Airbus Selects Siemens Capital for Next-Generation E/E Systems Development

Why Airbus chose Capital

Per Siemens' announcement (January 2022), Airbus selected the Capital platform primarily because of its comprehensive digital thread and open architecture — described as "key elements that drove this selection" — along with its ability to integrate into Airbus' broader engineering environment rather than operating as an isolated point tool.

Problems the deployment targets

• Development speed: a unified design environment intended to speed product development across Airbus' multi-country engineering teams.
• Manufacturing optimization: improving efficiency of electrical systems manufacturing.
• Quality: enhancing "first-time-right" electrical harness quality (i.e., reducing rework/rejects).
• Supply chain integration: smoother coordination with vendors.

The announcement frames this against a broader industry pressure point: "increased platform performance, coupled with...more capabilities using electrical systems, have increased the challenges of development programs."

Deployment scope

Capital was selected to support E/E systems design and electrical harness manufacturing engineering across Airbus' multi-country development team, integrating with Airbus' existing Lean PLM environment through an open IT architecture supporting multi-domain connections. The stated goal is "a true, configuration-controlled, E/E system digital twin, supported by a comprehensive digital thread" spanning design, manufacturing, and operational phases.

Related follow-up coverage

Later Siemens Capital blog coverage (2023 Realize LIVE sessions, 2024 Farnborough airshow recap) continued to reference the Airbus relationship, and other aerospace primes/suppliers (Gulfstream, Bell Textron, Firefly Aerospace) have separately presented Capital case studies at Siemens' own Realize LIVE conference — see the companion note on Realize LIVE 2023 customer case studies for specifics from those presentations.