Siemens Partners with Identify3D for Manufacturing IP Theft Protection

With an eye toward data security licensing and encryption, Siemens has entered into a strategic partnership with Identify3D (ID3D). ID3D has integrated the solutions for security and traceability of digital production processes into the Sinumerik and PLM (Product Lifecycle Management) portfolio. Data encryption, including time stamp, is already included in Siemens’ NX CAM software. Decryption takes place on the Sinumerik 840D sl.

Through the cooperation with ID3D, Siemens has secured the integrity of all process data along the entire value chain with end-to-end security solutions, the company says. With the integration of these new solutions into the Siemens portfolio, customers will be able to protect their intellectual property (IP), have their products produced according to individually defined parameters and comprehensively track the produced parts.

The new possibilities for protecting design and manufacturing data, hence for protection against IP theft, include several elements. A key one is manufacturing repeatability. Within the data encryption and decryption on the CNC, a licensing system will ensure that a part is produced precisely according to the engineering specification. Those components and entities qualified for decryption are precisely defined. In addition, the program developer can also restrict the number of parts produced by the third-party service provider, which constitutes effective protection against IP theft. The manufacturing machine on which the parts are to be produced as well as the material to be used can be precisely defined. The data encrypted from NX is uploaded to a file system, such as Teamcenter, and from there can be transferred to ShopFloorConnect, Siemens MES (Manufacturing Execution System) and similar solutions.

“Identify3D offers secure data transmission for protecting digital production designs and quality control. They are also experts on data transmission and security solutions to ensure the protection of intellectual property and the data integrity along the entire value chain, starting with the product design, all the way to the finished product. Security solutions and the handling of intellectual property are becoming more important in very different branches of industry,” says Uwe Ruttkamp, head of Machine Tool Systems, Motion Control Business Unit, Digital Factory Division.