Even an Industry 4.0 giant such as Siemens, producing 23 inventions per workday, is dependent on industry-academic interactions. By Morten Andersen
Peter Bornerup, head of the Factory AutomationAllowing consumers to order individually customized products is not just high-level service, it will be much more sustainable than current practices. This is the real Industry 4.0 revolution, according to Peter Bornerup, head of the Factory Automation business unit at Siemens’ Digital Industries division.
“Take shoes as an example. Today, a company will manufacture millions of copies to minimize cost per unit. But not seldom will you end up discarding a significant proportion of these shoes. Maybe competitors came up with more popular designs, or a new trend appeared. Waste of this magnitude is obviously not sustainable. If instead the customer is involved in the design and orders a customized product, you know this copy will be sold,” explains Peter Bornerup, adding:
“Further, this high-flexibility concept would allow setting up decentralized production. You would of course assure that the item is produced at the site in closest proximity to the customer, and we wouldn’t have to send the pair of shoes halfway around the globe.”
“You can never become complacent”
More than 40,000 Siemens employees work in research & development, and the corporation currently comes up with 23 inventions per workday on average. Many of these innovations are related to Industry 4.0. “We have been engaged in the various technologies that form the basis for Industry 4.0 for more than 30 years. This puts us in an ideal position. Still, this is an area where you can never allow yourself to become complacent. Things are just moving so fast, and even a corporation of our size and R&D profile can not rely on its own efforts alone,” says Peter Bornerup.
“We need to engage in dialogues and networking with other established corporations, with startups and not least with universities. Therefore, an event like Digital Tech Summit is an obvious occasion for us. Having a vibrant “eco-system” which involve corporate and academic interactions is really important.”
“Back when I was a student of engineering myself, I always found that the most interesting part of the education was when I had a chance to apply the theoretical knowledge for solving real-world practical problems. At Siemens we are keen to allow more students to get that experience. Obviously, we would also take the opportunity to explain how our solutions matter in meeting the large societal challenges. Hopefully, we will be able to attract some of them to come work with us at some point.”
Cybersecurity is a huge theme
Asked which specific technologies he and his Siemens colleagues will follow during the event, Peter Bornerup replies: “We have interest in a wide range of technologies. If I were to narrow it down a bit, I would say that we focus especially on technologies which support Internet-of-Things. So, cloud computing, edge computing, digital twins, using artificial intelligence in industrial process optimization and in quality assurance. Also does blockchain and other cybersecurity tools have our attention.”
“The importance of cybersecurity can not be overestimated. As I said, Industry 4.0 and flexible manufacturing is definitely the future, not least because of the improved sustainability profile. However, we cannot deny the fact that as still more devices become interconnected, the overall vulnerability of the system will increase. We have already seen how severe the consequences can be if systems are compromised. Cybersecurity is a huge theme which will have to be addressed on every step, as IoT systems are implemented.”
