Organisations all around the world are achieving greater momentum by integrating digital technologies into all aspects of their operations. The reason is simple: digital technologies – such as Internet of Things (IoT), Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Data Analytics - are helping businesses create real value for customers as well as driving competitive advantage.
At Rolls-Royce we are focused on exploring the potential of connected devices, automation and digital solutions to unlock more productivity and efficiency in everything we do. By innovating in IoT, smart manufacturing, digital design and systems, we can create new value from data for our customers, as well as cultivating digital thinking and high-value skillsets in the wider economy.
Central to this vision is building an ecosystem of collaboration, which will help support the successful delivery of technology programmes across all of our business areas. In India, our partnership with Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), a leader in IT and digital solutions, is a great example of how we’re looking to accelerate data innovation through collaboration.
Kishore Jayaraman, President, Rolls-Royce, India & South Asia gives us more details on Rolls-Royce’s focus on technology-led innovation, and its collaboration with TCS in India:
1. Why is digital transformation gaining prominence among businesses today?
The world is changing faster than ever. To stay relevant, businesses need to keep innovating and re-inventing themselves. Digital transformation helps businesses adopt digital tools and technologies so that they are better prepared to innovate, grow and compete in an increasingly disruptive and evolving marketplace.
Not only does digital transformation drive better customer experiences, it also helps businesses to create new revenue streams and achieve operational efficiencies by promoting collaboration and empowering the entire workforce.
2. Why is Rolls-Royce so focused on technology-led innovation?
Our customers expect constant innovation, which inspires us to always be looking for new ways to deliver the cleanest, safest and most competitive solutions to meet our customers’ vital power needs.
With solutions like our Engine Health Monitoring - which has provided significant operational support to airline customers for over 20 years – we have demonstrated how we can develop critical data services which have a lasting impact. Now, as we position for the future, we are focused on developing capabilities in areas such as data analytics that will help us to better understand our customers’ challenges, create new value to meet their future needs, drive efficiency in our operations, and foster a wider culture of industry innovation.
Furthermore, our collaborations with key partners will lead to skills and knowledge sharing in the wider technology ecosystem - and help support India’s journey to a global hub for the “Fourth Industrial Revolution”.
3. What is Rolls-Royce’s digital strategy?
Digital is relevant to everything we do – how we design, develop, manufacture, monitor and service our products. Our digital strategy, defined under three broad areas, provides exponential opportunities to improve productivity, efficiency and ultimately provide better services for our customers:
- Perfecting the digital twin: The digital twin is essentially a virtual representation of a physical product, and therefore provides an intelligent abstraction of the lifecycle of the product. In manufacturing, for example, the digital twin can include an intelligent simulation of product design, the layout, testing, optimization and manufacturing, all connected to the physical product or process.
- Data innovation through Artificial Intelligence (AI) and advance analytics
- Embedding an organisation-wide Digital-First culture
This means that we are creating a ‘digital thread’ from design to manufacturing and through to in-service use to after-market, with the ultimate goal of catering to customer needs in a new and more efficient way.
4. What does the partnership with TCS mean?
Our TCS partnership will enable us to accelerate our digital capability and allow us to take advantage of fast-paced data innovation and further develop in areas such as AI and the Internet of Things (IoT).
It will provide us with a digital platform to better capture data, that will be shared and analysed across all of our businesses and throughout the whole equipment lifecycle. Together with TCS, we can co-create new opportunities for delivering more value in entirely new areas. We will be able to respond faster than ever before and empower our teams to work effectively with a wider community of innovators.
As a start, we have set up R2 Data Labs in Bengaluru along with TCS - a strong digital analytics and application development hub. R2 Data Labs will deliver untapped value from data, acting as a development hub for new services that improve the way both we and our customers operate.
5. Why did you choose Bengaluru, India to set-up the R2 Data Labs?
India is a natural choice as the country is building its position as a global manufacturing hub and is embracing the fourth industrial revolution with open arms. This is being supported by a combination of government-backed initiatives, such as Digital India and Make in India, as well as the country’s inherent strengths such as its young population demographics, stable economy and skilled talent base.
Bengaluru is the fastest growing digital ecosystem in India. With a strong focus on creating a lean start-up and DevOps culture, it is the perfect destination to grow our capabilities and leverage digital technologies.
With over 40 percent of the talent pool in the niche skill areas of advanced analytics, machine learning, big data, user interface (UI) and user experience (UX), Bengaluru is a talent hotspot for data science, data engineering and application development.Another distinctive advantage for Bengaluru is its access to top-notch academia, including both the Indian Institute of Sciences (IISc) and Indian Institute of Management (IIM). Additionally, our partner TCS has a strong pool of talent based in Bengaluru, making it easy for us to scale up our capabilities as and when required.
6. What kind of work is done by the team in Bengaluru?
The team in Bengaluru is involved in data analytics, application development and UI / UX. The current workforce consists of 24 data scientists and data engineers and eight application developers working in an agile, DevOps culture. We plan to grow this team to 100 people by end of 2018.
7. Give us a few examples of how Rolls-Royce is aligning its processes towards digital?
Rolls-Royce has multiple projects aimed at implementing our digital strategy holistically. For example, we are upgrading our manufacturing sites around the world to introduce higher levels of digitisation. Another example is the use of augmented reality on our shop floor and with our field services to enhance safety, maintenance and performance.
Creating “digital twins” for physical engines will allow the company to move beyond engine health monitoring – which it has done for many years – and utilise additional aircraft data to provide value-added services to airlines.
In our marine business we are also exploring new methods of ship intelligence and autonomous shipping. The results will help optimise ship and crew performance. Our defence business is also utilising digital innovation to ensure it can deploy the right assets to the right places required for military operations.