Siemens targets F&B industry digitalisation with revamped Solution Partner Programme

Company News

The UK Food and Beverage industry, which had a turnover of more than £104.4bn in 2020 and represents almost 20% of total UK manufacturing1, is ripe for adoption of cutting-edge solutions that will boost productivity and improve energy efficiency to help combat climate change.

Siemens, which has been at the forefront of empowering the Food & Beverage sector with technology solutions for decades, has enhanced its Solution Partner Programme for the specific needs of the sector, in collaboration with seven leading system integrators across the UK and Ireland.

adi Automation – part of adi Group, Briggs of Burton PLC, CG Controls Ltd, DPS Group, iTech Ltd, Kigtek Solutions Ltd, and Rockbrook Engineering Ltd have been selected for their specific process knowledge, technology capability and are able to deliver the Siemens’ holistic solution. 

The revamped Solution Partner Programme brings to the table the whole gamut of offerings, including automation integration concepts, process optimisation, cloud and data analytics and energy reduction initiatives. 

A key aspect of the F&B Siemens module is that it is in sync with the sector’s challenges around productivity, agility and the increasing priority of a decarbonisation agenda, which is set to attain huge importance in view of the climate change crisis and government’s decarbonisation programme. 

“Siemens’ global focus on the Food and Beverage sector is giving great insight into solving many of the sector’s manufacturing challenges,” said Keith Thornhill, Head of Food & Beverage UK and Ireland, Siemens Digital Industries. “The new expert partners will have access to this best practice and with their domain knowledge will be able to assist customers with value added solutions, driving production efficiency with the deployed integrated technology.”      

“Our portfolio covers the depth and breadth of automation and digitalisation. By combining this incredible end-to-end offering with solution delivery expertise of the solution partners we are opening a whole new world of value driven solutions in Food & Beverage manufacturing.”

Thornhill explains: “With our new module, our expert partners will get monthly solutions training based on best practices from our experiences from around the globe. This will drive efficiency into their solution delivery and have the evidence to show ROI. Our goal is to give the end customer a de-risked integrated package, that is future proof and attainable. 

“Our partners will be able to offer advanced technology lead solutions with various financial options to cater for all budgets and aspirations. This will accelerate the decision-making process,     deployment and bring business performance improvements from day one.”

The Siemens Solution Partner Programme is a global initiative which certifies companies to integrate Siemens’ technology into businesses.

Siemens works with over 1,600 solution partners in more than 80 countries, including 50 in the UK and Ireland’s F&B sector.

The systems integrators’ role includes upgrading equipment, retrofitting the upgrade and generally looking at the bigger picture, with the ultimate goal of turning data into value.