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by David R. Brousell, MA Editorial Staff   | Abstract: | With its acquisition of PLM vendor UGS, Siemens is positioned at the crossroads of the digital factory idea. Can the automation giant make it work? |
What does a giant engineering and automation company like Siemens AG want with UGS, a design and product lifecycle software vendor? That's the first among many questions surrounding Siemens' announcement in January that it will acquire UGS and fold it into Siemens' huge Automation & Drives business. The theory behind this combination is that manufacturers need to electronically link product design and development with production. This notion, which some call the digital factory, holds the promise of cutting the time it takes to get a product to market, reducing errors, and enabling collaboration on a global scale. It is seen as an essential part of the digitization of manufacturing itself, a broader vision of ultimate automation throughout the business. Heady stuff, but it is possible to create so-called digital factories by integrating design and production. Siemens, like many others in the manufacturing automation business, sees this coming, but no other automation company has been gutsy enough to plunge in with an acquisition of a major product lifecycle management vendor. In one dramatic move, Siemens has both positioned itself at the intersection of these two forces and raised the bar for its competitors. [Click to continue] |