How Covacsis is changing the Manufacturing?

Internet of Things (IoT) began as an emerging trend and has now become one of the key elements of Digital Transformation that is driving the world in many respects. we are evolving to a more connected, digitized world. Leveraging Industry 4.0 technologies is a necessity if you are going to meet consumer’s demands and maximize efficiencies. Now is the time to redefine how we look at gathering and analyzing data across machines and the supply chain to enable fast flexible, and more efficient processes.

General Electric coined the term Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) in late 2012.

While many of us are familiar with the Internet of Things used by Nike FuelBand, FitBits, Nest and Samsung as connected devices, there’s much more going on in connecting industrial devices in the world of IIoT.

The Industrial Internet is still at an early stage, similar to where the Internet was in the late 1990s. The IIoT, through the use of sensors, advanced analytics and intelligent decision making, will profoundly transform the way plants & factories connect and communicate with the enterprise.

Industries impacted by IIoT are Manufacturing, Aviation, Utility, Agriculture, Oil & Gas, Transportation, Energy, Mining & Healthcare.

One of the key opportunity that early adopters of the Industrial Internet are pursuing is the improvement of worker and equipment productivity, safety and working conditions in the factories.

The IIoT will revolutionize manufacturing by enabling the acquisition and accessibility of tons of data, at lightning speeds, and far more efficiently than before.

There are several challenges factories are facing:

• Manual data collected by floor person in a shift has human delays, errors
• It is not continuous and also not real time
• Data is not comprehensive enough to do analysis and provide insights to senior management

One such framework available to factories is Intelligent Plant Framework provided by Covacsis.

The benefits are tremendous:

• It collects real-time data from all the factory machines
• It is completely automatic so no human errors
• The data collected is comprehensive to provide actionable insights to the factory in charge
• With predefined algorithms, the productivity and costs are calculated automatically and recommendations are made for improvement

While systems like MES can only synchronize the operations of the factory, IPF does the performance measurement and management.

Business benefits by implementing IPF:

• Conversion costs are reduced by 20-30% from raw materials to finished goods
• Production productivity is improved by up to 30%
• Plug-n-play with minimal or no customization hence no impact on running factories
• Implemented in 3-4 weeks compared to months and years of competitive products in the market

With solid experience of implementation in over 70+ factories and 15+ sectors across manufacturing such as Pharma, Chemical, Textile, FMCG, etc; IPF is a clear winner and the need of an hour for factories of future.

The path to Industry 4.0 is via Industrial Internet of Things IIoT and implementation of automation via IPF.

Industry 4.0 experts in India

The first Industrial Revolution was all about mechanizing production with the use of steam-powered tools, the second expanded industries through electric power and the third ushered electronics and Information Technology.

Today, the world is ready for the next big industrial revolution- defined entirely by automation and data exchange in manufacturing technologies; and Industry 4.0 is predicted to be more disruptive than ever before.

It is defined by smart machines that keep getting smarter as they get access to more data and factories that harness efficiency and productivity. The network of these machines, digitally connected with one another in order to create and share information- is the true cornerstone of Industry 4.0.

Navigating this complex landscape of immense change requires expert guidance and insight, especially in the context of growing economies like India.

In fact, according to an analysis by McKinsey, if Indian companies adopt Industry 4.0 across functions such as manufacturing, supply chain, logistics, and procurement, they can enhance their operating profits by 40% at less than 10% of the planned capital expenditure. For this reason, it is necessary to observe and learn from the examples of those who are already ahead of the curve in this respect.

The following is a list of established Indian Industry experts who are leading the change.

https://thebluecircle.co/2019/05/24/industry-4-0-experts-in-india/

Digitization in Fitness Industry

Remember as children we used to play more physical games & ground activities like football, cricket, and even some local games. As we grew we were more physical in our daily activities which had helped us to be physically fit.

But in last few years digital has changed this picture. My children are glued to iPads, smartphones most of the time. Digital technologies have brought a tremendous shift in the way we spend our daily chores. We order our foods online, we call cabs on our smartphones, no banks branch visits are required now as we do most of the financial transactions online, and in the age of Whatsapp, nobody uses the post to send a news to anyone.

This convenience and comfort have brought a sedentary lifestyle & health issues, but more people are wanting to live a healthier lifestyle without burning a hole in their wallets

The fitness industry is also adopting this digital change.

Some global fitness franchises launched an on-demand streaming service in the USA and UK that lets people access the group’s workouts online any time from a computer, tablet or smartphone.

Instead of going to the gym now, consumers work out on their own time in their own locations, but trainers and coaches can access their workout data from anywhere, providing quick feedback and tips to guide them along their fitness journey. The exercises are also available in different levels of difficulty: simple, medium and difficult.

Digital devices are more and more playing the role of a personal trainer. Anyone who wants to train just needs the right fitness app.

Freeletics Bodyweight app is more than just a training program. They have a community of over 12 million Free Athletes spread all over the globe. The app provides users with a unique social platform that allows Athletes to connect, motivate and inspire one another and achieve and share their progress and fitness goals.

An athletic apparel brand Athos has a full-body suit fitted with tracking sensors connected to an app that shows which muscles are firing and how much an exerciser is exerting himself or herself.

Another company, Focus Motion, is building products that connect with a smartwatch to automatically track motion and give real-time feedback on an exerciser's form or pace.

Equinox was the first chain to partner with Apple when it launched its Healthkit smartphone app in June 2015. The app syncs with members’ wearable technologies to track fitness data, analyze member behavior, and provide users with recommendations, tips, and content to improve their fitness routines. The digital coach in Equinox’s mobile app uses artificial intelligence to learn customers’ habits and keep them engaged.

Fitbit, Apple, Garmin, Samsung, Nike & and Adidas are among the major suppliers of digital fitness market.

Fitbit tells you you've completed 80% of your daily 15,000 steps goal. So you walk around the house and make an excuse to go to the shop to achieve your goal.

The Nike came out with Fuelband, a fitness-oriented tech device which helped consumers to set fitness goals, monitor their progression, and compare themselves to others, all with integration into Nike+ online community and phone application.

For those who still prefer to visit the gym have been helped by wearable technologies, which give real-time feedback on the workouts. From shirts to shoes, wearable technology is now embedded in several types of fitness apparel. Profiles for runs or cycle rides are recorded using the GPS function. The data for distance, speed, duration, calories burnt off and heart rate is captured to support the design of personalized training programs 

Modern-day gyms are now equipped with workouts that are digitized for their clients to get more out of their exercise equipment. Going digital enables the user to choose the level of difficulty of their workout just by pushing some buttons.

Today sensors are inserted into pieces of clothing like socks, shorts, leggings, sports bra, etc. These are designed to improve the efficacy of wearable trackers, making them highly discreet and increasingly accurate. The algorithms are mimicking a personal coach, tracking activity and technique while simultaneously picking up clues to predict the possibility of injury.

Holofit uses the virtual reality technology that transports its users from boring reality in a fitness center or hotel gym to real-life destinations, sports events or imaginative worlds. Users get to work out in space or underwater, in the Grand Canyon or in the historic recreation of Babylon, making progress while forgetting they are working out at all.  They have also added the gamification and sports competition through its SportPlay application so you can take part in competitions like Tour de France.

Social media platforms like Facebook and photo/video sharing platforms like Instagram are making a trend of posting your fitness efforts and encourage your friends and families to participate.

There is also a growing trend of companies offering workplace wellness technologies and programs that are helping achieve better productivity and reduced attrition.

Further, this smart data is being used by the Insurance industry for wellness and prevention of disease.

The fitness industry has come a long way with digital.

How Digital Technologies are booming the Real Estate

Digital disruptions are impacting all the industries and pushing organizations to change or die. 

The residential real estate industry was built upon personal relations and contacts. Knowing the trustworthy estate agent personally, was more comfortable for buyers to make investments.

Today the scenario is changing. Several online estate agencies have been set up, which allow owners to buy and sell properties digitally.

At every step in the process of finding, visiting and buying a home, property managers are now focused on enhancing the customer experience with help of digital technologies.

Digital technologies are used for real estate portals, to find a trusted agent, view potential properties and invest as required.

Some property managers allow their agents to shoot, edit and upload video footage of their properties using their mobile devices. This resulted in the increase in reach and quick selling.

Digitization can help you increase your reach from a bunch of agents and investors to thousands of individuals who have interests in purchase and sale of Real Estate.

Digital has come into real estate as well:

·      In searching the properties – Buyers can go online on MagicBricks.com, 99Acres.com to rent or check out the property before buying.

·      Virtual tours of the property – commonfloor.com gives you live-in tours saying see your next home from every angle. This reduces time and expense for owners and creates convenience for the buyers.

·      All the Frequently asked questions about the proposed project can be answered in a direct chat with use of emerging technologies like chatbot powered with artificial intelligence

·      Old fashioned hardcopy of blueprints are now replaced by Building Information Modeling (BIM) which uses 3-D computer modeling. This helps architects and contractors to collaborate more easily and make on-the-fly alterations to existing designs. Maintenance becomes very easy as the BIM model contains all construction data in a single plan.

·      With Social media presence, buyers can get multiple reviews and comments on the properties and even ask the agents to take them on a video tour of the property through WhatsApp, FaceTime, Skype etc.

From the buying or selling when we come to occupied properties, digital technologies are used for the betterment of occupants.

·      Smart Buildings: Facilities including power management, lighting, physical security, fire safety and IT infrastructure.

·      Smart Energy: Automatic lighting control, may vary from obvious night-time auto-activation to dimming based on crowd density and weather conditions. Nest offers a number of innovations like motion detectors to adjust the heat settings when the family has left for the office or schools.

·      Smart Meters - Every home will have a smart meter to control the power usage and report in real time.

·      Smart Water System: IoT sensor enabled water systems which measure the flow, pressure, level and chemical content of the water to improve quality and usability

·      Smart Access: Users can open home doors or office doors by just touch of a finger or even with IoT enabled sensors ensuring garage doors are opened when users are approaching

From living rooms to the yard, we are embracing the digital technologies which are helping the booming real estate industry.

Digital Transformation of Healthcare

The digital transformation storm is sweeping various businesses like retail, banking, insurance, media, and travel and has entered into our personal lives.

Another industry that has joined the above list by being hit by the storm is the healthcare.  

The advancements in digital technologies like cloud computing, mobile communications, advanced analytics and the internet of things have positively helped healthcare.

Healthcare companies are among the most heavily regulated, facing unique compliance challenges. They were always struggling to figure out how to integrate, aggregate, harmonize and analyze all of the data they have captured, to discover actionable business insights.  Further, accelerated time to market and adding value to patient’s lives are the key drivers for digital adoption.

Digitization of healthcare has gone beyond the drug development. It is no longer providing the drugs alone but services as well.

The healthcare industry had witnessed an impact on the entire product life cycle starting from the early drug development to delivery and finally patient care. Drug discovery is immensely helped by machine learning. Researchers will have access to much more detailed analysis on real-world data, which will assist in better understanding the effects of a drug.

Internet of Things is used to digitally transform manufacturing and supply chain. Temperature sensing tags are used to monitor cold chain conditions and thus ensure and maintain product quality in transit.

Electronic Health Records of any patient who is under the care of multiple doctors helps them to use these valuable data points to deliver appropriate treatment and make decisions about patient’s care.

Wearables have improved the patient care substantially. There are many wearable devices that provide real-time monitoring of disease symptoms along with reminders for prescribed treatment. Ingestible medicines like Proteus pill sends patient data in a secure transmission to the physician, which helps in more accurate diagnostics and personalized treatment.

Fitness wearables such as Fitbit and Apple Watch have increased the ability of patients to take responsibility for their own health.

Portals like “PatientsLikeMe” are helping people with chronic health conditions get together and share their experiences living with the disease. Where newly diagnosed patients can improve their outcomes by connecting with and learning from others. Also, researchers learn more about what is working and what is not, so that they can develop new and better treatments.

Patient engagement has become easy with mobile apps for recovering patients to help manage stress, find information, learn about caregiving and chat with a doctor.

In clinical trials, digital is helping by standardizing data exchange and replacing several data repositories with a centralized information hub. Patient finder technology combines clinical knowledge with big data to allow drug manufacturers to identify potential patients that may have a disease that is hard to diagnose.

With Telemedicine, Patients no longer have to schedule their routine follow-up visits but they can a video call to get the prescription update or check-up they need.

With digital, consumers are now in the driving seat. They have better access to quality doctors and quicker wellness. Digital is helping healthcare and humanity.

How Mining Industry is adopting Digital Transformation

Digital Transformation is sweeping each industry around us. Those who embrace it and adopt the change will have multitudes of benefits.

The mining industry is by far still a very labor-intensive and costly affair. However, slowly they have started utilizing the digital technologies to reduce the costs, ensure workers safety and change the way they work.

The industry is facing increasing cost pressures. Digital transformation is likely to be on the agenda for miners. Digital technology can help literally at every stage of the mining process, from exploration, extraction, transportation to the processing of the ore and shipment.

In open-pit mines, self-driving trucks could be controlled by operations center miles away, reduce human cost as there are no frequent breaks, improve safety and increase efficiency as no human intervention is required on the site. GPS enabled systems will help supervisors to know where the trucks are and optimize their routes for optimal utilization.

Sensors on remote deep-sea oil wells cause warning signs to flash at the central control center when problems arise. 

In underground dangerous extraction zones like coalmines & chemical ore mines, remote-controlled equipment can reduce human factor involvement.  With data visualization, miners can create heat maps or 3d maps of the entire mine.

This heavy earthmoving machinery is very costly and any downtime affects the bottom line. Data collection and analysis allows understanding the health of the equipment and usage, which further helps in predictive maintenance, improving equipment reliability and reducing unplanned downtime.

With wearables, site employee’s safety is tracked from the central operation. IoT connected sensors detect dangerous levels of hazardous gas and give miners time to evacuate.

Rio Tinto is one of the companies introducing autonomous trucks and drilling rigs to its iron-ore operations in Western Australia.

Barrick Gold has deployed several such digital technologies including handheld tablets to help engineers monitor job orders in its Nevada gold mine.

Within the mining and metals industry, digitalization will be a force that changes the nature of companies and their interaction with employees, communities, government and the environment at every step of the value chain.

From mineral exploration and valuation, through mining, ore processing, and metals production, to downstream sales and distribution, digitization is helping workers make better, faster & safer decisions.

How the Digital has changed the way we communicate

Digital Transformation has impacted every business on earth and all aspects of life today. 

Communication is the most impacted area of our life.

Way back in 1997, most of the communication was in printed form – we used to write down our contacts in a diary, read the latest news in newspapers which still exists, there were printed magazines, retailers like Argos, Radio Shack, Ikea had printed catalog of their products. We used to get that free on the doorstep and then used to cut few coupons to get discounts at the store.

Now fast forward to 2017, Today we live in “always on, always connected” world with communication from all directions.

Social Media has stormed into our world. The moment you get up in the morning, you see alerts of birthdays of your friends on Facebook, messages from Instagram or official email communication on your smartphone.

You start for your office and you get google map alert of drive time to the office. While in office you get a variety of communications from senior management on company vision to various policies from HR, to transport and other facility related stuff from Admin.

In the evening when you head back home, you get relevant personalized communications while you are driving thru city on offers, discounts, sales and the list goes on.

One of the most prominent aspects of change we have experienced this digital age is the increased number of ways we can now communicate with each other.

Employee communication plays an important role to change the culture for digital. When employees feel like they have a stake in the outcome, have a clear understanding of their roles and responsibilities they are more engaged and effective.

Similarly, customer experience is the biggest driver for digital communication. They seek relevant, personalized communication in real time.

There are so many examples of digital revolution in Communication:

·       Thinking mobile first for young generations

·       Creating chatbots for quick query resolution instead of calling the customer service and waiting on line

·       Creating social media strategy for customer connect

·       Giving customer service on any device, any place and anytime

·       Providing news and reminders on smartphones

Communication to customers, external media, and influencers as well as to employees is important in this digital age.

Communication has changed a lot since last few decades.

Are you drowning in Data Lake?

Today more than ever, every business is focusing on collecting the data and applying analytics to be competitive. Big Data Analytics has passed the hype stage and has become the essential part of business plans.

Data Lake is the latest buzzword for dumping every element of data you can find internally or externally. If you Google the term data lake, you will get more than 14 million results. With an entry of Hadoop, everyone wants to dump their silos of data warehouses, data marts and create data lake.

The idea behind a data lake is to have one central platform to store and analyze every kind of data relevant to the enterprise. With the digital transformation, the data generated every day has multiplied by several times and business are collecting this consumer data, Internet of Things data and other data for further analysis. 

As the storage has become cheaper, more data is being stored in its raw format in the hopes of finding nuggets of information but eventually, it becomes difficult. It is like using your smartphone to click photographs left, right and center, but when you want to show some specific photograph to someone it’s very difficult.

Data Lakes, if not maintained properly, have the potential to grow aimlessly consuming all the budget. Some companies have their data lakes overflowing on-premise systems into the cloud.

Most data lakes lack governance, lack the tools and skills to handle large volumes of disparate data, and many lack a compelling business case. But, this water (the data) from your data lake has to be crystal clear and drinkable, else it will become a swamp.

Before getting on the bandwagon of creating the data lake that may cost thousands of dollars and months to implement, you should start asking these questions.

·        What data we want to store in Data Lake?

·        How much data to be stored?ilo

·        How will we access this massive amounts of data and get value from it easily?

Here are some guidelines to avoid drowning into data lakes.

·        First and foremost - create one or more business use cases that lay out exactly what will be done with the data that gets collected. With that exercise, you will avoid dumping data, which is meaningless.

·        Determine the Returns you want to get out of Data Lake. Developing a data lake is not a casual thing. You need good business benefits coming out of it.

·        Make sure your overall big data and analytics initiatives are designed to exploit the data lake fully & help achieve business goals

·        Instead of getting into vendor traps and their buzzwords, focus on your needs and determine the best way to get there.

·        Deliver the data to wide audience to check and revert with feedback while creating value

There are many cloud vendors to help you out building data lakes – Microsoft Azure, Amazon S3 etc.

By making data available to Data Scientists & anyone who needs it, for as long as they need it, data lakes are a powerful lever for innovation and disruption across industries.

How to measure Digital Transformation maturity?

The digital revolution has created significant opportunities and threats for every industry. Companies that cannot or do not make significant changes faster to their business model in response to a disruption are unlikely to survive

It is extremely important to do digital maturity assessment before embarking on digital transformation.

Digital leaders must respond to the clear and present threat of digital disruption by transforming their businesses. They must embed digital capabilities into the very heart of their business, making digital a core competency, not a bolt-on. Creating lasting transformative digital capabilities requires you to build a customer-centric culture within your organization.

This requires new capabilities that organizations need to acquire and develop which include disruptive technologies like Big Data, Analytics, Internet of Things, newer business models.

Digital maturity model measures the readiness of the organization to attain higher value in digital customer engagement, digital operations or digital services. It helps in the incremental adoption of digital technologies and processes to drive competitive strategies, greater operationally agility and respond to rapidly changing market conditions.

Business can use the maturity model to define the roadmap, measuring progress on the milestones.

The levels of maturity can be defined as per multiple reports available and adopt the ones which make more sense to your business.

·     Level 1: Project-based solutions are developed for a particular problem, no integration to homegrown systems, unaware of risks and opportunities

·     Level 2: Departmentalized projects but still not known to the organization, little integration

·     Level 3: Solutions are shared between the departments for a common business problem, better integration

·     Level 4: Organization wide efforts of digital, highly integrated, adaptive culture for fail fast  and improve

·     Level 5: Driven by CXOs, customer-centric and complete transformation changes happen to the organization

Here are the 7 categories on which business should ask questions to all the stakeholders to gauge the maturity of Digital Transformation and identify the improvement and priorities.

1.   Strategy & Roadmap - how the business operates or transforms to increase its competitive advantage through digital initiatives which are embedded within the overall business strategy

2.   Customer – Are you providing experience to customers on their preferred channels, online, offline, anytime on any device

3.   Technology – Relevant tools and technologies to make data available across all the systems

4.   Culture – Do you have the organization structure and culture to drive the digital top down

5.   Operations – Digitizing & automating the processes to enhance business efficiency and effectiveness.

6.   Partners – Are you utilizing right partners to augment your expertise

7.   Innovation – How employees are encouraged to bring continuous innovation to how they serve the customers

Finally, you know when you are digitally transformed?

·             When there is nobody having “Digital” in their title

·             There is no marketing focused on digital within the organization

·             There is no separate digital strategy than the company’s business strategy