It was a big week for Siemens from July 22-25 as they hosted their Automation Summit and exiderdome exhibit at Chicago’s navy Pier.  Including Siemens personnel and their customers, there were over 1,500 people in attendance for the combined events.  The exiderdome is a traveling exhibit comprised of shipping containers that can be modularly stacked together to form a comprehensive overview of Siemens’ capabilities spanning industrial automation, process automation, energy management and power products, and more.  It’s a great way to present all of Siemens’ capabilities in automation and power management in a single place.  If you are like most people, you are probably familiar with a couple of aspects of Siemens’ capabilities, but not all of them.  exiderdome lays it all out in one unified environment that conforms to Siemens’ strategy for Totally Integrated Automation.  Aside from the multimedia bells and whistles, you actually get to see many of these products working in the demonstration areas.  The Chicago stop was the first in a multi-city tour of the US that also includes Detroit, Boston, New York, Orlando, and several other major cities.  For more details on the schedule, you can go here to their official web site. 

The Automation Summit is Siemens’ official customer gathering for North America and has expanded to include the full scope of Siemens’ automation activities in North America from process to discrete, and motion to power management, and MES, and with the acquisition of UGS, it now includes a focus on Product Lifecycle Management (PLM).  Siemens relies heavily on its End User Advisory Board (UAB) for driving its product development and the content at the Summit.  Keynote speakers included Vice President of Automation and Motion for Siemens Energy and Automation Raj Batra and Siemens End user Advisory Board chair, Dennis Inverso of DuPont. 

UAB is a Key Component to Siemens’ Success in North America

Dennis Inverso pointed out the important role that the UAB contributes to the Summit.  The UAB includes members from the world of process and discrete automation, as well as Siemens engineering partners and other key customers.  The list of participating companies includes Air Products, Conoco Phillips, ASTEC, Spirit Aerosystems, and many others.  It’s their job to provide honest feedback to Siemens and provide a forum for effective communication.  The group meets monthly with representatives from Siemens management.  For many companies, this means getting Siemens to align with their own corporate objectives.  Dennis pointed out that for DuPont, their goal is to achieve “zero” in many key categories, such as zero on the job recordable injuries and zero lost time incidents.  Process control systems are a high priority at DuPont, because they understand the impact they have on the overall business, and views process automation as being equally important as business systems and the IT infrastructure. 

Raj Batra Identifies Key Opportunities for Automation

According to Raj, safety and security of processes and plants is a top priority for Siemens.  Many of their initiatives in the world of process automation reflect this, such as their focus on security requirements for process control versus IT, providing an integrated, “same but separate” platform for process safety, and providing a stepwise migration strategy for an aging installed base of control system assets from both Siemens and their competitors.  Raj pointed out the recent success of one migration project in the US that was completed in half the time scheduled and $6 million under budget.  This is reflective of the overall success that Siemens has experienced in its North American process automation business in recent years.  Siemens made the North American process market a strategic priority several years ago, and in just the past year the company has been getting more and bigger projects from key clients, such as Air Products and DuPont.  The large BASF Joncryl Polymer Plant in Wyandotte, Michigan, which includes over 5,000 I/O points and over 3,000 devices, will be the largest Profibus PA installation in North America when it is completed in 2009. 

Raj also discussed Siemens’ focus on energy efficient manufacturing.  Today, motors used in drives, conveyor belts, and pumps account for 70 percent of all power consumption for industries worldwide.  With over 20 million motors installed globally, users can achieve a 10-50 percent reduction in power use per unit by taking a more advanced optimization approach to motors, which would also have a huge impact on emissions.  In ARC’s view, Siemens is one of very few companies worldwide that leverage its strength in drives and motion control, in addition to its capabilities in electrical infrastructure, power management, and process automation to achieve these savings for end user in their plants. 

SE&A President Sadlowski Reflects on Megatrends and the Siemens Reorganization

Siemens Energy and Automation President and CEO, Dennis Sadlowski, discussed the Siemens reorganization that took place in January of 2008, which divided the company into Industry, Energy, and Health Care business units.  The Industry business unit is the home of Siemens’ automation business and is the single largest business unit within Siemens, accounting for over 51 percent of total company revenues.  Sadlowski commented on how Siemens’ reorganization is positioning the company to address several key megatrends that are affecting the global economy.  Siemens has been modifying their portfolio according to future trends through their strategic innovation planning process.  Today, they invest 48 percent of their R&D in areas they determine to be high growth opportunities.  Sadlowski identified several of these key trends, including increased urbanization, population growth and shifting demographics due to longer life spans, the rapid demand for energy and need for sustainability, and rapidly growing demand for clean water. 

CEO of Industrial Automation Systems Sees Bright Future for Automation Business

Ralf-Michael Franke, CEO of Industrial Automation Systems for the Industrial business within Siemens, gave his perspective on the future of the automation business at Siemens, which has been growing quite strongly over the past several years.  Siemens Industrial division expects 14 percent growth overall between 2008 and 2010, and lot of the growth is going to come from the automation related businesses.  Growth will also come from acquisitions, of which Siemens has made several over the past couple of years, most recently Morgan Construction, a leading player in the Metals industry that has brought with it a lot of pull through for the automation business.  Other acquisitions include PLM supplier UGS, VATech (another metals business acquisition), ASI Robicon, US Filter, and the Chemitreat Group. 

Roadmap Sessions, Panel Discussions, and Workshops

Following the keynotes, which included a presentation by first time “Apprentice” television show winner and Chicago native Bill Rancic, the breakout sessions started, which included roadmap sessions, panel discussions, and end user case histories.  ARC analysts participated in several of these sessions, including a panel discussion on the issues and challenges surrounding control system migration. 

Process Automation Roadmap Session

ARC attended several of the roadmap session including the process automation roadmap, which was primarily concerned with the latest release of the Simatic PCS 7 process automation system.  Introduced in October of 2007, the latest version release of Simatic PCS 7 includes a 40 percent improvement in processing performance of the controllers.  In addition, the range has been supplemented by a new soft controller for Simatic PCS 7 Box, the control system for smaller applications, pilot systems and laboratories.  In the area of engineering configuration, the new multi-user engineering facility for Simatic PCS 7 allows several users to use the configuration tools CFC (continuous function chart) and SFC (sequential function chart) simultaneously, reducing configuration and commissioning times.  Linking CAD/CAE tools to Simatic PCS 7 improves data transfer from the P&ID (Piping and Instrumentation Diagram).  The output data of the CAD/CAE tools can be transferred direct to the engineering system of Simatic PCS 7, which simplifies data exchange, reduces potential error sources, avoids duplicated entry of data, and cuts the configuration time. 

Depending on the task and aims, different APC functions are available in the latest version - from PID optimization, model predictive control and fuzzy control, through to neural networks and control performance monitoring.  A new Advanced Batch Reporting package has been developed for ongoing operation, enabling drafting of customized reports using MS SQL or Crystal Reports.  Reports can be converted to .pdf file format for forwarding or storage. 

The new CPU for the Simatic controllers S7-414, 414F/H, 416, 417 and 417F/H have 40 percent more processing power than their predecessors, and at least 50 percent more main memory.  In addition, an Ethernet interface has been integrated into the CPU types 414 and 416, thus saving on the additional communications processor previous required.  There is also the new Simatic S7-412FH controller that can be used both as a fault-tolerant standard controller and as an SIS (Safety Instrumented System).  It is suitable for smaller applications with up to 50 F (failsafe) I/O.  There are now two controller versions for Simatic PCS 7 Box: a rugged PCI slot version, and a soft controller that runs on the integral PC processor.  The slot version is equipped with its own operating system and power supply and offers higher availability. 

New I/O components simplify installation and commissioning as well as maintenance.  These include a Hart I/O module with redundancy capability for the ET 200M distributed I/O station.  This has a high channel density for analogue inputs and outputs, supports the connection of Hart field devices, and is integrated into the asset management system of Simatic PCS 7.  Also new is the IM 153-2 HF interface module for the ET 200M distributed I/O station.  It offers high-accuracy time stamping for recording the SOE (Sequence of Events) and supports the operation of up to 12 I/O modules in one I/O device. 

SIMATIC PCS7 TeleControl system supports RTUs in a process application.  SIMATIC PCS 7 TeleControl system utilizes the standard telecontrol protocols like SINAUT, IEC 870, DNP V3, Modbus, and opens up new opportunities for Siemens in the Oil & Gas & Water/Wastewater markets. 

Factory Automation Roadmap

It is evident that Siemens’ is now becoming more than a product company to many of their customers.  While the Factory Automation Roadmap demonstrated the customers are clearly influencing the current and future direction of product development.  However, the glue that binds all of the products together has been a theme that has not veered from its original purpose, and that is Totally Integrated Automation.  While the latest generation of products, whether it was that introduction of an Embedded PC using dual core Intel processor on an S7 platform, the move to Gigabit Ethernet, distributed automation on the ET 200S CPUs or the extension of the Sinamics line with a single axis servo controller, Siemens instilled a level of confidence that the common configuration, programming and networking tools would ensure that the training and expertise developed by their customers would be transferrable to the new generation of products. 

Mechatronics Services Leverage the Relationship with UGS

In the area of machine control there has been quite a lot of activity within the Siemens’ organization.  It spans the service offering that is really the centerpiece of the mechatronic activity.  Effectively what we are seeing is that services in terms of mechanical modeling, machine design, and automation deployment are evolving toward the notion of an all-digital design.  Siemens has introduced a “Spiral Model” for machine design that continues to rely on an iterative design approach, but is fundamentally conducted in the digital world.  The perceived benefit of this approach is that in most instances the mechanical prototypes are effectively eliminated as machine builders continue to develop more accurate models of their mechanical systems in the digital world.  What is clearly occurring, and this is happening at a much more rapid pace than expected, is the convergence of Siemens PLM tools with the automation development tools.  As an example, NX6, which was primarily a Siemens UGS simulation tool, is now being used by the mechatronics service group to offer a more comprehensive simulation tool for machine builders to evaluate and improve machine designs. 

It is one thing to hear all this from Siemens, however Goss Printing Machine participated in one of the workshops during the Summit.  Goss designs and manufactures shaftless print finishing machinery or offset printing.  What really caught my attention was that the automation systems in this case, Simotion, were not just capable of controlling the machinery, but also served as an extension of their analytical tools to diagnose problems that were degrading performance.  Simotion’s performance analysis tools are totally integrated into the software development tool set enabling automation designers to identify problems that can be resolved by subtle adjustments in the system parameters.  The integration of this analytical tool bridges the gap between the modeling techniques used in the digital world and the actual deployment of the mechanical system.  Invariably there are always inaccuracies between the digital world and the actual system thus, the ability to have these analytical tools built directly into the automation system is invaluable.  Moreover, what is quite clear is that Siemens’ focus on modern approaches to application deployment has allowed the machine builders to separate the hardware deployment from the software application deployment.  Thereby, the machine builders are now able to concurrently develop the application software and mechanical system while also having the flexibility to myriad of automation technologies and topologies as well. 

Day 2 Keynote by Eric Cosman Focuses on Real Time Performance Management

Day 2 of Automation Summit featured a keynote from Dow’s Eric Cosman on the value of adopting a philosophy for Real Time Performance Management (RPM) and Dow’s experiences with Siemens’ XHQ product.  Dow implemented the XHQ RPM solution, because they wanted to achieve a better understanding of their underperforming assets.  According to Eric, between the many plants and businesses that Dow has assimilated and acquired over the years, there is a high degree of variability in performance measurement tools and work processes.  Existing tools also lacked many key capabilities.  For Dow, XHQ is a tool that provides an understanding of performance at a level that allows defects to be corrected and provides a high sustained output from their production assets.