Capgemini and Siemens combine to make AI industrial tech

Siemens and Capgemini have announced they are teaming up to develop technologies for product engineering, manufacturing and operations that are artificial intelligence (AI)-based from the get-go.

The goal of the products, said to be AI-infused from inception, is to connect industrial machines with digital technology, for what they jointly call “intelligent manufacturing”.

The two firms, who already collaborate, with 100 joint customers across 20 countries, said they are focused on 16 high-impact areas that can deliver outcomes in production efficiency, time-to-market, quality and sustainability.

They said they will combine Siemens’ industrial software, automation, electrification and sustainability products with Capgemini’s engineering, industry knowledge and experience in business transformation projects.

The tie-up is targeting the aerospace, automotive and life sciences sectors, as well as emerging markets such as hydrogen and wastewater.

In the UK this year, the two firms were announced to be partnering in a river quality monitoring service with not-for-profit Additive Catchments. The latter’s catchment monitoring as a service uses sensors in rivers, which feed data and AI-driven insights to a cloud-based software platform used by water companies, environment regulators and even the public.

In a 10-year deal, Capgemini is building the service while Siemens is providing digital infrastructure.

As for the so-called deepening of the partnership regarding the development of AI-based technologies between Siemens and Capgemini, Cedrik Neike, CEO of Digital Industries at Siemens said: “For our customers, Capgemini is like a compass – deeply familiar with our customers’ challenges and ambitions. Siemens provides the engine: technologies like industrial AI, digital twins and automation.”

In their joint statement, they cited Airbus, pharmaceutical firm Sanofi, and French iron and steel company GravitHy as customers who are benefitting from their collaboration.

For Airbus, it said it is decarbonising four industrial locations in the UK and the US. Siemens technologies is said to be supporting Airbus to meet targets to reduce energy consumption by 20%, and reduce Scope 1 and 2 stationary emissions by 85% by 2030, using energy system digital twins.

Capgemini is supporting that initiative, contributing consulting and project management. As recently reported in Computer Weekly, Siemens is looking at the benefits digital twins have to offer for integrators and users of robots and industrial equipment.

For Sanofi, Siemens and Capgemini are involved in the pharmaceutical firm’s roll-out of manufacturing execution systems, a programme that makes use of generative artificial intelligence to replace paper-based batch records with digital ones, reportedly reducing review time by 70%.

For GravitHy, a French iron company, Capgemini and Siemens said they are digitising industrial processes, in part, to tackle complex energy transition challenges more effectively, targeting a hydrogen production cost reduction of 10%.

Aiman Ezzat, CEO of the Capgemini Group, added: “As a leader in bridging the gap between the physical and digital worlds, we enable clients to transform their engineering and manufacturing operations at speed. This strengthened partnership underscores a shared commitment to delivering industrial AI and future-ready intelligent manufacturing”.