Mr. Bürgel, Mr. Brinkmeier, will the factory of the future be sustainable?
Bürgel: Short answer: It absolutely will.

How do you want to achieve this? Specifically, what can Siemens Digital Industries Software do to achieve this?
Bürgel: Our aim is to bring together the data that is stored in separate "data silos" in different places in every company in a meaningful way and make it accessible for intelligent analysis. Valid data is the elementary starting point for an analysis. That is our genuine contribution.

Brinkmeier: Test data, simulation data, customer data and models are often still stored in separate databases. We use the digital twin to create common semantics and thus enable a system mock-up of the plant and products. The merged data allows product and production to be optimized at a very early stage and simulated over the entire life cycle.

And the benefits for sustainability?
Brinkmeier: Let's be more specific: In a project that our business unit was working on, the aim was to optimize the use of AGVs. We were able to create a digital twin based on the combined data and then use this for very complex simulations of various scenarios. The result was a much more sustainable use of the vehicles, which was of course expressed in economic terms, but also significantly reduced the "footprint" of the system through lower energy consumption and reduced wear and tear, i.e. longer service life.

Dr.-Ing. Bernd Brinkmeier, Head of Portfolio Development Product & Manufacturing Engineering. © Siemns

So the digital twin is crucial?
Bürgel: There is a lot in the term. In the manufacturing industry, there is the digital twin of the product and the digital twin of production. Both influence each other and a change to one results in a change to the other. This needs to be simulated. But then you also have to realize that there are several levels behind the digital twin of production. Starting with the components at the lowest level, through production machines, production cells to the production plant and all of them with their software. The same applies to the product itself, which has to go through several production steps. Our task is to master this complexity and provide the customer with a tool that enables them to make sensible decisions quickly.

Brinkmeier: In addition, the result of the simulation with the digital twin is not only the layout for the system, but also the parameters with which this system is virtually commissioned and then operated.

Which brings us to the operation of the system.
Bürgel: The digital twin of performance is added during operation. Adding means that the other digital twins are still needed. Products should be continuously optimized over their entire life cycle, especially with regard to sustainability.

Brinkmeier: With the data from the performance of real production, the simulations of product and production can be significantly improved once again. If the results are then fed back into real production, automated automation can be achieved.

Where will industrial manufacturing be in 2031?
Bürgel: Many trends can already be clearly identified. From our point of view, the convergence of OT and IT, i.e. the digital systems on the store floor with the various levels of company software, is particularly interesting. We are very much involved in this ourselves. Industry 4.0 will extend to the entire value stream. Production itself will take on the character of a service. The model contains the semantics and the machine is its translation.

Brinkmeier: There is also a desire on the part of end consumers to individualize products, which in turn requires significantly smaller batch sizes. The digital twin can help to make this type of production possible with efficient use of resources.

What advice would you give companies?
'Bürgel: Getting started with digital production is not as expensive and time-consuming as it may seem, and you can quickly achieve measurable success.

Brinkmeier: It is important to keep systems open and to rely on standards so that the system is future-proof and scalable. Siemens Digital Industries Software, www.siemens.com/plm