Transforming smart manufacturing in automotive with AI and Gen AI: Insights from industry leaders

Digital Twins & Smart Factories: The next evolution

At Siemens Realize LIVE 2025, we hosted a dynamic panel discussion with experts from AWS, NetApp, and Siemens to explore how cloud and AI technologies are reshaping automotive manufacturing. Led by Tarun Philar, VP of Digital Continuity at Capgemini, the session offered insights into emerging trends, real-world applications, and the transformative potential of AI.

Generative and Agentic AI: The next frontier

The panel explored the future of generative AI and agentic AI, technologies that will revolutionize product design and manufacturing operations. These tools enable faster iterations, smarter automation, and higher-quality outcomes, especially in the automotive sector.

As Rex Lam, Senior Solution Architect at AWS, explained, these tools are transforming rigid, manual processes into adaptive, autonomous systems. Today’s challenges—like coordinating changes across engineering, production, and supply chain systems often depend on sequential workflows and human oversight—leading to delays and errors.

Agentic AI changes this. It uses autonomous agents to manage cross-system processes in parallel, reducing bottlenecks and improving accuracy. Now more than ever, agentic AI is becoming integral to manufacturing—from data and insights to self-optimizing systems that adapt in real time.

“Generative AI and agentic AI are changing the way we engineer products. From optimizing manufacturing tasks to improving product design, these technologies are making a significant impact.”
— Rex Lam, AWS

Real-world impact: Success stories from the field

Rex Lam, shared how cloud and AI technologies are transforming every part of the automotive value chain – from design and development to manufacturing, sales, and customer service. Key trends driving this transformation include software-defined vehicles, smart manufacturing, and engineering Innovation.

Rex shared impactful success stories that support the tangible benefits of cloud adoption:

1. Smart Manufacturing: Cloud platforms unify factory data to optimize production. AWS-powered cloud platform connects 120+ plants, aiming to cut factory costs by 30% and reduce supply chain waste.
2. Engineering Innovation:  High-performance cloud computing accelerates design cycles. AWS helped an automotive customer moved its engineering workloads to the cloud and saw a 66% increase in software speed, improved availability of compute resources, and enhanced collaboration. As a result, this customer was able to test new concepts and bring new designs to market more quickly.

These real-world solutions prove how cloud platforms can deliver powerful ROI in a short time.

Accelerating digital transformation with AI

Dimitrios Dovas, Head of Cloud Product Management at Siemens, spoke about the rapid pace of AI-driven transformation in the automotive sector.

“The automotive space is transforming to digital very quickly, from design to production and service. AI plays a major role in cutting development cycles and delivering internal efficiencies.”
— Dimitrios Dovas, Siemens

This shift is part of a bigger comeback in manufacturing. A recent Capgemini Research Institute report shows that more companies plan to bring manufacturing closer to home – rising from 60% to 75% in the next three years. Global investments in modernizing factories are expected to grow from $3.4 trillion in 2024 to $4.7 trillion over the next three years. 

“With onshoring and nearshoring of manufacturing set to increase significantly over the next 3 years, it is driving investments in reindustrialization initiatives. We see companies increasingly make investments in their digitization of manufacturing, intelligent automation, predictive maintenance & energy management initiatives.”
— Tarun Philar, Vice President Digital Continuity & Convergence, Group Offer Leader, Capgemini

Cloud agility in action

Jesse Lafer, Solutions Architect for AI, HPC, & Data Lakes at NetApp, emphasized how cloud infrastructure enables agility and continuous innovation. Jesse explained that in manufacturing—where 24/7 uptime is critical—a secure, scalable hybrid data architecture is essential. This architecture ensures operational continuity while unlocking access to cloud-based tools that drive innovation.

Jesse Lafer shares how cloud brings agility, on-demand access to the latest and greatest technologies, and lessons learned from how other customers have solved similar business challenges using technology.

One of these examples includes collaboration for globally distributed Siemens Teamcenter end-users. This was accomplished through NetApp’s data caching capabilities between multiple on-premises locations and AWS regions. Data was shared securely and consistently across multiple locations to support both Windows and Linux end-users.

“In the cloud, you’re always going to have access to the latest and greatest technology. The cloud brings agility, allowing companies to move much faster.”
— Jesse Lafer, NetApp

AI as a copilot for change

Digital Twins are quickly becoming a must-have tool in modern manufacturing. A Capgemini study found that companies aim to boost system performance by 25%—either by designing more efficient systems or improving operations. Adoption of Digital Twins is expected to grow by 36% over the next five years, powering smarter factories and better decision-making.

The session wrapped with a forward-looking discussion on how generative AI will support change management:

“Generative AI will help accelerate change, reduce errors, and drive innovation. It will act as a copilot, assisting humans in managing change more efficiently.”

Partnering for digital continuity with Siemens

At Capgemini, we help businesses navigate their digital transformation journeys. Our deep expertise in cloud technology and AI enables us to deliver customized solutions that drive efficiency, innovation, and growth. Together with Siemens, we deliver end-to-end digital continuity through integrated business and IT/OT solutions. Our 20+ year partnership spans:
Software development

• Software development
• Requirements engineering
• Process control and instrumentation
• Advanced analytics and AI integration

Let’s drive the future together

It’s clear that cloud and AI technologies are unlocking new levels of efficiency and innovation in automotive manufacturing. Ready to accelerate your digital transformation journey? Connect with us to explore how we can help you lead the way.