Siemens strives for synthesis between hardware and software companies

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? Modularization and Ethernet in the field are often quoted as pre-requisites for industry 4.0 in the process industry. If this is the case, what are the consequences for the process control systems like PCS 7 and how do you deal with it?

Brandes: What I like about the statement is that the significant role played by communications technology in digitalization becomes discernable. Something that is not usually mentioned but is associated as an important feature is IT-Security. Every interface in your communication network is an interface which someone can use to penetrate the system. This means, with encoding and concepts we allow access or guard the access is an important pre-requisite to ensure safe communication and thus create highest possibly security. In the process industry we cannot leave it to chance when which signal will come from where. Rather, it must come in a time grid at microsecond accuracy. Questions that need to be contained especially in emergency situations. The development you talk about will not be a revolution, but it will be an evolutionary process where the communication network and its performance will play a very important role. That is why this unit which concerns your topic is an integral and a very important part of our portfolio. I don’t want to predict today how fast this described process will go on and what the end of this development will look like. But I hope that we as Siemens are a company that also influences these open standards to participate in these developments to a great extent. I am positive about it.

? You see it as a challenge instead of a risk?

Brandes: Even as a chance but more as a risk.

? Is the instrumentation as a hardware a core business in the many software products?

Brandes: Clearly, yes. At the same time I am a fan of a section of our medium-sized market competitors. I am always excited about the innovative capacity with which they invest in new technologies there, how fast they get very specific physical ideas, how fast they implement them and pair them with a very good embedded software architecture. So as Siemens, we may not be able to demand that every process instrument can only come from Siemens to integrate it in our system. On the contrary, we are open to integrating even other measurement and sensor technology. On the other hand we can also offer fast and innovative developments in the instrumentation. We will continue to do what we do well and we will be innovative even where others are better. Then again, we also invite other people to be successful together with us.

? Through acquisitions or coopetition?

Brandes: Through coopetition. The topic of acquisitions is another question which is not decided by technology alone but by financial-technical considerations. We were always well-advised to acquire small, agile companies. We are now thinking about our approach to Innovations AG. A totally new format where Siemens acts as a Venture Capitalist and the companies maintain their independence. Coopetition can be explained further in this way: As a Venture Capitalist Siemens adds convincing ideas that suit our product family very well.

? The new Siemens Business Slogan “Ingenuity for Life” sounds a little unwieldy. What is the key message behind it?

Brandes: We want to make the values that Werner von Siemens stood for from the beginning and the values that we have held close since the founding of Siemens for more than 160 years, tangible again. Inventiveness and customer orientation. And you know that it is often misunderstood according to the motto: The company is only there to make money. We translate it: No, we have entrepreneurs in the company that are really inspired by the inventiveness in the service for our customers. And so we come full circle. We want to be the innovative partner for our customers, specific to the industry and we want to find a solution for tomorrow together with the customer. That’s what its about.

? A look into the future: Who will set the pace for Industry 4.0, digitalization, Internet of Things? Europe, Asia or America?

Brandes: Through modern means of communication the topics are not regionally restricted any longer. It will be interesting to see which industry takes advantages of which concepts. Who would have thought that paper will ever be an innovative industry. We hope that we focus on the right industries, find the right partners with whom we can together set the pace and think about the regional sources we should work with. The race has begun all over the world.

Thank you for the interview, Mr. Brandes.

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