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| Chris Khang |
The Internet of Things (IoT) was one of the central themes at this year's International Consumer Electronics Show(CES), the biggest consumer technology event in the world.
IoT is being applied to products and services that can add greater value by communicating with each other, ranging from smart home appliances to automobiles.
Such advancements are not only being applied to home appliances or consumer products either. Perhaps the biggest impact from IoT will come from combining it with data analytics and applying it in the industrial sector to dramatically improve productivity and efficiency of businesses and operations. At GE, we call it, the "Industrial Internet."
By allowing real-time monitoring of remotely distributed machines — from MRIs and wind turbines to aircraft engines — the Industrial Internet is helping to promote sustainability and savings around the globe.
It is providing better health outcomes at lower costs, substantial savings in fuel and energy, and better performing and longer living physical assets.
For instance, Norfolk Southern, a major U.S. railway company, has seen a 6.3 percent reduction in fuel usage and 10 to 20 percent increase in velocity by using GE's trip optimizer software. The software is helping to enhance efficiency of the operation by gathering and analyzing all relevant data required for running a locomotive in real-time.
Another company, TransCanada Corp., deployed GE's Industrial Internet software and hardware when they decided to overhaul New York City's largest power plant. Rather than spending hundreds of millions on new equipment, TransCanada connected data sensors to software and started gathering and analyzing data critical to the performance of the plant's largest gas turbine.
TransCanada says that the upgrade has increased output by 5 percent using less fuel - that's enough electricity to power 10,000 NYC households.
With the application of Industrial Internet, factories are also getting more modernized and becoming smarter, leading to innovations in manufacturing.
Next generation factories, such as GE's factory in Greenville, can connect directly with customers, distributors, and suppliers to make advanced products better, faster, and with greater flexibility.
Just as the Internet has transformed our ability to access information, the Industrial Internet will change how information is leveraged in industries. It is estimated to take 300 million labor hours per year just to service the world's steam and gas turbines, aircraft engines, freight, CT and MRI scanners.
The cost of such work is estimated to be $20 billion per year. Currently, much of that time and money is being wasted because of how information is gathered, stored, accessed, and shared. The Industrial Internet can help changing the scene by enabling preventative maintenance based on actual conditions.
The driving force for creating new growth in the current low-growth era will not come from one particular technology or product. Rather, it will come from improving industrial efficiency with greater synergy. This is something worth noting for Korean companies seeking to become true global leaders.
Korea is renowned for its strengths in IT technology and related infrastructure.
The Korean government also fully acknowledges the importance of advanced technology and innovating manufacturing, as it can be seen from the government's emphasis on the manufacturing 3.0 initiative.
Utilizing global presence, advanced technology with outstanding engineering capabilities, and supportive environment, it would be never too early for Korean companies to tap into the Industrial Internet for greater success in the future.
The writer is president and CEO of GE Korea.
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