Siemens and Battery-NY are collaborating to establish a standardised automation and digital manufacturing architecture for a flexible battery development and pilot manufacturing facility in upstate New York.
The partnership aims to address one of the major challenges facing battery manufacturers as they move from laboratory-scale innovation to commercial production: the difficulty of integrating equipment, automation and data systems supplied by different machine manufacturers.
Battery-NY, a federally funded initiative led by Binghamton University, will use Siemens’ automation technologies and Battery Automation Framework as a reference for developing a common manufacturing architecture for the facility.
Creating a Common Digital Manufacturing Architecture
Battery manufacturing involves a sequence of highly interconnected processes, including electrode mixing, coating, calendaring, slitting, cell assembly, formation and cycling. When equipment across these stages operates using different control and data systems, manufacturers can face fragmented information, complicated integrations and additional engineering costs.
The Siemens-Battery-NY collaboration seeks to establish common principles for automation, equipment interfaces and industrial data across the production environment.
The objective is to create a more cohesive manufacturing system in which equipment, production processes and data can communicate effectively, while also providing manufacturers with a framework that can be replicated as production scales.
Battery-NY Executive Director Paul Malliband said the organisation began working with Siemens early in the facility’s development so that digitalisation could be incorporated from the outset rather than added after equipment installation.
He said the facility is being designed to remain flexible and modular, allowing new battery technologies and manufacturing approaches to be introduced while its automation, controls and software infrastructure can evolve alongside them.
Battery-NY has adopted automation technologies from Siemens across much of its core production-equipment landscape and is using the Siemens Battery Automation Framework as a reference for standardisation.
The framework is intended to help battery manufacturers accelerate engineering by providing a modular approach to automation and manufacturing integration.
For Battery-NY, the work extends beyond installing automation equipment. It connects machine-level controls with manufacturing data, research activities, workforce training and future production requirements.
A common industrial architecture is expected to support capabilities including:
- Production and quality visibility
- Real-time manufacturing dashboards
- Track-and-trace systems
- Material genealogy
- Equipment and process data integration
- Future Digital Twin applications
- Software-defined automation
- AI-enabled manufacturing operations
This data foundation could become particularly important as the facility moves from pilot production towards more advanced manufacturing and simulation capabilities.
Digital Twin and AI Capabilities Planned
The collaboration also creates a pathway for applying Digital Twin technology, simulation, software-defined automation and AI to battery manufacturing.
Siemens Foundational Technologies in Princeton, New Jersey, will evaluate these capabilities against real-world manufacturing challenges to determine their potential value for research and production applications.
The broader objective is to allow battery developers to understand manufacturing behaviour before committing technologies to full-scale production.
Vivek Furtado, Head of Battery Vertical US, Siemens Digital Industries, said battery manufacturing requires coordination between automation, data, software, operations and workforce readiness. He added that the collaboration with Battery-NY is intended to address integration complexity while creating a practical route towards traceability, analytics and future-ready manufacturing.
Bridging Battery Research and Factory Production
Battery-NY is being positioned as a link between battery research and manufacturing execution.
The facility will allow researchers and industry partners to evaluate new materials, cell designs and manufacturing processes using production-relevant equipment and repeatable workflows.
This is important because a battery technology that performs well in a laboratory does not automatically translate into an economically viable manufacturing process. Scaling can introduce challenges related to equipment compatibility, process control, quality consistency, material handling and data visibility.
By providing a pilot-scale environment with industrial equipment and standardised data systems, Battery-NY aims to help researchers understand these manufacturing requirements earlier in the development cycle.
The facility will also provide an industrial environment for students, researchers, equipment suppliers and battery manufacturers. Academic users can gain experience with production processes and manufacturing data, while suppliers can test equipment integration and manufacturers can assess digital workflows before deploying them at larger commercial facilities.
Dr. Sudhir Rajagopalan, Research & Development Project Manager, Siemens Foundational Technologies, said the collaboration is exploring how simulation, Digital Twins, automation and AI-enabled operations can help bridge battery research and pilot-scale manufacturing.
The focus, according to Rajagopalan, is on validating research outcomes in a production-oriented environment, reducing scale-up risks and developing a data-driven foundation for future industrial deployment.
The facility is expected to begin initial operations in the coming months.
Battery-NY is supported by the U.S. Economic Development Administration’s Building Back Better Regional Challenge and Empire State Development. The initiative forms part of broader efforts to strengthen U.S. battery development, manufacturing capabilities, supply-chain readiness and workforce preparation.
The collaboration reflects a growing shift in battery manufacturing: digitalisation is increasingly being treated as part of factory architecture rather than an additional layer added after production equipment is installed.
By establishing common principles for equipment integration, automation and data management, Battery-NY and Siemens are aiming to create a reference environment where different technologies and stakeholders can operate within a shared manufacturing framework.
The longer-term objective is to make it easier to introduce new equipment and battery technologies without repeatedly rebuilding the factory’s digital infrastructure—potentially reducing engineering complexity and helping shorten the path from battery innovation to scalable manufacturing.
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