SIEMENS’ engineers and digital tools have accelerated Llandrindod Wells hydrogen car maker Riversimple’s ambition to build the world’s most sustainable car factory in Mid Wales.

Using a 48-hour virtual hackathon Siemens leveraged its engineering talent and tools to optimise design for the new production facility, which the Ddole Road Industrial Estate-based firm hope to open in Powys by 2024.

The virtual sprint redesigned the factory layout for assembly, the levels of automation, number of production staff required and shifts required for 24-7 production, and energy efficiency.

Siemens’ PLM software Plant Simulation was used to help model, simulate, analyse, visualise and optimise production systems and processes including the flow of materials and logistic operations.

As a result, the engineers were able to reduce its original proposals for a 150,000 sq. ft factory by 20 per cent and accelerate the innovative Powys firm’s ambition to start full production of its Rasa hydrogen electric vehicle in three years, with a capacity of 5,000 vehicles per year.

Riversimple’s financial director Chris Foxall said: “When we announced our long-term strategic partnership with Siemens at the start of the year, we were optimistic of the possibilities that our collaboration could bring in terms of supporting our preparations for full-scale manufacture.

“Through the innovative work of the hackathon and leveraging Siemens’ expertise in technology software and plant simulation, driven by its engineering talent, we have been able to reduce the size of the proposed factory by 20 per cent, saving significant cost from the outset and supporting our ambitions for environmental sustainability.

“It's a fantastic outcome from our new partnership, with much more to come as we pursue our goal of creating the world’s most sustainable car factory to build the cars of the future, powered by hydrogen.”

The hackathon brought together a mixture of experienced Siemens engineers and talent, facilitated by Dave Sutcliffe, head of automotive, software engineer Olivia Kelly and Elliot Bloor, a higher industrial engineering apprentice, who were both involved in a hackathon for the record-breaking ventilator challenge last year which accelerated and refined the production of 13,500 ventilators in just 12 weeks.

Olivia said: “Hackathons are proving to be an incredible method of fast-tracking ideas and turning them into solutions.

“It was a fantastic experience being part of the Riversimple hackathon and coming up with some game-changing solutions with an emphasis on sustainability.”

Hackathon participants were split into three teams focused on three areas: the composite manufacturing process, assembly and end of line and energy.

Digitalisation specialist Dan Burbridge led the composites manufacturing team, working alongside Aamir Adam, Marie Aylward and Ben Parry.

Automation specialist Fergus Sykes led the assembly team which featured Nathaniel Fernandes, Safia Patel and Ronan Goodman.

Energy engineer apprentice Harry Foxton led the team focused on energy working alongside Natalie Gristwood and Chris Sims.

The hackathon results were presented to key stakeholders at Siemens UK, Riversimple and the Welsh Government.

Reflecting on the achievement of the hackathon, Siemens’ managing director Brian Holliday said: “The hackathon was a monumental exercise that resulted in a practical design for a future factory which will produce the cars of the future.

“I am extremely proud of our team of engineers, including many apprentices and graduates at the start of their careers. Once again, we set a significant challenge to use brainstorming and development to accelerate ideas into real-life solutions, and once again they have come up trumps, demonstrating the power of collaboration and digital enterprise tools.”