Page 43: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (February 2017)

Siemens

Industry 4.0 on the High Seas

BY DAVID GRUCZA, DIRECTOR,

SIEMENS DRILLING & MARINE, U.S.

Werner von Siemens’ mission to lay 50,000 much different, which thousands of leaders nautrical miles of transatlantic cables might from the maritime industry, including naval not have been destined to fail – but at least architects, shipbuilders and owner/opera- one business rival tried to make sure that it tors talked about recently at the International would. It wasn’t enough to merely execute a WorkBoat Show in New Orleans. Today the risky project that had never been done be- marine industry is working towards solutions fore. The crew aboard the Faraday, the ship for propulsion, environmental regulations, that Siemens and his brothers commissioned, safety standards, and global trade by embrac- also had to move faster than saboteurs who ing the technological advancements currently planted false reports in the press and even reshaping the industrial world: what we call broke cables. And it was in this pressure-? lled Industry 4.0. environment that Siemens turned to another Industry 4.0 is the fourth industrial revolu- recent invention of his to enable his crew to tion where the brainpower that has gone into work around the clock: a electrical generator, creating apps for smartphones is creating ap- placed on the deck, to light up the night skies. plications for smart factories. An array of new

This spirit of deploying new technology and tools emblematic of the digital transforma- innovation on the high seas is just as relevant tion – advanced robotics, 3D printing, design 143 years later – even if the challenges are software, and big data networks connecting

Image: GE Marine

Continued next page

Digital solutions help to de-risk deci- sions, bring practical, actionable insights into vessel and ? eet performance and provide proven op- portunities to opti- mize operations in a sustainable way. * Indicates a trademark of the

General Electric Company and/or its subsidiaries.

Image: Siemens www.marinelink.com 43

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