Code-Based Engineering Environment for Industrial Visualization Systems

Siemens has released SIMATIC AX WinCC Unified Elements, a code-based engineering application designed to bring IT software development workflows to industrial visualization systems. This tool enables automation engineers in the manufacturing sector to build, version-control, and deploy human-machine interface projects using continuous integration practices.

Bridging IT and Industrial Automation
The manufacturing industry requires faster deployment of industrial automation systems as product development cycles compress. Traditional drag-and-drop engineering ecosystems often lack the flexibility required by modern, code-oriented engineers. By introducing an IT-aligned environment for the SIMATIC WinCC Unified system, the new application bridges the gap between standard software development and plant floor automation. Released initially for the United States market, the software specifically supports WinCC Unified PC Runtime applications, allowing facilities to update visualization and control systems using structured IT frameworks.

System Architecture and Hybrid Workflows
The application operates on an extension-based integrated development environment (IDE) built upon the Open VSX marketplace. This architecture allows developers to execute custom web controls locally without relying on external application programming interfaces (APIs). A core technical mechanism of the software is its ability to generate complete visualization projects from human-readable YAML files. This permits the combination of artificial intelligence-generated code, text-based configurations, scripts, and reusable library packages into a deployable build. Furthermore, embedded hybrid workflows enable engineers to work simultaneously within graphical development interfaces and direct code editors, maintaining real-time synchronization between the visual and textual environments.

Version Control and Deployment Integration
To support distributed engineering teams, the software features native Git integration. This structural addition provides full project history tracking, branching, and merge-request workflows directly within the visualization project development cycle. Adrien Amar, Global Business Development Manager for Software Defined Automation at Siemens, notes that engineers can generate, validate, and deploy projects utilizing continuous integration and continuous deployment (CI/CD) pipelines. This IT-driven approach ensures that control logic and its associated interfaces can be managed in a unified environment, increasing process stability and facilitating rapid scaling across manufacturing facilities.

Additional Context
This section details technical specifications and competitive benchmarking not included in the original news release.

Within the industrial automation sector, the shift toward IT-standard development environments is reflected in platforms such as Rockwell Automation's FactoryTalk Optix and Beckhoff's TwinCAT HMI. While traditional Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) platforms rely heavily on proprietary, graphical-only configuration tools, these modern systems incorporate standard software development methodologies. For example, Beckhoff integrates its engineering environment directly into Microsoft Visual Studio, allowing for native Git version control and high-level programming alongside standard PLCopen languages. Similarly, FactoryTalk Optix utilizes an open, object-oriented architecture that supports C# scripting and native GitHub integration for multi-user collaboration.

The SIMATIC AX WinCC Unified Elements differentiates itself by generating complete automation projects strictly from declarative YAML files. This structural mechanism inherently supports automated testing and infrastructure-as-code deployments, allowing automation logic and visualization interfaces to be versioned, tested, and deployed using the exact same CI/CD pipelines standard in enterprise software development.

Edited by Aishwarya Mambet, Induportals Editor, with AI assistance.

www.siemens.com