Transforming GE through Industrial Internet

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GE collaborated with its existing 5,000 software engineers to make all GE products intelligent with software and connectivity. The company hired 1,000 more people in its quest to create an Industrial Internet for its hardware. In 2011, Ruh reported that GE’s aviation division had developed a program “My Engines” to monitor the performance and condition of jet engines in use. According to Ruh, such data analysis could be used not just for pre-emptive maintenance but also for improving product designs and fine-tuning supply shipments. .. Before implementing its Industrial Internet initiative, in July 2012, GE invested US$ 170 million to open a plant in Schenectady, New York for developing advanced sodium-nickel batteries used for powering cell-phone towers. The factory had over 10,000 sensors connected to a high-speed internal Ethernet. The sensors monitored several activities such as how much energy was required for making each battery, how high the temperature was, the local pressure, etc. On the plant floor, employees with iPads could get access to all the data from Wi-Fi nodes set up around the factory.

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GE’s Industrial Internet solutions solved many problems, according to Paul Rogers (Rogers), Chief development Officer at GE’s San Ramon software center. Rogers cited the instance of oil firms, and said that in earlier times, an employee was sent in a truck for monitoring the oil wells. Since most of the oil wells were in remote locations and were unmanned, it nearly took three weeks to discover and fix the pumps that had stopped functioning. According to Rogers, this process led to oil firms incurring huge losses. This problem could instead be solved through GE’s applications where sensors could be placed on the oil wells or assets. Companies would thus come to know much earlier if a well was going to run dry.......

In February 2014, US President Barack Obama announced the setting up of two new manufacturing innovation institutes in the US. One would be headquartered in Chicago focusing on digital manufacturing and design innovation while the other would be headquartered outside of Detroit, Michigan, focusing on lightweight and modern metals manufacturing. GE was the key partner as part of both the initiatives, providing its expertise in technology and manufacturing across several industrial sectors. GE’s Global Research, headquartered in Niskayuna, New York, would be involved with both the institutes....

In June 2014, GE in partnership with venture capital firm, Frost Data Capital (FDC) launched an Incubator, Frost I3 – an Industrial Internet Incubator that would practise lean methodology allowing start-ups to scale quickly. The incubator was launched to offer funding, resources, and expertise for launching companies focusing on industrial technologies and solutions and accelerating the advancement of intelligent machines, new workforce mobility tools, and predictive and contextual analysis.....

In June 2014, GE stated that the growth of the Industrial Internet technologies could be inhibited by some challenges. According to Marco Annunziata (Annunziata), Chief Economist at GE, “The first one is the challenge of establishing confidence. Because to gather information and insights you need access to the data and customers need to feel comfortable with sharing data. So the first challenge is the security and privacy of the data – that is essential. The second challenge is the creation of a substantially broader platform that allows customers to gather value from all the Industrial Internet solutions that can be applied from different providers......

Taking its Industrial Internet forward, in August 2014, GE created a pioneering industrial-scale data lake software system in collaboration with Pivotal that could change the way large industrial entities stored, managed, and gathered insights from the analysis of Big Data. According to Dave Bartlett (Bartlett), computer scientist and chief technology officer for GE Aviation, industrial data lakes would help companies predict future problems and run machines more efficiently, sustainably, and profitably. They would also help GE maintain and service machines. In 2013, in a trial by GE aviation, the industrial data lake approach was used by around 25 airlines for tracking some 15,000 flights.....

Exhibit I: GE’s Five Year Financial Summary of Operating Segments (in US$ millions)
Exhibit II: Forces Shaping the Industrial Internet
Exhibit III: Industrial Internet: The Power of 1%
Exhibit IV: Industrial Internet Benefits