Industry 4.0 encompasses the optimisation of equipment, operations, workflows and staff capabilities, while also operating in a safe and sustainable manner. To achieve these objectives, port operators must deploy a mix of hardware, software, and connectivity solutions that complement one another. But maximising the benefits requires alignment between those with responsibility for delivering Information Technology (IT)-based solutions to the organisation and those with responsibility for Operational Technology (OT) that supports use cases like digitising workflows.
The Industry 4.0 matrix index shows where plans can go awry. Upgrades to an IT infrastructure should be synchronised with the use cases being deployed. Additional use cases will place an extra load on the IT infrastructure, risking poor performance. Alternatively, spare IT capacity wastes scarce budgets.
The index is informed by the results of an online survey of 500 individuals that took place in 1Q 2023. All respondents were involved in either devising the overall strategy, the program design, or the on-site implementation of digital transformation projects at their company’s factories, plants, industrial sites or facilities. The sample included 55 respondents working at port facilities, and other respondents were from the chemical, fabricated metal, mining, oil and gas, heavy machinery, electronics and appliance sectors. Respondents were in either in the US, Japan, France, Germany, or the United Kingdom. In addition, the sample was a mix of IT and OT leaders and senior managers whose companies operate out of a single location or dozens of sites.
COLLABORATION IS KEY
Port operators seek a range of outcomes for their Industry 4.0-related investments to tackle their short-, medium- and long-term challenges. Respondents were asked to score the extent to which a particular topic is currently a focus of attention.
The focus areas included:
Improving machinery/equipment/asset performance Improving the production line and/or operations Optimising workforce operations and workforce safety Improving the company’s agility, such as handling supply shocks, political risks, local economic conditions, etc. Supporting the company’s sustainability goals
Ports are an essential element of global trade flows and need to avoid being a bottleneck. The faster the port operator can onboard or offload containers and pass them on to the next stage in their journey to the customer, the better. Hold-ups risk missed deadlines for customers and goods perishing. Respondents report that digital transformation projects stem from changing customer requirements.
Ports can often cover large areas with lots of equipment and vehicles moving the containers around the facility, risking worker safety. Optimising the workforce to improve throughput at the port, while ensuring their safety, is a key concern for operators. Respondents answered that an important measure for meeting these challenges is improving the collaboration and communication between teams.
Tied to the concern around workforce optimisation is the concern about organisational agility. Operating at the sharp end of global trade means that ports will be required to manage the peaks and troughs of economic cycles. Of particular concern, and tied to the need to meet customer requirements, is having sufficient visibility across the respective supply chains for the goods being handled, as well as tackling shortages in the supply of labor. global trade flows the port operator can onboard or offload containers and pass them on to the is having sufficient visibility across the respective
Sustainability concerns came in third. In particular, the respondents are prioritising reducing their emissions and energy consumption. As part of the need to optimise the workforce, port operators are not only seeking ways to improve turnaround times, but also the Operational Equipment Effectiveness (OEE) of assets used at their facilities.
TECHNOLOGY MATURITY
Survey respondents were asked to indicate their current thinking and progress made concerning their IT infrastructure (Wi-Fi, private wireless, campus networks, devices, edge compute, and cloud) on a 10-point continuum. At one extreme, the respondents had no plans for investing in the technology for the foreseeable future (0) and, at the other extreme, they were exploring/evaluating the next iterations of the technology (10).
The survey responses indicate that port operators are committing budgets to each area of IT infrastructure in the next 12 months and that mobile devices have already been implemented at all applicable facilities as part of their endeavours to improve collaboration and communication across teams.
OPERATIONAL TECHNOLOGY
Operational teams are deploying a wide range of technologies to support the objectives of workforce optimisation and improving the port’s ability to meet customer demands. Port operators have been providing staff with mobile devices that support the desire to eliminate paper-based processes, use Supply Chain Management (SCM) software – and enable remote working. In addition, port operators are investing in drones as part of their inspection processes.
In terms of use cases that support the desire to improve OEE, the survey indicated that 3D printing parts and investing in predictive maintenance are priorities for port operators.
When it comes to using data analytics, respondents from port operators were performing analytics to underpin video-based quality inspection processes and images from drones, as well as to identify solutions to operational issues that arise.
INDUSTRY 4.0 MATURITY INDEX
The Industry 4.0 matrix index brings together respondents’ answers concerning their investments in IT infrastructure and deployment of use cases. The answers to questions related to the two previous sections are wrapped into weighted scores for IT maturity and use case deployment. These scores generate a grid reference to plot the vertical in the chart. The index not only showcases progress made, but also highlights whether or not the IT or OT environments are in alignment.
Charts and indexes can portray that devising, implementing, and harnessing digital transformation projects is a straightforward crawl, walk, run process. But, in reality, there are numerous pitfalls along the way. The online survey asked respondents to rank the barriers to investing in and delivering digital transformation projects. Respondents from port operators answered that they lacked the expertise internally to deliver digital transformation projects and their IT/OT teams were not aligned.
Previous sections have highlighted how port operators are investing in software and data analytics to help optimise the workforce and improve their ability to meet customer demands. But respondents are only conducting proofs of concept or devising implementation programs for campus networks. Their thinking about private 4G and public cloud infrastructure is more advanced with the technologies being rolled out at a limited number of facilities.
While port operators have achieved good operational momentum in deploying use cases, there is a risk that their technology infrastructure will soon be unable to support those use cases.