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Press Release04 June 2025Digital IndustriesNuremberg
AI-supported predictive maintenance: Siemens and Sachsenmilch are breaking newground in the food and beverage industry
Sachsenmilch produces a variety of products from milk, butter, yogurt, cheese, and dairy derivatives for baby food to bioethanol in its state-of-the-art and almost fully automated facilities. Every day 4.7 million liters of fresh milk are delivered for processing, the equivalent of 170 truckloads. It’s essential for the company’s equipment to operate 24/7 and for the production facilities to be nearly 100 percent available.
Modern interconnected machines generate vast amounts of data
The production environment at Sachsenmilch in Leppersdorf features modern interconnected machines that generate large volumes of data – an ideal setting for apilot project using Senseye Predictive Maintenance, the advanced predictive maintenance solution.
Senseye Predictive Maintenance utilizes AI algorithms to identify both immediate and future machine issues, which allows proactive maintenance to be performed and prevents downtime. This capability has proven to be extremely valuable in Sachsenmilch's heterogeneous production environment during the pilot project.
One of the biggest challenges was analyzing relevant plant data like temperature,vibration levels, and frequencies to detect anomalies early on and draw the right conclusions. The implementation process involved a careful analysis of specific failure scenarios and the integration of existing data from the control system. New vibration sensors and the Siplus CMS 1200 measurement system for vibration monitoring were also installed.
Siemens supported the maintenance team at Sachsenmilch with technical andproject management expertise. "What we like about this project is that Siemens has know-how on both the technological and the technical sides as well as in project management," said Roland Ziepel, Technical Manager and head of project management at Sachsenmilch in Leppersdorf. After being trained and the solution’s implementation, the Sachsenmilch team was able to independently continue and successfully complete the pilot.
Reduced downtime: Pump replacement pays off in the pilot project
The pilot with Senseye Predictive Maintenance has already achieved significant costsavings by reducing unplanned downtime. "We can confirm that the pilot project with Senseye Predictive Maintenance has already paid off. Detecting a faulty pump at anearly stage saved us a lot of expense – in the low six figures," Ziepel concluded.
"We’re pleased that with Senseye Predictive Maintenance, we were able to successfully support Sachsenmilch in integrating a preventive maintenance strategy in its existing processes. This promotes efficiency and competitiveness in increasingly complex industries. And the continuing development of our Maintenance Copilot Senseye is another significant step toward transforming maintenance operations," said Margherita Adragna, CEO of Customer Services at Siemens Digital Industries.
Sachsenmilch and Siemens plan their next project
Building on this success, Sachsenmilch plans to further integrate Senseye Predictive Maintenance with their SAP Plant Maintenance System, with the goal of automatically transferring maintenance notifications from the Siemens solution to SAP Plant Maintenance to improve maintenance planning.
Example of the Senseye Predictive Maintenance user interface for the food and beverage industry (Source: Siemens AG)
In addition, recommendations for data-driven maintenance provided by the Maintenance Copilot Senseye should also be increasingly utilized to help maintenance teams with their work. This is one of the ways that Siemens supports its customers in their innovative and integrated approach to maintenance in order to ensure their long-term operational success.
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Siemens Digital Industries (DI) empowers companies of all sizes in the process and discrete manufacturing industries to accelerate their digital and sustainability transformation across the entire value chain. Siemens’ cutting-edge automation and software portfolio revolutionizes the design, realization and optimization of products and production. And with Siemens Xcelerator – the open digital business platform – this process is made even easier, faster, and more scalable. Along with our partners and ecosystem, Siemens Digital Industries enables customers to become a sustainable digital enterprise. Siemens Digital Industries has a workforce of about 70,000 people worldwide.
Siemens AG (Berlin and Munich) is a leading technology company focused on industry, infrastructure, mobility, and healthcare. The company’s purpose is to create technology to transform the everyday, for everyone. By combining the real and the digital worlds, Siemens empowers customers to accelerate their digital and sustainability transformations, making factories more efficient, cities more livable, and transportation more sustainable. A leader in industrial AI, Siemens leverages its deep domain know-how to apply AI – including generative AI – to real-world applications, making AI accessible and impactful for customers across diverse industries. Siemens also owns a majority stake in the publicly listed company Siemens Healthineers, a leading global medical technology provider pioneering breakthroughs in healthcare. For everyone. Everywhere. Sustainably.
In fiscal 2024, which ended on September 30, 2024, the Siemens Group generated revenue of €75.9 billion and net income of €9.0 billion. As of September 30, 2024, the company employed around 312,000 people worldwide on the basis of continuing operations. Further information is available on the Internet at www.siemens.com.