KUALA LUMPUR: General Electric Co is making a pitch for its industrial Internet solutions offering called 'Predictivity', saying leading Malaysian companies like Petronas and Air Asia Bhd will stand to benefit greatly from it in terms of productivity and financial performance.
According to GE Chairman and CEO Jeffrey R Immelt, 'Predictivity' which leverages big data from intelligent machines and predictive analytics, will help industry players particularly in the oil and gas sector meet the region’s growing energy needs, while managing operational and capital efficiency.
Immelt was speaking after the launch of 'Predictivity' and its KL-based remote monitoring and diagnostic centre, "iCenter". The iCenter is one of three oil and gas global centres that monitor over 800 gas turbines and compressors in 27 countries.
"The industrial Internet is going to take huge players in this country like Petronas and AirAsia, and it's going to make them more productive and better, that will in return be a payoff for the country," Immelt told reporters today.
Industrial internet is a term coined by General Electric and it refers to the integration of complex physical machinery with networked sensors and software to ingest data from machines, analyze it (often in real-time), and use it to adjust operations.
‘Predictivity’ is powered by GE’s ‘Predix’ software solution, and will be made available to any company in 2015, allowing them to create and deploy their own customised industry apps at speed and scale to better manage performance of their assets.
GE has already worked with AirAsia to drive fuel efficiency, said Immelt.
It was previously reported that GE Aviation, in collaboration with AirAsia, was implementing a network of required navigation performance authorisation (RNP AR) flight paths at 15 airports in Malaysia.
This new approach is said to enhance operating efficiencies of AirAsia flights by reducing track miles and fuel consumption, while offering aircraft accurate lateral, vertical arrival and missed approach guidance.
Performance-based navigation technology enables aircraft to fly precisely-defined flight paths without depending on ground-based radio-navigation signals, while RNP procedures can reduce an aircraft's en-route flying distance, lower fuel burn, cut emissions and noise pollution, in addition to reducing flight delays and air traffic congestion.
According to a statement issued by GE earlier today, the company is now on track to deliver more than US$1 billion in incremental revenue for 2014 from 40 industrial Internet offerings.
As for Malaysia, Immelt said it "is a very important place for GE, [and] it has been a fantastic privilege for the company to invest [in]”.
"Future is very bright for GE," he added, noting that the conglomerate that has been making machines for more than 100 years is transforming itself to compete in global science and technology.
"If we can save 1% of fuel, that's about US$3 billion in profit for our airline customers," he said.
GE is delivering software and analytical solutions that can take data from its installed bases and turn it into productive outcomes for customers. According to GE's 2013 annual report, its systems can analyse the performance of individual engines in the aviation installed base which allows GE to differentiate repairs, which in return saves money and time for customers.
It has also been widely reported that GE is betting big on the industrial Internet. The company believes the network could add between US$10 trillion and US$15 trillion to global gross domestic product over the next 20 years by saving labour cost and improving energy efficiency — with more than $4 trillion of that in the Asia-Pacific region alone.