NEWS n 5 Siemens’ €2bn investment plans include €500m metaverse hub SIEMENS HAS ANNOUNCED plans to invest €2bn globally, including €500m to establish a new Technology Campus in Erlangen, Germany which will combine development work with high-tech manufacturing. The plans also include a €200m high-tech factory in Singapore which “will set a new standard for connectivity to showcase the possibilities of digitalisation”, as well as an R&D innovation centre in Shenzen, China, to accelerate the development of motion control systems using digitalisation and power electronics technologies. Siemens is also building a new headquarters in Spain at a cost of around €160m. Siemens wants to establish Erlangen as its global r&d hub for work on the industrial metaverse – a real-time virtual representation of the world. Using technologies such as industrial 3D printing, power electronics and AI, the hub will help to create the next generation of high-tech, sustainable manufacturing, which can respond flexibly to market changes. Siemens is planning to spend €500m more on r&d this year than last year, focusing on strengthening its position in core technologies such as simulation, digital twins, AI and power electronics, as well as developing its Xcelerator open digital business platform. Announcing the plans, Siemens’ president and CEO Roland Busch said the aim was “to boost future growth, drive innovation and increase resilience”. He added that the company is launching “the next stage of digitalisation. We’re laying the foundation for the industrial metaverse, and combining the real and the digital worlds. Together with partners, we’re developing new digital technologies in the metaverse and revolutionising how we’ll run our production in the future – much more efficiently, flexibly and sustainably.” Before building work starts on the hub, the new buildings for r&d, production and logistics will be planned and simulated digitally. Entire factory layouts will be optimised in exact digital replicas, and then readjusted in the real world using the industrial metaverse. The new plant in Singapore will incorporate highly-automated manufacturing processes using Siemens' own digital twin and intelligent hardware technologies. The factory will create more than 400 jobs and will mainly serve the booming Southeast Asia market. The company also plans to invest €140m to expand its digital factory in Chengdu, China, creating 400 new jobs. Siemens recently announced a partnership with Microsoft to speed up code generation for industry automation using ChatGPT. It is also working with Nvidia to build the industrial metaverse to improve the design, planning, production and operation of factories. www.drivesncontrols.com July/August 2023 INNOMOTICS IS THE new name for the motors and large-drive activities that were previously Siemens operations. Innomotics, which employs about 15,000 people globally and generates more than €3bn in revenues, is now a separately managed Siemens subsidiary with its headquarters in Nuremberg, Germany. Operations elsewhere in the world are on track to be largely converted to the new brand by 1 October, 2023. Innomotics brings together former Siemens activities in the areas of low- to high-voltage motors, geared motors, medium-voltage converters and motor spindles, as well as associated project and service offerings. It comprises previous Siemens Large Drives Applications (LDA) and Digital Industries businesses, as well as the separate Siemens-owned companies Sykatec and Weiss Spindeltechnologie. “Our new brand stands for our aspiration of being a leading innovator in the motor and large-drive business and expresses the way we view ourselves as a company that maintains close customer proximity and has more than 150 years of history,” says Innomotics’ CEO, Michael Reichle, who was previously CEO of LDA and, before that, of Siemens Logistics. “With highly efficient, electric large-drive systems, we can replace conventional systems that are less sustainable. In this way, we can then help our customers reduce their greenhouse gas emissions – especially in areas where very high levels of carbon emissions are still being generated today.” Innomotics plans to work closely with other Siemens businesses. This will, for instance, take the form of product partnerships in the areas of technology, development and sales, as well as within the framework of supply-and-service contracts. Siemens has not said whether it plans eventually to sell off or to float the new company, which will be competing with global players such as ABB, Japan’s Nidec, Brazil’s WEG and China’s Wolong. Motors and large drives are spun off as €3bn Innomotics biz Siemens is planning its new Erlangen Technology Campus digitally, before a single brick is laid
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