Siemens outline benefits and requirements for the digital factory

The company remains committed to the UK as recent investments - £200m into a rail manufacturing facility, and £27m toward a new 3D printing factory – show.

Despite its size and reach, Siemens is no different to any other manufacturer that has seen – and seized – the opportunities brought about through Industry 4.0 and the digitalisation technologies that have made it happen.

In his ‘New skills for the Digital Era’ presentation at MACH 2018, Alan Norbury, Siemens Industrial CTO, gave delegates an insight into how they can embrace – or improve upon - Ind 4.0 and the skills challenges that lay ahead inside the digital factory.

For the majority of manufacturers, Ind 4.0 will be implemented as a series of modifications to plant and processes. Turning standalone items of machinery into IoT devices is relatively straightforward if those pieces of machinery have a suitable port that connects them to the internet.