Siemens' digital factory expert outlines five steps businesses must implement to keep pace with disruptive technologies

• Businesses advised to digitalise value chain processes or potentially risk the loss of market share in the digital era at Global Manufacturing and Industrialisation Summit 

Abu Dhabi, UAE, March 29, 2017:  Jan Mrosik, CEO Digital Factory Division at Siemens, said that the role of digitalisation will not only completely remould the global industrial sector but also drive positive transformational changes in the social, economic and environmental landscape. Mrosik made the case today during a keynote address the inaugural Global Manufacturing and Industrialisation Summit, being held in Abu Dhabi.

Mrosik highlighted industries that have fundamentally reshaped their business models; including bookstores and music stores that have moved from  traditional ‘bricks and mortar’ retail locations to virtual shop-fronts online. Even asset rich businesses such as the taxi industry have been transformed with companies like Uber and Careem putting in place digitalised platforms that have revolutionized the sector.

“These examples tell you about the disruptiveness of businesses that used to think they were safe,” said Mrosik. “To keep up with the pace of disruptive technological change, there are strict business necessities. The first is speed; the one who gets their products out there the fastest is the one who gets the market share. The second topic is flexibility; manufacturing plants are building products in one million different configurations. What used to be a mass product can now be customised for each customer and manufactured within a few days.”

The remaining necessities include quality - which Mrosik stressed must be kept consistent and the last is efficiency in terms of using assets -  energy, and costs to be competitive in today’s market.

Mrosik added: “To meet all four requirements, the whole value chain of the company must be digitised using five key steps including product design and simulation, production design and simulation, production engineering, production, and the last step is servicing the product that has been generated. Each of steps must be connected regardless of where they are in the company and from a localisation perspective, as different departments often work on different parts of the process. The data is taken from production and fed into an operating system to enhance both the product and production. We digitalise the value stream by creating a digital twin of each of these steps and then simulate and improve it until we have a digital twin of the product.” 

With this data, companies can simulate capacity shortages, automation, buffer spaces and everything that is required in terms of the factory environment.
The inaugural Global Manufacturing and Industrialisation Summit is being held at the Paris-Sorbonne Abu Dhabi University, UAE, until March 30, 2017. A joint initiative by the UAE Ministry of Economy and the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), and co-hosted with the Abu Dhabi Department of Economic Development, the Summit is held under the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces. The Summit is the world’s first global gathering for the manufacturing community, bringing together decision-making leaders from governments, businesses and civil society organisations to shape a vision for the sector’s future. 

The Summit is a global platform for participating attendees to learn from best practices from across the world. This unprecedented global gathering will spark new ideas and set the stage for debate and action – addressing ways in which manufacturing can shape and reshape the world, integrating activities between developed and emerging markets, and delivering on social responsibility towards future generations. Leaders from the public and private sectors, along with representatives from civil society organisations, will gather to discuss global challenges within the manufacturing sector, looking specifically at six themes: technology and innovation; global value chains; skills, employment and education; sustainability and environment; infrastructure; standards, and stakeholder alignment.