Several world-renowned companies originate from Germany, such as the SIEMENS conglomerate. Fortunately for the members of the mission, a total of two areas could be visited and explained in depth.
Our day started by leaving the hotel later than normal because SIEMENS’ offices are located near our hotel. Afterwards, we headed to one of the SIEMENS buildings and were pleasantly welcomed by Mrs. Maren Feldkeller. Then, we had the pleasure of seeing the collaborative workspaces of the Mindsphere Application Center (MAC). It is indeed more and more common in large companies to see a change towards this type of work environment. This seems to make working life simpler, more collaborative and above all user-friendly.
After our brief visit to their offices, a presentation was made to explain to us what the MAC represents and to have a discussion on different topics related to IOT and industries 4.0. We are all well aware of SIEMENS’ role and its impressive presence in the energy sector. The company, founded in 1847, is rich in history and has an impressive experience in this respective field. The various products and services such as power plants now make it possible to collect a large amount of data in order to optimize processes, improve profitability and remain competitive. These data sets are collected and must be processed to bring out the facts and statistics. These results are therefore analysed by artificial intelligence and help in its decision-making. In order to analyze all this type of data, it is not enough simply to have extremely powerful software, but also an understanding of the field in which we work. So who better than SIEMENS to do the job of analyzing the data?
Mr. Helfried Zimmerman took the time to explain the different concepts of the product and how it works. Students were impressed to learn that according to studies conducted by Forbes in 2017, 5.5 million new connected objects are connected every day. With this spectacular figure, products/services such as Mindsphere are becoming more and more relevant.
For the afternoon visit, we headed to the turbine factory. This SIEMENS sector specializes, in fact, in the manufacture of huge turbines used in the production of gas-fired power. This plant can produce up to 25 turbines per year, worth several tens of millions each. A turbine takes about 9 months, including 4 weeks of assembly time, to be manufactured and sold.
We started this tour by visiting the part of the plant that manufactures the various parts of these turbines. Each piece is huge, so it is easy to understand why it takes 9 months to build. We saw different machines and parts. All members appreciated it, but those in mechanical engineering were particularly interested.
Finally, we visited the assembly area of the plant. It was very interesting to see the organization of the different stages of this process. Once assembled, the turbines are shipped by boat around the world.
***Unfortunately, we were prohibited from taking any pictures for both visits due to confidentiality concerns. Thank you for your understanding. ***