A Massive Scale: Software Integrations and Auto Recalls [Roundup]

This week's roundup centers on events of a large scale, both good and bad. And both, coincidentally, are related to the automotive industry.

Takata Airbag Recall Broadens to Top 34 Millions Cars in Largest Automobile Recall in History

Japanese airbag manufacturer Takata, which was the focus of a high profile automotive recall last year due to potential explosion and shrapnel, has now expanded the recall of affected vehicles to 34 million, making it the largest automotive recall in history. The company has reportedly made just under 4 million replacement airbags to date, most of which have been installed. It is currently producing approximately 500,000 a month, and expects to double that capacity by September, as the complexities of the situation mean recall-related repairs may take as much as five years to complete since some vehicles are up to 15 years old and have had several changes in ownership. According to Jack Gillis, an auto expert with the Consumer Federation of America, "Because it is not brand centric, it'll be more difficult to find the owners. There's no question that it's the most complex recall of all time, and it's on that the system may not be capable of handling."

Autoliv, a Swedish auto parts manufacturer, is also rushing to fill this demand and plans to create 25 million replacement airbags by the end of next year. Full story here...

Communication Between IT and Non-IT Workers in a "State of Crisis"

According to a survey from CIO Magazine's Executive Council benchmark survey on "Power of Effective IT Communication" the communication between IT and non-IT employees is in a "state of crisis" across job titles, verticals, regions. According to the survey, while 80% of IT leaders claim building trust and credibility is highly important, only 1% believe that communication with non-IT colleagues is currently effective.

Since communication is of such foundational importance--a main pillar of the "People" in our People, Processes, Technology, Metrics model of Operational Excellence--this should come as a notable concern in the manufacturing industries, particularly with the convergence of factors like the aging workforce, skills gap, and where digitization and IT projects are taking on outsized importance as Internet of Things (IoT) and digital manufacturing strategies get off the ground. Read more in this data-packed article at CIO Magazine...

Daimler Successfully Completes Largest CAD Software Migration Project

In an integration that should inspire German multinational automotive manufacturer Daimler has completed a huge software migration project from CATIA V5 software to Siemens NX, with the goals of efficiency and sustainability improvement, as well as to integrate product data management software already used by the company that forms the IT framework for all the development and product planning processes with the CAD system.

The project has been in the works since 2012 and has involved more than 6,200 users undergoing training, with 33-role based training modules across languages such as German, English, Japanese, Portuguese, Spanish, and Turkish. During peak periods, more than 300 R&D employees were involved in data migration between the two software programs and in total, more than 235,000 CAD objects ended up being migrated.

In response to the Diamler migration, all relevant suppliers that didn't already have Siemens NX have implemented it. More on this announcement at the Daimler media site...

GE Implements and Releases New OPC-UA Standard with Launch of Global Discovery Server

On Wednesday, GE announced that it is the first organization to implement and release a new Global Discovery Server (GDS) based on the new Part 12 of the OPC UA standards. This enables the Industrial Internet of Things with improved ease of connectivity across devices and equipment, as the GDS automates previously manual and complex processes associated with connectivity and certificate management,

This standardization, which has been made across several GE businesses, has better built in security, allows for significantly richer data context, and provides a foundation for cloud-based systems and Asset Performance Management (APM). It marks the newest advancement in IoT development and standardization to compel prospective manufacturers to invest in IoT.

"Companies today need connectivity, secure-by-design, data in context to enable the Industrial Internet," said Jim Walsh, President and General Manager of GE Intelligent Platforms Software, "We have been working closely with the OPC Foundation to help design this specification, and now our customers will reap the benefits of connected systems and the ability to manage asset performance. More information here...