Siemens brought the first industrial NC (numerical control) onto the market in 1960 under the Sinumerik brand name, developed using discrete electronic components.
Shortly afterwards, the Sinumerik versions 200 and 300 followed, which were controls for turning, milling, grinding and nibbling, and for electro-hydraulic drives. Sinumerik 500C, the first CNC (computerised numerical control) was introduced in 1973, initially only for turning and milling applications. Inexpensive microprocessors then speeded up developments. This enabled the company to offer a DNC network for universal program management and transfer for the first time in the mid 1970s. Just three years later Sinumerik System 8 appeared; a CNC with multichannel capability and an integrated PLC. This was suitable not only for turning and milling, but also for drilling and nibbling machines. The Sinumerik Primo was produced at the same time, a compact CNC, no bigger than a shoebox, with specific functions for grinding. In 1981, Sinumerik System 3 appeared, a CNC with an application-specific operator interface and graphic programming functions.
Since that time, machine manufacturers have been able to design their own operator interfaces and add individual items, such as images and menu trees. Some 10 years later Siemens introduced the Sinumerik 840D, a CNC for the high-end of the performance range. It has a digital drive link and an open NC kernel, which enables software components to be integrated into the CNC. In 1996, Siemens launched Sinumerik Safety Integrated, the first CNC-integrated safety solution. One year later, ShopMill and ShopTurn were presented. These are workshop-oriented graphic programming interfaces which enable work pieces to be programmed through a graphic user interface.
In order to increase the productivity of machine manufacturers and users, the range was then extended to include web-based condition monitoring and mechatronic support for machine simulation and virtual prototyping. In 2005, Sinumerik 840D sl, an open and innovative CNC for up to 31 axes, and the Sinumerik 802D sl, for turning and milling machines in the lower and mid performance ranges were presented as solutions for the entire CAD/CAM/CNC process chain.
At the 2009 EMO trade show for machine tools, Siemens exhibited not only the compact Sinumerik 828D CNC and the Sinumerik Operate interface, but also the Sinumerik MDynamics technology package for milling applications. Nowadays, customers use Sinumerik to network all areas of their production operation in order to exchange data between the development and design departments right through to actual manufacture on the CNC machines.
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