On April 24th, the third Siemens NI Technology event occurred in Nuremberg, offering a platform for insightful discussions on standardizing workflows and improving team collaboration. Amidst engaging presentations, attendees enjoyed the networking opportunities and refreshing snack breaks.
All Good Things Come in Three’s
Cast your mind back to the breakthrough of 2023 when we broke down those silos with WUELUG18, embracing the motto “If Siemens knew what Siemens knows”. The resounding success of our collaboration with LabVIEW enthusiasts and various Siemens partners prompted NI to invite us to orchestrate another exclusive gathering together with them catering specifically to Siemens.
So the following November we met again at Sheraton Carlton Hotel in Nuremberg delving into topics like Continuous Integration, Configuration and Data-Management, Lean Manufacturing and many more.
Fast forward to last Wednesday, we found ourselves in the midst of our lovely Siemens community for a third time, again sharing the organisation efforts with NI. This exclusive event gave us invaluable insights into standardization of workflows, emphasizing its role in driving efficiency and collaboration across teams.
Give us The Insights
The agenda included speakers from different teams at Siemens, test experts and engineers from NI sharing their expertise. Jörg (HSE) kicked off the event with an introduction to improving team collaboration and efficiency through standardized workflows.
Then he presented the crowd with a very strong thesis, namely that standardized workflows help with improving the efficiency of collaboration. This holds especially true when working with source code control (SSC). Because here, the lack of standards and communication quickly leads to conflicts and broken software. Thank god for Git flow, though, the mental branching model helps with finding the right place for each SCC action.
Florian Voit (Siemens Mobility) shed light on the Digital Twin concept, highlighting its indispensable role in engineering, particularly in the realm of robust testing and development. The key takeaway: simulation is poised to revolutionize engineering practices across diverse sectors.
In an illuminating presentation by Nicholas Keel (NI), we gleaned insights into NI’s evolving test software strategy, now that they’ve been taken over by Emerson. NI’s strategy is mainly geared towards seamlessly integrating tools to span various tasks within a product workflow. From test planning to deployment and reporting, the synergy between tools and the pace of development therein are poised to redefine the productivity landscape for future engineers.
NI let us in on their roadmap and R&D investment priorities for LabVIEW, TestStand, InstrumentStudio, and more, offering a tantalizing glimpse into the future of testing.
Ending the regularly scheduled program on a high note, Sacha Emery (NI) took us through a demo of an electronics function test workflow, from instrument bring-up through code module development to test execution and data/systems management. Sacha brought a PXI system equipped with different measurement hardware and a demo UUT (4 generic electronics boards) on which all the demo tests were executed. It was impressive to see how the tools work seamlessly together and leverage some interesting base technology like gRPC for abstracting and standardising the different measurement devices.
A Balanced Diet of LabVIEW, Snacks and Networking
When attendees were asked what makes team collaboration so challenging, they brought up “talking”, “communication” and “exchange” many times. So, of course, we took the many opportunities for networking as a kind of instant solution.
Between the scheduled presentations and our vibrant discussions there was another secret highlight: the finger food and refreshments our host provided for us. All in all, we look back in gratitude on a well-rounded event.
A huge THANK YOU to NI for organising these events together with us, and kudos to our main contact Stefan Landstorfer and all the other countless NI experts involved in planning and organising 💜
Bring on the fourth installment – we’re ready!