Siemens is working with Microsoft to use generative artificial intelligence tools to improve its industrial workflows.
Microsoft’s library of generative AI tools, including AI chat and code generation, will be used to speed up and simplify Siemens’ design, engineering, manufacturing and operations processes. The two companies plan to use artificial intelligence to enhance communication between Siemens teams and speed up the writing of code to help engineers get their work done faster. This is expected to increase the efficiency and productivity of Siemens employees.
A new Teamcenter app for Microsoft Teams will debut later this year that service engineers will use to document and report product design or quality issues using natural speech. The app can parse informal speeches to automatically create summary reports, which are then sent to the appropriate team members. Employees can record their observations in their preferred language, which is then translated into the company’s official language using Microsoft Azure AI.
Siemens and Microsoft are also collaborating on code-generation tools for programmable logic controllers (PLCs), the industrial computers that control most of the machines in factories around the world. ChatGPT will be used to generate PLC code from natural language input, which the company believes will help maintenance teams identify errors more quickly.
Siemens Digital Industries (DI) is an innovation leader in automation and digitalization. DI works closely with partners and customers to drive the digital transformation of process and discrete industries. With its Digital Enterprise portfolio, DI provides companies of all sizes with an end-to-end suite of products, solutions and services to integrate and digitize the entire value chain. Optimized for the specific needs of each industry, DI’s unique product portfolio enables customers to achieve greater productivity and flexibility. DI is constantly adding innovations to its product portfolio to integrate future cutting-edge technologies. With its global headquarters in Nuremberg, Germany, Siemens Digital Industries employs around 76,000 people internationally.
Scott Guthrie, executive vice president of Microsoft Cloud + Artificial Intelligence, said: “The integration of artificial intelligence and technology platforms will profoundly change the way we work and the way every enterprise operates. Through Siemens, we will bring the power of artificial intelligence to more industries. organizations, enabling them to streamline workflows and collaborate in more inclusive ways, accelerating customer-centric innovation.”
Through the Azure OpenAI service, the application can parse informal speech data, automatically create summary reports, and send them to the appropriate design, engineering, or manufacturing experts within Teamcenter. To promote inclusion, employees can record their observations in their preferred language, which is then translated into the company’s official language using Microsoft Azure AI. Microsoft Teams provides user-friendly features such as push notifications to streamline workflow approvals, reduce the time it takes to request design changes, and accelerate innovation cycles. The Teamcenter app from Microsoft Teams could make it easier for the millions of employees who don’t currently have access to PLM tools to influence design and manufacturing processes as part of their existing workflows.
Keeping Factories Running with AI-Driven Software Engineering
Siemens and Microsoft are also teaming up to help software developers and automation engineers speed up code generation for programmable logic controllers (PLCs), the industrial computers that control most of the machines in the world’s factories. The two parties are working to enhance the concept of Siemens’ industrial automation engineering solution through OpenAI’s ChatGPT and other Azure artificial intelligence services. The scenario highlights how engineering teams can generate PLC code from natural language input, significantly reducing time and error probability. These capabilities can also enable maintenance teams to more quickly identify bugs and generate step-by-step solutions.
Cedrik Neike, Member of the Board of Directors of Siemens AG and CEO Digital Industries, said: “Powerful, advanced artificial intelligence is becoming one of the most important technologies for digital transformation. Siemens and Microsoft are working together to deploy tools such as ChatGPT so that we can enable of organizations have employees collaborating and innovating in new ways.”
Find and prevent product defects with industrial artificial intelligence
Early detection of defects in production is essential to prevent costly and time-consuming production adjustments. Industrial AI like computer vision enables quality management teams to expand quality control, identify product variances more easily, and make real-time adjustments faster. The two parties are committed to using Microsoft Azure machine learning and Siemens’ industrial edge to analyze images captured by cameras and videos through machine learning systems and use them to build, deploy, run and monitor artificial intelligence vision models on the factory floor.
This collaboration is part of a long-term strategic relationship between Siemens and Microsoft, built on more than 35 years of co-innovation with thousands of customers. Other areas of collaboration include Senseye on Azure, enabling companies to run predictive maintenance, and supporting solutions from Siemens’ Xcelerator open digital business platform, including Teamcenter, on Azure for customers seeking to host their business applications in the Microsoft cloud. Siemens is also working with Microsoft as part of its Zero Trust strategy.
