GE has announced that its new 黑料社淓lastic Cloud Supply Chain Platform黑料社� (Elastic Cloud) for real-time management of oil and gas materials, equipment and services has won a prestigious Manufacturing Leadership 100 (ML 100) award.
GE was among several companies honoured during a ceremony held earlier this month at the tenth annual Manufacturing Leadership Summit in Palm Beach, Florida, USA.
The development of the Elastic Cloud technology represents a collaborative effort between GE Global Research, the company黑料社檚 technology development arm, and GE Oil & Gas.
The software
The software is designed to monitor, manage, and optimise the sourcing, production, flow and inventory of complex oil and gas raw materials, components and final products for installation and servicing at customer sites.
黑料社淲ith this software platform we黑料社檒l be able to maximise, in real-time, the service level we provide to our customers, while minimizing the total delivered cost of GE products and services,黑料社� said Jody Markopoulos, VP of Sourcing at GE Oil & Gas.
黑料社淲e have heard from our customers黑料社攖hey want better software tools to help navigate the complexities of today黑料社檚 global manufacturing supply chain environment. GE黑料社檚 Elastic Cloud technology delivers on this need.黑料社�
Two major trends in the oil & gas industry
Two major trends in the oil and gas industry were the driving force behind GE黑料社檚 decision to undertake this project in 2012: the high cost of downtime at oilfields and an increasing level of product customisation.
黑料社淐ustomers can黑料社檛 wait days or weeks for equipment to be repaired or replaced黑料社攖hey need that work done within hours in order to remain competitive,黑料社� added Markopoulos. 黑料社淲ith many specific product configurations in play, we decided to craft a software solution that could help us maintain a high service level, a low customer response time, and a high level of customer satisfaction黑料社攁ll while maximizing the efficiency of the global supply chain.黑料社�
黑料社淓lastic Cloud represents a technological breakthrough that will greatly benefit our customers, who have a lot riding on timely scheduling and delivery of parts and services,黑料社� said Peter Koudal, Supply Chain Technology Leader at GE Global Research. 黑料社淭ime is money in the oil and gas industry and the breakthrough software suite we黑料社檝e developed will help our customers ensure that their rigs keep pumping with no surprise interruptions.黑料社�
黑料社淏rilliant Factory黑料社�
GE黑料社檚 Elastic Cloud technology reflects the company黑料社檚 vision for the 黑料社淏rilliant Factory黑料社澓诹仙鐢the backbone of which is a digital thread that connects all parts of the manufacturing supply chain in real-time. This factory-of-the-future will be driven by software, data, and analytics allowing for constant feedback and optimisation throughout the manufacturing process.
黑料社淏ringing the latest in software and collaboration technology to GE黑料社檚 manufacturing operations is a critical objective,黑料社� said Joseph Salvo, Manager of the Complex Systems Engineering Lab at GE Global Research and Director of the Industrial Internet Consortium.
How it works
GE黑料社檚 Elastic Cloud Supply Chain Platform consists of real-time data extraction, an in-memory analytics engine and a cloud-enabled secured software platform that delivers data and visualisations to all major artificial lift functions at GE Oil & Gas.
Several analytic modules were built to extract meaningful information from the data collected:
- One module provides end users with a 黑料社渃ontrol tower黑料社� view of current inventory positions and enables users to pinpoint specific opportunities for inventory reduction. Information displayed in this system was previously only accessible by opening up multiple reports and queries.
- A second module provides materials managers and the commercial team with the ability to identify similar finished goods that are well positioned for customer replenishment by automatically identifying attributes (e.g. horsepower, voltage, etc.). This enables the commercial team to quickly find local inventory, reducing manufacturing and transportation costs.
- A third module enables end users to monitor, manage and optimise inventory relative to contractual agreements with large customers by pooling inventory by product attributes.
- A fourth module enables regional material managers to receive real-time decision support for determining the proper policy for replenishment and re-stocking of spare parts.
The outputs from these analytic modules are presented in web-based user interfaces and integrated into a cloud-enabled and secure software platform accessible to artificial lift users, to ensure everyone is working from the most up-to-date information possible.
GE黑料社檚 Elastic Cloud platform is currently in use in North America, South America, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and Asia. It is used across major artificial lift functions in GE Oil & Gas 黑料社� inventory, material, customer service, manufacturing, commercial, and finance. In 2014 the platform is being extended to include real-time parts flow optimisation and product lifecycle tracking from suppliers to production to warehouses to oilfields 黑料社� some of which are in the most remote parts of the world.
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