Siemens Simplifies Access to Software-Defined Automation with Simatic AX

Accessible to more User Groups Siemens Simplifies Access to Software-Defined Automation with Simatic AX

2026-06-22 From Siemens | Translated by AI 2 min Reading Time

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New contact-schematic programming in Simatic AX, combined with modern IT workflows, improves efficiency and collaboration for engineering teams.

Simatic AX Logic Control Engineering offers state-of-the-art IT tools for programming and maintaining Simatic controllers(Image: Siemens) — Simatic AX Logic Control Engineering offers state-of-the-art IT tools for programming and maintaining Simatic controllers
(Image: Siemens)

Siemens is making software-defined automation accessible to a broader range of industrial users and, to this end, is expanding the IT-like engineering tool Simatic AX Logic Control Engineering (LCE) with new features: contact diagram programming called XLad—the first graphical programming language in Simatic AX LCE—as well as support for the Simatic S7-1200 G2 controller generation.

These innovations combine the programming methods commonly used in Operational Technology (OT) with modern IT workflows. They help engineering teams work more effectively and open up new areas of application for basic automation projects where cost-efficiency is critical.

IT-Style Engineering is Becoming Accessible to OT Users

Until now, Simatic AX LCE was designed as an engineering environment based entirely on Structured Text (ST), which is primarily tailored to software automation engineers. With the addition of ladder programming in Simatic AX, Siemens now enables service and maintenance technicians, as well as engineers who prefer graphical logic representation, to work more intuitively with control programs. This reduces the training time, simplifies troubleshooting, and improves collaboration between OT and IT teams.

“With the introduction of ladder programming in Simatic AX Logic Control Engineering, software-defined automation is becoming accessible to more user groups in the OT world. This allows us to increasingly bridge the gap between the digital and the real world,” said Rainer Brehm, COO of Automation and CTO at Siemens Digital Industries. “This makes engineering, maintenance, and collaboration more efficient.”

Modern Software Workflows for Industrial Automation

XLad is the first text-based contact plan programming tool to be integrated into Simatic AX Logic Control Engineering. It brings software development methods—such as version control, automated testing, and continuous integration—to the world of contact plan programming. With built-in support for Git and CI/CD workflows (Continuous Integration and Continuous Delivery/Deployment), users can manage changes to contact diagrams more transparently, collaborate more effectively as a team, and improve software quality in engineering.

The seamless integration of XLad with Structured Text (ST) allows users to reuse libraries created in ST by integrating them into ladder diagram applications. The object-oriented programming principles and the intuitive readability of contact diagrams make it much easier to implement complex control logic clearly and efficiently.

Bidirectional Programming Plus AI-Enabled And Human-Readable Code

In addition, XLad supports bidirectional programming: Users can switch between a graphical view and a text-based editor depending on their workflow preferences. The textual representation is both human-readable and ready for use with artificial intelligence. This lays the foundation for future AI-driven engineering, such as AI-assisted development of control logic. Furthermore, the text-based representation serves as the basis for simple version control using Git.

New Use Cases With Expanded Hardware Support

At the same time, Siemens is expanding the hardware capabilities of Simatic AX Logic Control Engineering to include the Simatic S7-1200 G2 controller. This opens up a new range of projects for customers that can be implemented using Simatic AX LCE. Previously, Simatic AX supported only Simatic S7-1500 controllers. Now, users can also use Simatic AX LCE for engineering decentralized, basic control logic.

Siemens will showcase these innovations at the Automate trade show in Chicago, USA, from June 22 to 25. There, the company will demonstrate how software-defined automation can be made more practical, scalable, and accessible for a wide range of industrial applications.

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