Siemens opened its first digital factory in Kalwa, Thane. The factory is the first of its kind to be opened in India. It is also the third globally.

The German company hopes to use Mumbai's digital factory as a showcase to sell a range of plant automation equipment and software to Indian manufacturing units.

The factory will be located on the outskirts of Mumbai and will be capable of producing more than 180 variants of low-voltage switchgear at the rate of one product every nine seconds. The plant can manufacture over five million devices annually.

The machines will rely on the Internet of Things technology, where sensors are fitted on machines and the resulting data is used to improve and track their performance.

The factory aims to provide a comprehensive portfolio of hardware and software products which enable comprehensive integration of data from development, production and suppliers.