Multinational industrial equipment manufacturer Siemens has launched its MindSphere industrial supply chain platform, which provides companies with ways of securely sharing information and enables experts to offer their services directly to companies, says Siemens digital industry senior VP Ralf Leinen.

Speed is a vital component in commercial and industrial competitiveness, and having visibility into suppliers’ and clients’ portions of supply chains enables companies to manage variables, he says.

Being agile and reacting quickly to changes in any aspect of business and operational processes are increasingly becoming competitive requirements of production and business models, while the speed at which the changes are made to respond to information cannot impact on the quality of the product or service.

“These are some of the critical aspects driving the development of the Siemens MindSphere platform. “We leveraged our end-to-end knowledge of industrial processes, associated information and control aspects to enable clients to use asset data to optimise their value chain.”

Digital twins serve to integrate the physical and virtual worlds. Siemens leverages its core experience in industrial automation to facilitate the testing and simulation of applications in the virtual world, which translate into reduced engineering time and faster time to market.

Specifically, using digital twins allows for the planning of all stages of manufacturing, from the design of the product and its production process to its use, support and maintenance.

This level of detail requires deep knowledge of the intricacies of the manufacturing process and the supply and distribution processes, which Siemens has, owing to its end-to-end role in industrial supply chains, says Leinen.

“The goal is to optimise the processes from end to end to serve clients more effectively, accurately and quickly. However, Siemens is not a mining, manufacturing or distribution company, but we do have established, long-term relations with companies in all these sectors.”

This is part of the global industrial transition to digital enterprises, called Industry 4.0, or the Fourth Industrial Revolution, says Leinen. Siemens has prepared its services and capabilities to serve clients working in this new digital environment.

“The aim of the platform is to enable companies and service providers to add value through their capabilities, knowledge and inputs, while ensuring safety, security and agility. “These are the demands of Industry 4.0, whether for consumers or industrial clients, such as designing and testing products virtually before investing in the equipment and production lines.”