With the world becoming more connected, billions of intelligent devices and machines are generating massive amounts of data, creating a bridge between the physical and the virtual world, according to Siemens Chief Strategy Officer Dr Horst Kayser.
"By 2020, it’s expected that there will be five times as many connected devices as people. However, translating big data into smart data is both a challenge and an opportunity – not only for Australian companies," said Kayser.
An electrical engineer who studied at the Technical University of Darmstadt in Germany, Kayser will be a keynote speaker at the Australian Engineering Conference in Brisbane in November where he will discuss, 'The digital change constant and the evolution of engineering'.
He said the topic is particularly important because in the future, virtual and physical production worlds will move even closer together to address an ever increasing demand and for improved productivity, time-to- market and security.
"In analogy to the consumer internet industrial data business platforms are about to further transform the industries," Kayser said.
"Siemens is driving this change with the MindSphere platform which is enabling industrial customers to collect, manage and analyse data – not only from production – to further improve their processes in a secure way."
Kayser explains that digital design and simulation tools enable engineers to efficiently work with digital twins way before physical prototypes are produced – yielding shortened time-to-market and improved product quality.
"Further integration into automation and production also accelerates the setup of production and makes it more flexible. A great example for this is the work Siemens has done with Maserati where we have reduced development times by a factor of two," he said.
Known for its electronics and electrical engineering, Siemens operates in the fields of industry, energy and healthcare as well as providing infrastructure solutions, primarily for cities and metropolitan areas.
Kayser says Siemens has used its strengths in these areas to become a leader in industrial digitalisation with its industry specific vertical software and digital services portfolio.
By transforming the data generated by its systems and products into information and services, the company has introduced predictive maintenance approaches and analysis of thermodynamic processes on gas; reduced power consumption in buildings; and used smart traffic management to move people faster, safer and with less CO2 emissions.
At the conference, he says he will focus on the role of data and digitalisation in merging the physical and virtual worlds and the potential to convert threats into opportunities.
To learn more, secure your spot at the Australian Engineering Conference where Horst Kayser will discuss the digital change constant and the evolution of engineering.
[Dr Horst Kayser. Photo: Siemens]