Siemens' exhibit at the Hannover Messe 2012 will be focused on increased networking in industrial production. "Modern industrial companies want to interlink relevant information along their entire value creation so that they can become more productive and more efficient. As the leading supplier of industrial software and production technology, we are the key company able to meet this requirement and to create truly sustainable production processes," said Ralf-Michael Franke, CEO of Siemens' Drive Technologies Division, at the company's press conference in advance of this year's Hannover Messe. In keeping with its motto of "Connecting Productivity and Efficiency," Siemens will demonstrate how its customers can achieve both economic and environmental goals. Siemens' primary levers for simultaneously increasing productivity and efficiency of its customers are innovative industrial software, in-depth verticals expertise, and a comprehensive service portfolio for the entire lifecycle.
In to the area of automation and drive technology, Siemens relies on products, systems, and services that – thanks to software-based integration – can interact with each other along the entire value chain. With this type of closed-loop integration, Siemens customers are able introduce new products more quickly and organize their production processes in a cost-effective, energy-efficient manner. According to Franke, complete drive systems, from control units to motors and gear technology, can be integrated into customers' plants to increase efficiency values by up to 70 percent, especially in energy-intensive segments like the chemical, metal and paper processing industries. At the Hannover Messe, Siemens will be introducing the new Simogear geared motor series. Like the entire drive portfolio, Simogear can be efficiently incorporated in customer systems using the Totally Integrated Automation Portal (TIA Portal). The new series reaches efficiency levels of up to 96 percent.
"Companies that wait until production is running to tackle production-related challenges cannot sufficiently tap their potentials for savings and improvements," explained Thomas Schott, head of Factory Automation at Siemens. "Utilizing our complete portfolio, and beginning as early as the product design and production planning stages, we exploit significant potentials for improving productivity and energy efficiency." To do this, Siemens relies on integrated technologies that span the entire value creation process, from product design to production and maintenance, including all related services. Using the TIA Portal, which will be exhibited in Hannover, companies can configure all of their engineering tasks related to automation and drive technology from a single software tool. That can decrease engineering-related cost by up to 25 percent. According to Schott, Siemens' industry expertise, especially in the area of energy savings, has also been incorporated into the latest products. For example, at the Hannover Messe Siemens will be introducing version V5.3 of the Simatic B.Data energy management system, which can transparently depict and help decrease energy consumption in the various shift operations of a given production operation.
According to Dirk Hoke, CEO of the Customer Services Division which bundles all of the Industry Sector's service activities, technology- and IT-based services as well as vertical expertise are also becoming more important in the service business. "Our goal is to be a reliable partner throughout the entire lifecycle of our customers' systems. Since we are familiar with their systems and processes, we can support them in a targeted manner in their value creation process. This also puts us in a position to recommend tangible optimization measures that will, for example, improve energy efficiency and resource utilization. As a result, we are uniquely capable of supporting our customers with specific strategies that will ensure both economic success and environmental responsibility."