Orisol and Siemens Showcase Industrial AI and Adaptive Manufacturing for the Footwear Industry at Hannover Messe 2026
2026-04-25
2026/04/20 ~ 2026/04/24
Hannover Messe 2026, one of the world's largest and most influential industrial technology exhibitions, brought together leading companies from the machinery, energy, digital technology, and manufacturing sectors to explore the future of industrial transformation. Long regarded as a global barometer of manufacturing trends, the event provides a premier platform for showcasing breakthrough technologies and solutions, reflecting both industry leadership and international influence.
As global manufacturing accelerates toward intelligent and low-carbon transformation, Siemens highlighted Industrial AI as a central theme throughout the exhibition, presenting its vision for the next generation of smart factories. During a featured forum moderated by Karsten Heuser, Vice President of Additive Manufacturing at Siemens, Yu-Ping Tseng, General Manager of Orisol, joined representatives from EOS GmbH, a global leader in industrial additive manufacturing, and Vivek Kaushik, Managing Director at Accenture, to share practical experiences in deploying Industrial AI within the footwear industry.
The discussion focused on how Adaptive Manufacturing leverages Industrial AI and additive manufacturing technologies to reshape manufacturing value chains, becoming one of the exhibition's most compelling examples of cross-industry collaboration.
A key attraction at the Siemens booth was a 3D-printed footwear application developed with Orisol's technology, demonstrating a complete digital workflow from consumer data acquisition to product manufacturing. The showcase illustrated how digital technologies enable adaptive manufacturing in the footwear industry through greater flexibility, responsiveness, and sustainability.
Siemens: Industrial AI Enables Real-Time Manufacturing Intelligence
According to Siemens, manufacturers today face increasing pressure from growing product customization demands and market uncertainty. Traditional mass-production models are no longer sufficient to meet rapidly changing customer expectations.
By integrating Industrial AI with digital manufacturing technologies, companies can establish seamless connectivity between design, planning, and production processes.
During the live demonstration, a foot-scanning system captured personalized customer data in less than 30 seconds, automatically generating a customized midsole design. AI then dynamically adjusted production schedules and manufacturing priorities in real time, demonstrating unprecedented flexibility and responsiveness.
Siemens emphad that the core value of Industrial AI lies in enabling manufacturing systems to sense, analyze, and make decisions in real time, providing the foundation for large-scale mass customization.
Orisol: Evolving from Equipment Supplier to Smart and Sustainable Manufacturing Integrator
According to Jimmy Lee, Chairman of Orisol, the footwear industry has traditionally been highly labor-intensive, with relatively low levels of automation and production facilities concentrated in Southeast Asia, where shortages of skilled labor continue to present significant challenges.
With more than 30 years of experience in footwear manufacturing equipment, Orisol has evolved from its origins in computerized sewing systems into a provider of robotics, IoT-enabled digital platforms, and additive manufacturing solutions, including Selective Laser Sintering (SLS) and Selective Laser Melting (SLM) technologies.
In footwear upper manufacturing, Orisol's proprietary computerized stitching systems improve sewing consistency and quality through digital control and precise path planning. The systems also support rapid style changes, making them well suited for high-mix, low-volume production environments and customized manufacturing.
For downstream assembly processes, Orisol has introduced robotic automation through its ARCS (Automatic Robotic Cementing System) platform. The system automates adhesive application, positioning, and bonding operations during the critical upper-to-sole cementing process, improving precision and efficiency while reducing dependence on highly skilled operators—a significant advantage in labor-constrained manufacturing regions.
Industrial AI Applications in Real Manufacturing Environments
Orisol has also incorporated AI Agents into manufacturing operations to support:
- Conversational chatbot-style troubleshooting for production-line issues
- Integration of production and equipment data for process analysis
- Real-time optimization recommendations
- Improved equipment utilization and operational efficiency
- Reduced dependence on senior engineering resources
According to Jimmy Lee, AI is not merely a productivity enhancement tool—it is a key enabler of the footwear industry's transition from labor-intensive manufacturing to intelligent production.
"Siemens' products and technology platforms have provided a critical foundation for Orisol's digitalization and sustainable manufacturing solutions," Lee noted.
Through its collaboration with Siemens, Orisol continues accelerating the integration of Industrial AI, digital platforms, and advanced manufacturing technologies to drive the next stage of footwear industry transformation.
Industry Collaboration Creates a Closed-Loop Smart Manufacturing Ecosystem
The joint Siemens-Orisol demonstration showcased a complete smart manufacturing ecosystem that integrates Industrial AI platforms, footwear production expertise, and system integration capabilities.
The solution presents a closed-loop workflow covering:
- Consumer data acquisition
- Product design
- Manufacturing execution
- Production optimization
By combining additive manufacturing technologies with AI-driven production scheduling, digital designs can be transformed directly into high-performance physical products while maintaining a balance between customization, efficiency, and cost.
Industry observers noted that this model not only provides a roadmap for the footwear industry but also serves as a practical framework for other traditional manufacturing sectors seeking to adopt Industrial AI and smart manufacturing technologies.
Christine Herbst-Kubitz, General Manager of Siemens Digital Industries Taiwan, commented:
"Siemens and Orisol have maintained a close partnership for many years. Together, we continue to combine automation, digitalization, and Industrial AI technologies to accelerate the transformation of the footwear industry. The Adaptive Manufacturing showcase at Hannover Messe demonstrates the practical implementation of Industrial AI and additive manufacturing in footwear production while highlighting the strength of our long-term collaboration."
She added that Siemens' Industrial AI, IoT, and digital platforms, combined with Orisol's expertise in footwear equipment and process automation, create a comprehensive smart manufacturing architecture spanning consumer data, product design, production execution, and process optimization.
From Digitalization to Decarbonization: Redefining Manufacturing Competitiveness
Beyond automation, Orisol continues expanding its digital and sustainability-focused manufacturing platforms to help the footwear industry transition from isolated automation projects to fully integrated smart manufacturing systems.
The company integrates IoT and AI technologies into its equipment, transforming standalone machines into connected and data-driven manufacturing nodes. Through real-time collection of sewing parameters, machine conditions, and production data, the system provides process optimization recommendations and supports predictive maintenance through AI Agent technologies.
Orisol also offers several digital sustainability solutions, including:
Environmental Sustainability Management Platform (ESMP)
Designed to help manufacturers address global carbon management regulations and climate-related requirements, ESMP provides:
- Customizable carbon emission factors for multiple countries
- Organizational carbon inventory management
- Product carbon footprint tracking
- Carbon reporting and audit preparation
- Comparative analytics and sustainability reporting
Integrated with Orisol's Production Data Collection System (PDCS), ESMP enables carbon tracking from factory-wide operations down to individual production lines and products, providing full traceability and visualization of carbon emissions.
Factory Energy Monitoring System (FEMS)
Orisol's FEMS platform utilizes digital power meters to monitor:
- Voltage
- Current
- Energy consumption
The system generates analytical reports at the factory, production-line, or equipment level, helping manufacturers optimize energy usage and reduce carbon emissions.
To further strengthen its sustainability initiatives, Orisol has obtained internationally recognized certifications including:
- ISO 14064-1:2018
- ISO 50001:2018
- ISO 14067
These certifications demonstrate the company's commitment to environmental management, energy efficiency, and carbon footprint governance.
By integrating automation, digital platforms, and sustainability management solutions, Orisol is building a smart manufacturing ecosystem that combines operational efficiency with low-carbon capabilities. Together with Siemens' Industrial AI platform, these technologies provide a strong foundation for the future of adaptive manufacturing in the global footwear industry.
