GENERAL ELECTRIC CO is creating an industrial change through its industrial Internet solutions project that is powered by Predix.

Predix is the company’s software platform for the industrial Internet, which enables asset and operational optimisation by providing a standard way to run industrial-scale analytics to connect machines, data and people.

Dr Joseph Salvo, head of the industrial Internet consortium at GE Global Research, says Predix is based on bringing enormous amounts of data together to create real-time analytics that create value for GE’s customers.

“Predix is going to be a service platform and there will be analytics out of it that tune in the different areas of needs and applications that increase the productivity of windfarms, transport systems, healthcare systems and so forth — basically, all the verticals we work on,” he adds.

According to him, Predix will be made available worldwide this year, allowing companies to create and deploy customised industry apps quickly and on a big scale to better manage the performance of their assets and operations.

“Predix will be available through a cloud service. Once again, they (GE’s customers) won’t need to invest in a lot of IT infrastructure; you can basically get access through a cloud application,” Salvo says.

GE’s industrial Internet solutions were designed to revolutionise the 21st century infrastructure, which consists of machines and people that can work together for maximum performance.

“The industrial Internet is a type of nervous system where people connect with billions and billions of machines and devices in the networks,” says Salvo.

The industrial Internet comprises three components — Intelligent Machines, which is a new way to connect the world’s myriad machines, facilities, fleets and networks; Advanced Analytics, which harnesses the power of physics-based analytics, predictive algorithms and automation; and People at Work, which connects people at any time to support, intelligent design, operations, maintenance and high-quality service and safety.

Salvo notes that the industrial Internet has the ability to promote substantial savings for GE’s customers. “This varies case by case but in some of the implementation my group did over the year at factories and in logistics and supply chain systems, a 10% to 30% savings was not unusual.

“In inventory systems, we have seen cases where you can drop levels by 50% and still see the same performance in the supply chain … you’d have visibility to all your assets and inventories,” he says.

Locally, GE has helped budget carrier AirAsia Bhd make significant savings through the implementation of precision navigation services, flight data analytics and fuel management services.

GE’s flight efficiency service (FES), which is among its industrial Internet solutions, enables airlines to optimise traffic flow, aircraft sequence management and flight path design by revealing patterns and transforming data into actionable insights.

With FES, says GE, AirAsia was on track to save US$10 million in fuel cost last year. This alone is expected to grow to US$30 million by 2017.

For the global energy industry, GE established the iCentre last year that monitors over 800 gas turbines and compressors for 27 countries. The iCentre works to alert customers to  an issue before they become aware of it and engineers are then deployed to fix the problem where possible or alert them to take remedial action.

On March 27, it will be a year since the industrial Internet was officially launched, and within this period, Salvo says the reception to it has been “fantastic”.

“It has been one of the quickest uptakes I’ve seen, and I’ve been with the company for 28 years. I am just so happy that we have gained 140-plus members in less than a year … What is exciting is that we went into an area that did not have much penetration and the reception was fantastic.”

GE’s Asean CEO Stuart Dean is keen to highlight GE’s “the power of one per cent” concept, meaning a small change can produce a big impact. “For customers, this one per cent translates into improved efficiency and less downtime and costs, which could bring remarkable efficiency savings. By unlocking the power of one per cent, businesses will be able to enjoy great savings and efficiency — just by making small changes to the way they do things.”

On how the industrial Internet will benefit nations, Salvo says, “Because the network affects so many of the everyday things, such as transport, electricity, water, financial services … it’s going to have an enormous economic growth effect.

“I think there is going to be a new and distinct level of productivity growth. This is going to usher in a new wave of innovation because we are going to get all these other people involved in the creative process that was difficult to do in the past.”

This article first appeared in The Edge Malaysia Weekly, on March 16 - 22, 2015.

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