Google Cloud and Siemens are partnering to enable the scaled-up deployment of artificial intelligence- (AI-) based solutions within industrial manufacturing operations to optimise factory processes and improve productivity on the shop floor.

Siemens will integrate Google Cloud’s data cloud and AI/machine learning (AI/ML) technologies into its factory automation solutions portfolio to enable manufacturers to harmonise their factory data, run cloud-based AI/ML models on top of that data and deploy algorithms at the network edge.

While data drives current industrial processes, many manufacturers continue to use legacy software and multiple systems to analyse plant information, which is resource-intensive and requires frequent manual updates to ensure accuracy.

“Many manufacturers are still stuck in AI pilot projects today – we want to change that,” says Siemens Digital Industries VP of Control at Factory Automation Axel Lorenz, noting that while AI projects have been deployed by many companies in “islands” across the plant floor, manufacturers have struggled to implement AI at scale across their global operations.

The combination of Google’s AI/ML technology and Siemens’ solutions for industrial edge and industrial operations will be a “game changer for the manufacturing industry”.

“This cooperation will combine the best of both worlds and bring AI/ML to the manufacturing industry at scale. By simplifying the deployment of AI in industrial use cases, we are helping employees augment their critical work on the shop floor,” adds Google Cloud Manufacturing and Industrial MD Dominik Wee.

Deploying AI to the shop floor and integrating it into automation and the network is a complex task, requiring highly specialised expertise and innovative products such as Siemens Industrial Edge.

The goal of the cooperation between Google Cloud and Siemens is to make the deployment of AI in connection with the industrial edge – and its management at scale – easier, empowering employees as they work on the plant floor, automating mundane tasks and improving overall quality.