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Portfolio edition

INCHCAPE SHIPPING SERVICES

Leveraging technology to provide international transparency in the shipping industry

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MWC19

Mobile World Congress provided the ultimate forum showcasing innovation

How Wind River software continues to lead the way in today’s hyperconnected and autonomous era

Ian Pearson, the President of Ford Romania discusses a 6,000-strong workforce and state-of-the-art Craiova plant


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Issue 45

A COUNTRY TOWN CULTURE How Andersens, despite the ongoing disruption caused by COVID-19, is embarking on an ambitious plan to grow its franchise network across Australia

CHIP MONG RETAIL Spearheading the growth of Cambodian retail

B+H ARCHITECTS

Defining a new normal while continuing to deliver for clients

OYO’s Japan, South East Asia & Middle East CEO Dr Mandar Vaidya talks coronavirus and the hospitality sector Vaidya talks coronavirus and the hospitality sector OYO’s Japan, South East Asia & Middle East CEO Dr Mandar

continuing to deliver for clients Defining a new normal while

B+H ARCHITECTS

Tell us your story, and we’ll tell the world of Cambodian retail Spearheading the growth

CHIP MONG RETAIL

network across Australia on an ambitious plan to grow its franchise disruption caused by COVID-19, is embarking How Andersens, despite the ongoing

CULTURE

Africa Outlook, APAC Outlook and EME Outlook are digital and print TOWN A COUNTRY publications aimed at boardroom and hands-on decision-makers, reaching an audience of more than 800,000 people around the world; spanning the full range of industrial sectors. w w w. a s i a o u t l o o k m a g . c o m

Issue 45

With original and exclusive content compiled by our experienced editorial team, we look to promote the latest in engaging news, industry trends and success stories from across the globe. Your company can join the leading industry heavyweights enjoying the free exposure we provide across both digital and print platforms with a free marketing brochure, extensive social media saturation, enhanced B2B networking opportunities, and a readymade forum to attract new investment and to help you grow your business. Visit www.outlookpublishing.com/get-involved for details on how your company can feature for free in one of our upcoming editions.

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WELCOME EDITORIAL Editorial Director: Tom Wadlow tom.wadlow@outlookpublishing.com

Welcome to North America Outlook!

Editor: Dani Redd dani.redd@outlookpublishing.com PRODUCTION Art Director: Stephen Giles steve.giles@outlookpublishing.com Senior Designer: Devon Collins devon.collins@outlookpublishing.com Junior Designer: Matt Loudwell matt.loudwell@outlookpublishing.com BUSINESS Managing Director: Ben Weaver ben.weaver@outlookpublishing.com Sales Director: Nick Norris nick.norris@outlookpublishing.com Operations Director: James Mitchell james.mitchell@outlookpublishing.com PROJECT DIRECTOR Joshua Mann joshua.mann@outlookpublishing.com HEADS OF PROJECTS Callam Waller callam.waller@outlookpublishing.com Thomas Arnold thomas.arnold@outlookpublishing.com Vivek Valmiki vivek.valmiki@outlookpublishing.com TRAINING & DEVELOPMENT DIRECTOR Eddie Clinton eddie.clinton@outlookpublishing.com SALES MANAGERS Donovan Smith donovan.smith@outlookpublishing.com Josh Hyland josh.hyland@outlookpublishing.com Ryan Gray ryan.gray@outlookpublishing.com PROJECT MANAGER David Knott david.knott@outlookpublishing.com

ADMINISTRATION Finance Director: Suzanne Welsh

Building on the global success of our sister titles – APAC Outlook, Africa Outlook and EME Outlook – we are proud to be launching a dedicated platform for businesses in the United States and Canada to tell their success stories. In the form of a digital and printed magazine published six times year, and the website you see here, we are here to bring to you the positive developments being driven by organisations across a wealth of industries and sectors. In a time that has been dominated by the health and economic crises created by the coronavirus pandemic, now more than ever is the time to showcase the innovation, adaptability and altruism being shown by commercial enterprise as they bid to keep their economies moving. Inside you will see a selection of stories we have already told for global brands across our other titles, many of them with North American heritage and doing great things around the world. If you like what you see, don’t hesitate to get in touch and see how we can help your

suzanne.welsh@outlookpublishing.com Administrative Assistant: Sophia Curran

enterprise to tell its tale.

sophia.curran@outlookpublishing.com Office Manager: Daniel George

For more detailed information on the makeup and particulars of

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North America Outlook, take a look at our media pack.

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Tom Wadlow Editorial Director, Outlook Publishing North America Outlook portfolio edition | 3


AT&T

Inspiring Innovation From startups to its own employees, AT&T is effectively channelling an abundance of new ideas from multiple avenues. Here’s how

Vishy Gopalakrishnan

Writer: Jonathan Dyble

$

170.8 billion in annual revenue, 273,000 employees, 150,000 network subscribers. The world’s largest telecommunications company, it’s hard to comprehend the stature of AT&T – a headache that even its own staff have to deal with. “It’s such an overwhelmingly large corporation, it’s easy to see how it can be intimidating,” Vishy Gopalakrishnan states. First becoming acquainted with AT&T in 2008, a brief hiatus at SAP separating two stints at the business, Gopalakrishnan has worked across multiple segments, from product marketing to corporate strategy and now as the Vice President of 4 | EME Outlook issue 34

Ecosystem and Innovation. “What does this role actually entail? It sounds about as corporate as you can imagine,” he continues. “Effectively, the question myself and my team are looking at is how a company like AT&T subjectively evaluates both internal and external innovation to incorporate new principles, products and services. “That’s ultimately our genesis, it’s what we’re here to do.” More specifically, the company has broken this down into three innovation highways, with the Ecosystem and Innovation team acting as the eyes and ears of the business on this front, implementing fresh, unorthodox, unconventional ideas.

“We meet with a roughly 500 startups every year, spanning all segments from networking to security to advertising technologies and everything in between,” Gopalakrishnan reveals. “Alongside this we have the Foundry, a series of innovation centres, four in the US, one in Tel Aviv, Israel and another in Mexico City. “Often, we’ll be presented with a concept that shows a lot of promise but might just be words on a slide. The Foundry then comes in with its team of engineers, running prototypes to essentially de-risk and prove or disprove these ideas, putting the technologies through their paces.” Not only does the Foundry aid


MOBILE WORLD CONGRESS

startups, but equally it is one of the company’s most esteemed tools when working with businesses to overcome problems. To this end, AT&T ensures that it remains on top of cutting-edge academic research, consuming this and transferring the knowledge into algorithms that can be used to the benefit of enterprises. “The third element of Ecosystem and Innovation,” Gopalakrishnan continues, “is an internal initiative named TIP, or the innovation platform, that’s effectively a kick-starter for employee innovation. “Any employee can submit his or her idea to a completely democratic, grassroots portal that is then transparently ranked by rating, much like TripAdvisor.” At the end of each quarter, the top four highest rated ideas are then presented to the company’s internal angel investor team that is made up of senior executives, providing the best ideas with funding, while the Foundry helps to prototype these ideas and eventually even bring them to market. “We’re agnostic about where innovation comes from,” adds Gopalakrishnan. “It’s an art and a science, and I like to say that the book is not written but we’re always adding new chapters.”

very high-value medication,” Gopalakrishnan explains. “Maybe it’s part of a clinical trial, so they want to make sure that I’m taking it regimentally, that it’s kept at the right temperatures, etc. “Softbox were already making packaging that has been able to keep medication at a particular temperature, but they wanted to expand the capabilities of their product. This in mind, we helped them build in sensors that would monitor when its packaging was opened, when medication was removed, whether it was kept at the right temperature, and even provide Identification and application an idea of the location.” Leveraging this broad, three-pronged Integrating connectivity scope, AT&T is able to call upon a technologies, the pair then went diverse range of innovative successes across all sectors, one specific example further, exploring a proof of concept study to use drones to transport these being the firm’s recent work with medicinal parcels, enabling scarce, temperature control packaging lifechanging health resources to travel systems specialist Softbox. to remote locations, including areas hit An award winning, transformative business in the cold chain sphere, AT&T by natural disasters. Active in the smart healthcare worked closely with the UK-based sphere in other ways, AT&T further organisation in the latter stages of 2019, helping implement its expertise collaborated with US orthotics and prosthetics manufacturing firm Hanger more extensively in the healthcare late last year. market. Implementing a gyroscope, “Let’s say a pharmaceutical magnetometer and accelerometer company is sending me some

AT&T is collaborating with orthotics and prosthetics manufacturing firm Hanger

into Hanger’s modules, the Houstonbased Foundry was effectively able to help reduce the severe discomfort suffered by patients during the first few weeks when using below the knee prosthetics. “What these do is measure how much you walk, the type of walking such as going up and down stairs, and your direction and tilt,” reveals Gopalakrishnan. “With this we went from zero visibility into what’s going on with the prosthetic, to real-time visibility with what’s happening with the patient, allowing adjustments to be made and advice to be offered, tremendously improving the quality of care.” Realising the time and wrapping up the conversation, we shook hands and headed back out to the main floor of AT&T’s booth, as Gopalakrishnan left us with some final thoughts. He concludes: “To succeed in this business you have to remain unconstrained. Every company is a technology company… every industry has the potential to be disrupted… and a critical part of this is engaging with startups. “Our focus is not on the paperwork but on the collaboration.” EME Outlook issue 34 | 5


CISCO

Countering COMPLEXITY Gee Rittenhouse talks security trends and Cisco’s response to an ever-changing, ever-challenging landscape Writer: Tom Wadlow

F

rom folding phones and flying taxis to VR driving experiences and 5G beehives, you could be forgiven for thinking that cybersecurity is the ugly duckling amongst MWC’s technological glitz and glamour. Walking through Cisco’s enormous, smart double decker booth on our way to see Gee Rittenhouse, it is easy to see the buzz generated by its huge IoT and connected car displays and many other demos. Having navigated the crowds and 6 | EME Outlook issue 34

located our meeting room (these booths are equally as vast in private, off limits space), we sat down to talk about a less visible but indispensable element of the innovation on show. “We scan roughly 400 billion emails and process 185 billion DNS queries a day, which is about five percent of the whole internet,” Rittenhouse tells us, a statistic met by a split-second pause while we try to compute the sheer scale of this operation. Rittenhouse is Senior Vice President for Cisco’s Security Business Group.

A tech enthusiast his whole life, the conversation quickly turns to how he successfully merged academic disciplines and navigated his way down the security path. “I was one of those kids who almost blew themselves up by experimenting,” he recalls. “Early in my life I always wondered how things worked, so I went down the physics avenue to start with. “The subject forces you to simplify whereas engineering is all about managing complexity, so if you have both and are able to take the complexity and simplify, I think you should have a good idea of what’s going on.” Hence Rittenhouse took a formal


MOBILE WORLD CONGRESS

ABOUT RITTENHOUSE technical path too – a PhD in electrical engineering and computer science from MIT before going to Bell Labs where he spent 20 years and ended up as President. “A little over five years ago I moved to Cisco to help with their cloud efforts, and of course security is a big issue when dealing with the cloud, so this is what led me into this space,” he adds. Cyberattacks frequently make headlines. Last year’s hack on the UK’s National Health Service and accusations of Russian attacks contributing to President Trump’s election as US President are two highprofile examples, while the overall number of attacks are rising.

“There are two dimensions to this problem,” says Rittenhouse. “Enterprise itself is becoming more complex. It used to be a case where I would sit there with my data centre with the enterprise behind it – most of my applications were from my laptop to my data centre and I would only go out to the internet to surf the web. The perimeters were clearly defined. “Now we have the cloud and all the applications we need. There are branches and mobile users as well, creating a dynamic system with data and applications on one side and users on the other. This adds a lot of complexity and complexity equals vulnerability from a security perspective.”

Gee Rittenhouse is Senior Vice President for Cisco’s Security Business Group, responsible for next-gen firewall, cloud, advanced threat, network and end point security products. A graduate from the University of California in Physics and holder of a PhD from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, he spent much of his career at Bell Labs, during which time he chaired global non-profit research group Green Touch, a body dedicated to increasing energy efficiency of communications networks.

EME Outlook issue 34 | 7


CISCO

To put Rittenhouse’s observations into context, Gartner predicts the 2019 public cloud services market to reach $206 billion, a massive 17.3 percent increase on last year. By 2022, more than $1.3 trillion of IT spend will be directly or indirectly affected by the shift to cloud. In short, this is opening up a huge space for hackers to target. “In the same sense, the sophistication of attacks has increased remarkably in the same timescale,” continues Rittenhouse. “Now we see nation state, weapons grade software in the system whereas before this

was done by more improvised hacked pieces of code. “This combines to make a twodimensional effect that is pulling in different directions – the quality of the attack and the attack surface are both increasing and this has, frankly, caused Cisco to reconsider its approach to security and the products we offer.” From emails and cloud to firewalls and proxies, Cisco covers every dimension of a network enterprise and offers the broadest portfolio of products in the industry. Add to this deep level of threat detection a set of sophisticated

machine learning tools and algorithms, and the company is able to identify and stamp out many potential hacks before they spread. “If I see something strange on your endpoint, within minutes I can see if it’s a new file we’ve not seen before, detonate it if malicious and make sure all equivalent files are detonated when picked up,” Rittenhouse adds. “That is the loop.” However, the added complexity of cloud is where Cisco has had to adapt, and it has done so by approaching the issue from a trust perspective and establishing new boundaries.


MOBILE WORLD CONGRESS

Rittenhouse points to identity as an example. “You are known, you are in the system and have the rights to these applications,” he says, “and I can prove it is you and your device, so the boundary of trust is there with your network and what you are doing. “As soon as you break one of these trust barriers, we can put you in a different category and downgrade accessibility until that trust is reestablished. It is a continuous cycle and has helped simplify things for customers.” But what about autonomous devices that communicate with networks through the internet of things? The GSMA, chief organiser of MWC, released research last year predicting that the global IoT market will generate $1.1 trillion in revenue by 2025. This equates to more than 25 billion cellular and non-cellular IoT connections, a monumental rise considering there were 6.3 billion connections just two years previously. Rittenhouse quickly acknowledges the impact this is having on Cisco, again prompting the company to adapt and evolve its security solutions. “This not only expands the attack surface, but also the scope as you can also be on the end of physical damage,” he says. “We have spent a lot of time on this covering the full spectrum, for instance with very small appliances that can connect via IoT, like a lightbulb, to elevators in shopping malls. “We look at the posture of these devices and segment them automatically – this is because we have the visibility to detect irregular activity so can see if a printer is talking to networks it shouldn’t be talking to. Likewise, in a manufacturing plant, we can see what bigger machines are doing.” While on the topic of IoT, it was inevitable that 5G would enter the conversation (we had done well to avoid it for 15 minutes).

The undoubted headline act of Mobile World Congress, 5G took centre stage with trials and demos of all manner of use cases, including live broadcasting and even remote control of industrial trucks stationed 2,000 kilometres away in Gothenburg. With undoubted potential to support advanced IoT deployments, Rittenhouse also explains how 5G can assist Cisco in the security realm. “It actually allows us to do quite a bit from a security perspective,” he enthuses. “5G enables the service providers to serve customers in a way they haven’t done so before. Now we can do network slicing and segmentation and add security services, so 5G allows these providers to treat the enterprise in a very different way.

Security is available and accessible to smaller customers, it is simply a case of how you wish to consume it. Do you do it yourself or outsource it, that is the biggest question at the moment” “That means all of the security we had in play in the enterprise sphere gets repeated, which is a good thing and our customers really like this, whether they get it through us directly or our service partners. “That trust layer I was talking about can now also go all the way down to the device – we can have trusted infrastructure as well as trusted users.”

Cisco’s customers range from SMBs all the way up to multinational, billion-dollar organisations, an extremely diverse client base covering a tremendous array of security challenges. For smaller companies, the impact of an attack can be permanently damaging. Cisco’s own research (2018 Security Capabilities Benchmark Study) finds that 54 percent of all cyberattacks result in financial damages of more than $500,000 through the likes of lost revenue, customers, opportunities, and out-of-pocket costs. Take into account that 53 percent of midmarket companies have experienced a breach, and the threat is both real and vast. But, does this mean smaller enterprises should approach the issue differently? Our conversation with Rittenhouse concludes with an important consideration. “I wouldn’t segment it out as small against large, as uniformly across all of them you can ask what your threat risk is versus your ability to respond. “Smaller companies don’t have a large IT setup, large companies do, but large companies are a bigger target. What we’ve done is use automation and simplification as a huge focus. For smaller companies, we’ve added security layers to our SMB platforms so you can get it automated in with no fuss. Our partners can also come in and offer services. “Security is available and accessible to smaller customers, it is simply a case of how you wish to consume it. Do you do it yourself or outsource it, that is the biggest question at the moment.”

EME Outlook issue 34 | 9


Tell us your story and we’ll tell the world. NORTH AMERICA OUTLOOK is a digital and print product aimed at boardroom and hands-on decision-makers across a wide range of industries on the continent. With content compiled by our experienced editorial team, complemented by an in-house design and production team ensuring delivery to the highest standards, we look to promote the latest in engaging news, industry trends and success stories from the length and breadth of the USA & Canada. North America Outlook will bridge a full range of industrial sectors: agriculture, construction, energy & utilities, finance, food & drink, healthcare, manufacturing, mining & resources, oil & gas, retail, shipping & logistics, technology and more. In joining the leading industry heavyweights already enjoying the exposure we can provide across our network, you can benefit from FREE coverage across both digital and print platforms, a FREE marketing brochure, extensive social media saturation, enhanced B2B networking opportunities, and a readymade forum to attract new investment and to grow your business. To get involved, please contact Outlook Publishing’s Managing Director, Ben Weaver, who can provide further details on how to feature your company, for FREE, in one of our upcoming editions.

FREE

WIND RIVER

Portfolio edition

INCHCAPE SHIPPING SERVICES

Leveraging technology to provide international transparency in the shipping industry

TECHNOLOGY

rtunity

THE CRITICAL ENABLER AT THE INTELLIGENT EDGE

w w w. n o r t h a m e r i c a o u t l o o k m a g . c o m

MWC19

Mobile World Congress provided the ultimate forum showcasing innovation

How Wind River software continues to lead the way in today’s hyperconnected and autonomous era

Marketi ng Oppo

NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory’s (JPL) Mars Exploration Rover, Spirit, powered by Wind River technology, successfully landed on Mars at approximately 8:35 p.m. PT, January 3, 2004

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I like to think I anticipated the advancement of connectivity and digital transformation several decades ago – it would make me a visionary! “But the fact of the matter is that when I started in the industry, connectivity was very simple and slow. I did envisage back then that speed and complexity would increase exponentially, but what I didn’t see coming was wireless becoming mainstream, the ability to connect with very little hardware, and the critical role the edge would play.” Visionary or not, Michel Genard is better placed than most to discuss the hyperconnected era that we live

Wind River software has been ensuring can’t-fail systems remain operational for almost four decades, the company leading the way at the intelligent edge in a hyperconnected and autonomous era Writer: Tom Wadlow | Project Manager: Vivek Valmiki in today. Last year surpassed the 20 billion mark in terms of the number of devices connected to the internet, with estimates suggesting that figure will rise to an extraordinary 300 billion

by as soon as 2030. In monetary terms, the opportunity is also gargantuan. For instance, the global digital transformation market was valued at almost $262 billion in 2018 and is expected to breach $1 trillion by 2026, growing at an average rate of some 18 percent a year. Within the vast world of connectivity, a fundamental and exponentially growing category is edge computing. In 2017, the global value of this specialist market was measured at $1.73 billion, a figure which is forecast to rise to more than $28 billion by 2027, growing at an average rate of some 35 percent a year.

STRENGTHENING THE BACKBONE OF CONNECTIVITY AT THE INTELLIGENT EDGE

EME Outlook issue 35 | 123

Ian Pearson, the President of Ford Romania discusses a 6,000-strong workforce and state-of-the-art Craiova plant

www.northamericaoutlookmag.com


INCHCAPE SHIPPING SERVICES

Global, Local, Transparent By adding a global, technology-enabled layer of transparency to shipping agency operations, Inchcape Shipping Services continues to gain the trust of clients to manage their vessels and cargo the world over Writer: Tom Wadlow | Project Manager: David Knott

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SUPPLY CHAIN

A

round 6,000 years ago Egyptians navigated 100-metre-long boats up and down the Nile. Powered by oars and featuring sails, these wooden vessels carried enormous obelisks and were a serious feat of engineering for their time, so much so that very little evolution in boat mechanics occurred until the advent of steam propulsion. The British East India Company took full advantage of this long-awaited breakthrough, initially using steamships to help manoeuvre large sailing ships into the narrow harbours of India before reducing travel time between Asia and Britain. In 1856 the Company awarded a contract to carry mail between Calcutta and Rangoon to the Calcutta & Burmah Steam Navigation Company, which incorporated in London and became an agent for the new ship-

ping line. This was the work of William Mackinnon, who, together with Robert Mackenzie, formed a general merchanting partnership named Mackinnon Mackenzie & Company (MMC). It is the formation of this company in Calcutta in 1847 that the Inchcape Group proudly traces its origins. Exponentially growing its influence between Europe, Africa, the Middle East, Asia and even Australia, MMC became a crucial enabler of British sea trade, the Inchcape name taking over in the 1950s and continuing to serve as agents for a trAfricandous array of clients to this very day. But, much like the steamship’s oarand sail-powered predecessor, the nature of shipping agency interactions remained relatively unevolved through this protracted period during and after colonial trade across the seas. The formation of Inchcape Shipping

Services in 1993, however, marked an important turning point. “We’ve been in the industry for over 170 years, and the issues around shipping have always been that what happens in faraway lands has always been a faraway thing,” explains Frank Olsen, the company’s present-day CEO. “There has not always been enough information, communication, control or transparency, and therefore a lack of trust, in what is occurring in places which are hundreds, if not thousands of miles away.” Inchcape Shipping Services was therefore formed to integrate what was then a loose federation of ship agents into a robust, transparent international network with defined and common service standards worldwide. “Today we are driving both operational and financial transparency to the process, using technology to

Africa Outlook issue 76 | 13


INCHCAPE SHIPPING SERVICES underpin the way we interact and manage relations with our customers,” Olsen continues. “The idea is for the principal to feel in control and know exactly what is happening with their vessel during a port call. LEADERSHIP FOCUS

FRANK OLSEN Frank Olsen began his tenure as Chief Executive Officer of Inchcape Shipping Services in July 2018, previously serving as COO of the group’s Marine Services division. A major focus of his time in the Marine Services business was to enhance its use of technology and data, something which he has transitioned into his role of CEO. “My background in terms of getting to where I am today is quite a simple one,” Olsen recalls. “I started my career as a seafarer and master mariner on ships which journeyed around the world, and in 2007 I moved onshore in the marine service industry but was still very engaged with vessels and their activities. A lot of training and experiences later, and I am here today as CEO of Inchcape Shipping Services.”

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“Historically, the criteria for selecting an agent has been localised knowledge of the port in question, and trust in this knowledge and subsequent track record. Trust is everything, and our mantra is that you can only establish genuine trust if you have transparency first – it is not enough anymore to simply say trust me. “We will build that trust by providing the operational and financial transparency, enabled through new technology, across our unparalleled network.”

A GLOBAL-LOCAL DYNAMIC Inchcape Shipping Services thus delivers a service which combines the benefits of a local agent on the ground with a global layer of extra value powered in many different ways by technology and its unique global network. The two facets are intrinsically linked (one cannot survive without the other) and this is shown by three core pillars which define the way Inchcape operates today – global, technology and people. The first pillar centres around a huge global network, made up of 300 offices in 68 countries across 2,500 ports and built up over 172 years of history, a uniquely developed asset that is extrAfricaly difficult to replicate in what is still a very fragmented market. Indeed, it is the largest owned proprietary network of any shipping agency. “This is something we’re extrAfricaly proud of, but more important for us is changing the relationships of our customers from a collection of local relationships to a global partnership,” Olsen adds. “These are transacted at a local level in lots of different locations, but there is commonality, and that is the global layer of value that means the whole is greater than the sum of the individual local parts.” Olsen is not suggesting that the individual parts, which include the company’s huge supplier network, are in any way understated in their significance to Inchcape’s operations.

Port Phillip Sea Pilots Port Phillip Sea Pilots (PPSP) has been providing an essential safety service to the state of Victoria since 1839. It is unique in its history, structure and importance to the State. We provide an on demand professional pilotage service to shipping for Melbourne, Geelong and Western Port, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Port Phillip Sea Pilots takes pride in its safety record with over 6,000 movAfricants per year in nearly all weather conditions. Since Captain George Tobin founded the Association in 1839, Port Phillip Sea Pilots has continuously provided a safe and efficient pilotage service. Since our first cruising pilot ship “Boomerang” took up station outside the Heads in 1853, PPSP has been at the forefront of the latest developments in pilot vessels. Our present fleet of modern ORC boats provide safe and efficient transfer of pilots in nearly all weathers. Port Phillip Sea Pilots has worked closely with the Ports of Melbourne, Geelong and Westernport in the development and expansion of the ports, increasing the size and draft of ships able to visit to maximise cargo throughput. This has involved considerable investment in training and technologies (Dynamic Under Keel Clearance and High End PPUs) to ensure these large vessels safe and efficient access to the port. Our highly trained pilots come from command positions at sea with a broad range of backgrounds enabling us to provide expert advice on any pilotage issues. We also provide technical advice and support on pilotage/marine issues to harbour masters, msv and agents. We are proud of our 180 years of service, our traditional independence and professionalism in providing a service to shipping and to the state of Victoria that is first class.

www.ppsp.com.au


Port Phillip

Sea Pilots

Pilot Station (24 Hours) Queenscliff, Victoria Australia Phone: 03 5254 5500 Email: operations@ppsp.com.au Web: www.ppsp.com.au

Reg. 49Q12894

Reg. 74Q42894

Reg. 95E128594


INCHCAPE SHIPPING SERVICES “The importance of our partners, of course, cannot be understated,” he says. “Fundamentally, our job is to coordinate suppliers on behalf of our principals, so we would be nothing without our huge supplier base. “A key component of our value proposition to our principals is that we work with extrAfricaly professional and reputable partners, with whom we enjoy a long and stable relationship. “A lot of time, effort and resource has gone into making sure we build up the best supplier network we can, and our strategic sourcing and procurAfricant team reports directly into me. This team, managed centrally, has contacts in all of our countries and ensures that our supplier relations are built around value, not just cost.” Through this network, Inchcape is able to provide a full suite of financial and physical services, from full port agency and husbandry services to crew logistics and bunker calls.

TECHNOLOGY = TRANSPARENCY The second pillar, technology, powers Inchcape Shipping Services’ raison d’etre – to integrate the individual parts into a transparent, global ecosystem. “Technology is the enabler of the global advantage Inchcape provides,” Olsen says. “While I wouldn’t say we are a technology company, I do believe it has a massive role to play in enhancing the value shipping agents can provide to their principals.” Data is the lifeblood of this. Now

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widely dubbed the new oil, it is once more the sum of the individual pieces which combine to make a greater, transparent whole for Inchcape’s principals. And there are millions of data points which are collected and analysed to make this work. As an agent, the company manages 70,000 port calls a year which equates to more than 100,000 individual jobs. This means Inchcape is able to collect and analyse mountains of valuable information, data which Olsen splits into three broad categories. “The first is performance benchmarking data that we can provide customers,” he explains. “For example, your oil tanker calls into a certain terminal at a certain time of day, but the process is not as efficient as a similar vessel calling at a different time or at a different terminal. Why is that? We begin to ask these questions based on the data we have on ship types, terminal types and timings. Our operating system, Optic, enables this.” Second, and equally significant, is the information gathered through a system called World of Ports. Inchcape has operated this for a number of years as a static dataset covering berthing and terminal data for dry and wet berths around the world, a very useful tool for companies looking to charter ships into ports to make sure vessels are compatible with terminals and berths. “What we’ve done now, in order to make the dataset more dynamic, is geofenced every single berth within that dataset, meaning we can now see when a ship that falls outside of the stated parameters makes a call,” Olsen adds. “In these cases, the most likely scenario is that the data for that berth has not been updated since it has been upgraded or expanded by the port. This means we can continuously update the dataset, making it a unique offering that nobody else offers.”

Adzalia Services Ltd A family company operating in Trinidad and Tobago for over 20 years. Efficiently serving global clients within this fast paced environment. Providers of: • Ground transport • Ship chandlery • Ship’s spares clearance • Yokohama fender rental • Sanitation services • Any other services as required We are committed to providing affordable maritime logistics catering to our clients’ individual requirAfricants.

www.adzalia.net

Blue Marine Transportation We are proud to have partnered with Inchcape Shipping Services, the worldwide leader in agency services since the 1980s, to meet the needs of our maritime industry with excellence. Looking forward to the future, we are excited to work on innovative ways to improve our services, while lowering our clients’ cost with new technologies, safety protocol and employee training.

Frank Rulh, President (504)616-4433 William Crouchet, General Manger (504)236-4451 Dustin Rulh, Operations Manager (504)939-9170

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Africa Outlook issue 76 | 17


INCHCAPE SHIPPING SERVICES

Ships Waste Oil Collector Ships Waste Oil Collector is the largest and leading collector of ships waste at the ports of Rotterdam, Amsterdam and Antwerp in the field of liquid and hazardous waste from Annex I to Annex VI vessels.

Such data is also being linked to other data heralding from outside of the port, what Olsen classifies as market intelligence, the third category, and another way of adding dynamism to Inchcape’s vast pool of information. The result is that principals are able to ask and find answers to questions that need answering in order to make well-informed judgAfricants. “For instance, what ships are in the line up?” Olsen asks. “What are those ships carrying? How much cargo are they carrying? Where are they coming from? Who are the actors involved? We’re not a data company, but we have unique access to public domain data which we can verify at course thanks to our network of ‘eyes and ears’ at the ports. “Ultimately, we are enabling our customers to make better decisions more quickly.” Central to Inchcape Shipping Services’ ability to use technology as vehicle for transparency is our application, Optic as mentioned earlier. The company is in the early stages of rolling out the solution, the basis of it being a system that provides operational transparency at port level based on a vessel programme, an expected series of events that should happen to a ship as it makes a port call. “As a customer, you can see what is happening and when something requires your attention, the system will inform you that an event has occurred outside of the parameters that you set,” says Olsen. “You are not waiting at the end of the phone to hear if everything is ok… or not.” 18 | Africa Outlook issue 76

Rather, our principals are able to monitor progress through a range of devices such as smartphones, laptops and tablets, via an app or integrated into an ERP system. Optic can also be applied to a single vessel or entire fleet sailing around the world, offering unrivalled visibility at virtually any scale. Payments are another important elAfricant of shipping agency, and Inchcape is working on a digital payment platform to ensure all money exchanges are transparent, traceable and accountable. This highlights the importance of global, consistent levels of corporate governance. Be it the payments process or handling of principals’ data, Inchcape Shipping Services has developed a company-wide compliance programme which is widely recognised as pioneering in the industry. Local agents who are part of the Inchcape network are well-versed in these standards, combining this with their local knowledge to represent the safest possible bet for clients, a key differentiator for the company over its competitors. Compliance has historically been something of a taboo subject in the industry, but Inchcape is ensuring the dynamics of the conversation are changing. Olsen adds: “There are lots of large enterprises still choosing smaller, local agents who perhaps do not have the level of global governance that Inchcape carries, simply because they don’t have the scale to justify the investment. We believe it has to be taken

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Ships Waste Oil Collector: • Meet the requirements and needs of our stakeholders • Personal and work closely with our clients • Use modern equipment according to the prior art • Have the appropriate outlets For the collection of liquid waste, we use the most modern vessels and highly trained personnel. We are the only collector in the port of Rotterdam, Amsterdam and Antwerp, which features 3 C type barges. Therefore we are fully equipped for future legislation and regulations in our field. A selection of our collection fleet is shown below. Our total collection capacity is 8,500 tons. For further information do not hesitate to contact our office. Ships Waste Oil Collector B.V., Chemieweg 10, 3197 KC Rotterdam-Botlek | Tel: +31 10 2957154 | E-mail: info@shipswaste.nl | Website: www.shipswaste.nl

Africa Outlook issue 76 | 19


INCHCAPE SHIPPING SERVICES

INCHCAPE SHIPPING SERVICES

VISION, VALUES AND MISSION VISION: A connected world in which our customers trade successfully and make better decisions in every port, everywhere. VALUES: We connect the world and see the bigger picture. We rely on the strength of local agent knowledge and relationships. We adopt new thinking and push for positive change in our industry. MISSION: To use technology and our global network to help our partners connect to a smoother, smarter, ocean.

more seriously and can offer both the advantages as a local operator with global governance.” This naturally leads the conversation onto the topic of cybersecurity, another critical elAfricant to the governance piece. Inchcape Shipping Services relies on an advanced IT security setup and a rigorous training programme to ensure all employees operate within safe parameters. Once more, the integrated nature of the company’s network delivers another point of difference. “The biggest risk here is having multiple entry points into your system,” explains Olsen, “so if you have agents spread all over the world, you are giving access to your systems to people you may not have vetted. Our advantage is a single point of entry, and one which principals know and can trust.”

POWERED BY PEOPLE While technology has been proven to provide a digital differentiator, its value would be severely diminished without skilled employees to harness it. Indeed, people make up the third 20 | Africa Outlook issue 76

Inchcape Shipping Services pillar, be they local agent partners on the ground or the company’s own staff spread around the world. “We are an asset-light business, so having the best people is paramount to our success,” Olsen says. “Key to this is our in-house training programme, something we are very proud of. It is predominantly digitally based, providing extensive learning opportunities for all staff, be it mandatory programmes in compliance to more vocational and career-based modules.” Named the Inchcape Marine Academy and in operation for around 10 years, it has been created by a combination of in-house experts and knowledge contributions from outside of the company. Currently the academy houses around 170 courses, with each employee on average undertaking one learning course per month. Although described as asset-light by Olsen, the advanced technology and skilled people combine to make a formidable resource for Inchcape, a setup which leaves the CEO optimistic as the company moves into the next chapter of its story.

“We are witnessing change in the industry,” he observes. “The global nature of what we have been discussing is becoming more prominent and is being valued more by different industries. “For example, oil and gas majors have for quite some time been interested in risk mitigation from a governance point of view – they have been the first ones to adopt this hub methodology that has been introduced by global agents in the past couple of decades. That same motivation is permeating other client bases in the shipping industry. “We therefore believe the need for working with a global agent who can provide safety and security will increase. The transparency related to this on an operational level will also need to increase. However, the requirAfricant for a good quality local agent who you can contact is still crucial – for us it is about the global and local balance, something we believe we are achieving through technology.” And it is this dynamic which Olsen believes will help the company to acquire a greater market share in years to come. Albeit a congested industry with a huge array of participating organisations, the potential to expand Inchcape’s business is sizable. Concluding optimistically, Olsen says: “This is a highly fragmented market and we believe we can significantly increase our market share. To do this we need to increasingly differentiate our products and provide a transparency-based offering built around advanced technology, backing up an experienced and unique network of people at the ports.”

INCHCAPE SHIPPING SERVICES Tel: +44 2035 138500 www.iss-shipping.com


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Africa Outlook issue 76 | 21


FORD ROMANIA Ford Romania’s esteemed 6,000-strong workforce and state-of-the-art Craiova plant have become key vehicles for the group’s global mission – to make people’s lives better through automotive and mobility leadership Writer: Jonathan Dyble Project Manager: Thomas Arnold

H

enry Ford is, without question, one the most influential figures of the past century. A visionary, an inspiration, a hero of modern industry and society – these are all ways in which the mastermind behind the legacy of one of the world’s most revered automotive companies is described even now, 72 years after his passing. Why? For Ian Pearson, the President of Ford Romania, the answer is simple. “What’s really interesting is if you go back and read about the makings of Ford,” he muses, recommending the founder’s biography. “You quickly realise that Henry Ford’s focus over 100 years ago is very similar to where we are as a company now. “He wanted to bring reliable, affordable travel to the masses; to open the highways to all mankind. He wanted to provide innovative, safe means of transport and to make the impossible, possible. And that’s exactly what drives us day by day.” Granted, Pearson himself hasn’t been on the scene from the beginning – it would make him at least 116 years old. Yet, having taken up his father’s offer to enrol in a Ford apprenticeship at the age of 16, in his hometown of Liverpool back in the 1970s, he’s been around long enough to recognise that this same unwavering mission has endured throughout generations and across borders. 22 | EME Outlook issue 34

Mobility

Master


ery

MANUFACTURING

EME Outlook issue 34 | 23


FORD ROMANIA Today, Ford has a presence in 200 countries around the world and employs almost 200,000 people, roughly 6,200 of which are situated in Romania, working alongside Pearson at the organisation’s impressive, one million square metre Craiova plant. “I didn’t start my career with grand plans to work in different locations,” he reveals. “Working with Ford has simply provided me with the opportunity to do so – the chance to see new places, embrace new cultures and learn – and each time I’ve been asked I have said yes. “Coming to Romania is a prime example. When I arrived here, I was surprised in honesty. I’d never visited before, and didn’t know much about the country, but quickly learned that the people here are passionate, incredibly talented and very friendly.”

€1.5 BILLION AND COUNTING While the now President of Ford Romania first came to Craiova in September 2010, a four-year assignment at Ford’s Bridgend plant in south Wales separating his first and second period of residency in Romania’s sixth largest city, the organisation has in fact been operational here since 2008 following the purchase of a brownfield site from the Romanian government. 12 years on, the company to date has invested more than €1.5 billion in total on upgrading the plant, making it state-of-the-art in all aspects. “It’s a huge sum, but each investment has been made to enhance the efficiency and cost-effectiveness of our operation for the long term,” Pearson explains. “Our body shop, for example, has

Ian Pearson

FORD PUMA Ford Puma, the company’s charismatic new SUV, features sophisticated mild-hybrid powertrain technology; versatile 456-litre maximum load space; confidence-inspiring technologies including adaptive cruise control with stop and go, speed sign recognition and lane centring; and premium comfort features including segment-first lumbar massage seats. Distinctive variants of the Puma include the sporty, Ford Performanceinspired Puma ST-Line and the high specification Puma Titanium X, all available across Europe. It joins Ford’s expanding line-up of SUV and SUVinspired crossover models in Europe.

24 | EME Outlook issue 34

integrated around 600 different robots and is now 90 percent automated. Meanwhile, in our paint shop, we have the latest 3-Wet process.” “Traditionally, auto manufacturers apply a primer to a vehicle, and place it in an oven to dry it. They then add the topcoat (the colour coating) then put it back in the oven to dry it. And finally, they apply a third clear coat with gives the exterior its shine, before placing it in the oven for a third time. “In our 3-Wet process, we only use the oven at the end of all three coats. It’s leading technology, and allows our paint shop to be smaller, more effective and more efficient.” Indeed, this comprises just a small part of the Craiova plant’s overall production line which right now is producing the Ford EcoSport vehicle, its world-renowned, award-winning 1.0 litre EcoBoost engine and, as of October, the new Ford Puma vehicle – the first mild hybrid to be produced in Romania.


MANUFACTURING

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EME Outlook issue 34 | 25


FORD ROMANIA Integrating the latter into the facility’s overall production has been no easy feat. The plant hired an additional 1,700 employees and invested approximately €200 million to support the production of the Puma model. Yet the transition has been somewhat seamless, owed in large part to the efforts of the Ford Craiova team. “Our people are the difference; it is as simple as that,” Pearson affirms, singing their praises. “I know that it’s sometimes a cliché to say that, but they absolutely do. You can go into any operation and find a lot of standardised machines, equipment and processes that are considered to be industry best practices and are used broadly

throughout the auto manufacturing sector. I’m the first to admit that in our own plant, there are many things that you can find in others. “But everyone who comes here is blown away by the people they meet. Romania is a proud nation, and our employees are very proud to be producing products that are sold around the world.”

POWERED BY EMPOWERMENT It is at this point that Josephine Payne enters the conversation. A Ford employee of 23 years, her story in many ways mirrors that of Pearson, embracing the boundless opportunities offered by the company in order to mould a career within the organisation tailored to her own

strengths and proficiencies. “I started out as a shop floor engineer but have spent most of the last 20 years leading teams designing and implementing new production facilities in Ford powertrain plants around the world,” she explains. “I love the fast pace of an operational environment and working at so many different levels, ensuring we meet our current production targets, delivering ongoing continuous improvement, as well as guiding the team to deliver step level changes through innovation and new model launches. “No day is ever the same, and with a great team around me I really have found my dream job.” Today, Payne stands as the Plant

DISSECTING THE SIGNIFICANCE OF DIVERSITY Q: What is your take on the topic of women in the automotive manufacturing sector – is gender inequality a major issue? A: Women are significantly underrepresented in the automotive manufacturing sector, and this is an issue for both society and business. These jobs are typically well paid, skilled positions and women either self-selecting or being excluded prevents them from accessing these opportunities. For businesses, the impact is even more stark. When an enterprise is unable to tap into 50 percent of the talent in the workforce, they are immediately at risk of being left behind in the race for the latest technology and highest productivity. Q: Why, in your eyes, is workplace diversity so important? A: In my experience, teams and organisations with the most diversity are able to see the business through many different lenses and bring many different perspectives to the challenges that they face. Diverse organisations have greater capacity to develop a culture that sees and prevents problems, as well as develop and innovate with fewer constraints. The most effective and efficient way to run an organisation is to be fully inclusive and have every single member of the workforce engaged in driving the success of the company forward. From the senior leadership to the managers on down, we are responsible for making sure there is an inviting environment for not just women, but for all groups. Josephine Payne

26 | EME Outlook issue 34


MANUFACTURING

Manager of the Craiova Engine Plant, responsible for a 1,000-strong workforce that, by Pearson’s own admission, she is a role model for. Indeed, listening further to her own experiences, it’s easy to see why. “At the start of my career, I was in a meeting discussing the issue of gating production and the experienced (male) engineers outlined the solution that they proposed to implement,” Payne reveals. “They explained that this was the way they always fixed the problem and that if it happened again that this is what I should do. However, I asked them ‘if it is fixed like this frequently, then is it really fixed?’ “We started looking at what the root cause might be, and what else could be done. By the end of the discussion we had identified an alternative way of fixing the issue, and it was the last time it needed to be fixed! It took someone coming in and looking at

the issue from a different perspective to challenge the team and develop a better solution.” Albeit just one example, this speaks volumes of the importance of workplace diversity – a topic that’s historically been somewhat overlooked in the automotive sector. According to a recent study from Deloitte, currently women only account for 27 percent of the US auto manufacturing workforce, a counterproductive gap that resonates with the entire global industry, curbing innovation, transformation and disruption by restricting the talent pool. Unquestionably, this is a problem. Yet Ford has proactively been looking to change the status quo, evidenced by its Team Leader Readiness Training programme. Payne explains: “Following an analysis of recent hiring trends, it became apparent that whilst the

selection process is gender neutral, there were significantly less women applying for shop floor, team leader and process coach roles. “In order to tackle this, we launched Team Leader Readiness Training, open to both men and women, providing anyone the opportunity to gain the skills that they would need as a group leader, as well as a more thorough understanding of the role to motivate them to apply.” Since its pilot, the number of applications from women for team leader positions has increased substantially, the firm having identified and addressed the underlying reasons that they were not putting themselves forward for these positions. “This is just one of many examples of how Ford is helping to challenge the status quo and put in place a framework for female empowerment,” Payne adds. EME Outlook issue 34 | 27


FORD ROMANIA

DRIVING SOCIAL CHANGE Aside from internal operations, empowerment is high on the company’s agenda in other ways, the firm partaking in an extensive range of corporate social responsibility initiatives. Since Ford’s arrival in 2008, this has become a key part of the Craiova plant’s remit, delivered by a combination of the Romania division itself and the wider group’s independent philanthropic arm, Ford Fund. “It’s common practice for Ford to give back to the communities in which it operates,” Pearson reveals. “This year, we’ve been renovating a kindergarten school, provided a helipad to a local hospital to assist in emergency landing/evacuations to other hospitals, and helped refurbish a local oncology unit including the provision of beds.” Here, the plant’s workforce shines through once again, often offering up their free time to provide the labour required for these projects to succeed, while the Ford Fund provides the materials and investment to relevant 28 | EME Outlook issue 34

NGOs which then oversee activities. “We’ve also done a lot in terms of general help for the community,” the President continues. “Cardiology checks and blood checks in local villages is something we’ve conducted a lot in the past, as access to health systems can be difficult at times. “The group-wide Driving Skills for Life programme is also one we’re particularly proud of. Making sure people, especially young inexperienced drivers, understand the safety issues and hazards associated with being on the road while they drive our cars is of paramount importance to us. “On education we sponsor a number of students at local universities, and this year launched our Duel Education programme, partnering up with local schools to provide students of roughly 14 years of age with the opportunity to take part in a vocational course where we bring them on site to learn not just the academics of engineering and mechanics, but the practical skills as well.” The education theme continues with the Ford Resource and Engagement

Centre (FREC), a $1 million-backed initiative that’s the first of its kind in Europe, launched by Ford Fund in Romania following the success of similar ventures in the United States and China. Here, Ford works directly with local universities, offering support to budding entrepreneurs in both a social and business sense. “It’s a bit like Dragon’s Den, but we’re not dragons,” Pearson chuckles. “We listen to the ideas of students, and if we think one has potential then we support it. Likewise, if we think there’s work to do, then we offer hints, tips and guidance. “Since launching earlier this year, we are already backing nine projects covering a whole range of social and business-related issues, from horticulture to language lessons to


MANUFACTURING the rejuvenation of old shoes. “It’s been really exciting to see young entrepreneurs in Craiova practicing their ideas successfully.”

WHAT’S NEXT? Indeed, talk of entrepreneurialism and student-led innovation brings us swiftly onto what is a key question for Ford Romania – what’s next? “Goal number one is continuing the successful launch of Puma,” Pearson responds.

And while the firm is grateful for the contributions of this strong, capable supply base, optimising it as a network via logistics is set to become increasingly important in the eyes of Pearson. “Romanian infrastructure is a personal interest of mine,” he explains. “It’s an area that’s set to become increasingly scrutinised. In my experience, the cost of logistics never goes down – it only goes up, and that’s going to pose some challenges, not just to Ford but for the entire Romanian manufacturing industry. Similar to Ford, many manufacturers For 2019, Ford anticipates its figures bring parts and materials into Romania to show the firm holding an 8.5 percent and ship finished products out of market share in Romania, equating Romania, therefore punctual, cost to 13,500 units sold for the year – a effective logistics is vital ” step up from 2018. The plan for 2020, Manufacturing-related subjects however, is to continue this trend, owed aside, the organisation is also to the successful roll out of Puma. monitoring critical topics slated to “Second is continuing to look at how change the face of the automotive we can make our processes leaner, sector altogether in the longer and to further improve the efficiency term particularly closely, constantly and effectiveness of our operation,” working to proactively position itself Pearson continues. “As an example, and the skills of its workforce ahead we are reviewing the complexity of the curve on all fronts. our of products, to ensure that our “We are going through a period customers get exactly what they of immense change; probably the want, while making it the best from greatest in the last hundred years, a manufacturing point of view.” with the automotive industry moving Third is a focus on logistics. into hybrid, electric and autonomous Being part of a global entity, Ford vehicles and the shift in the mobility Romania works with a vast number of world,” Payne declares. both local and international partners, “I certainly believe that the importing products the world over. automotive landscape of tomorrow

will look nothing like it does today, and the workforce needed to deliver this will have a different set of skills and outlooks to those that have served us well in the past.” Pearson agrees, yet affirms that Ford is not fazed by these developments, instead drawing optimism from the changes that lie ahead. And it is this that forms the basis of his conclusion. “There are a lot of new starters coming into the business – if you think three, four years ago, Tesla was a new starter, but now its a consolidated player,” he states. “These emerging fields have provided an avenue for startups to succeed, and a lot of new companies are identifying opportunities that probably weren’t there before. “And that’s exciting. There’s more choice out there, and for us that means looking towards the future, towards trends and customer demands, and thinking about how we can become more mobile and more agile. For Ford, the opportunity is to create tomorrow with our employees, our partners and our customers.”

FORD ROMANIA Tel: +40 (0) 3725 16255 fordcv@ford.com www.ford.ro

EME Outlook issue 34 | 29


WIND RIVER

NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory’s (JPL) Mars Exploration Rover, Spirit, powered by Wind River technology, successfully landed on Mars at approximately 8:35 p.m. PT, January 3, 2004

30 | EME Outlook issue 35


TECHNOLOGY

THE CRITICAL ENABLER AT THE INTELLIGENT EDGE

I like to think I anticipated the advancement of connectivity and digital transformation several decades ago – it would make me a visionary! “But the fact of the matter is that when I started in the industry, connectivity was very simple and slow. I did envisage back then that speed and complexity would increase exponentially, but what I didn’t see coming was wireless becoming mainstream, the ability to connect with very little hardware, and the critical role the edge would play.” Visionary or not, Michel Genard is better placed than most to discuss the hyperconnected era that we live

Wind River software has been ensuring can’t-fail systems remain operational for almost four decades, the company leading the way at the intelligent edge in a hyperconnected and autonomous era Writer: Tom Wadlow | Project Manager: Vivek Valmiki in today. Last year surpassed the 20 billion mark in terms of the number of devices connected to the internet, with estimates suggesting that figure will rise to an extraordinary 300 billion

by as soon as 2030. In monetary terms, the opportunity is also gargantuan. For instance, the global digital transformation market was valued at almost $262 billion in 2018 and is expected to breach $1 trillion by 2026, growing at an average rate of some 18 percent a year. Within the vast world of connectivity, a fundamental and exponentially growing category is edge computing. In 2017, the global value of this specialist market was measured at $1.73 billion, a figure which is forecast to rise to more than $28 billion by 2027, growing at an average rate of some 35 percent a year.

EME Outlook issue 35 | 31


WIND RIVER Genard is VP of Product for Wind River, a US-based global leader in delivering software for connected systems at the intelligent edge – an organisation which has been fully immersed in the above picture for the best part of 40 years. ​ “I started as an engineer and am an engineer by design,” he recalls. “What inspired me then was the desire to design and create. I am from a generation where electronics and software were starting to become mainstream, when the combination of hardware and software enabled you to do so many new things. “What fascinated me in joining Wind River was discovering the almost invisible software that is critical to the functioning of systems which cannot fail.” This, in short, is what positions Wind River so strongly in today’s ever-evolving connected world. The company’s vast portfolio of software solutions is accelerating the digital transformation of critical infrastructure systems found across a tremendous variety of verticals, renowned for meeting the strictest standards in safety, security, performance and reliability.

Michel Genard, VP of Product for Wind River 32 | EME Outlook issue 35

And while the nature and scale of connectivity has drastically changed over 40 years and led the firm to continually adapt and evolve, Wind River’s basic premise remains the same – to ensure customers’ mission critical devices and systems work. “What makes Wind River unique is our relevance and opportunity at the intelligent edge,” says Genard, who set up the organisation’s first European office in the 1980s. “This means our technology plays an essential role from the device edge to the infrastructure edge, where you are going to have small footprint cloud deployment near the infrastructure – making sure all of those critical elements work.”

BRINGING 5G TO THE EDGE The 5G dynamic is, for Genard, something of a perfect storm for the company. Arguably the single greatest technology buzzword or trend of at least the last two years, 5G is beginning to transform the way we live, work and interact on a meaningful scale. In 2016 the global 5G infrastructure market was worth a little over half a billion dollars – by 2025 that figure is projected to reach almost $23 billion. A gamechanger here, according to Genard, is network slicing. “5G is not just another G, i.e. a super boosted bandwidth version of 3G and 4G,” he explains. “It was always going to be fast. Rather, the intriguing thing about 5G is the topology of the network, and the slicing of the 5G network that will allow portions of the network to be used for specific use cases. “You can aggregate and divide different parts of the network and this creates a massive opportunity to really exploit the advantages of IoT, autonomous technology and a great many other things that may previously have been difficult to scale. “5G is going to make all of this possible at a more affordable, accessible price, and Wind River can bring the reliability required to successfully scale 5G networks.”

Airbiquity® Airbiquity® and Wind River® are collaborating to integrate key technologies for the development of an end-to-end software lifecycle management solution for connected and autonomous vehicles, spanning vehicle to cloud. The solution enables secure and intelligent over-the-air (OTA) software updates and data management. Proper and proactive management of software over the course of a vehicle’s lifecycle is becoming increasingly important to enhance performance, maintain value, and address safety and security threats. Using OTA, automotive OEMs can securely transmit diagnostic and operational data and efficiently deploy software updates to mitigate recall expenses and enable new vehicle features. Together, Wind River and Airbiquity provide the automotive industry an open and flexible OTA solution combining market-leading software technology components to create a comprehensive, interoperable, pre-validated OTA solution backed by the expertise of two industry-leading software technology companies. • Wind River is contributing Edge Sync, a highly modular OTA update and software lifecycle management solution • Airbiquity is contributing OTAmatic®, a cloud-based OTA service including OTA orchestration, campaign management, software and data management, and Uptane-based security framework capabilities An integrated solution combining Wind River Edge Sync and Airbiquity OTAmatic also has applicability to multiple nonautomotive IoT sectors, such as medical, industrial, aerospace, military, and telecommunications.

www.airbiquity.com


Intelligent Connectivity Is In Our DNA

Since the beginning of connected car Airbiquity has thrived at the increasingly trafficked intersection of automotive devices, software technology, and the cloud. For more than 20 years we’ve enabled automotive grade programs and ecosystems of innovative hardware and software to be integrated and managed—at scale. That’s why over 40 million vehicles from leading automakers around the world have been built with Airbiquity software and cloud-based service delivery capability. Turn to Airbiquity to make your connected car program vision a reality.

Corporate Headquarters

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© Airbiquity 2020. Airbiquity® and OTAmatic® are trademarks of Airbiquity Inc. All other products and brand names may be trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners. Specifications are subject to change without notice. © Airbiquity 2020. Airbiquity® and OTAmatic® are trademarks of Airbiquity Inc. All other products and brand names may be trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners. Specifications are subject to change without notice.


WIND RIVER

AN INTRODUCTION TO WIND RIVER Wind River is a global leader in delivering software for the intelligent edge. The company is helping the world’s technology leaders power generation after generation of the safest, most secure devices in the world. The company’s software is accelerating the evolution from automated to autonomous and leading the 5G revolution across a diverse range of use cases – from collaborative robots to commercial and military drones, connected cars to the connected factory floor – as well as the intelligent communication networks that support these applications. Manufacturers, governments, system integrators and other enterprises are all part of Wind River’s customer base, which covers, among others, the following verticals: AEROSPACE AND DEFENCE: Airbus Group, BAE Systems, Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, Honeywell AUTOMOTIVE: BMW, Fiat, Ford, General Motors, Honda, Johnson Controls, Valeo Group INDUSTRIAL: ABB, KUKA, Mitsubishi, Rockwell Automation, Schneider Electric, Siemens, Toshiba MEDICAL: GE Healthcare, Olympus, Stryker, Varian NETWORKING: ARRIS, Avaya, Ciena, Ericsson, Tellabs

Teledyne e2v Due to the nature of Teledyne e2v’s computer intensive high reliability microprocessor solutions, of Teledyne e2v’s customers and markets, the cooperation with WindRiver is natural and brings a significant value to our mutual aerospace, space and military customers. During the mid 2010’s, Teledyne e2v introduced a very compact common computer platform solution, integrating a PowerArchitecture® or ARM® quad core microprocessor with 4GB of DDR4 RAM. This product line up, Qormino®, brings both an easiness of integration for system designers, and multiple SWaP benefits (size, weight and power). In particular, Teledyne e2v, WindRiver and CoreAVI have written a joint technical brief highlighting how they help designers to face system mission computer challenges. A joint article highlighting our strong collaboration on BAE Systems’ mission computer was also published in 2019. To manufacture this complex common computer platform product, Teledyne e2v draws on 35 successful years delivering generations of high reliability microprocessors to worldwide avionics, space and defence customers including Airbus, Boeing, NASA, ESA. Those microprocessors always include the following: • Extended temperature range: -55 to 125 degrees Celcius. • Qualifications of both lead-free (RoHS) and leaded (SnPb) solder ball product variants. • Long term supply/lifetime extension (15+ years). • Product warranty for high reliability domains. Teledyne e2v is certified aerospace certification as per AS / EN / JIS Q 9100 (Grenoble, France). For more details, please refer to TBD.

www.teledyne-e2v.com

34 | EME Outlook issue 35


NOTHING FLIES WITHOUT TELEDYNE e2v’S HIGH RELIABILITY MICROPROCESSORS Teledyne e2v High Reliability Microprocessor division is serving all worldwide Aerospace, Space & Defense customers since more than 35 years. Our records of accomplishment include working with renowned customers such as Airbus, Boeing and more generally most of the worldwide Avionics systems manufacturers, as well as key players in the Military and Defense industry. We are working as well with major Space customers, and have close cooperation with CNES, ESA & NASA. The key success factors of Teledyne e2v’s High Reliability Microprocessors are: 1. Access to the same tests programs, test equipments & methodology than original manufacturer 2. Reliable characterization & qualification of Microprocessors in High Reliability domains (-55/125C), offering both RoHS & Lead ball finishing variants 3. Obsolescence management (15 years and beyond) after product End Of Life Teledyne e2v’s Hi Rel qualification: www. teledyne-e2v.com/content/uploads/2019/11/ Teledyne-e2v-Hi-Reliability-DifferentiatorsTech-Brief-V4.pdf

of kunits of those microprocessors in Aerospace & Defense market, per year. Product Portfolio: www.teledyne-e2v.com/ products/semiconductors/processors/ High Reliability Microprocessor Power Consumption reduction Beyond this very comprehensive portfolio capable to serve a wide range of projects, customers, and timelines, Teledyne e2v has also developed a methodology to reduce the power consumption on customers’ applications. Our Aerospace & Defense customers are indeed facing more and more power budget constraints, often linked with Safety Critical requirements. Many parts of Avionics systems may be specifically designed to meet stringent requirements and withstand tough environments and extreme temperature conditions. But this comes in parallel of embedding always more processing capabilities, for one of the following reasons: • Ability for the system to be future proof, i.e. still capable to work with the same expected behavior in 1, 5 or 10 years, • Have extra margin for greedy applications, i.e. avoid a system freeze when newer applications are introduced, • In addition, for marketing purposes…bigger is always better! Teledyne e2v presents all the steps followed to reduce by 45% the power consumption of a Power Architecture based T1042 Microprocessor, on the customer application. Power Optimization Technical Brief : www. teledyne-e2v.com/content/uploads/2019/10/ Power-consumption-White-Paper.pdf Qormino® : Very compact High Reliability Common Computer Platforms

Teledyne e2v High Reliability Microprocessors Portfolio Teledyne e2v’s portfolio includes several technologies, from older 1990’s Freescale (formerly Motorola, now NXP) PowerQUICC® architectures built around one or more PowerPC cores and the Communications Processor Module (QUICC Engine) specialized in such tasks such as I/O, communications, ATM, security acceleration, networking and USB. PowerQUICC architecture is still widely used in Avionics systems, and Teledyne e2v is also fully supporting evolutionary technologies, such as 2000’s based QorIQ® Power Architecture®, as well as the 2010’s QorIQ ARM® based Layerscape® ones. Teledyne e2v has been introducing more than 45 different High Reliability microprocessor products during the last 20 years, and is delivering tens to hundreds

In the mid 2010’s, Teledyne e2v has introduced a dedicated family of very compact Processing & Memory modules, Qormino®, aiming at providing both an easiness of integration and SWaP benefits (Size, Weight and Power).

scratch. This leads to a reduced development time, and enables Systems Mission Computer project teams to meet challenging project timescales and provide capable hardware to customers sooner. Qormino offers: • High performance packed into a small substrate. • Reduced system design time, improved timeto-market. • 15+ years availability for obsolescence management.

Qormino Development plarform is available for evaluation and development in both PowerArchitecture and ARM versions, and Teledyne e2v can propose custom solutions based on other QorIQ architectures of DDR4 densities. Design evidences can also be available on request for Safety Critical system designs, targeting DO-254 / DAL (Design Assurance Level) certifications. A specific version of QLS1046-4GB is radiation tolerant and qualified for Space applications. Partnership with WindRiver Due to the nature of Teledyne e2v products, customers and markets, the cooperation with WindRiver is natural and brings a significant value to our mutual Aerospace, Space & Military customers. For demonstrations and business development activities, Teledyne e2v is showcasing the available references working in a complete ecosystem of partners. On the technical side, a VxWorks 7 BSP (Board Support Package) is available for customer evaluations and development. Teledyne e2v, WindRiver and CoreAVI are proposing a Technical Brief related to how they help designers to face System Mission Computer challenges: www.teledyne-e2v.com/ content/uploads/2019/03/Mission-Computerchallenges-Tech-Brief.pdf

Qormino is a unique opportunity to combine a high performance processing platform, with DDR4 memory, without the risks associated with designing a high-speed memory interface from

We have also published in 2019 a joint article highlighting our strong collaboration on BAE Systems’ mission computer: www.teledynee 2 v. c o m / n e w s / t e l e d y n e - e 2 v - p r o v i d e s processing-solutions/


WIND RIVER

Percepio Percepio is a Swedish software specialist with a rare combination of competences—embedded systems, IoT, cloud and software visualisation. This has resulted in a world-class solution for visual trace diagnostics, Percepio Tracealyzer, used by over 500 companies worldwide, including prominent Wind River customers such as ABB and SAAB. Tracealyzer gives application developers a new level of actionable insights beyond traditional debugging tools, ensuring faster development and better products. Percepio has been a Wind River partner since 2013. Percepio Tracealyzer supports Wind River Linux and VxWorks.

Indeed, the company is already taking extra steps to make this happen. In November 2019, for example, it announced a collaboration with Dell EMC as a key hardware partner for distributed edge solutions. This will see the parties pre-integrate their technologies into a reference distributed cloud solution, which can cost-effectively deliver carrier grade performance, massive scalability, and rapid service instantiation to service providers as their foundation for 5G networks. The resultant solution is a new combined software and hardware platform that integrates Dell EMC’s PowerEdge server hardware with the Wind River Cloud Platform, a Kubernetes-based software offering for managing edge cloud infrastructure. Optimised for the network edge, Cloud Platform addresses the complex challenges of deploying and managing a physically distributed, cloud native infrastructure. 36 | EME Outlook issue 35

For Genard, developments such as this will enable enterprises to better tap into the potential of IoT, another of technology’s major buzzwords and trends which has dominated discussions in recent years. “I think it is fair to argue that IoT hasn’t yet come to fruition or been fully capitalised on,” he adds. “The connectivity topology and infrastructure dynamic are what have been missing, but now we can offer the scalability and affordability needed.”

STAYING SAFE AND SECURE Equally critical is safety and security, as the explosion of connected devices is opening up a world of opportunity for cybercriminals looking to exploit network vulnerabilities. From day one Wind River has been ensuring its customers’ devices and systems are not only doing the right job, but doing it securely, Genard observing how the security

Percepio DevAlert is a groundbreaking cloud service for developers of operational technology (OT) software systems with connectivity. DevAlert provides direct awareness and visual trace diagnostics whenever a software issue is detected in deployment or during system testing. This enables a DevOps feedback loop for rapid corrections and continuous improvement via over-the-air software updates. The inclusion of visual trace diagnostics via Percepio Tracealyzer speeds up analysis and resolution, reducing software maintenance costs. According to research, embedded software applications typically contain three to five missed bugs per 1,000 lines of code at the initial release. Bugs that elude testing typically won’t show up directly for all users but will manifest over time. Thus, the faster an update can be provided, the fewer customers will be affected. DevAlert minimises reaction time, which translates into higher product quality and more satisfied customers over the lifetime of the product.

www.percepio.com


Empower your Software Development with Visual Trace Diagnostics

Photo by Peter Liander. © Saab AB

In the Lab – Tracealyzer speeds up development for faster time-to-market In the Field – DevAlert enables rapid updates and continuous improvement

WWW.PERCEPIO.COM


WIND RIVER

POWER OF THE ECOSYSTEM Wind River relies on a network of around 200 partners to serve its customers, with some 200 individual firms combining to form what is known as its partner ecosystem. The company has a dedicated team responsible for managing these partnerships and identifying new opportunities, a vital component of Wind River’s ability to develop its offering and remain relevant in the numerous verticals it serves. The partnership model is a tiered system which varies in its levels of requirements depending on the traction the partner wishes to obtain from Wind River. Genard adds: “Every collaboration or potential collaboration starts with us considering two vital questions. First, what is the use case, what problem does it solve for the customer and is it something we need? It must be actionable and something we don’t have, otherwise there is little purpose. “And second, what vertical industry does it cover? Customers will expect us to do our homework, and so the work our partnership team does in identifying partners is absolutely critical.”

conundrum has become ever more complex over his time in the industry. “Back when a device was simply its own thing in a box, security was a far simpler equation and risks were pretty low,” he says. “Today there are so many devices connected by private and public infrastructure like Wi-Fi, and increasingly now 5G, so the security question changes entirely. “You almost need to operate with the mindset that someone, somewhere will somehow be able to gain access to the device and get into the backend system, no matter how secure you think you are. We must therefore protect and prepare for any scenario to ensure that the consequences of any hack are minimised.” This leads into the thinking behind Wind River’s recent acquisition of Star Lab, an American cybersecurity software company based in Washington DC. The move, announced in January 2020, broadens the comprehensive Wind River software portfolio with a system protection and anti-tamper toolset for Linux, a secure open source-based hypervisor, and a secure boot solution. Star Lab has pedigree in the cybersecurity field, its solutions able to tackle the most challenging situations across critical infrastructure, including proactive protection of systems during sophisticated and targeted attacks that breach traditional defensive mechanisms.

LOOKING AHEAD While acquisitions represent a quick and effective way of boosting expertise and knowledge within companies, Genard is also all too aware of the need for Wind River to continue building up its in-house pool of talent at the same time. To date, the firm employs 1,200 people around the world, including interns, as part of a concerted effort to futureproof the organisation through

38 | EME Outlook issue 35

“A DECADE AGO, MOST CUSTOMERS WOULD HAVE A VERY CLEAR IDEA WHAT HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE BOX THEY WANTED THEIR DEVICE TO COME FROM. THESE DAYS THEY DON’T KNOW – THEY DON’T KNOW WHAT THE MARKET IS GOING TO REQUIRE” finding, attracting and developing the industry’s brightest prospects. “We need to regularly bring in new talent,” the VP of Product adds. “To do this, we must make sure we have the right brand and communicate ourselves in a way that is appealing – our culture, how we look after staff, activities we run, career development prospects, employee benefits.


TECHNOLOGY

ACCES

I/O Product, Inc.

Founded in 1987 in San Diego, CA, ACCES (Acquisition Control Communication Engineering/Systems) supplies an extensive range of data acquisition (DAQ) products and solutions. These products include; analog input, analog output, digital, serial communication, and isolated I/O boards and solutions. ACCES also offers complete systems, integration services and enclosures with a quick turn around on custom projects, including software.

Our products are designed for use with: • PC/104 • PCI • PCI Express • Pico-ITXe • Pico-I/O • ETX • EBX • EPIC • USB • USB/104 • USB/PICO • Ethernet • ISA • distributed, wireless I/O, and computeron-module (COM) form factors

“It is also important to consider that this is a learning curve for us too – the process works two ways, and new talent brings ideas to us that we may not have considered before.” This is crucial if Wind River is to embrace and manage growing complexity and continue to deliver positive end results to customers. “As an industry, I believe what we will see more of is the customer

ACCES I/O Products, Inc. 10623 Roselle Street San Diego, CA 92121-1506 Phone: 858-550-9559 Toll Free: 800-326-1649 Fax: 858-550-7322 E-Mail: General: contactus@accesio.com Orders / Quotes: quote@accesio.com Customer Service: tech@accesio.com

demanding us to cut through the complexity and extract the final outcome,” Genard continues, looking ahead to the future in his concluding comments. “A decade ago, most customers would have a very clear idea what hardware and software box they wanted their device to come from. These days they don’t know – they don’t know what the market is going to require. What we must do is present

something which can adapt, a flexible intelligent edge infrastructure which is sound as usage scales and evolves. “If there is one thing we want to be, it is the company that accelerates the delivery of innovative products that enable the digital transformation of our customers in a data-driven, AI-first world. The last 40 or so years have seen us build a huge customer base across the world, which has given us a tremendous opportunity to make a significant impact on this front. “At the end of the day, we are an enabler. If our customers are successful, then we in turn are successful.”

WIND RIVER Tel: +1-510-748-4100 inquiries@windriver.com www.windriver.com

EME Outlook issue 35 | 39


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