The Future is Smart by W. David Stephenson

Author:W. David Stephenson
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: AMACOM
Published: 2018-06-20T16:00:00+00:00

BETTER DECISION MAKING

Companies are finding that the benefits of factorywide monitoring and data analytics for the reams of data they yield include not just smoother operations but also improved decision making. Management has access to realtime data not only from the assembly line but also from the supply chain and other vital information sources that simply weren’t available in the past.

Dieter Haban, the CIO at Daimler Trucks North America in Portland, Oregon, which manufactures a wide array of heavy trucks such as Freightliner and Thomas Built, says, “We produce and collect a massive amount of data to understand where we are during the assembly of the truck. Now we can provide dashboard information to management, stay informed about any parts shortages, and know the status of the vehicle in realtime, any time.”4

Similarly, Mitsubishi and Intel teamed up for another in-plant system, combining sensors plantwide at Intel’s Malaysia factory and big data analytics to cut costs by $9 million and improve decision making. The key, Intel reports, is learning to be more creative in handling the big data yielded by monitoring the assembly line: “The real opportunity is how to combine . . . data differently, which will ultimately give you insights not only into how your factory is running but, what’s more important, will let you predict how your factory will run the next minute, the next hour, the next shift, the next day.” Other benefits include better equipment uptime and predictive maintenance.5

Sometimes, simply knowing where things are through geo-location is terribly important. That’s the situation in the Port of Hamburg, one of the busiest in the world, and the largest in Germany.6 One hundred forty million tons of cargo move through it yearly, up to 40,000 trucks arrive daily, and the port directly and indirectly provides 156,000 jobs. The biggest challenge is smooth operation of both the docks and the rails that serve the port, which can’t be expanded.

Its management strategy was to create a number of “smart-PORTS” to allow smooth flow of containers through a combination of cloud and realtime traffic management. Its smartPORT logistics platform runs on SAP’s Networked Logistics Hub, which in turn draws on data from the SAP HANA Cloud Platform. The result is consolidated data about every container, ship, and truck in the port, which is shared in real-time, resulting in streamlined cargo handling. The system is so granular that not only do trucks get realtime advice on the best route to take, but also, when a truck will be held up at an open drawbridge, the driver gets a discount coupon on his handheld for coffee at a place within walking distance!7

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