Industries

Toward a people-centric and adaptive production ecosystem. 

By Melville Bryant, Marie Princess Nuevo Caraan and Claire Chin

Topic 4 in our Blog Series, Sustainability in Semiconductors. Every Detail Matters.  

Hannover Messe 2024, the world’s leading industrial trade fair happening April 22-26 in Hannover, Germany, is just around the corner! Siemens would like to give you a digital preview of the comprehensive range of solutions for semiconductor design and production on display at the event. Siemens’ theme this year: “Sustainable Digital Enterprise – Semiconductors” emphasizes our commitment to fostering a collaborative approach across the value chain, illustrating how technology and industry partnerships converge to enable sustainable chip production. 

At Siemens, we are committed to supporting semiconductor players along the whole value chain with a comprehensive platform for semiconductor companies to streamline their design processes, realize advanced chip designs efficiently, and optimize their manufacturing operations through the integration of facility monitoring and control systems. By integrating Siemens smart solutions, we enable semiconductor companies and equipment manufacturers to achieve greater productivity, improve yield at higher initial quality, enhance production sustainability, and stay ahead of the competition.    

Accelerating innovation with a smart, end-to-end semiconductor solution   

Siemens Xcelerator acts as the driving force, accelerating the semiconductor industry’s digital transformation. This powerful platform seamlessly integrates with existing infrastructure, offering a unified environment for data management, analytics, and collaboration. As a result, semiconductor companies can rapidly establish an adaptive, people-centric, and sustainable production ecosystem.   

With the Siemens Xcelerator digital platform, lifecycle management for semiconductors can connect every aspect of semiconductor manufacturing processes to establish a flexible plant where all product information and design data and all lifecycle supporting collateral are tied to critical processes and tasks from requirements to final delivered chip. 

Advancing digitalization throughout the enterprise transforms you into a digital entity, offering unprecedented connectivity across business and technical processes. This transformation enables efficient sustainability management, ensures compliance and verification, secures sustainable suppliers, and facilitates material traceability. Ultimately, it guarantees the integration of sustainable practices throughout the entire lifecycle. This enables the optimization of logistics networks and paves the way for creating a secure, collaborative, and sustainable ecosystem. 

“Not only will these digitalized processes help optimize the sustainability of supply chains for a product, the transparency of the data can also incentivize suppliers in the network to improve their own sustainability and seek further carbon-conscious production methods.”* 

– Eryn Devola, Vice President of Sustainability, Siemens Digital Industries Software 

Towards an adaptive semiconductor production     

As part of Siemens Xcelerator, Industrial Operations X provides a continuously growing, interoperable portfolio to help make your semiconductor production process more flexible, autonomous and people-centric. With Industrial Operations X, Siemens is consistently integrating IT and software capabilities into the world of automation. It integrates cutting-edge IT, AI, and modular solutions, empowering plants to adjust rapidly to market demands. User-friendly interfaces enable diverse teams to optimize production, driving efficiency, cost reduction, and improved quality – crucial in the innovative and cost-intensive world of semiconductors. Industrial Operations X enables a people-centric production environment, fosters innovation and agility, keeping you at the forefront of advancements in semiconductor processes and equipment. As an open and interoperable system, it can also interact with 3rd party systems in industrial operations, enabling a more versatile ecosystem.

Future-proofing the semiconductor workforce

Siemens embodies a commitment to people and the semiconductor industry. Siemens virtual training solutions combined with our Digital Twins enable efficient and trackable workforce training. Our Industrial Copilots leverage generative AI to simplify tasks. Simultaneously, Siemens invests in software and automation training programs to reskill and upskill the workforce in the semiconductor industry’s rapid evolution. We provide continuous learning opportunities online, onsite, hybrid and virtual simulation. Our training programs equip the semiconductor workforce with the skills necessary to drive chip ‘design-to-production’ innovation and lead the semiconductor industry forward.

Siemens ‘design-to-production’ – going smart, secure, and sustainable 

The pathway to sustainability is empowered by smart manufacturing, with a secure and sustainable design-to-production process. This evolves into a complete Digital Enterprise (DE), integrating digital tools and technologies across operations to offer numerous benefits:  

  • Accelerated Development: Utilizing Digital Twins and data-driven insights, we facilitate enhanced innovation and sustainability practices, speeding up the development and introduction of semiconductors. 
  • Process Optimization and Quality Improvement: An end-to-end semiconductor process solution, from design to production, leads to increased yield, reduced defects, and higher chip quality. 
  • Efficiency and Cost Reduction: Predictive maintenance and optimized resource allocation significantly reduce costs and downtime, minimizing production interruptions. 
  • Flexibility and Market Responsiveness: Improved resilience and adaptability through faster production cycles and flexible manufacturing processes enable rapid adaptation to market changes. 
  • Environmental Sustainability: Sustainable practices, such as optimized energy use and resource management, foster an eco-friendly production process. 

With the Siemens Xcelerator digital platform, semiconductor companies can begin a comprehensive roadmap to achieving a smart, secure, and sustainable design-to-production process for semiconductors. Seamlessly integrating with existing infrastructure, with a unified environment for data management, analytics, and collaboration, Siemens Xcelerator enables semiconductor companies to scale up while reducing environmental impact. Its adaptive, people-centric, and sustainable production ecosystem provides the agility and intelligent decision-making needed to respond and compete in today’s rapidly evolving market.  

Very smart. But just as important, sustainable.   

To discover more, read our insightful eBook, “Sustainability in Smart Manufacturing for Semiconductors.”

If you cannot see our eBook below, your device may not have a PDF reader. Please click here to view our eBook instead.

We invite you to visit our exciting Hannover Messe page to get your free ticket for Hannover Messe 2024

*Siemens Blog: Eryn Devola, Vice President of Sustainability, Siemens Digital Industries Software, 30 November 2023

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This article first appeared on the Siemens Digital Industries Software blog at https://blogs.sw.siemens.com/electronics-semiconductors/2024/04/16/toward-a-people-centric-and-adaptive-production-ecosystem/