The need for speed in the digital technology revolution
06 July 2018
Siemens will showcase a ‘Digital Twin’ of an Aston Martin Red Bull Racing F1 car at the Goodwood Festival of Speed (FOS)! Brian Holliday, Managing Director, Digital Factory at Siemens UK & Ireland, shares his insight.
This year’s Goodwood Festival of Speed, on 12 – 15 July, will feature the ‘FOS Future Lab’, providing a glimpse into the future of mobility technology. Siemens is present again to highlight technology innovation and sector career opportunities.
We are now witnessing significant economic shift and progress, thanks increasingly to digital technology and in particular, the Fourth Industrial Revolution.
The previous revolutions, or productivity leaps, were derived from mechanisation and the steam engine, electrification and the division of labour, and then the automation of factories with robots and controllers. These were momentous but their impact pales in comparison with the potential of Industry 4.0 to disrupt human activity and benefit society.
Billions of intelligent devices today connect to the Internet of Things and the future has already arrived with machines now communicating with each other, generating big data. New possibilities are emerging through the bridging of the real and virtual worlds. Data is this century’s new currency and our ability to turn data into value will be key to the success of business, industry, academia and governments alike.
Industrial digital technologies now enable unprecedented competitiveness for manufacturers of planes, trains and automobiles [and a plethora of other goods] in designing, making and connecting with their products. Using the virtual world to design, simulate and test saves time and money whilst improving real-world performance. An excellent example will be shown at Goodwood Festival of Speed – a Red Bull Racing F1 car together with its ‘digital twin’ will be the backdrop for visitors and budding engineers, young and old to see how Red Bull design, simulate and test sophisticated concepts in the virtual domain before making prototype parts that quickly translate into production racing parts.
In addition, we will be looking at the consumer transportation experience given the future of mobility will feature autonomous cars and services. This affects the design and manufacture of transportation spaces such as an autonomous vehicle’s interior which will likely have more in common in the future with a passenger’s living room.
Mobility providers may mimic airlines and offer economy, business and first class options but ground based providers will have more scope to differentiate themselves through tailored products and services for increasingly niche consumers.
Now this is an interesting discussion... where will personalised configuration take place? In the showroom, the factory or through Mobility-as-a-Service providers? And what will be the future consumer demands and needs?
An insight to the future can be seen in Hackrod; a company using Siemens’ Digital Factory’ tools to connect advanced manufacturing to the consumer through the gamification of design and engineering tools. Indeed, Hackrod’s ambition is to create the world’s first car designed in virtual reality, engineered with AI and 3D printed.
In celebration of Goodwood’s 25 year anniversary and bridging the old and new, we’ve partnered with Cranfield University to customise a 1965 Ford Mustang with autonomous technology and we are going to autonomously attempt the ‘Hill’ for the first time in Goodwood’s history too.
With digitalisation everywhere, the Festival of Speed will allow guests to take an awe-inspiring look into the future of technology today and I trust will help bolster British progress in Industry 4.0.
Siemens is a proud supporter of local innovation and manufacturing with 15 factories here in the UK. We have also been a key contributor to the ‘Made Smarter’ report which found favour with the Government who recently announced £20million of public funding for a North West pilot aimed at increasing the uptake of digital technologies among small to medium British companies over the next 3 years. The report found that wide scale adoption of digital technologies could boost the economy by up to £455billion over the next 10 years, create 175,000 net new jobs and increase industrial sector growth by 3 percent per annum.
With transport systems and the automotive sector being so critical to UK manufacturing, it’s really important we understand the art of the possible in improving our productivity and competitiveness through the better design, manufacture and connectivity of cars, planes, trains, bikes, autonomous drones... the list goes on...I can’t think of a better backdrop to explore that topic than Goodwood. See you there!
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