Siemens and Customer Experience in B2B: Mixed Reality
In the visitor center The Impulse in Amberg, Siemens presents forward-thinking technologies for automated factories and offers an innovative blend of physical and virtual experiences.
Given the generational shift, traditional marketing and sales strategies nowadays do not necessarily yield the desired results in terms of generating new leads. Siemens introduces an approach to revitalize its brand for digital natives and other digitally savvy individuals at its manufacturing and development site in Amberg, opened in 2021. Spanning a total area of 5,400 square meters across three floors, the company showcases technologies for the automated factory of the future.
Improving production processes through AR glasses in the future
The Impulse visitor center attracts approximately 10,000 guests annually who seek insights into intelligent production processes. Visitors mostly come from various fields with diverse technical requirements in their professions. Siemens emphasizes intensive knowledge transfer through a mixed-reality concept. This emphasizes physical experiences as they are best retained by the brain. Expansion into the virtual realm also engages other senses.
Visitors gain insights into an automated electronics factory from a gallery. The Simatic control line utilizes robots, artificial intelligence, and Automated Guided Vehicles (AGVs). Touchscreens along the gallery provide information about the processes, while AR glasses aim to better illustrate production processes. Within a co-creation workshop, topics such as predictive maintenance, artificial intelligence, and robotics applications are digitally prepared to intuitively convey practical benefits.
In the Open Space Lab, visitors and Siemens experts collaborate.
In the Open Space Lab, visitors and Siemens experts work together to develop innovative solutions. Another example is Digital Twins, digital representations of machines and factories that enable faster, more sustainable, and cost-effective production. On-site guides showcase use cases and application areas of software and hardware solutions using videos, animations, or real-life examples.
Explainer videos, animations, and infographics cater to professionals from various industries, supplemented by expert lectures and workshops. The Open Space Lab offers virtual discussion rooms, co-creation sessions, design-thinking workshops, and hackathons where Siemens experts and visitors collaborate on current challenges in automation and digitalization. This participative communication approach aims to ensure high appreciation for the host and a successful experience for the visitors.
For interested visitors unable to visit Amberg in person, Siemens offers the opportunity to virtually explore “The Impulse” and the entire electronics factory. The guide leads visitors through the building and workshops in a style reminiscent of Google Street View, allowing them to closely examine the machinery.
A high level of information flow continues even after the visit.
A hybrid B2B customer experience emphasizes real-life experiences and supplements them with digital technologies. After visiting The Impulse visitor center, themes and messages are better retained and perceived as more relevant. While it simultaneously intensifies dialogue and increases reach. Furthermore, videos, podcasts, webinars, co-creation sessions, and hackathons provide ongoing tracking of the user development of their technologies.