Text Interview: Christian Vilsbeck and Birgit Hagelschuer ––– Photography
What changes do you expect to see in engineering due to AI?
Sebastian Seitz:Generative AI offers huge potential for automating development tasks and making them more efficient. Today, we’re already seeing that recurring processes can be optimised with AI. Possibilities range from the automated generation of mounting plate layouts to intelligent fault analysis.
Rainer Brehm: Today, it’s all about how engineering tools can be seamlessly integrated into our customers’ workflows. The big challenge lies not only in automating sub-processes, but also in integrating PLM systems more deeply into engineering systems to achieve digitalisation with end-to-end workflows.
Can we picture AI as “AI agents” that are constantly conducting analysis and communicating with each other?
Seitz:Yes, that’s the right idea. AI agents are intelligent software programs that make decisions independently in order to automate and optimise complex engineering processes. They analyse data, learn from experience and perform certain tasks autonomously.
Brehm: We regard AI agents as intelligent, autonomous assistants to which the Siemens Industrial Copilot has access. They don’t work in isolation – instead, they work in close cooperation with other agents, digital systems and the user. This means we can considerably speed up the development process for machines and systems and minimise sources of error.
Can you describe some concrete use cases in engineering?
Seitz: One highly practical use case is the automatic generation of mounting plate layouts. The agent analyses pre-existing design engineering data, suggests optimised enclosure layouts and generates layout plans automatically. What’s more, there are already AI agents that provide fault-analysis support for existing switchgear.
Brehm: We also offer AI agents via the Industrial Copilot – the Engineering Copilot TIA – for automation programming. These agents can generate and optimise blocks of code for programmable logic controllers. Based on the requirements of a particular project, they analyse the best control concepts and suggest automation strategies. Another important area is predictive maintenance.
How do you envisage the future of AI-based engineering?
Brehm: In the future, industrial copilots will work more and more autonomously and will be networked with other systems to an even greater extent. That will revolutionise engineering and give companies a huge competitive advantage.
Seitz: I am convinced that AI agents will become part and parcel of engineering over the coming years. Besides improving existing processes, they’ll make completely new ways of working possible. Engineers and developers will work with these assistants to implement complex projects with greater speed and efficiency.
