Computers and software are becoming paramount to the future of industry, whether to automate automation engineering or expand the available design space for operational needs. Co-host Mark Hindsbo sat down to talk to the later and explain the transition happening in the world of production and manufacturing.

There are so many interesting topics in the realm of operations software, but to start off it’d be best to understand exactly what that encompasses as well as some of the advantages to deploying a software-first plan. Going virtual first, means more trials with fewer costs and less capital investment – just like the gains automotive companies have made with virtual crash-testing.

In this episode you’ll learn about:

(00:00) Who is Mark Hindsbo

(04:41) Integrating automation and operations

(08:58) Defining operations software

About the voices:

Mark Hindsbo is the Head of Operational Software at Siemens Digital Industries. In his role, he helps manufacturers design and operate flexible, adaptive and increasingly autonomous plants and factories. His deep passion for engineering and software drives his goal to help customers build products for a better future.

Nick Finberg is a technical marketing writer and coordinator for Software-Defined Everything, with a background in Nuclear Engineering. He has worked with experts to cover many industries and topics including Automotive, Battery, sustainability, and systems engineering.

Data is the core of a good AI solution and, while data is plentiful in enterprise and industrial settings, accessing and utilizing that data for AI training isn’t so easy. In industry, data sources are often fragmented and, even if they can be easily accessed, lack the critical context needed to support robust AI usage. This is where data fabrics shine, offering a single, unified way of accessing and contextualizing all types of enterprise data.

In this episode, host Spencer Acain is joined by Tobias Malbretcht, Head of Product Management, Data & AI at Siemens Digital Industries to examine the importance of data fabrics in the expanding role of AI in industry.

In the episode you’ll learn about:

(00:00) Introduction

(02:47) What is RapidMiner?

(05:14) The benefits of a data fabric for AI

(08:06) Bringing context to AI training data

(11:36) How data is connected to RapidMiner

About the voices:

Tobias Malbretcht is the Head of Product Management for Data and AI at Siemens Digital Industries leading development for the RapidMiner AI Platform.

Spencer Acain Is a technical marketing writer for AI thought leadership at Siemens Digital Industries with a background in Applied Mathematics and Mechanical Engineering.

Digitalization is important for the future of automation, but how businesses get there is the critical discussion. It’s not about solving all problems by day one of production. Instead it is pinpointing pain points today and incrementally adopting it across the organization. Our co-host Rainer Brehm chatted with us about his perspective and the ways businesses are already adopting the technological side of digitalization.

But the real gains to be made are in the changing mindset and understanding where digitalization can be deployed to bring the best returns on investment. While digitalization is partly a technological transformation, it is just as much a social one – as we’ll see with his example from Audi where engineers and operators were gaining inspiration from their peers.

In this episode you’ll learn about:

(00:00) How to start with SDA

(09:27) Fundamental changes in production systems

(13:33) Empowering operators with intelligent systems

Learn more about Docker and Kubernetes

About the voices:

Rainer Brehm is the Chief Operations Officer (COO) for the automation business and Chief Technology Officer (CTO) at Siemens Digital Industries. In these roles, he drives the strategic advancement of Siemens’ automation portfolio and leads the development of technologies such as Industrial AI and Software-Defined Automation to unlock the full potential of automation. His focus is on making production more adaptive, resilient, and sustainable. His vision is an automated automation that solves unknown tasks independently.

Nick Finberg is a technical marketing writer and coordinator for Software-Defined Everything, with a background in Nuclear Engineering. He has worked with experts to cover many industries and topics including Automotive, Battery, sustainability, and systems engineering.

In this first episode of the Future Ready Podcast from Siemens, we are bringing you a conversation with Rainer Brehm – the CTO and the COO of our automation business at Siemens Digital Industries. His experience and understanding of automation technologies makes him a perfect co-host for our discussions on Software-Defined Everything.

This first episode aims to define that exact term so that we can continue to dive into how software-defined everything creates a foundation for the rapidly changing industrial world. We’ve got a lot to talk about in the realms of data, software, and AI, so make sure to subscribe so you don’t miss future conversations with experts from Siemens, our co-host Mark Hindsbo – Head of Operations Software at Siemens Digital Industries – and beyond.

In this episode you’ll learn about:

(00:00) Introduction

(01:37) Automating automation

(03:56) Software-defined approaches

(06:10) A limit to software-defined everything

(08:59) Software-defined for automation

About the voices:

Rainer Brehm is the Chief Operations Officer (COO) for the automation business and Chief Technology Officer (CTO) at Siemens Digital Industries. In these roles, he drives the strategic advancement of Siemens’ automation portfolio and leads the development of technologies such as Industrial AI and Software-Defined Automation to unlock the full potential of automation. His focus is on making production more adaptive, resilient, and sustainable. His vision is an automated automation that solves unknown tasks independently.

Nick Finberg is a technical marketing writer and coordinator for Software-Defined Everything, with a background in Nuclear Engineering. He has worked with experts to cover many industries and topics including Automotive, Battery, sustainability, and systems engineering.