Volkswagen opens its industrial cloud project to a whole network of partners

Volkswagen, which has partnered with AWS and its integration partner Siemens for its industrial cloud, announces its intention to integrate new technology partners in this vast project in favor of an industry 4.0. “The new partner companies will be able to connect to Volkswagen factories and bring their own software applications for the optimization of production processes in the industrial cloud,” said the German manufacturer in a statement.

The IoT platform deployed with AWS brings together data from machines, factories, and all systems across all of the group’s sites. This large Volkswagen plan, based on cloud computing technologies and the IoT, plans to connect and manage its 122 manufacturing plants and its supply chain.

Ultimately, Volkswagen Industrial Cloud will connect more than 30,000 installations and 1,500 suppliers and partners in Volkswagen’s global supply chain, he announced last year.

Volkswagen opens its industrial cloud project to a whole network of partners

Open industrial platform

As of now, eleven partners are taking part in this plan. Among the first software applications mobilized, some are working to optimize the efficiency of factories. For example, one of them makes it possible in particular to generate a digital twin in the cloud in order to simulate the deployment of capacity and the maintenance intervals of the machines by limiting interventions in the production process, presents the German company.

Volkswagen ultimately encourages interactions between cloud partners, pushing in the long term for a “marketplace dedicated to industrial applications”, says the manufacturer. “This will be particularly beneficial if the companies concerned wish to turn their software applications into market solutions”, considers the automotive group. “All participants would then be able to exchange their applications with each other, acquire applications and use them independently of any link with Volkswagen. ”

Teradata details its first use cases

Cloud data and analytics company Teradata is one of the companies supporting Volkswagen’s industrial cloud. Through its Teradata Vantage analytical platform, the publisher will provide the German manufacturer with data analysis in the cloud intended to optimize production processes, a press release informs.

“We are delighted to partner with Volkswagen in the development of this open industrial platform, working with other renowned companies and suppliers who are working to shape the future of digital production,” says Sasha Puljic, Vice President Central Europe at Teradata. “Our cloud-based analytics solution delivers comprehensive data intelligence and enables Volkswagen to fully harness the value of production-related data to improve efficiency and quality. ”

A “set of preliminary projects” is already under study, says Teradata. Among the first use cases, the solution provider mentions data analysis of welding procedures at manufacturers: welding-related data and additional metadata collected on-site are integrated and analyzed in Teradata Vantage, then classified and refined using analytical models based on several criteria. The downstream inspection processes can thus be modified according to the results obtained, with a view to optimizing the quality control of the parts.