Guided Tour – It’s all about digitalization

The Siemens booth in hall 11 at SPS IPC Drives is a big one, and often crowded with visitors.

It’s certainly a situation where a visitor can lose track of just what Siemens solutions are on display, and where. One good way to get expert information is the booth’s free guided tours. Each hour, our tour guides provide a compact summary of worthwhile information about Siemens highlights. We talked with Katharina Röhrlein about how she’s doing in her first year as a tour guide at the fair.

Katharina, this is your first year as a tour guide at the SPS. How did you happen to get the assignment?

Katharina Röhrlein: They actually asked me several years ago whether I could imagine doing this. I used to be involved at these shows primarily as a booth attendant. But this year an opening came up, and I volunteered. And they accepted me.

How did you prepare for the job?

Katharina Röhrlein: I first asked colleagues who’ve been tour guides for a while about how it all goes, and what to watch out for. We also get tour guide cards with all the relevant information about the various areas and products. Those give us a very good overview of our highlight topics at the booth. Plus I did a bit of cramming on the content at home – it was almost like being a student again.

How did your first tour run?

Katharina Röhrlein: Well, of course I was a little tense. But I’m used to speaking in public, so I got over being nervous pretty quick. Which meant I could enjoy the tour, and I had a lot of fun telling visitors more about Siemens technology.

What stations in the booth does the guided tour visit?

Katharina Röhrlein: Siemens’ slogan for this year’s SPS IPC Drives is “On the way to Industrie 4.0 – Driving the Digital Enterprise”. Our guided tour is also completely oriented to that concept. We start the tour with the highlight showcase on Totally Integrated Power, where we show how a switching cabinet can be produced in the Industrie 4.0 era.

Our second stop is about electric power distribution with our new 3VA molded case circuit breaker.

Then we go on to industrial communication and telecontrol: our SIMATIC RTU3030C remote terminal unit makes it possible to monitor systems even from great distances.

In process automation, we’re showing everything that has to do with monitoring pressure, fill levels and flows within systems. The new SIMATIC PDM process device manager allows people to configure, parameterize and commission devices in the field.

And of course we can’t leave out the Totally Integrated Automation Portal – the TIA Portal for short. This is where we tell visitors how easy it is to do project planning and programming in production automation on our controllers and converters with their uniform engineering framework.

After that, I always turn to the Teamcenter, because that’s where it's easy to explain how we can serve the entire value-added process with our Digital Enterprise Software Suite.

After that comes the proof: our Optima showcase. That’s where we show off all our products and solutions in a real application.

The next topic is entirely new: MindSphere – Cloud for Industry. This is our open cloud, where data can be extracted and analyzed.

In our Integrated Drive Systems exhibit we use a model from paper production to show how perfectly our converters, motors, couplings and gear units work together.

Then we go on to our servo drive system, with the SINAMICS S120 converter and the SIMOTICS S-1FG1 servo geared motor. The new 3-D model that goes together with that shows off the individual components’ advantages, and especially the advantages of the system as a whole.

Then our tour finishes up with our new SIRIUS ACT portfolio of push buttons and signaling devices, with a new design and improved quality. These buttons can be produced in batch sizes of as little as just 1, so we can respond to special customer needs.

How has the feedback been after the tour? Do the visitors ask a lot of questions?

Katharina Röhrlein: It varies. Groups of school children and university students tend to be a bit reserved. It’s different with visitors in the business. They often know our portfolio already. And they often have specific questions that we try to answer within the bounds of a 20-minute tour. If we don’t know the answer, we’ll refer them to the booth staff members who do know, and they take over.

What’s your own personal highlight among the booth exhibits?

Katharina Röhrlein: My favorites are the 3-D drive system with the SINAMICS converter and the SIMOTICS motors. And second the Optima showcase, because that’s where we prove the concept for Industrie 4.0 – we aren’t talking sheer theory anymore.

Would you like to serve as a tour guide at future trade shows?

Katharina Röhrlein: Definitely! It’s enormous fun. I’d like to lead more tours at the 2016 Hannover Messe. I especially enjoy the close teamwork with my other colleagues, and I can only recommend everybody to try it out if they have a chance.

Thanks so much, Katharina.

Would you like to take your own guided tour of the Siemens booth? Come visit us in Hall 11 at SPS IPC Drives. An Open Tour starts every hour on the hour. Get your free ticket here.

Or follow everything that’s happening at the Siemens booth via Twitter or on our Blog.

digital enterprise software suite, industry could, mindsphere, sps15