Machine builders can alleviate hurdles by digitalizing their enterprise and adopting a cloud-based solution for greater productivity.
Siemens Digital Industries Software has submitted this post.
Written By: Rahul Garg, Vice President of Industrial Machinery, Siemens Digital Industries Software
One of the greatest hurdles presented to the industrial machinery segment has been the COVID-19 pandemic: from supply chain shortages interrupting the material creation of assemblies to a record number of baby boomers entering early retirement and taking valuable company knowledge with them. Machine builders juggled these woes amid rising product complexity, increased global competition and heightened threats to their profitability.
Machine builders can alleviate these hurdles by digitalizing their enterprise and adopting a cloud-based solution for greater productivity.

Tight Schedules and Changing Customer Demands
With the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and all its associated problems, many customers must change their order requirements to harness this evolving complexity. Machine builders can implement a digital tool with process, programs and requirements management. Namely, engineers can use this tool to control customer needs, while real-time dashboards and analytic functions provide more transparency into business-wide demands. By coordinating scheduling changes and their implications, stakeholders can optimize processes to minimize delivery risks and grow more responsive to customer needs.
To further drive customer satisfaction, companies can leverage these same digital tools to extend machine lifecycles; their remote capabilities make it possible to find and access previously delivered machine information at any time, from anywhere. This means machine builders can understand the specs of on-site machines and provide auxiliary services, such as remote repairs. With the ever-changing nature of pandemic mobility restrictions, remote services are still more valuable.

Modular Designs for Maximum Reuse
To further reconcile the global pressures of COVID-19, machine builders can leverage a templatized, digital solution that comes with pre-configured modules. These modules store customer requirements, the Bill of Materials (BOMs), machine models, mechatronics data and other valuable documents in one accessible location. In addition, thanks to the flexibility afforded by the cloud, businesses can readily pivot to satiate market shortages, use alternative parts, respond to staffing issues, provide remote working options and enhance cross-department collaboration.
This collaboration is essential for maximizing reuse. Defining, cloning and customizing machine data between orders eliminates traditional, time-consuming and error-prone machine development methods that rely on copying and pasting information. Automation equates to greater cohesion between departments, providing easier management of the disciplines, the ability to implement slight (Configure-to-Order) or advanced (Engineered-to-Order) machine customization and greater machine reliability. Machine reliability is especially pertinent for extending a machine’s service lifecycle—when the basis of one machine originates from a prior, successful machine, the forthcoming machine will be predictable. Then preparations can proceed to ensure optimized output.
Managing a Culture of Change with Digitalization
The COVID-19 pandemic induced new industrial machinery trends and challenges for machine builders. Yet, by arming themselves with an instant-on cloud solution, organizations can implement meaningful, cost-effective ways to tackle complexity and maximize their processes for substantial efficiency. A business must adopt a culture of change to reap the full rewards of digital cloud tools and overcome the pandemic’s challenges. This culture of change starts with integrating digitalization into every segment of the enterprise, from engineering and design to simulation and quality control.

Siemens PLM for Machine Builders offers an economical, digitalized approach to managing machines’ lifecycles. As an instant-on solution built on industry best practices, it provides an integrated environment offering several ways to optimize the machine building process for optimum efficiency.
Siemens Digital Industries Software is driving transformation to enable a digital enterprise where engineering, manufacturing and electronics design meet tomorrow. Xcelerator, the comprehensive and integrated portfolio of software and services from Siemens Digital Industries Software, helps companies of all sizes create and leverage a comprehensive digital twin that provides organizations with new insights, opportunities and levels of automation to drive innovation.
When machine builders shoot for the moon, they are guaranteed to land among the stars—a small digital investment for a company is one giant leap forward for its business. To see how PLM for Machine Builders can enhance businesses, click here.