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Siemens and Atos: Solving Today’s Manufacturing Challenges

By Dr. Andreas Schreiber

Manufacturing companies currently face numerous production and operational challenges, from demand variability to maximizing asset value. Opcenter, a digital solution from Siemens, can address many of these. Atos, as a highly-experienced system integrator, brings together best practices and technologies that help implement Opcenter in companies’ digital environment.  Atos and Siemens work with manufacturers to improve their existing operations or help better shape completely new business models.

General Manufacturing Challenges

One pressing issue manufacturing companies face is demand variability. Factories must respond to fluctuating demand (prior to the holiday shopping season, for example) by adjusting production volume without sacrificing profitability.

Managing unexpected events is also hard for manufacturers. Consider the pandemic-fueled supply chain uncertainty endured by automotive manufacturers or the disruptions, such as rising energy costs, caused by the Russia-Ukraine conflict. These kinds of unexpected issues can disrupt production, reduce margins, and more.

In addition, manufacturing companies can suffer delays and reduced output when production assets break down and must be replaced. It is essential that companies maintain asset health and efficiency for as long as possible to avoid such disruptions.

This blog highlights how Siemens and its trusted partner in digital transformation, Atos, can address these key challenges with Siemens Opcenter, a holistic Manufacturing Operations Management (MOM) solution.

Holistic Manufacturing Operations using Opcenter

Siemens has leveraged their long history of providing digital solutions across sectors to create out-of-the-box solutions that are tailored to companies’ various manufacturing scenarios.

Opcenter allows companies to completely digitalize manufacturing operations and address their most pressing challenges. The solution delivers important feedback on a range of key operating parameters and gives executives the end-to-end visibility required to make timely, fully informed business decisions. This feedback is also key to predicting maintenance needs, a key to prolonging the lifespan of important assets. And because Opcenter offers companies the ability to plan and simulate an array of manufacturing scenarios, they can respond more quickly and effectively to other unexpected issues as well.

In addition, Opcenter’s technologies and architecture can be tailored to the particular requirements of various industrial processes. This means manufacturers, regardless of industry, can respond to their company’s specific needs and elevate efficiency to new heights. Companies that integrate Opcenter with their manufacturing operations can improve the accuracy of their cost and staffing estimations, improve product quality, and introduce and manufacture new products more quickly.

Smart Factory solutions powered by Atos

To help companies benefit from Opcenter’s robust, personalized functionality, Siemens has partnered with Atos, a world leader in Information Technology solutions and services for manufacturing that has been delivering groundbreaking digital-industrial solutions for manufacturers across a range of industries around the world over the past decade. Atos enables companies to create a clear roadmap for Opcenter implementation. They consider each organization’s systems and processes carefully and work closely alongside manufacturers to identify pain points, potential gaps, and environmental factors that may lead to inefficient operations.

Atos uses its proven Manufacturing Execution Systems (MES) methodology to guide companies through the solution implementation process. This includes identifying process changes, determining the value of those changes, evaluating costs, establishing timelines, seeking competitive advantages, and projecting the ROI (Return On Investment) of implementation.

Atos’ long track record of success is well established. In addition to being rated number one by Gartner in the completeness of vision in MOM and Smart Factory, Atos has demonstrated the ability to consistently achieve significant business outcomes, such as reduction of inventory and increased productivity. Over the years, Atos has invested in key technologies – like edge computing, cloud AI and machine learning, and digital twin, providing the mix of capabilities required at the meeting point of informational technology and operational technology.  The company provides the insight required to recognize and support manufacturing companies’ needs with effective, customized solutions that improve their business.

One-Stop Solution with Siemens and Atos

Manufacturers today face several significant challenges in their efforts to deliver high-quality products on time and on budget. Companies must adapt to fluctuations in demand that require them to quickly adjust production processes without reducing their profit margins.

They must also be prepared to cope with unexpected events. The COVID-19 pandemic and the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine, for example, have disrupted global supply chains, driven up fuel prices, and created economic uncertainty around the world. Navigating these unplanned occurrences while minimizing production disruptions and maintaining acceptable margins is more crucial than ever.

Finally, manufacturers must also contend with the impact of asset breakdowns, including lost productivity and reduced output. Companies that maintain their production assets (and thus prolong their lifespan) can minimize such disruptions and gain a competitive advantage.

Together, Siemens and Atos represent a one-stop solution for these challenges. These trusted partners have leveraged their digital-industrial solution expertise and decades of experience to help companies keep production moving in the face of uncertainty.  Opcenter offers the robust, out-of-the-box functionality required to digitalize manufacturing operations and gives executives the vital real-time insights they need to make the right decisions for their businesses. Atos, meanwhile, provides manufacturing companies with a customized plan for integrating Opcenter smoothly, considering every process and business goal on the way to greater productivity and efficiency.

Siemens-Atos strategic partnership shaping the Manufacturing Digital Future

The Siemens-Atos Alliance ensures Manufacturers have access to the most advanced technology which delivers industry-specific value such as identifying performance gains, mapping out new business capabilities, and ensuring they get actionable results.

 Interested? Listen to the recording to learn more about how to Accelerate Smart Factory programs:

Find out more on the Siemens- Atos Alliance: Global strategic alliance – Siemens – Atos

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This article first appeared on the Siemens Digital Industries Software blog at https://blogs.sw.siemens.com/opcenter/siemens-and-atos-solving-todays-manufacturing-challenges/