Upskilling with Low-Code to Drive Shop Floor Innovation

Uncovering New Development Talent

Siemens Energy has taken a highly structured approach to citizen development. R&D Engineer and low-code lead for the large power transformers factory cluster, Franz Klammler, introduced the Guided Citizen Development program in 2023 which now has 25 members from various departments and locations.

“Guided citizen development is so important because we have a lot of internal processes when it comes to cybersecurity, compliance, and data privacy,” said Franz.

This program has buy-in from the highest levels of the organization, including Siemens Energy CIO, Kian Mossanen, who said that “citizen development is a cornerstone of our digital transformation strategy.”

Franz coordinated roadshows for factory employees, showcasing applications that had been built and promoting the possibilities of low-code. During one of these roadshows in early 2023, Mario – who has worked at Siemens Energy for nine years – had a lightbulb moment.

Franz convinced Mario to participate in an upcoming internal Mendix hackathon and work on a real use case. Before the hackathon, Mario had no prior experience coding, and showed up having just completed the Mendix Academy beginner course.

“The good thing about the hackathon was that Franz told me I should come with my own idea of what I could do with Mendix,” said Mario.

There was still a learning curve for Mario as he learned how to use the Mendix platform. However, with Franz’s guidance, the support of the Mendix community, and encouragement from his leaders, Mario took his application from a hackathon idea to one that is now used daily on the shop floor in Weiz.

Mario’s advice for other non-technical people who are interested in low-code and making a difference with Mendix: “Don’t be afraid. It’s easy to learn, and you can learn by doing.”

Transforming Production Processes

Mario’s idea was to allow shop floor employees to more easily schedule and track maintenance tasks. This came to life in the INS application, which has grown to include 3 modules that manage product cutting, deliveries, and robotic assembly.

Mario saw a huge area of opportunity in the material cutting process, where a desktop computer sat unused next to the cutting machine for five years. Instead, requesters would open an Excel sheet, fill in a series of fields, print it out, and then bring the hard copy to the machine operator.

“That piece of paper could get lost frequently, and five days later someone would come back looking for their components, and there was no record that it had been requested,” he said. This then doubled the amount of work to create the request and set back delivery timelines.

Upon entering the new cutting application, users can see a list of requests and add their own, indicating the correct machine, department, and delivery date for the component.

For requesters, the application has made it more efficient to create similar orders as they can duplicate at the click of a button. Machine operators can better prioritize orders and deliver them more efficiently. Orders are sorted by the delivery date of the component, instead of which request is at the top of the paper pile.

“The operator can also sort by the thickness of the material, so multiple components that are the same thickness can just be cut at the same time instead of adjusting back and forth between every order,” said Mario.

A process that used to take 10 minutes can now be done in just a few. The team is using the desktop computer, and even ordering tablets to run Mario’s applications and further eliminate the use of paper across the plant.

The second area of the INS application provides greater transparency into the delivery of components between departments in Weiz.

In the past, delivery details were provided in an Excel sheet. However, there was no tracking or update when an order was delivered, prompting a game of telephone between departments to figure out where a component might be if it didn’t show up.

With the delivery application, team members will log what is in the package and its destination, and the logistics department will validate when and where the package was delivered.

Team members can search the database by order number and check the status of the delivery. The last piece tracks and shows which components are being created by two robots on the shop floor.

“When you want to order your component, you just select the component, and it will create it,” said Mario.

“Every step was new for me as I was growing this application,” he shared. “By the time I hit the run locally button and viewed the app to see how it all came together, that was a very cool experience for me.”

A Bright Future with Low-Code

Mario’s innovative spirit and collaborative approach has been well-received by his colleagues on the shop floor who are now equally invested in expanding the use of Mendix.

“There are always new ideas coming from my colleagues on how to improve these applications. That is a cool experience for me, because it shows me that my colleagues like to work with the application and want to make it even better,” he said.

What started as a hackathon use case is now a suite of digital production applications saving Siemens Energy hundreds of hours of employee effort each year. Mario has now transitioned from working in production to a full-time Mendix developer with the full support of his manager Markus Schwarz.