Siemens
Siemens and Microsoft scale Industrial Copilot, with thyssenkrupp first to roll out
Siemens and Microsoft reported in October 2024 that more than 100 companies use the Siemens Industrial Copilot, a generative AI assistant for automation engineering. thyssenkrupp Automation Engineering was named as the first to plan a global rollout.
Key figures
Copied exactly from the sources. Copy any figure with its citation.
What it took
Cost, team size and timeline were not disclosed in the sources.
The problem
Automation engineers write control code, build operator panels and search documentation, all under pressure from labor shortages. Much of the work is repetitive but needs engineering context.
What they built
The Siemens Industrial Copilot for Engineering is a generative AI assistant that helps with code generation, visualization building and answers from documentation. It uses automation and process data from Siemens' Xcelerator platform, combined with Microsoft's Azure OpenAI Service.
How they did it
Siemens and Microsoft piloted the copilot with customers, including Schaeffler, and made it available in July 2024. In the October 2024 release, thyssenkrupp Automation Engineering was a co-creation partner and planned a global rollout starting in early 2025. Its parent business, thyssenkrupp Automotive Technology, used the copilot for a battery-cell quality-assurance machine, automating data management, sensor configuration and reporting.
Results
Siemens and Microsoft say more than 100 companies use the copilot. They state that engineers can create panel visualizations in 30 seconds and that generated code needs only 20% adaptation. The thyssenkrupp release says the copilot is available to more than 120,000 users of Siemens engineering software. The benefits at thyssenkrupp are stated as expectations.
Lessons for your project
Ground the assistant in your own platform data. The Copilot draws on automation and simulation data from Siemens Xcelerator, then uses Azure OpenAI Service.
Pick a first customer with a real, narrow job. thyssenkrupp used it on a battery-cell quality-assurance machine for data management, sensor configuration and reporting.
Publish concrete task metrics (seconds to build a visualization, share of code edited) so buyers can test your claims.
Caveats
- The figures come from a joint Siemens and Microsoft release and have not been independently verified.
- thyssenkrupp's expected benefits (less workload, less downtime) are forward-looking statements, not measured results.
- The release does not say how the 30 seconds and 20% figures were measured.
Sources
- Siemens and Microsoft scale industrial AI
Microsoft News · 2024-10-24 · Press release · news.microsoft.com
- Siemens and Microsoft scale industrial AI: thyssenkrupp Automation Engineering the first to roll out the Copilot
thyssenkrupp Automotive Technology · 2024-10-24 · Press release · thyssenkrupp-automotive-technology.com
Summarized in our own words from the sources above. Spotted an error? See corrections.