Q: How does Siemens help make
vaccines faster?
A: You create a digital twin of your products.
You’re simulating what your products look like.
GSK is a pharmaceutical company that provides
raw material to vaccination providers. They
have to do a lot of tests and different mixes. We
simulated that with them, so they could really
shorten time to market by 20% or even more.
We make a different twin of your manufacturing
and look at how to get rid of bottlenecks in
assembly lines, how to automate manufacturing.
Once you simulate it, you don’t need to try it
and change it again. You do it right the first time,
wrap up your manufacturing fast.
Q: How does Siemens make a building
more efficient?
A: Something like 70 percent of the energy
consumption is still in buildings. Heat goes
through the roof. If you cover your roof properly,
most of the job is done. You have automation
technology, which is using every device that you
have in a smarter way. The next big thing is the
decentralized energy system. You combine it
with rooftop photovoltaic (solar cells), eventually
a (natural) gas engine, which provides energy for
a campus with a lower energy footprint. Battery
storage, fitting the whole thing with renewables.
It’s meaningless to cool a building if there’s
nobody in it. We have a software company
which is managing buildings. You just gear it for
the needs of the people who are currently in the
room or who are going to be in the room.
Q: You make high-speed rail and transit system
rail cars. Do you see growth, given decreased
mass transit ridership due to the coronavirus?