The long-established German-based automation company Kuka, which is known worldwide for its orange industrial robots and automation solutions, is expanding its software and digital operations, and establishing a new business unit called Kuka Digital.
The company’s goal is the end-to-end digitalization of a wide range of machines and systems in production, from the first 3D simulation to connectivity and data analysis through to the use of artificial intelligence.
Software is playing an increasingly important role in mechanical engineering. What used to be mostly solved mechanically is now done by electronics and the associated software.
Quirin Goerz, Kuka CIO and now CEO of the newly founded digital segment, says: “With Kuka Digital, we are expanding our offering in order to position ourselves broadly for a market with strong growth potential.
“Our customers need products, solutions and consulting approaches to digitalize faster, more efficiently and more easily.”
Kuka is working on expanding the digital world beyond robot and automation solutions and driving forward the digitalization of industry across the entire production lifecycle.
Specifically, Kuka’s digital segment is focusing on a software and digital portfolio that is not limited to Kuka robots. Regardless of machine type and man-ufacturer, customers should be able to use software solutions for their production machines and thus digitalize their production halls from end to end.
This involves interfaces, data standards, cloud integration and consulting services. In line with an ecosystem approach, Kuka also relies on a network of competent partners.
Goerz says: “We are moving beyond traditional automation solutions to become a digitalization partner for the manufacturing industry.
“To achieve this, we are using the experience we have gained in robotics and automation over decades and pursuing the goal of helping our customers to achieve higher productivity, resilience and sustainability.”
Mosaixx: new cloud platform for industrial software
Planning, implementing and later operating a production facility is a complex process. A wide variety of machines need to be harmonized with one another. With regard to the associated software, this currently still means working with isolated solutions and a high level of manual effort.
This is why, in addition to Device Insight and Visual Components, mosaixx will be expanding Kuka Digital’s portfolio this year.
Kuka says mosaixx is an “open, collaborative cloud platform for Industrial Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) and forms the basis for the digital twin with a combination of tools (software), data management, cloud computing and process understanding”.
With mosaixx, system integrators and other engineering customers have access to a wide range of software solutions for ECAD and MCAD programs, simulation, offline programming as well as virtual commissioning.
mosaixx combines this with Kuka’s many years of experience in the project business to create a future-proof and specialized end-to-end solution.
This enables engineers to efficiently structure and securely link their workflows within a project in a shared and location-independent working environment with processes, workflows and cloud storage.
Kuka says mosaixx “lays the foundation for end-to-end digitalization – from planning to subsequent application”.
mosaixx was presented to the public for the first time at a recent digital and software event at the Kuka headquarters in Augsburg, Germany.
