Hyundai & Accenture boost ship efficiency with sensors
Accenture and Hyundai Heavy Industries have announced plans to collaborate on bringing Internet of Things technology into Hyundai’s shipping offerings. The technology will monitor a wide range of factors, which, when analysed will provide a visual display of information for real-time decision making. The collaboration is expected to allow operators to improve operating costs as well as increase efficiency.
Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI) was founded in 1972 and has since gone on to become the world’s largest ship builder. The company now has a 15% share of the market, and has, since its founding, floated 1,840 ships to 282 ship owners in 48 countries.
In an aim to improve the information ship owners have available to them, such that they can reduce their operating expenses and increase the efficiency of ships, HHI has decided to partner up with professional services firm Accenture.
Connected smart ships
The coming together of HHI and Accenture will see the parties collaborate on the design of ‘connected smart ships’. This will involve fitting out ships with a wide array of sensors that capture a variety of data points, including location, weather, and ocean current data, as well as on-board equipment and cargo status information. The collected data will allow ship owners to explore real-time and historical fleet information presented through visualisation technology, to apprehend insights, monitor the status of vessels and make data underpinned decisions in real-time. The service will provide real-time alerts and warnings, predictive maintenance and more efficient scheduling.
The offering will involve both Internet of Things deployed through HHI’s on-ship platform as well as Accenture’s Connected Platforms as a Service (CPaaS), and combine HHI’s experience in the shipbuilding and manufacturing sector with Accenture’s experience with digital technology and the shipping industry.
“Businesses can gain a competitive advantage by embracing the connectivity wave underpinning the Internet of Things and integrating digital services into their products to keep pace with the next wave of innovation,” explains Eric Schaeffer, senior managing director, Accenture. “Our collaboration with Hyundai Heavy Industries utilises our digital technology and deep industry experience to enable a traditional ‘products’ company to adapt its business model, taking advantage of digital technologies like analytics. Hyundai Heavy Industries’ willingness to create value for its customers through adopting elements of the Internet of Things is a great step on its digital transformation journey.”
By teaming up, HHI expects to be able to create new service offerings and revenue streams, thereby reducing and removing the barriers that exist between different elements of the wider container supply chain. “Through this collaboration with Accenture, our ambition is to lead innovation in ship operations, shipping and the port logistics sector,” says Moon-kyoon Yoon, Chief Operating Officer of the Shipbuilding Division of HHI.
