Highlights

More quality, safety and environmental protection

Industrial PCs from Siemens – this means maximum quality with regard to innovative technology, high longterm availability, and reliable continuous operation in an industrial environment. The basis for this is our long-term competence and the continuous improvement of quality associated with development, production, logistics and field use.

Development quality

Our development teams have long-term experience. They have one goal in mind: the fulfillment of all customer requirements on the basis of maximum quality standards, with high longterm availability and stability as well as compatibility with regard to installation and interfaces. For this purpose we implement two test runs with 40 prototypes each. These include, e.g.:

Stress test for CPU, graphics, memory, drives etc.
Measurement and validation of all important signals

During the design phase, the thermal simulation allows for the construction of devices with an optimized heat dissipation concept.

Production quality

For us, maximum production quality means that we must produce modules with constant characteristics. Measures to ensure this therefore already commence when we select our suppliers, e.g. using audits and strict incoming inspections. Our constant production quality is additionally based on airconditioned production halls with a constant temperature and humidity and e.g. the storage of components in an atmosphere of nitrogen. Special test procedures are also used, e.g.:

100% x-ray test of the equipped PCB
100% test of components and lines for functionality
100% run-in test: system test of all components, 36-hour heat test at 40 °C in the climatic cabinet. This corresponds to a 6-week continuous test to exclude early failures
100% final inspection of all manufactured devices

Together with the type tests which accompany series production, our customers receive 100% functioning and high-quality products which comply with all technical specifications.

Logistics quality

With a production capacity of more than 100,000 PCs our logistics aim is the compliance with the delivery promises. Our integrated quality assurance concept guarantees that the product arrives in the manufactured quality at the customer exactly when it is required. This includes e.g. tests for checking the quality of packaging and transportation.

Field quality

Maximum reliability of our SIMATIC PCs in the field also requires optimum support during daily use. Regular inspection of the products from our production lines show that we not only observe and guarantee the CE and UL approvals, but also greatly exceed them.

Environmental Protection. An Important Aspect of the SIMATIC PC Philosophy.

Environmental protection represents a central pillar of the corporate Siemens culture already considered prior to the product's development: Based on the guidelines on environmentally compatible product design, which are specified in the Siemens standard SN 36350-1, environmental protection is ensured comprehensively for all SIMATIC PCs over the entire product lifecycle - from planning to procurement and production, sales and service, operation as well as disassembly and disposal.

Production

Hazardous materials used in production, which are currently partially still inevitable for the construction of PCs, are consistently listed and therefore receive our full attention. Besides the continuous search for environmentally compatible alternatives, many materials are already avoided today as far as possible and replaced by more eco-friendly materials. In addition, new processes are introduced to render such hazardous materials completely redundant. Moreover, all selected components for our products as well as the auxiliary materials used in production comply with the European RoHS guidelines.

Packing and logistics

The ordering process for SIMATIC PCs has been supplemented by an electronic ordering option. This economizes resources and additionally facilitates comfortable and accelerated order processing. So-called returnable and reusable transport packing materials are used for intra-plant goods traffic and by suppliers, intra-group customers as well as project-specifically by key customers. These materials are not disposed of after their use, but will be returned to us and reused through their integration in the goods cycle. With regard to our product packaging, our main focus lies on a high degree of stability as well as on the complete and easy recyclability of all packing materials. The reduction of the enclosed product documents to a minimum represents a further measure for saving resources and waste.

Our products' delivery is oriented towards optimum utilization of the available transport resources. Whenever possible, our products are delivered directly from our regional delivery center and our Karlsruhe production plant. To exploit the synergies of collective deliveries and for our products' global delivery, shipping is effected via our main delivery center in Nuremberg. Standard logistic routes and transport partners characterized by maximum efficiency are employed for the majority of deliveries, which also marks an active contribution to reducing CO2 emissions.

Operation

Our SIMATIC PCs are not only characterized by their high performance, ruggedness and system availability, but also by a particularly long service life. This may considerably prolong the interval until the next replacement investment. Yet, the longer lifecycle not only saves costs and expenditures, but also reduces the resources required for new products and the waste produced by disposed devices. This is an additional contribution to environmental protection.

Also the environmental effects during ongoing operation were reduced to a minimum despite the products' high industrial standard. Almost all SIMATIC PCs are equipped with modern, energy-saving mobile processors for manageable energy costs and maximum industrial functionality. With the SIMATIC Microbox PC, this concept, combined with the elimination of fans and hard disks, ensures operation as quiet as a whisper. The SIMATIC Rack PCs with Windows operating system support the wake on LAN functionality, which facilitates the option of centrally controlled and coordinated start-up, e.g. of computers which are switched off during the weekend, which provides further potentials for energy saving.

Disposal

We know that even the best industrial PC will have to be replaced at some stage. To make reuse and disposal as easy as possible, these aspects are already considered during the devices' development.