Meeting Of Minds

SIEMENS AND MANUFACTURING TODAY SOUGHT TO ADDRESS SOME CRITICAL QUESTIONS ABOUT HOW SMBS CAN MOVE UP THE VALUE CHAIN. TOGETHER WE INVITED SOME KEY SMB CUSTOMERS THAT USE SOLID EDGE AND ASKED THEM HOW THEY MADE IT WORK TO THEIR ADVANTAGE.

Gautam Srinivasan: How does technology add value throughout the lifecycle of a product from conception to the time it goes to market? How do you better a new product?

John Fox: As a software vendor, we help manufacturers go from concept, to design, to manufacturing, to production, to the end-of-life of their products and it really starts with the digital definition of that product, which we call digital twin. That’s a virtual representation of a physical product; there are downstream benefits from that, internal collaboration and collaboration with suppliers and customers as part of a supply chain. Our message to small and medium businesses (SMBs) is that they are not too small to start taking advantage of somebody’s great digital technologies that are becoming increasingly available.

Srinivasan: You design a range of proucts, actuators, walls and pumps, and have different customers with different requirements. What were the challenges when you embraced digitalisation?

Pramod Kalyani: As you mentioned we are into product design and companies invest into products for their growth. The significant event is the time to market. When I started my company, the first thing that came to mind is that I must have a tool which can give me the speed to take the idea, communicate with a customer and get it into reality. Adoption of Solid Edge helped me achieve that.

Srinivasan: Your business caters to small and marginal farmers. How demanding is this customer category and what were your thoughts about risks verses rewards when investing in technology to improve the way you innovated and created products?