Using PLM and MOM systems to accelerate lithium-ion battery materials development by 25 percent

New standards reshape the battery landscape

The introduction of new national standards and growing demand are accelerating a threefold transformation in the lithium-ion battery industry, reshaping technology pathways, market structures and the broader industrial ecosystem. At the center of this transformation are cathode materials. Their performance defines energy density, safety and cycle life – the core indicators of battery performance. Cathode materials also set the ceiling for technological innovation across the value chain and determine the potential for new applications. In the race for lithium, cathode materials are the decisive factor.

Using digital transformation to drive competitiveness

Easpring, the first Chinese company to go public with lithium battery cathode materials as its core business, supplies leading battery manufacturers and automakers in China, Japan, South Korea, Europe and the United States. Its products are widely used in mobility, energy storage and consumer electronics. Facing intensifying global competition, the company is strengthening its position by establishing research and development (R&D) and manufacturing platforms aligned with international standards, accelerating its journey toward digitalized R&D and smart manufacturing.

Turning complexity into transparency

Industrial-scale cathode production is complex, and includes multiple process steps, intricate synthesis routes and uncompromising requirements for controlling temperature, environment and impurities. With decades of experience in the battery and energy industries, Siemens combines domain expertise with proven best practices. Its digitalized R&D processes, lean manufacturing and advanced automation solutions directly address these challenges, helping Easpring implement a transparent digital closed loop that integrates recipe management, project management and manufacturing execution. This capability strengthens the company’s foundation for sustainable competitiveness.

“Easpring’s goals are clear: technological leadership, global expansion and sustainable development,” says Guan Zhibo, chief executive officer (CEO). “Siemens’ solutions cover the entire lifecycle, from R&D to manufacturing, making our R&D more efficient, our production more stable and our supply chain more collaborative.

“Simply put, Siemens helps us innovate faster and deliver more reliably, directly enhancing our market competitiveness.”

Accelerating R&D efficiency

The genetic code of battery material performance lies in precisely designed formulations. But when recipe data is managed in a fragmented way and shared via traditional documents, version confusion and poor traceability become bottlenecks that constrain R&D efficiency. With Siemens’ Opcenter™ Research, Development and Laboratory (RD&L) software, Easpring applies data-driven recipe management to improve both the quality and speed of material innovation.

Using specification management in Opcenter RD&L enables Easpring to quickly create data templates for raw materials, intermediates and finished products. Flexible configuration and version control simplify adapting different material and product types, reducing management complexity.

Using genealogy and access control deliver traceability, data integrity and consistency across R&D experiments. Researchers can easily locate and reuse information, improving decision-making and accelerating development cycles.

Using configurable product setup empowers information technology (IT) teams to quickly respond to business requirements, while maintaining scalability and reliable system operations.

Leveraging the structured and standardized recipe data management in Opcenter RD&L, Easpring makes sure that critical R&D data remains accurate, complete and reliable. A centralized database that captures both successful and failed experiments prevents duplicating effort and supports continuous process optimization, acting as an accelerator for faster, smarter material development.

The efficiency gains positioned Easpring with a strong early advantage. Yet Easpring soon realized that lasting competitiveness depends not only on speed, but also on stability, turning scattered results into reusable knowledge assets so that became the next critical step.

Turning knowledge into assets

In today’s highly competitive landscape, effective project management is critical to accelerate technology iteration, improve product quality and control costs. Yet without integrated oversight, many enterprises still store raw material and product data in isolated documents. This makes it difficult to extract critical insights, prevent the creation of a unified R&D data source and leave formulations and research outcomes unable to evolve into lasting knowledge assets. The result is wasted disposable knowledge and a bottleneck that limits long-term capability building.

Building on its successful collaboration with Siemens in manufacturing operations management (MOM) and recognizing Siemens’ comprehensive digital thread portfolio and proven industry expertise, Easpring expanded its adoption of Teamcenter® software, Siemens’ product lifecycle management (PLM) platform, to drive collaborative management in both material and equipment development. Opcenter and Teamcenter are part of the Siemens Xcelerator business platform of software, hardware and services.

With Teamcenter, Easpring unifies project management, quality management, change management, configuration management and design and process data management. Integrated with Opcenter RD&L, Teamcenter recipe data is centrally managed, securely shared and consistently traceable. Implementation consultants worked closely with business and IT teams to ensure agile deployment and rapid iterations. Built on a stable, open and configurable platform, the solution minimized the need for customization and
reduced complexity.

“With Siemens’ PLM and MOM solutions, we’ve integrated previously scattered recipe, process and manufacturing data into a unified digital thread,” says Zheng Chuanwei, dean of the Easpring Engineering Research Institute.

“End-to-end digitalization makes our R&D more efficient and reliable. This shortens development cycles by 8 percent, accelerates recipe development by 25 percent and reduces testing and validation costs by 18 percent.”

With R&D efficiency enhanced and knowledge assets systematically captured, Easpring is now shifting focus to manufacturing, ensuring that research outcomes translate into stable, high-performance production backed by end-to-end quality control for consistency and reliability.

Synchronizing production and quality

In cathode material production, the smallest deviation can mean the difference between success and costly waste. To achieve high performance at scale, manufacturers need end-to-end visibility, lean process management and complete batch traceability, delivering production and quality that are fully synchronized.

Easpring first tried to control its processes with a custom-built manufacturing execution system (MES), but the approach did not deliver the efficiency and transparency the business needed. The company turned to Opcenter for production management. The solution stood out with flexible modeling, data-driven control, low-code configurability, simplified operations and full traceability. Flexible process modeling makes it easy to define step-level workflows and ensure process transparency. Out-of-the-box integration connects upstream and downstream processes, automation and IT systems, unifying data and business flows.

Mendix low-code capabilities let users extend functionality quickly to meet evolving needs. Multi-site management simplifies IT operations and strengthens enterprise-wide control.

With Opcenter, Easpring improved process precision, quality consistency and batch genealogy. Vertical integration of process, manufacturing and automation systems enabled data-driven operations with day-to-day accountability. At the same time, IT/operations technology (OT) integration bridged business systems such as enterprise resource planning (ERP), warehouse management system (WMS) and laboratory information management system (LIMS) with shop floor systems, including the batch, programming logic controller (PLC) and distributed control systems (DCS), creating a seamless digital thread that unites planning with execution.

Vertical integration links R&D, process, manufacturing, and automation in a closed data loop. Horizontal integration connects planning, logistics, warehousing, equipment control and quality inspection.

At the execution layer, Siemens PLC and DCS solutions deliver stable operation of critical processes, precise parameter control and consistent product quality.

“With Siemens’ MOM platform combined with IT/OT integration and automation solutions, we have achieved truly datadriven manufacturing,” says Liu Changwei, executive director and general manager of Easpring’s Changzhou plant. “Material scrap is down 15 percent, production efficiency is up 6 percent and equipment use is up 7 percent, all while ensuring higher product quality and consistency.”

Building future competitiveness together

Industry analysts project that by 2027, China’s cathode material market will reach $33 billion in sales and $38 billion in production, growing at a compound annual rate of 21 percent. In this environment, where opportunities and challenges are tightly intertwined, Easpring is pursuing a dual strategy: executing pragmatic measures to win today while leveraging its expertise in cathode materials to lead tomorrow.

Siemens is partnering with Easpring to accelerate this journey. With a digital solutions portfolio that spans R&D to manufacturing – supported by expert services and continuous collaboration – Siemens is helping Easpring build a lighthouse factory, advance digital transformation and strengthen its global footprint. Together, the two companies are not only reinforcing Easpring’s core competitiveness but also driving momentum across the new energy materials industry.

“Looking ahead, we hope to deepen cooperation with Siemens in more areas, from advanced R&D platforms and digital twin driven multiplant collaboration to energy optimization,” says Zhibo. “For us, digital transformation is not the destination, but the foundation for our next stage of global growth.”