GEA accelerates digital transformation – new Software Excellence Initiative advances open-source software development

• Prioritization of open-source software development accelerates expansion of industrial software solutions; efficiency gain of 20 percent expected
• Cross-industry collaborations with Eclipse Foundation Europe and educational institutions strengthen innovative power
• GEA Chief Digital Officer Tom Oelsner: “The demand for digital industrial solutions is growing rapidly - GEA software solutions help our customers to increase the availability, productivity and sustainability of their production.”

Open source to accelerate and enhance software development

The Software Excellence Initiative centers on prioritizing open-source software development principles for all development departments within GEA. Additionally, measures to strengthen the burgeoning software developer community at GEA help further underpin the initiative. 

“Whether in food production or pharmaceutical research, we are seeing rapid growth in demand among our customers for digital solutions on a daily basis. This is why expanding our range of digital products and services forms a core pillar of our Mission 30 strategy. GEA’s progress will be propelled by the use of open-source principles. That will enable us to develop software even more rapidly and cost-effectively,” says GEA Chief Digital Officer Tom Oelsner.

By setting up a company-wide platform, once developed, quality-assured software can be used and refined by all GEA business units. To this end, GEA has published an Open Source Manifesto. This is a voluntary commitment regarding cyber security and software quality. GEA expects the focus on open-source software, coupled with the growing use of artificial intelligence, to result in an efficiency gain of around 20 percent for developing industrial software solutions.

"Nowadays, software development goes hand in hand with mechanical and plant engineering. Our digital solutions offer customers in a broad range of industries the leverage they need to improve the availability, productivity, and sustainability of their production processes. By applying and contributing to open-source software, we are both enhancing our competitive position and helping ensure software quality across the industry,” adds Tom Oelsner.

Extensive commitments and collaboration 

Furthermore, GEA has been a member of the eminent Eclipse Foundation Europe open-source platform since the beginning of the year. Under the auspices of the Eclipse Foundation, GEA initiates its own software projects in the IIoT (Industrial Internet of Things) environment and benefits from the organization’s broad digital ecosystem. GEA also intends to ramp up discussion of open-source software within the VDMA industry association and kick-start corresponding collaborative initiatives. GEA successfully presented the strategy at the VDMA event “Open-source software in mechanical and plant engineering - opportunities and challenges” successfully. The hybrid event saw approximately 30 machine-building companies discussing success factors for industrial software development.

As a first step and with immediate effect, GEA is joining with selected suppliers to open parts of the GEA Cloud® to connect machines to the Internet of Things (IoT). In cooperation with partners from industry and education, this unique project in the mechanical and plant engineering space is contributing to the availability of high-quality, open-source industrial software. More than 9,000 industrial machines are already connected to this cloud – and counting. 

As part of its Software Excellence Initiative, GEA will likewise work in close cooperation with educational institutions. For example, Kempten University of Applied Sciences will use GEA software to train aspiring computer scientists and mechanical engineers going forward.

Digital solutions record strong growth

The GEA Software Excellence Initiative is closely tied to Mission 30, which was presented at the Capital Markets Day 2024. Among other objectives, GEA intends to increase revenue from the sale of digital solutions – from intelligent assistants to autonomous process control using AI – by around 20 percent per year by 2030. As of year-end 2024, revenue of more than EUR 70 million had already been generated through digital solutions.

The surging demand for industrial software solutions in the industries served by GEA is addressed by the Company’s GEA Digital division, which currently has around 200 employees and is being further expanded.