Digitalization initiatives are becoming increasingly important to OEMs in the automotive and transportation sector. Developing an integrated digital engineering platform is viewed as an imperative to accelerate vehicle development innovation. But what is driving this activity, and how do key automakers determine the technology partner best suited to help realize their vision?
Daimler Truck is one such automaker investing in digitalization. One of the world’s largest truck and bus manufacturers, they have begun a digitalization initiative to migrate away from Daimler AG legacy systems. Daimler Truck chose Siemens as its technology and implementation partner, which was announced in a press release.
The Teamcenter solution for Daimler Truck
Siemens Digital Industries Software and Daimler Truck AG announced a new collaboration to implement a state-of-the-art digital engineering platform built using the Siemens Xcelerator portfolio of software and services. The new platform will enable Daimler Truck to explore a future of commercial vehicle innovation and the efficient product development and lifecycle management of trucks and buses and will be rolled out globally across Daimler Trucks’ engineering hubs, brands and business segments.
The new digital platform will expand Daimler Truck’s adoption of the Siemens Xcelerator portfolio through the implementation of Teamcenter® for Product Lifecycle Management (PLM), extended with Bill of Materials (BOM) management as its future standard PLM solution. This environment brings together and integrates the Daimler Truck teams’ workflows, systems and their associated mechanical design, electrical design, and simulation data. This expands upon Daimler Truck’s use of solutions from across the Siemens Xcelerator portfolio, including NX™ software for product engineering and Simcenter™ to optimize aerodynamics and thermal management of next generation vehicles.
Cloud technology enables a global platform approach
Dr. Andreas Gorbach, Member of the Board of Management of Daimler Truck Holding AG responsible for Truck Technology, said, “Our decision to expand our relationship with Siemens is driven by the ambition to create a globally integrated IT and engineering environment for Daimler Truck. This will help us to leverage the most advanced technologies to build the future of transportation and make the business of our customers more successful.”
The guiding principle of Daimler Truck’s approach is to develop key components and vehicle platforms once, then scale them globally across brands and markets. To enable this, a cloud-based global collaboration and common digital engineering system platform is essential.
Preparing for an e-mobility future
Daimler Truck’s digitalization initiative has a strategic intent to lead sustainable transportation with intelligent IT innovations. Daimler Truck is pursuing a clear technology strategy where, in a carbon-neutral future, vehicles will be powered by both electric battery and hydrogen-based drives. These vehicles are also likely to become more intelligent through increased digitalization enabling next-level service offerings, such as autonomous trucking.
Cedrik Neike, Member of the Managing Board of Siemens AG and CEO Digital Industries, was quoted on the recently announced partnership with Siemens. He says, “Daimler Truck will build its carbon-neutral future using our leading technology platform, using our leading product engineering, lifecycle management and simulation tools.”
A unified IT landscape
Dr. Andreas Gorbach, Member of the Board of Management of Daimler Truck Holding AG responsible for Truck Technology said, “A unified IT landscape will bring our engineering activities at Daimler Truck a huge step forward. With a transparent and efficient end-to-end engineering process enabled by the new development platform, we are becoming more agile and can improve our time to market.”
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By Will Haines • March 28, 2023 • Siemens