Boosting Process Industry Competitiveness through Digitalization

Based on the slogan "From Integrated Engineering to Integrated Operation – Discover the Potential of Digitalization," Siemens is focusing on the topic of digitalization, stressing how companies in the process industry can boost their efficiency and productivity – and thus also their competitiveness – by using integrated solutions.
    "On the basis of our existing range of products and services for electrification and automation, we are promoting digitalization within the process industry,” said Eckard Eberle, CEO of the Process Automation Business Unit. “This is because digitalization permits the integration of individual process steps over the entire plant lifecycle – from engineering and operation, through to continuous optimization. In order to implement the Industrie 4.0 project in the process industry, we are focusing on three action fields: the digital plant, modularization, and production optimization."
    One of the most important objectives on the road to the digital plant is the creation of an integrated data landscape. Siemens already provides data consistency across all phases of the lifecycle: from engineering with the Comos CAE tool, commissioning using the Simit simulation platform, to operation based on the Simatic PCS 7 process control system and XHQ Operations Intelligence for real-time corporate decisions. The benefits are greater transparency, reliability, and fast time-to-market. Virtual commissioning using the Simit Simulation Framework software, for example, means plants can be put into service more than 50 percent faster than before, while at the same time improving operational safety.
    With XHQ Operations Intelligence, Siemens provides another example of how "smart data" can be generated from "big data". The software captures data from a wide variety of sources, brings it together efficiently in one management cockpit and helps users to make well informed decisions. This allows operating costs to be cut by as much as eight percent.
    From a servicing viewpoint, access to data from the engineering and operating environments helps to optimize processes: Using data-based services such as control performance analytics, process and status data from closed-loop control systems can be analyzed and then optimization measures drawn up. Comos MRO (Maintenance, Repair & Overhaul) makes it possible to handle all the administration, planning and organization of operation and maintenance work, including plant documentation, in a single system. This means that any changes to the plant due to maintenance processes are also immediately available in the engineering data. Using the Comos Walkinside Immersive Training Simulator (ITS), operators and maintenance engineers can take a virtual tour of their plants: the simulation of real scenarios optimizes maintenance work and improves safety for personnel by means of virtual training. Users can also reduce operating and maintenance costs thanks to predictive maintenance (of pumps, for example) and remote services.
    Siemens AG (Berlin and Munich) is active in more than 200 countries, focusing on the areas of electrification, automation, and digitalization. For more information, visit www.siemens.com.

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