GE explores the future of the Industrial Internet

The first three worldwide industrial revolutions have changed the direction of human history by leaps and bounds on mechanization, electrification and automation, but the advent of the fourth industrial revolution marked by "intelligence" is different from the previous industrial revolutions. The first three industrial revolutions occurred in the industrial age of mankind, while the fourth industrial revolution was born in the context of the "information age" or the "Internet age". The wave of industrial intelligence, the importance of the Internet, may be greater than the physical properties of industry itself. Nowadays, "Made in China" products are all over every corner of the world, and the backbone industrial enterprises represented by Huawei, Gree, etc. are gradually recognized by the world, and Chinese industrial enterprises have accumulated a lot of self-confidence although they face many problems. In recent years, the transformation of the industrial Internet has attracted more and more attention, we learn from Huawei's "patent barriers", discuss the Internet celebrity economy of Gree Dong Mingzhu, and doubt the hardware intelligence of LeTV... Beyond the complex surface of the industrial Internet, there seems to be infinite possibilities.

At the same time, as the greatest industrial company in human history, compared with Apple, Google, etc., it also seems to be silent; The pile of domestic bookstores will place books related to Internet companies such as Apple, Google, Alibaba, and Tencent in conspicuous piles, and Jack Welch's case is not often mentioned by training instructors like before. This happens not to be the general submerged sinking, but the universal precipitation. According to USA Today reported on July 20, General Electric (GE) officially announced a partnership with Huawei to jointly promote the progress of China's "Industrial Internet". This should be a news that has a guiding effect on the entire Chinese industry, because the cooperation between two companies, one is a company that can represent the current level of China's industry, and the other is the originator of the world's industrial companies. Through the news, we also know that GE spent $11 million (about 73.4833 million yuan) to launch a software incubation park in Shanghai, vigorously supporting the development of new start-ups and software application developers, and facilitating the development of new software using the Predix operating system.

The Predix operating system is OT (Operation Technology). THERE IS A DIFFERENCE BETWEEN IT AND OT, AND IS THE BASE

For servers and computers to store, process and transmit information, OT is as small as operating a device, running a production line, operating a factory, all using specific hardware and software, seeking an optimized solution. Or we heard about this application system for the first time, but there have been successful application cases in China. In 2015, Spring Airlines deployed GE Intelligent Engine Monitoring diagnostics to prevent unplanned engine disassembly and grounding, increasing engine reliability to 99.98%. Jet engines are always prone to some dust and rust, and must be cleaned regularly, and a single wash can increase its efficiency by 1% to 18%, but if it is cleaned too frequently, it will generate unnecessarily high costs.

With the predix app above, you'll be able to predict exactly when the next engine cleaning will be optimal. With the help of Predix, airlines can automatically compare the amount of oil in the engine before and after take-off according to the length of the flight, report to the operator in time before the oil consumption exceeds the allowable amount, and allow enough time for the operator to solve the problem. According to 2014 data, the fuel cost of several major Chinese airlines accounts for about 38% to 40% of the total operating costs, while the major North American airlines are about 34%, even if regional oil price differences are excluded, Chinese airlines still have a lot of room to use advanced technology and management methods to achieve improvement.

In 1998, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology first proposed the Internet of Things (IOT), which was the starting point of the Industrial Internet. Initially, IoT technology was simple, commonly known as "electronic tags" of radio frequency identification technology, and then extended to sensors, networks, and application platforms. But for a long time, the Internet of Things didn't really connect. It wasn't until 2012 that GE proposed and advocated the Industrial Internet, which captures data from machines through interconnection and analysis software between machines and devices, makes machines "think", and feedback valuable "ideas" to customers – at this point, people, machines and data can work together seamlessly, and the Industrial Internet has really opened. After several years of transformation, GE has transformed itself into a digital industrial company.

IMMELT, chairman and CEO of GE, said: "When we went to bed last night, we were still an industrial company, and when we woke up the next morning, we became a software and analytics company. "When every engine, every turbine, every MRI is created, a "Digital Twin," a software model of a physical asset or process, the operation of the machine and any environmental factors are correlated, allowing companies to anticipate their operation, quickly tune, continuously upgrade, improve reliability and adaptability, and create more value.

The application field of the Industrial Internet may be beyond our imagination. Every day, GE analyzes 50 million parameters of all types of machines, which come from sensors on 10 million industrial devices. In terms of value, ge has managed more than $1 trillion in total assets of machines and equipment. Looking at the "brilliant factories," productivity and product quality have been improved through the use of sensor technology, connected devices, predictive analytics, and Predix systems, with shorter cycle times for developing and launching new products and reducing costs.

In the "Digital Steam Power Plant", more than 10,000 sensors are located throughout the power plant, and the data they transmit can help monitor critical processes. Fuel and air are two elements of the steam power generation process, and burning too much fuel in the mixture may lead to increased emissions. Too little air will lead to a decrease in combustion efficiency. Through data analysis, fine-tuning the parameters of the power plant can improve the efficiency by one percentage point, which is equivalent to adding $20 million to the power plant's revenue in 10 years.

2.75-120 Sensors installed on the fan, the data is collected to the remote monitoring center, so that the fans can talk to each other, share operating parameters, adjust the power output; Wind farms can also predict wind conditions for the next 30 minutes, providing the grid with predictable and stable power output through the energy storage smoothing system, which can be used by grid operators to determine whether power needs to be replenished in advance.

Machinery is a tool of production and an industrial asset. Through data mining, asset performance can be improved, asset life can be extended, and asset security can be enhanced. It is estimated that the Industrial Internet has helped the aviation industry improve fuel efficiency by 1%, saving $30 billion in fuel costs; Help improve the utilization rate of oil exploration capital by 1% and save $90 billion in spending; Helped the rail industry improve operational efficiency by 1% and save $27 billion; Helped the healthcare industry improve efficiency by 1% and saved $63 billion. It is estimated that by 2020, the global economy will benefit from the Industrial Internet, which will lead to a GDP increase of $15 trillion, equivalent to 90% of the total GDP of the United States today. By 2025, 80 to 100 percent of manufacturing will use IoT applications, generating a potential economic impact of $900 billion to $2.3 trillion.

In short, the final result of the Internet is to achieve the "Internet of Everything", the intelligent equipment represented by Apple has changed the connection between people, and then the "Internet of Things" in addition to the Internet is also an important part of the Internet. Digital interconnection is raging, so that the Chinese industry, which is already in a period of transformation, is restless, and through the transformation of GE, it is time for us to quiet down and think about what is the real industrial Internet. Is it possible to interconnect people and machines, machines to machines, and then to connect industry and society? The arrival of the fourth wave of intelligence, let people and machines, let the machine and machine dialogue, if this is a link that can not be bypassed in the future, then whether the Internet of Things can be done solidly and steadily will have decisive significance.

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