What’s new in Opcenter Intra Plant Logistics 2504

Enhanced transport management and execution control for scalable intralogistics

Efficient intralogistics operations are essential for maintaining smooth material flow within manufacturing facilities and warehouses. The Opcenter Intra Plant Logistics 2504 release introduces a comprehensive suite of enhancements designed to optimize transport management, simplify system deployment, improve configuration modeling, and strengthen security measures. These improvements provide greater operational flexibility, reduce manual intervention, and enable better resource utilization throughout your intralogistics operations.

In Siemens Digital Industries Software’s ongoing efforts to enhance Opcenter™ Intra Plant Logistics (IPL) software, which is part of the Siemens Xcelerator business platform of software hardware and services, this release delivers significant updates focused on transport planning, execution, and configuration. The 2504 release introduces the new Transport Request Management application that creates a pre-execution planning layer, allowing users to create and modify transport requests before execution. Complementing this, the enhanced Transport Order Management interface provides more detailed task information and improved vehicle reservation visibility. New modeling applications for vehicles, capabilities, and handling units enable precise resource definition and rule-based assignments, ensuring optimal material flow compatibility.

Benefits

Faster responsiveness to changing priorities with real-time modification of transport requests and tasks before execution begins
Reduced manual intervention through consolidated views of transport tasks, reservations, and handling units in a single interface
Increased vehicle utilization through better reservation visibility and the ability to return or reallocate transport assets proactively
Improved logistics efficiency with enriched task context, handling unit details, and high-volume filtering for faster decision-making
Support for lean intralogistics by enabling better resource utilization and reducing idle time in material flow
Simplified deployment with native Windows installation options that eliminate Kubernetes requirements
Enhanced enterprise readiness with validated, Siemens-supported builds of RabbitMQ and Keycloak

The Opcenter Intra Plant Logistics 2504 release marks a significant advancement in usability, scalability, and control for intralogistics operations. The introduction of Transport Request Management provides a critical buffer phase for planning and adjusting material movements before execution, resulting in more accurate planning and reduced errors. Infrastructure improvements include native Windows installation options, Oracle database support, and streamlined installation experiences with unified installers that combine multiple modules into a single workflow.

The release also emphasizes deeper integration, with transport services now directly retrieving resource hierarchy from MES, whether using Opcenter Execution Core in SRC mode or integrating with Opcenter Execution Foundation via the ‘Any MES’ API. These enhancements collectively deliver a comprehensive upgrade to digital intralogistics operations, providing the tools needed to manage complex material flows with confidence and fewer manual steps.

Capabilities

Transport Request management application

The new Transport Request Management application serves as a dedicated interface for managing all Transport Requests before they become Transport Orders. This creates a valuable buffer zone where planners and logistics coordinators can plan, adjust, and prioritize material movements before execution begins.

Key capabilities:

Comprehensive view of transport request details, including contained tasks
Direct creation of new transport requests and associated tasks through an intuitive UI
Modification or deletion of requests and tasks as operational needs change
Advanced filtering, sorting, and search capabilities for managing high-volume environments

The detailed task panel allows users to drill into specific information, including locations, handling units, and assigned vehicle types, making the interface both informative and actionable. This pre-execution control helps reduce logistics costs, improve delivery reliability, and increase vehicle utilization—all critical elements of lean intralogistics operations.

Enhanced transport order management

The Transport Order Management interface has been significantly improved to provide richer information and more control options for daily transport planners.

Key enhancements:

Enriched Transport Task detail panel with additional data points like last updated timestamp and associated Handling Unit information
Visibility into vehicle reservation details tied to each transport order
Ability to return or release a vehicle reservation directly from the transport order screen

These refinements give transport planners the tools to better track and manage the status and context of each task while enabling dynamic decision-making when plans change. The consolidated view reduces manual steps and provides extended support for orchestrating complex material flows.

Integrated factory configuration

Factory-level configuration has been streamlined in Transport Management by integrating it into the IPL base capabilities.

Key improvements include:

Transport services now directly retrieve the resource hierarchy from MES
Compatibility with both Opcenter Execution Core in SRC mode and Opcenter Execution Foundation via the ‘Any MES’ API
Configuration changes for transport-relevant resources managed directly through the Resource Hierarchy Configuration application
Automatic transport licensing checkout/check-in upon saving changes

This integration results in a more streamlined setup and maintenance experience, simplifying deployment and ongoing management of the full IPL toolset.

New vehicle modelling application

The Vehicle Modeling application is a powerful new tool for defining and managing both vehicle types and individual vehicles used for intralogistics within the plant. It plays a key role in deciding how the Transport Management module allocates vehicles for each Transport Tour — making sure the most suitable resource is assigned.

The application features:

Two main sections: Vehicle Types for defining standard characteristics (speed, capacity, loading/unloading times) and Vehicles for managing specific vehicles (status, names, assignment parameters)
Intuitive UI for adding, editing, or deleting both vehicles and their types, including associated rules

This module allocates vehicles for each Transport Tour, ensuring the most suitable resource is assigned. The information will also support transport optimization in future releases, enabling improved vehicle utilization, better fleet allocation, and greater visibility into transport capacity.

Transport Management Deployment in Windows

A significant deployment improvement eliminates the previous requirement for containerized infrastructure including Kubernetes.

Key changes include:

Full integration of Transport Management into the standard IPL Windows installation
Deployment of all Transport Management services as IPL microservices using a new Windows installer
Direct access to the Transport Management application from the IPL Portal

This simplification reduces IT overhead, shortens time-to-value, and allows customers to manage their entire IPL toolset through a consistent and centralized interface.

Transport Management Oracle DB support

Transport Management now officially supports Oracle Database services alongside Microsoft SQL Server.

This enhancement enables customers to:

Select and configure an Oracle DB server during setup for Transport Management services
Operate the full Transport Management stack on Oracle as the backend database

The expanded database support provides greater infrastructure flexibility, allowing IPL to better align with enterprise IT policies, reducing the need for mixed database environments, and supporting long-term scalability planning.

New Handling Unit modelling application

The Handling Unit Modeling application introduces a centralized way to define and manage handling unit types, such as containers and carriers, along with their physical properties.

The application includes:

Container Types tab for units with fixed dimensions, with fields for both empty weight and maximum weight
Carrier Types tab for outer holding units, with defined empty size and maximum size, and dynamically calculated total weight based on contained items

This modeling is designed to support future use cases across warehouse, replenishment, and general inventory management. The robust data model enhances IPL’s ability to perform transportation and storage calculations, enables better fit checks, and improves decision-making around material handling.

IPL 2504: Handling unit type configuration

New capability modelling application

The Capability Modeling application allows users to define rules for what vehicles and work unit positions can handle in terms of handling unit types and part numbers.

The application features:

Position Rules tab that defines which handling units a position supports and which vehicles can service that position
Vehicle Rules tab that defines which handling unit types and part numbers each vehicle can transport

These capability rules ensure that only capable vehicles are dispatched for a given move and only compatible positions are used. In future releases, this capability model will serve as the foundation for transport optimization logic, where the system can automatically select the best routes and resources based on capability constraints

Enhanced Position modelling application

The Position Configuration Tool has been updated to better align with Transport Management requirements.

Key changes include:

Mandatory Material Flow field when adding a position group, as Transport Management requires this for correct material routing
Improved position naming logic with automatic removal of spaces (as Transport Management does not accept position names with spaces)
Enhanced system integrity when deleting position groups or positions, with automatic deletion of related capability rules

These updates ensure that changes made in the modeling layer are correctly reflected in Transport Management, maintaining consistency across the system.

New IPL Installers

The 2504 release features a complete redevelopment of all IPL installers, significantly improving the installation experience.

Improvements include:

Bundled installers combining multiple components (Main IPL Installer, Material Management Web Application, Microservices Manager) into a single experience
Clear step counters, improved layout, and content structure for better user guidance
Enhanced help links, clearer action instructions, and flexible service management
Support for version selection between newer and older components
Modern UI with enhanced welcome screen, refined component styling, and Siemens design standards

These changes streamline both initial deployments and ongoing maintenance, reducing redundant data entry and saving significant setup time.

Support Siemens builds of RabbitMQ and KeyCloak

The release includes support for Siemens-managed builds of RabbitMQ and Keycloak, both core components of the IPL architecture.

Key aspects include:

Identification, testing, and validation of specific security-hardened versions of RabbitMQ and Keycloak
Inclusion of Siemens-approved builds as part of the IPL installer
Enhanced security by eliminating exposure to untested third-party versions
Consistent and tested configurations for better supportability

This enhancement aligns with Siemens’ broader focus on enterprise-readiness and secure digital operations.

Learn more about Opcenter IPL

Discover the power of Opcenter Intraplant Logistics to optimize your material flow from warehouse to factory floor. With real-time inventory management, smart JIT material replenishment, and special material management, you can increase line performance, maintain inventory accuracy, and ensure smooth material flow. Learn more about how this solution can revolutionize your intralogistics capabilities.

Learn more about supply chain management and logistics

A successful supply chain is not only relevant for intralogistics – Siemens has also solutions to support you with your intelligent and digital supply chain management:

Siemens Digital Logistics
Supply Chain Suite – PLANNING AND SIMULATION
AX4 – COLLABORATION AND EXECUTION
Supply chain consulting – Empowering excellence in logistics
XCargo – the swiss army knife of logistics