Thanks to this new integration, customers can transmit contextualized shop floor and plant data from Siemens Industrial Edge, via FFT DataBridge, directly to the Databricks platform. There, the data can be analyzed and used to centrally train AI models for deployment across global production networks. These models can then be redeployed to the edge for execution at the point of production. This approach helps industrial companies optimize their operations, reduce costs, and increase productivity through low-latency, data-driven decision-making. It lays the foundation for physical AI and future autonomous operations.
“Industrial AI only delivers value when data, context, and execution are combined,” said Rainer Brehm, Chief Operating Officer, Automation and Technical Director, Siemens Digital Industries. “With Databricks and FFT, we enable our customers to scale industrial AI across factories and plants and make AI-driven production a reality.”
Deploying Industrial AI with Seamless IT/OT Integration:
With Siemens Industrial Edge and the Industrial Information Hub (integration layer for industrial data), customers benefit from a secure, scalable, and low-maintenance edge platform designed to unlock siloed industrial data and run intelligent applications close to the production process. This includes advanced local analytics, physical AI, and closed-loop AI workflows that require low latency, high availability, and strict adherence to safety regulations.
Databricks complements this with advanced analytics, machine learning, and agentive AI for industrial data in a regulated, cloud-agnostic environment with minimal infrastructure overhead. This supports a wide range of advanced use cases, including predictive maintenance, quality optimization, energy management, supply chain optimization, and agentive AI applications.
“By combining Siemens’ expertise in industrial automation and edge technology with the Databricks platform, we are helping industrial companies bridge the gap between industrial data and scalable business impact across their entire industrial network,” said Shiv Trisal, Global Head of Market Strategy for the Industrial Sector at Databricks. “This collaboration is a critical step toward realizing human-agent collaboration in industrial operations.”
Thanks to the combined offering from Siemens, Databricks, and FFT, industrial manufacturers can leverage AI-ready production data, scale industrial AI, and optimize operations across all their production plants worldwide
FFT DataBridge: Industrial-Grade Data Flows for Adaptive Production.
FFT Produktionssysteme GmbH plays a key role in the commissioning of the joint architecture between Siemens and Databricks. As a long-standing Siemens partner with extensive experience in the production sector, FFT provides the DataBridge application, which securely and efficiently connects Siemens Industrial Edge with the Databricks platform. FFT DataBridge transmits contextualized, AI-ready production data from the edge to the cloud, where it can be combined with additional IT and OT data sources.
“Together with our partners Databricks and Siemens, FFT DataBridge offers a simple and powerful gateway to the cloud for more than 30,000 potential customers,” said Volker Stark, COO of FFT Produktionssysteme. “It’s ready to use and requires no costly or time-consuming data transformation.” "By natively bridging IT and OT, we eliminate the need for complex IoT layers and significantly simplify industrial connectivity for Databricks customers."
