Siemens announced on September 9, 2026, it is partnering with Battery-NY, which is a federally funded effort led by Binghamton University, in order to develop an automation and digital manufacturing architecture that will be implemented in a flexible battery development and pilot manufacturing facility located in upstate New York.
Integrating equipment from various machine builders is one of the biggest scale-up challenges battery manufacturers are facing today. Siemens is teaming with Battery-NY to establish standardized guidelines for automation, equipment interface, and data so that future systems can function in an integrated manufacturing environment. This will give battery manufacturers a guide in future so as to set up factories more quickly and with greater reliability in order to ensure economic viability.
Siemens automation has been implemented throughout much of Battery-NY’s primary production equipment landscape, and the Siemens Battery Automation Framework is being used as a standardization reference. The work extends beyond technology provision, linking equipment-level control to manufacturing data, workforce learning, research translation, and the ability to scale over time.
As per Executive Director of Battery-NY, Paul Malliband, “We started working with Siemens early because we wanted to consider digitalization from the beginning, not add it after the equipment was installed. Our goal is a flexible, modular facility where new battery technologies and manufacturing approaches can be introduced over time while the controls, automation, and software foundation evolve with them.”
Battery manufacturing equipment is usually highly specialized with different control and data systems. Information is siloed, and custom integrations are expensive. To address this problem, Battery-NY and Siemens are working together to develop a common operational structure for critical processes such as coating, mixing, calendaring, slitting, cell assembly, and formation, as well as cycling.
This common industrial rulebook supports manufacturing and quality transparency, real-time visualizations, track-and-trace features, and material genealogy. As Battery-NY’s capabilities grow, the framework additionally offers a way for upcoming simulation, digital twin, software-defined automation, and AI. These capabilities will be put to the test against real-world manufacturing obstacles at Siemens Foundational Technologies in Princeton, New Jersey, to determine research and production value.
Says Vivek Furtado, Head of Battery Vertical US, Siemens Digital Industries, “Battery manufacturing is not only about individual machines. It requires coordination across automation, data, software, operations, and workforce readiness. Our work with Battery-NY shows how integration complexity can be turned into manufacturing clarity, with a practical path toward traceability, analytics, and future-ready production.”
It is well to be noted that Battery-NY is designed to enable a transition from battery research to manufacturing execution. The pilot manufacturing facility will enable promising materials, cell designs, and process principles to be tested with manufacturing-relevant tools, repeatable workflows, and uniform production data so that teams are familiar with what is needed to scale up from the lab.
The initiative will provide researchers, students, and industry collaborators with practical experience in an industrially relevant environment. Academic users can engage with manufacturing processes and data, suppliers can witness how their systems perform in a more expansive production environment, and manufacturers may evaluate digital workflows before scaling them up.
Says Research & Development Project Manager, Siemens Foundational Technologies, Dr. Sudhir Rajagopalan, “Battery-NY and Siemens Foundational Technologies are exploring to bridge battery research and pilot-scale manufacturing through simulation, digital twins, automation, and AI-enabled operations. The collaboration focuses on validating research outcomes in a production-oriented environment, reducing scale-up risk and creating a data-driven foundation for future industrial deployment.”
Apparently, the facility is moving toward first-time operations in the next few months, and the partnership is moving forward.
Battery-NY is backed by the Building Back Better Regional Challenge and the Empire State Development of the U.S. Economic Development Administration. This is part of a larger effort in order to strengthen manufacturing capability, U.S. battery development, and supply-chain preparedness by integrating university-led research nearer to industrial systems, manufacturing expertise, and workforce planning.
Siemens brings an industrial system perspective to tie equipment decisions to manufacturing data, automation standards, implementation clarity, and a digital path that can accommodate future solutions and services.
Over the long term, a reference environment provides value by allowing common principles for the variety of equipment and stakeholders to work from, the addition of new technologies without expensive redesign, and the translation of research into practical manufacturing expertise and industry standardization.