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By:
Kathryn Gerardino-Elagio
At
this year’s Siemens Realize LIVE, International Metalworking News for Asia
sat down with Suzanne Kopcha, Vice President of Strategy at Siemens Digital
Industries Software, for an exclusive conversation on the future of
manufacturing. With sustainability, open ecosystems, and digital transformation
dominating the industrial agenda, Kopcha offered a deep strategic lens into how
Siemens is not only empowering manufacturers to meet global environmental goals
but also redefining what’s possible in the era of Industry 4.0.
From
leveraging AI and lifecycle intelligence to driving co-innovation through open
partnerships, Kopcha’s insights reveal how Siemens is preparing for 2030 and
beyond—where everything from automation to innovation will be software-defined,
sustainable, and interconnected.
IMNA:
Siemens emphasises designing
sustainability into every phase of a product’s lifecycle. From your strategic
perspective, how are customers using Siemens solutions to meet global
sustainability goals while still maintaining competitiveness?
Absolutely—this
is a timely conversation. Just today, Siemens announced the next phase of our
sustainability strategy under the DEGREE framework, led by Judith Wiese, our
Managing Board Member for Sustainability.
While
sustainability is now a top priority for many, Siemens has embedded it in our
digital enterprise and digital twin solutions for over 20 years—enabling
efficiency through lightweighting, better manufacturability, and optimised
performance.
Customers
use tools like NX, generative AI, and our simulation and SaaS platforms to
reduce material waste and energy use. Solutions like Tecnomatix support the
design of energy-efficient processes, and we’re now even optimising entire
manufacturing facilities.
We’ve
also partnered with Salesforce to extend these capabilities into service, and
our integrated material management helps customers source local materials,
reducing emissions. In the process industry, our Enterprise Recipe Management
helps make supply chains more sustainable.
Beyond
tools, we’re investing in people. Our partnership with ABET helps certify
future-ready curricula. One major aerospace company now only hires CAD
engineers with the NX credential—a testament to its impact.
Looking
ahead, we’ll launch an (Life Cycle Assessment) LCA solution with Makersite in
late 2025 through Teamcenter, giving customers visibility into the carbon
footprint across a product’s lifecycle—helping them design with sustainability
in mind from the start.
IMNA:
How is Siemens shaping its strategic
priorities to support manufacturers across diverse sectors in transitioning
toward Industry 4.0, especially in markets that are still early in digital
transformation?
I’ll
speak broadly from a Siemens-level perspective. As a company, we’ve made very
public commitments to sustainability—including aggressive targets to become
carbon neutral across all our manufacturing facilities globally. We've built
in-house capabilities and partnered with industry to define standards for
measuring carbon footprints within our operations.
On
the software side, we were one of the founding members of the Green Software
Foundation, alongside Accenture, Microsoft, and other major tech players. This
group works to define sustainability standards for software, which is
increasingly important as SaaS and AI workloads grow and data centers consume
more energy. We’re now designing our software to minimise compute resource
demands—a key consideration as AI use scales up.
So
we’re embedding sustainability not only in products we provide to customers,
but in our internal operations and technology strategy.
IMNA:
With ecosystems becoming more
interconnected, how is Siemens supporting strategic partnerships or open
ecosystems to help customers co-innovate and drive faster product development?
To
be honest, open ecosystems are at the core of everything we do. In the past, we
talked about the three pillars of our strategy: comprehensive digital twin,
open ecosystem, and modern/adaptable solutions. Eventually, we stopped labeling
“open ecosystem” as a differentiator—because it’s no longer optional. It's a
must.
We
collaborate with a broad range of partners: IBM, Microsoft, AWS, NVIDIA—you
name it. Whether it’s industrial metaverse initiatives or Teamcenter
integrations, we work hand-in-hand with our partners. For instance, we’ve
recently deepened collaboration with Accenture, who created a dedicated Siemens
business unit because of the strength of our partnership.
This
co-innovation model is key. With many customers, we form a three-way
collaboration: Siemens, the customer, and a partner—all working together to
drive innovation. Different industries require different strategic partners,
and we structure these relationships accordingly.
Unfortunately,
not all players share this mindset. Some of our competitors still maintain
closed ecosystems and refuse to provide API access—even when major joint
customers are requesting it. That’s not sustainable in today’s world. Customers
expect openness and integration, and we fully embrace that.
Within
my corporate strategy role, I oversee our portfolio planning, including
decisions on what we build, buy, or partner for. We've mapped out domains where
we consciously avoid acquisitions—not because we can’t invest, but because our
partners are already world-class in those areas. That frees us to focus on
building uniquely differentiated capabilities for Siemens.
Open
collaboration is baked into our DNA—it’s not just a strategy; it’s how we work
every day.
IMNA:
Looking ahead, what strategic trends or
disruptions do you believe will redefine industrial digitalisation by 2030—and
how is Siemens preparing to lead through those changes?
Two
major trends are set to reshape the future: software-defined everything and
lifecycle intelligence.
The
shift to software-defined systems is transforming automation—moving from rigid
black-box hardware to flexible, software-driven solutions. This evolution blurs
the lines between PLM, EDA, and software engineering, demanding new approaches
to systems design, updates, and lifecycle validation.
I
prefer the term “lifecycle intelligence” over simply “AI” because it
encompasses data quality, AI, and the industrial metaverse. It’s not just about
visuals—it’s about deeply integrated, contextual data enabling smarter, more
sustainable decisions across the product lifecycle.
AI
won't replace humans, but it will amplify human intelligence. Combined with
unified data and automated workflows, it will unlock new levels of productivity
and innovation—potentially even solving global challenges.
Siemens
has long anticipated this shift. Our acquisition of Mentor Graphics years ago
positioned us well, and we’re now doubling down with focused investment
strategies in these areas. Expect to hear more soon—what’s coming could be
industry-defining.
