Siemens AG’s order backlog stands at ₹102 billion (₹9.08 trillion) on increased demand for automation and digitisation, and nearly 92 per cent of Fortune 500 companies use its software, according to the firm. Companies are racing to be more flexible, efficient and sustainable, and Siemens is helping them get to market 20-30 per cent more quickly than before, Cedrik Neike, CEO, Digital Industries at Siemens, told ET’s Kalpana Pathak. Edited excerpts:
How are Indian companies responding to digitalisation?
We’re seeing a huge industrialisation push in India. We are working with multiple companies in the automotive, pharmaceutical, and semiconductor manufacturing space. I think $300 billion is going to be invested in India in EV transformation. In the automotive industry, which is going from ICE (Internal Combustion Engine) to electric vehicles, so many new factories are being built, (and) they need to be flexible, competitive.
At the same time, there’s not enough batteries. So, there’s battery manufacturing being built in the world. There’s a lot of semiconductor capability being rebuilt. Also, the F&B segment is trying to reinvent itself because of supply-chain and in terms of sustainability. In India, intralogistics is also one segment.
Can small enterprises afford digitalisation? Cost is always a factor…
In India, it’s not very large (currently) but we are seeing increased interest from MSMEs. Substantial interest is coming in, particularly, since large companies are driving it for their own efficiency. At the World Economic Forum, we looked specifically at India – what training do we need for SMEs, what financial sort of packages do we need, what do we need to do with our technology to simplify it so it can be absorbed – because, as the supply-chains get more and more digitally integrated, if you’re not capable of being Industry 4.0 standard as SMEs, you will not be able to be a supplier to the complete value chain… I think that is important.
Germany has shown it. Germany’s strength is built on SMEs much more than big companies. Big companies like Siemens are important but the capability to have the next 2-3 layers integrated is what makes the strength of the German economy.
But companies are digitising selectively. Is there data wastage?
Yes. Everyone rushed at digitalisation and digitalised the R&D or the production planning or the quality process. These were thus put as islands. You generated data, you threw it away. So, Siemens’ idea is not to have 20 digital twins, but one single digital twin, which is comprehensive, so the data flows. When you invent a product, you use the same data to plan the production process, to check if the production process produces it, and for the product.
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Revenue increased 8% to 18.1 billion euros, matching estimates, as Siemens worked through its enormous order book, which stood at 102 billion euros at the end of last year.