Hitachi ABB Power Grids’ Digital Enterprise to Fuse with Lumada Industrial IoT Platform

The merge optimizes asset management, lifecycle cost and field service solutions.

(Image courtesy of Hitachi ABB Power Grids.)

(Image courtesy of Hitachi ABB Power Grids.)

Hitachi has announced that two of its subsidiaries—Hitachi ABB Power Grids and Hitachi Vantara—will be combining their digital solutions to enhance their industrial data and IoT service offerings. The Hitachi ABB Power Grids’ Digital Enterprise (DE) portfolio, which includes software such as Ellipse EAM, Asset Suite, Service Suite and eSOMS, will be integrated with Hitachi Vantara’s Lumada suite of data solutions and rebranded as Lumada Asset Performance Management (APM), Lumada Enterprise Asset Management (EAM), and Lumada Field Service Management (FSM).

According to Hitachi, the decision to unify the two is owed to both their similar foundational features (such as hybrid cloud capability and flexible vendor-agnostic incorporation), as well as their complementary abilities with regards to data-sharing and generating insights. By combining the solutions from each portfolio, organizations are offered access to a broader set of applications and technologies for optimizing business processes. Some of the new data services include data integration, data cataloging, edge intelligence, data management and analytics.

The new Lumada portfolio will be focusing on four key areas, namely: data modernization, connected asset performance, intelligent operations management, and safer working environments.

Lumada’s main service involves data analytics and digital business modeling. The integration of technologies from DE is expected to improve access to data across asset-intensive organizations. Similarly, it will help predict issues in advance and refine asset management processes. Hitachi has also given particular emphasis on how these new applications can enable safer environments for employees as well as customers.

The Lumada APM keeps track of the health of the entire asset lifecycle, from failures to costs, using a machine learning system that predicts outcomes based on performance insights and data modeling. Meanwhile, EAM helps businesses manage all these assets. The technology is designed to handle complex operations while optimizing capital investment. The FSM takes the EAM solution further by serving as an inspection, maintenance and repair application. Its features include tools for the two-way delivery of critical maintenance information, as well as self-dispatch functionality that allows workers to sequence tasks as needed. FSM also offers mobile and voice-activated features for increased productivity.

The Australian Rail Track Corporation (ARTC)—which has been using the Ellipse EAM under the DE portfolio—shares that the integration of Lumada’s technologies has enabled them to expand the access to data and information across their entire organization. They add that it has significantly impacted how they strategize while allowing them to “optimize the quality of the data we collect and ensure safe, compliant and efficient business operations.”

Chris Scheefer, a senior vice president at Hitachi Vantara, shares how this move has enabled them to provide more relevant solutions and helped modernize business operations across various industries.

“Bringing these solutions that each encapsulate deep domain expertise into the greater Lumada ecosystem gives customers an extremely powerful combination of tools to modernize their business,” says Scheefer. “The holistic view of assets and information provided by Lumada allows leadership to analyze and react in real-time, enabling efficient, effective operations and a foundation to create a more sustainable future.”

Massimo Danieli, the managing director at Hitachi ABB Power Grids, has also expressed the company’s enthusiasm for the venture, citing how they can now make these advanced technologies available to their customers.

“Combining best-in-class Lumada IoT capabilities and the domain expertise built into Digital Enterprise applications provides both new and existing customers unparalleled flexibility and faster time to value, while preserving the value of their past software investments,” says Massimo. “The journey we began with our customers as part of the Digital Enterprise evolution story has become broader and more compelling, as we join the Lumada ecosystem.”

Hitachi notes that customer support and investment in DE products prior to the integration with Lumada will be retained.

To learn more about Lumada’s asset and work management solutions, check out their brochure.