- Mercedes-Benz introduces MO360 Data Platform, connecting
passenger car plants to Microsoft Cloud
- Vehicle production efficiency expected to improve by 20% by
2025
- Logistic teams to solve supply chain bottlenecks much
faster
- Dynamic allocation of resources to prioritize low-emission
and Top-End Luxury vehicles
- Production teams can access self-service portal with
Microsoft Power BI dashboard from any device
- Data analytics tool to monitor and forecast carbon
emissions, energy and water usage, waste management
STUTTGART, Germany, and REDMOND, Wash., Oct. 12,
2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Mercedes-Benz and Microsoft
Corp. collaborate to make vehicle production more efficient,
resilient and sustainable. With the new MO360 Data Platform,
Mercedes-Benz is connecting its around 30 passenger car plants
worldwide to the Microsoft Cloud, enhancing transparency and
predictability across its digital production and supply chain. The
MO360 Data Platform is the evolution of Mercedes-Benz' digital
production ecosystem MO360 and allows teams to identify potential
supply chain bottlenecks faster and enable a dynamic prioritization
of production resources toward electric and Top-End vehicles. This
unified data platform is standardized on Microsoft Azure, providing
Mercedes-Benz with flexibility and cloud computing power to run
artificial intelligence (AI) and analytics at global scale while
addressing cybersecurity and compliance standards across regions.
The platform is already available to teams in EMEA and will be
deployed in the United States and
China.
"This new partnership between Microsoft and Mercedes-Benz will
make our global production network more intelligent, sustainable
and resilient in an era of increased geopolitical and macroeconomic
challenges. The ability to predict and prevent problems in
production and logistics will become a key competitive advantage as
we go all electric," said Joerg Burzer, Member of the Board of
Management of Mercedes-Benz Group AG, Production & Supply Chain
Management.
"Mercedes-Benz' partnership with Microsoft is a testament to the
power of the industrial metaverse," said Judson Althoff, executive vice president and
chief commercial officer at Microsoft. "Together, we are merging
the physical and digital worlds to accelerate value creation.
Mercedes-Benz can simulate and refine manufacturing processes
infinitely in the Microsoft Cloud before bringing them to the shop
floor to enhance efficiency and minimize its environmental impact
amid constant change and uncertainty."
"With the MO360 data platform, we democratize technology and
data in manufacturing. As we are moving toward a 100% digital
enterprise, data is becoming everyone's business at Mercedes-Benz.
Our colleagues on the shop floor have access to production and
management-related real-time data. They are able to work with
drill-down dashboards and make data-based decisions," said
Jan Brecht, Chief Information
Officer, Mercedes-Benz Group AG.
Redefine production excellence with a
unified data platform
With the MO360 Data Platform, the Stuttgart-based carmaker can create a virtual
replica of its vehicle manufacturing process, combining insights
from assembly, production planning, shop floor logistics, supply
chain and quality management. The virtual simulation and
optimization of processes before running them on the shop floor
helps accelerate operational efficiency and unlock energy savings.
For example, managers can optimize operational patterns to reduce
CO2 emissions in production.
Mercedes-Benz is also exploring the integration of the MO360
Data Platform with data sources from other departments to
enable a digital feedback loop that will spur continuous learning
and innovation across the Group.
The recently opened Mercedes-Benz Digital Factory Campus Berlin
is the home base for the MO360 Data Platform engineering teams and
will become the MO360 training and qualification center for
implementing digital approaches globally.
Increase supply chain resilience
and efficiency
With the new centralized data platform, teams can instantly
analyze and visualize production data, to faster optimize
production processes and identify potential supply chain
bottlenecks. This enables a dynamic allocation of operational
resources within and across plants to prioritize the manufacturing
of low-emission and Top-End Luxury vehicles.
The Mercedes-Benz Operations Logistics team will be able to
solve supply chain bottlenecks much faster. They can compare the
availability of components, including semiconductors, with
production orders and position this data against production
parameters including operational running plans. As a result, plant
managers can keep the production running and prioritize relevant
vehicles even if supply chain challenges occur.
Move at full speed toward an
all-electric future
The MO360 Data Platform will make it easier to maintain
production of both electric and combustion-engine vehicles on a
single production line as the market demand gradually shifts toward
an all-electric future.
To tackle shortages in components and prevent delivery delays,
the MO360 Data Platform will enable teams to explore a variety of
production scenarios depending on the availability of components
like semiconductors, based on real-time data about the quality of
parts and equipment. This is expected to result in productivity
gains of 20% in passenger car production by 2025 and help avoid
unplanned downtimes and schedule maintenance work in a timely and
CO2-friendly fashion.
Reduce ecological footprint from
water and energy use to waste management
As part of the MO360 Data Platform, Mercedes-Benz has
implemented an analytics tool to monitor and reduce its ecological
footprint during vehicle production, a crucial milestone toward the
company's Ambition 2039 initiative to become carbon neutral by
2039. With the data analytics tool, teams can track and forecast
carbon emissions, energy and water usage as well as waste
management and roll out best practices across the production
network. Mercedes-Benz plans to cover more than 70% of its energy
needs through renewable sources by 2030 by expanding solar and wind
power at its own sites and through Power Purchase Agreements and
plans to cut its use of water by 35%1 through the reuse
of water in production.
Democratize data to enhance workforce
productivity and distributed teamwork
Mercedes-Benz production staff gets access to the MO360 Data
Platform via a self-service portal available on any company device
including tablets, smartphones and laptops. Its visualization with
Microsoft Power BI provides a what-you-see-is-what-you-get
experience, allowing employees to become data workers with the
ability to model and correlate data. The Teams Walkie Talkie app
provides workers with an instant push-to-talk (PTT) communication
on their business phones — no extra device needed.
With the MO360 Data Platform, teams at Factory 56 have shortened
their daily shop floor meeting by 30%. In addition, they identify
priority tasks to optimize production workflows within two minutes,
which took up to four hours prior to the introduction of the
platform. From team leads and process engineers to shop and plant
managers, employees are encouraged to contribute new use cases to
drive process innovation with Microsoft Power Platform.
Working with a global community of internal and external
developers, Mercedes-Benz' process software engineers are committed
to open collaboration. They use Free and Open Source Software
(FOSS) including GitHub to improve the quality of the software and
the speed of delivery. They benefit from Azure Data Lake, Azure
Databricks and Azure Purview to process and govern huge amounts of
data and run AI and analytics using their preferred development
frameworks. For software deployment and operations, they work with
Azure DevOps.
About Microsoft
Microsoft (Nasdaq "MSFT" @microsoft) enables digital
transformation for the era of an intelligent cloud and an
intelligent edge. Its mission is to empower every person and every
organization on the planet to achieve more.
Mercedes-Benz Group at a
glance
Mercedes-Benz Group AG is one of the world's most successful
automotive companies. With Mercedes-Benz AG, the Group is one of
the leading global suppliers of premium and luxury cars and vans.
Mercedes-Benz Mobility AG offers financing, leasing, car
subscription and car rental, fleet management, digital services for
charging and payment, insurance brokerage, as well as innovative
mobility services. The company founders, Gottlieb Daimler and
Carl Benz, made history by inventing
the automobile in 1886. As a pioneer of automotive engineering,
Mercedes-Benz sees shaping the future of mobility in a safe and
sustainable way as both a motivation and obligation. The company's
focus therefore remains on innovative and green technologies as
well as on safe and superior vehicles that both captivate and
inspire. Mercedes-Benz continues to invest systematically in the
development of efficient powertrains and sets the course for an
all-electric future: The brand with the three-pointed star pursues
the goal to go all-electric, where market conditions allow.
Shifting from electric-first to electric-only, the world's
pre-eminent luxury car company is accelerating toward an
emissions-free and software-driven future. The company's efforts
are also focused on the intelligent connectivity of its vehicles,
autonomous driving and new mobility concepts as Mercedes-Benz
regards it as its aspiration and obligation to live up to its
responsibility to society and the environment. Mercedes-Benz sells
its vehicles and services in nearly every country of the world and
has production facilities in Europe, North and Latin America, Asia and Africa. In addition to Mercedes-Benz, the
world's most valuable luxury automotive brand (source: Interbrand
study, 20 Oct. 2021), Mercedes-AMG,
Mercedes-Maybach, Mercedes-EQ and Mercedes me as well as the brands
of Mercedes-Benz Mobility: Mercedes-Benz
Bank, Mercedes-Benz Financial Services and Athlon. The
company is listed on the Frankfurt
and Stuttgart stock exchanges
(ticker symbol MBG). In 2021, the Group had a workforce of around
172,000 and sold 2.3 million vehicles. Group revenues amounted to
€168.0 billion and Group EBIT to €29.1 billion.
Further information on Mercedes-Benz Group is available at
group-media.mercedes-benz.com and group.mercedes-benz.com.
1 In production compared to average 2013/14
Forward-looking
statements:
This document contains forward-looking statements that reflect
our current views about future events. The words "anticipate,"
"assume," "believe," "estimate," "expect," "intend," "may," "can,"
"could," "plan," "project," "should" and similar expressions are
used to identify forward-looking statements. These statements are
subject to many risks and uncertainties, including an adverse
development of global economic conditions, in particular a decline
of demand in our most important markets; a deterioration of our
refinancing possibilities on the credit and financial markets;
events of force majeure including natural disasters, pandemics,
acts of terrorism, political unrest, armed conflicts, industrial
accidents and their effects on our sales, purchasing, production or
financial services activities; changes in currency exchange rates,
customs and foreign trade provisions; a shift in consumer
preferences towards smaller, lower-margin vehicles; a possible lack
of acceptance of our products or services which limits our ability
to achieve prices and adequately utilize our production capacities;
price increases for fuel, raw materials or energy; disruption of
production due to shortages of materials or energy, labour strikes
or supplier insolvencies; a decline in resale prices of used
vehicles; the effective implementation of cost-reduction and
efficiency-optimization measures; the business outlook for
companies in which we hold a significant equity interest; the
successful implementation of strategic cooperations and joint
ventures; changes in laws, regulations and government policies,
particularly those relating to vehicle emissions, fuel economy and
safety; the resolution of pending governmental investigations or of
investigations requested by governments and the outcome of pending
or threatened future legal proceedings; and other risks and
uncertainties, some of which are described under the heading "Risk
and Opportunity Report" in the current Annual Report or in the
current Interim Report. If any of these risks and uncertainties
materializes or if the assumptions underlying any of our
forward-looking statements prove to be incorrect, the actual
results may be materially different from those we express or imply
by such statements. We do not intend or assume any obligation to
update these forward-looking statements since they are based solely
on the circumstances at the date of publication.
View original content to download
multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/mercedes-benz-and-microsoft-collaborate-to-boost-efficiency-resilience-and-sustainability-in-car-production-301646924.html
SOURCE Microsoft Corp.