Siemens to integrate Google Cloud’s AI and ML systems into manufacturing portfolio

Enabling use cases like visual product inspections and predictive maintenance

Siemens will be integrating Google Cloud’s AI and machine learning technologies into its own factory automation portfolio under a new partnership.

The integration will “optimize factory processes and improve productivity on the shop floor,” the pair said in the announcement.

The integration station

By combining Google Cloud’s AI/ML capabilities with Siemens’ digital industries factory automation systems, manufacturers “will be able to harmonize their factory data, run cloud-based AI/ML models on top of that data, and deploy algorithms at the network edge,” Siemens said.

Many tech-based factory upgrades have been postponed or shelved entirely due to the pandemic; Google Cloud and Siemens hope to simplify the path towards deploying advanced functionality like automated defect detection.

“The potential for artificial intelligence to radically transform the plant floor is far from being exhausted. Many manufacturers are still stuck in AI ‘pilot projects’ today – we want to change that,” said Axel Lorenz, VP of Control for Factory Automation business at Siemens Digital Industries.

"Combining AI/ML technology from Google Cloud with Siemens' solutions for Industrial Edge and industrial operation will be a game-changer for the manufacturing industry," he added.

Google Cloud’s managing director of manufacturing and industrial, Dominik Wee, said, “Siemens is a leader in advancing industrial automation and software, and Google Cloud is a leader in data analytics and AI/ML. This cooperation will combine the best of both worlds and bring AI/ML to the manufacturing industry at scale.

“By simplifying the deployment of AI in industrial use cases, we’re helping employees augment their critical work on the shop floor.”