysis analysts and show-booth advertising of us.
Listed below are the matters which have been elevated post-pandemic:
Sustainability
The repeated query at each convention I attended this yr was a model of “How do these new merchandise assist with sustainability?” And the expertise producers had been keen to deal with the query. Each new product introduction got here with feedback on how the brand new “answer” improves sustainability. Sustainability efforts are available many flavors, from power financial savings to recyclability. In one other new twist, the individuals answerable for sustainability now maintain senior positions within the company. They’re now not an outpost division.
Buyer Outcomes
Again and again, executives talked by way of “buyer outcomes.” The objectives of software program advances should not simply to enhance KPIs or cut back upkeep downtime. These components are necessary, however the purpose is to ship total improved buyer outcomes. The prevailing perspective was that if you happen to may also help the shopper enhance its total efficiency, you’ve completed your job, whether or not which means AI-enhanced manufacturing methods or improved digital evaluation.
The Digital Thread
A few years in the past at a Siemens Digital Industries Software program convention (then referred to as Siemens PLM), I used to be first launched to the time period and idea of digital twins. This yr, the prevailing time period was the digital thread. That’s the place you tie the digital twin to different software program alongside the product growth and manufacturing line. That may embody simulation, manufacturing methods, provide chain software program, and even the software program that tracks a product’s efficiency out within the subject. The concept is to keep away from leaping from software program bucket to software program bucket and as an alternative create a thread that connects the entire software program features.
AI is Enjoyable and Scary
There was loads of dialogue about synthetic intelligence. Whereas attendees talked about how ChatGPT is used largely for drafting code, a few presenters demonstrated – in actual time – how properly ChatGPT can draft an introduction to a keynote subject. Tony Hemmelgarn famous that AI might grow to be an actual concern sooner or later, however within the meantime, we must always discover its potentialities.
Automate or Die
One other change over the previous few years is the broader recognition that automation is a should in all areas of producing and manufacturing. One presenter famous that if you’re not automating, you’re not standing nonetheless, you’re going backward. Deploying automation has grow to be a aggressive crucial. Again and again, Siemens representatives and presenters famous the rise in small to mid-size enterprises which are investing in automation.
The Shortening Provide Chain
Whether or not you name it reshoring or near-shoring, the truth is evident: firms need a shorter provide chain. Everybody I spoke with had tales about provide chain issues in the course of the pandemic. Some famous that you can inform which firms had been doing properly by their effectiveness in coping with provide interruptions. Most attendees acknowledged that offer chain efficiency has tremendously improved. But additionally they famous they had been taking measures to keep away from disruptions going ahead. That usually concerned transferring manufacturing nearer to prospects.
Additive Manufacturing Is Right here to Keep
3D printing has grow to be an accepted technique of manufacturing. However not for mass manufacturing. However the merger of Stratasys and Desktop Metallic – which names mass manufacturing as a objective of the mixed firm – attendees at Understand largely imagine additive manufacturing shouldn’t be more likely to grow to be a high-volume manufacturing methodology. The sensation about that limitation was “So what?” A restricted manufacturing quantity can nonetheless be good.
In aerospace, protection, agriculture, and medical, you don’t want excessive quantity. What you do want is power, much less weight, decrease prices, and sustainability. 3D printing is changing into a acknowledged method to obtain these objectives. These at Understand appeared to acknowledge that as a given. Hemmelgarn famous that additive manufacturing is right here to remain. Interval.
