The latest technological possibilities always form the foundation for all digitalization efforts in the automotive industry, regardless of whether those efforts concern smart factories or mobile online services. Lufthansa Industry Solutions supports companies in choosing the right technologies.
New technologies move the automotive industry into the digital fast lane
Lufthansa Industry Solutions was recognized as a relevant player in the digital factory in the three use case clusters “Predictive Analytics & Maintenance”, “Traceability” and “Asset & Plant Performance Monitoring” by teknowlogy. According to teknowlogy, the leading independent European market analysis and consulting company for the IT industry, LHIND has proven to be able to address all related use cases in these categories.
From modular automobile production and 3D printing of individual components to precise delivery lead time forecasts, digitalization is placing the automotive industry under immense pressure to adapt – both when it comes to automobile production (i.e., internal processes) as well as coordination with suppliers and customers. This is something the majority of original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and suppliers have already come to realize. According to a recent study by Lünendonk and Lufthansa Industry Solutions titled “Digitalisieren Sie schon?” 74 percent of them aim to have achieved a high or very high level of digitalization by 2018.
The latest technological possibilities always form the foundation for all digitalization efforts by automakers and suppliers, regardless of whether those efforts concern smart factories, modernization of old software or the development of mobile online services. However, the wide range of approaches and technical, organizational and industry-specific requirements makes it hard to select the right technologies.
The right approach to big data projects
Any automaker looking to use big data to analyze user information from mobile services with the aim of better tailoring its services to meet customers’ needs, for example, needs to take a wide range of different aspects into consideration when calling for tenders. In order to specify the necessary services, a company has to define all the general technological conditions, preselect tools, agree internally on a definition of the IT architecture and the required components, and develop a concept of the solution. Those in charge should also set a budget prior to the start of the project.
Lufthansa Industry Solutions supported an automaker during this very process. The client launched a project to analyze large quantities of data using the big data framework Hadoop to gain insights into the use of mobile services. The company wanted to know which online services customers use while also establishing correlations between days of the week and environmental situations to further improve the range of mobile online services.
Technology consulting starts with the call for tenders
As part of the call for tenders for this project, the experts from Lufthansa Industry Solutions advised the company on the creation of a product requirements document. In addition to working out the technical, industry-specific and contractual requirements, we developed an evaluation matrix for the submitted offers. Our responsibilities subsequently included answering providers’ questions, the technical review and evaluation of the submitted offers, and presenting an overview of the tenders.
We support the call for tenders, concept development and implementation of big data applications, plus we often advise automakers and suppliers when it comes to IT architecture. Our technology consulting services also include concept development and the (agile) implementation of new components that enable clients to integrate their customers’ requirements into existing mobile online services, for example.
