Thursday, February 18, 2010

Big Data (aka Analytics)

There was a very interesting article from in ZDNET about Big Data. Telco has always been at the forefront of producing, processing, and analyzing large amount data. What I'm witnessing today is another order of magnitude of data volume. When items such as razor blades, racks of fresh produce, jeans, and pallets are "sending" updates about their locations, status, and temperature through a network of automated sensors, we are talking "big data". That data tells a lot about habits and trends at a micro (privacy) and macro (economy) scale.

If you were to send all this raw data right to a central server, you would make Big Data simply Huge Data, and immediately lose the value of real-time automated data. We believe a large amount of information generated at the Edge should be used at the Edge. Only a fraction of that data should make it to a central server and become Big Data.

When a forklift picks up a pallet full of fresh berries from a loading dock, then drives through a multitude of portals equipped with sensors to finally put away the fruits in a cold room, thousands of records have been created. They include very important real-time information such as: "Is this the right truck and loading dock?", "Is this the right pallet?", "Are these the right berries?", "How many workers are around the forklift while it is backing out?", "Are all the pallets in the right cold room?". This data is critical during the actual movement of the assets but unless exception occurs, we are only interested in a small subset for the long term.

Wednesday, February 10, 2010

Hobart Machined Products Deploys Omnitrol Real-Time Supplier Collaboration Solution

Hobart Machined Products is a manufacturer of precision parts for the aerospace, medical, automotive, and electronic industries. Over the past 32 years, Hobart has earned a global reputation for consistent high-performance ratings and customer service excellence in complex mechanical and airframe assembly design, engineering, and precision machining.

Aerospace and other manufacturing industries have accelerated outsourcing of manufacturing operations to increase efficiencies and reduce costs. However, moving some of the operations outside of the physical four walls of the factory has created “dark areas” in the manufacturing visibility process. As a supplier to Boeing, one of the world’s largest manufacturers, Hobart was looking for ways to address this problem and become a better supplier. It wanted to provide real-time production visibility to its customers to alleviate any fears of missing mission-critical deadlines.

The Omnitrol solution has simplified the process of entering and tracking customer orders through a web portal that can be securely accessed anytime from anywhere. By choosing an integrated solution from a single vendor, Hobart benefits from a seamlessly integrated view, from customer orders through to their inventory system, to generate an extremely accurate production forecast with customer feedback capability. Based on what is available or expected to arrive in the warehouse, the system gives Hobart's employees a detailed view of what they will be able to kit, assemble, and produce now and in the future.

You can read the news release here.