From July 16th to 18th, the 17th CIMC "Siemens Cup" China Intelligent Manufacturing Challenge Western Regional Competition, guided by the International Cooperation and Exchange Department of the Ministry of Education, organized by the China Simulation Society and Siemens (China) Ltd., and hosted by Xi'an University of Architecture and Technology, took place at our university. A total of 558 students and teachers from 120 teams representing 22 universities, including Chang'an University, Taiyuan University of Technology, and North China University, participated in the competition.

On the morning of the 17th, the opening ceremony was held, attended by Ding Shaohua, a special expert from the National Competition Organizing Committee, and the Head of Siemens (China) Ltd.'s Vertical Industry Solution Support Team, Ma Zongfang, a member of the National Competition Organizing Committee and Dean of the College of Control and Information Engineering, and Yang Caixing, Deputy Director of the Office of Innovation and Entrepreneurship Education at the university. They engaged in discussions with participating teams and their instructors from various universities. After the opening ceremony, representatives of each participating team participated in the drawing for the competition order.

During the competition, the participating teams demonstrated excellent teamwork and innovation capabilities. Utilizing their acquired knowledge, the team members conducted in-depth analyses of industrial objects, designed automation systems, and implemented and debugged them in both real industrial controller and simulated industrial environments. They also utilized intelligent technologies to optimize objectives such as energy efficiency and productivity. The winning teams in each category will advance to the National Finals, which will be held in August.

As the host of this competition, our university attached great importance to the event. Preparations began in March of this year, with the establishment of the Competition Work Committee, hosted by the Office of Innovation and Entrepreneurship Education, organized by the College of Control and Information Engineering, and supported by relevant departments. There was active coordination among various departments, and the staff worked together to ensure the successful completion of the competition. Our university hosted three categories of competitions: "Process Industry Automation," "Discrete Industry Automation (Logical Algorithm)," and "Discrete Industry Automation (Engineering Practice)."

The "Siemens Cup" China Intelligent Manufacturing Challenge has been held since 2006. In 2010, it was included in the Quality Engineering Support Project of the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Finance, known as the National University Student Control Simulation Challenge. In 2012, it became the only university student competition project recognized by the China-EU Engineering Education Forum. In 2015, the competition was designated as part of the joint funding project of the Ministry of Education's Comprehensive Reform Program for Industry-University Cooperation in 2015 and the National College Students' Innovation and Entrepreneurship Training Program. Since 2017, the competition has been included as an achievement in the China-Germany High-Level People-to-People Exchange Dialogue Mechanism. In 2019, it became part of the "National General Higher Education Discipline Competition Rankings" organized by the China Higher Education Association. Also in the same year, the robotics competition category became part of the "National University Robotics Competition Innovation Index" by the China Higher Education Association. The "Siemens Cup" China Intelligent Manufacturing Challenge is currently the largest and most prestigious national A-level competition in the field of intelligent manufacturing in China.