Bicester's Helixx partners with Siemens to create customer operated 'mobility hubs'
Bicester-based technology company Helixx has announced a technical partnership with global technology firm Siemens.
The agreement gives Helixx full access to the Siemens end-to-end Xcelerator digital business platform to develop its manufacturing system.
Helixx's manufacturing system encourages customers to operate licensed factories, known as Helixx Mobility Hubs, to produce a range of mini commercial electric vehicles.
This 'factory in a box' idea works on the basis of Helixx selling the licenses to its technology to a customer and then providing everything the license holder needs to build and operate a factory.
Helixx CEO and co-founder Steve Pegg said: “Helixx has created the world’s first commercially viable system for a factory of the future. But Helixx is not manufacturing a product; it’s a process that can be handed over via a licence to customers anywhere in the world. It enables Helixx partners not just to make a much-needed zero-emission commercial vehicle, but to also run the entire manufacturing system and supply chain autonomously with minimal complexity.
“Entering into a technical partnership with Siemens and having access to the company’s industry-leading Xcelerator digital transformation platform is pivotal to Helixx’s strategy and a key part to unlocking global growth and supporting our customers. The partnership with Siemens enables Helixx to develop quickly and amplify efficiency, transparency and quality continuously at every stage of the value chain – from initial factory feasibility study to vehicle end-of-life recycling.”
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Every stage of the process, from each initial customer factory site survey, equipment installation, operator training, supply chain management and manufacturing to retail, productivity, service and maintenance and vehicle end-of-life recycling can be modelled via Siemens digital twin technologies and validated ‘in the cloud’ prior to realisation.
Once each customer factory is operational they will be fully integrated into the Helixx ecosystem and digitally monitored and managed in real-time at Helixx Mission Control in the UK.
A spokesperson for Siemens said: ''The approach being taken by Steve Pegg and the team at Helixx is unique to anything that we have ever seen before at Siemens throughout the entire global automotive industry. Not only do Helixx customers not need to research and develop a product, but they are also free from the cost and complexity of developing a manufacturing system. Instead, everything is provided for them through the Helixx ecosystem, powered by the Siemens Xcelerator digital manufacturing platform.”
“A modular product from a modular factory is the production architecture needed to realise the factory of the future. Siemens is pleased to provide technical support and deploy our end-to-end digital twin technologies to help Helixx deliver its ground-breaking vision and production model to reality and play a part in bringing zero-emission mobility and supporting sustainable economic development in emerging markets.”
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