Corporate Technology - Rolf Hellinger

Interview
Synergies: Lifeblood
of the Company
Why are innovations important for
Siemens?
Achatz: Innovations have been one of the most
important factors in Siemens’ success from the
very beginning. Our goal is to be a technological
trendsetter in all of our fields of business in
order to safeguard competitive advantages for
our customers. Achieving this goal requires an
optimal alignment of technology and patent
strategies, innovation processes, the creative
input of employees, and investment in research
and development. That’s what it takes to enable
Siemens to fully exploit the strengths of an
integrated technology company. Corporate
Technology (CT) is a key part of this alignment.
What type of added value does Corporate
Technology actually generate?
Achatz: An integrated technology company
thrives on synergies. And in order to exploit as
many synergies as possible, Siemens research
isn’t structured in line with the three Siemens
Sectors of Energy, Industry, and Healthcare;
instead, it operates in a cross-sectional and
cross-divisional manner. This allows us to
effectively develop multiple impact technologies
— in other words, those that offer
benefits across all Sectors and Divisions.
Such developments include new materials,
production processes, and sensor systems,
innovative software architectures and
processes, knowledge management systems,
and intelligent information and communication
solutions. The Siemens Sectors and Divisions
have the expertise in terms of products,
6 Corporate Technology
Reinhold Achatz heads Corporate
Research and Technologies,
Siemens’ central research unit.
Industry and Security: Innovative Wireless Solutions
Although their high data transfer rates make wireless networks potentially
the ideal solution for machine-control applications that could greatly
enhance the flexibility of manufacturing facilities, to date such networks have
been largely limited to office communications . The problem was that
wireless commands might be delayed, thereby disturbing precisely aligned
manufacturing processes. With this in mind, engineers from Siemens
Industry Automation and a research team from Corporate Technology (CT) in
Berkeley led by Raymond Liao have developed and marketed Industrial WLAN
(IWLAN), a wireless solution that for the first time achieves the robustness
and reliability required for industrial applications. IWLAN reserves data
transfer rates for critical data such as control commands, while its redundant
antennas and time-monitored signal transmission ensure permanent wireless connections within
a factory. Emergency cut-off functions can also now be guaranteed with wireless technology, as is
already the case with wireless PROFINET applications. IWLAN is based on the WLAN standard, so it
can easily be integrated into existing networks and Ethernet systems, which is why many
customers, such as those from the automotive industry, are taking advantage of Siemens’ head
start — approximately 18 months — in this area.
Many innovative solutions in emerging markets such as India are now often based on “high tech,
low cost” developments, which have attracted a lot of attention in the form of solutions marketed
by CT as “S.M.A.R.T.” technologies (see p. 26). One example involves intelligent cameras
developed especially for industrial applications such as optical product-quality monitoring. These
cameras are also being used in traffic control systems, security applications, and building
management systems. Indian CT researchers are working closely with Siemens Corporate
Research in Princeton, which is developing specialized algorithms adapted to real-time
applications and to the cameras’ “low-performance” processing. One CT project in India involves
development of optimized solutions for traffic-monitoring systems that improve image quality in
twilight conditions, among other things. Plans also call for security cameras that will use
embedded software to wirelessly communicate with one another, thus opening the door to
seamless surveillance from one camera to the next.