Under the motto "Discover the value of the Digital Enterprise", Siemens will use numerous practical examples, applications and new products to demonstrate the competitive advantages that can be achieved by merging the virtual and real worlds. This is because rapidly changing consumer requirements are increasingly challenging companies to produce individualized products in the shortest possible time and with optimum, consistent quality. Siemens sees digitalization as the solution to this. "Only companies that digitalize their processes holistically will remain competitive," explains Jan Mrosik, CEO of the Digital Factory Division.

Mindsphere to be further expanded

The IoT operating system Mindsphere is set to play a central role in digitalization. According to Siemens, companies can use it to significantly increase the performance and availability of their systems with little effort: connected to Mindsphere, enormous amounts of data can be evaluated quickly and efficiently and weak points can be detected. New interfaces, apps and partnerships, for example with BluVision, as well as the use of cloud infrastructure and services from Amazon Web Services, will further drive the expansion of the Mindsphere ecosystem. MindApps, Siemens applications and applications from partners can be integrated more quickly with the now open 'Northbound API'. A large number of new apps will be shown at the stand, as well as innovations for the existing 'Fleet Manager' and 'Visual Analyzer' apps. To facilitate the manufacturer-independent connection of assets, a 'South Bound API' for additional protocols is in preparation. Visitors will be able to experience all of this in a special atmosphere in the MindSphere Lounge.

Showcases will allow visitors to experience the benefits of digitalization. For example, milk production will be used to demonstrate how companies in the food and beverage industry can use digitalization solutions to react flexibly to changing market requirements such as the growing variety of flavours.

This ranges from milk processing to filling, packaging and labeling.

Numerous showcases

Another focus of the trade fair is additive manufacturing. The showcase of the same name will demonstrate how a complete range of software and automation solutions can make additive manufacturing suitable for industry.

An application for the pharmaceutical industry will show how companies in this sector can sustainably optimize their production process and make it more flexible - right down to batch size 1 - while at the same time complying with complex regulations regarding quality and safety.

In terms of power distribution, Siemens is focusing on the integration of electrical power distribution systems and devices in automated production environments with Totally Integrated Power. Specifically, the company will use a production machine to demonstrate the electrical engineering planning of a control cabinet based on a 'digital twin', equipped with components fully integrated in the TIA Portal for automated controlled production and for recording energy and plant data and connecting it to Mindsphere.

In addition to the main stand, Siemens will be presenting its range of PLM software in Hall 6. In Hall 24, real customer applications from a wide range of industries will be on display with gear units and couplings from the Flender product family.

More openness for the TIA Portal

With Service Pack 1 for TIA Portal V14 (Totally Integrated Automation Portal), Siemens is expanding its engineering framework with new functions to shorten engineering times. With TIA Portal V14 SP1, users can use the new password API to manage passwords for know-how, write and copy protection easily and centrally: This interface allows users to easily implement password management for their own applications or secure authentication concepts, for example based on a dongle. The Simatic ProDiag software option for machine and system diagnostics has been expanded to include criteria analysis for focused troubleshooting. This allows the states in which the monitored errors occurred to be visualized retrospectively in the 'HMI PLC Code Viewer'. In the Step 7 engineering tool, machine builders can now use the new single block comparison for faster editing.

Servo drive system in five classes

Sinamics S210 inverter

© Siemens

With the Sinamics S210 inverter, which is specially designed for use with the newly developed Simotics-S-1FK2 motors, Siemens is offering a new servo drive system with five power classes from 50 to 750 W. The inverters are equipped with integrated safety functions (STO, SS1), which can be controlled via Profisafe. They are connected to the higher-level control system via Profinet and are easy to commission via a web server and one-button tuning for automatic optimization of the control parameters. The motors are connected to the inverters via One Cable Connection (OCC). This combines the power wires, encoder signal and brake in a single cable with a diameter of just 9 mm and a single connector.