Microsoft and Hitachi partner to advance the digitalisation of the supply chain management

Hitachi, Ltd. and Microsoft Corp. on Thursday announced a multiyear strategic alliance. They will accelerate the digital transformation of the manufacturing and logistics industries across Southeast Asia, North America and Japan. The first solutions will be available in Thailand in July 2020.

What will Microsoft and Hitachi do together?

The two companies will work together to meet the growing demand for predictive maintenance and process automation in remote areas. They will support enterprises as they tackle the challenges due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Hitachi will integrate its industry-leading solutions, such as Lumada with the Microsoft cloud platform.

This will leverage Azure, Dynamics 365 and Microsoft 365 to help businesses increase their workforce productivity and operational efficiency. Lumada provides advanced digital solutions, services and technologies to turn data into insights to drive digital innovation.

They will also work together to support skilling initiatives. These will empower businesses to grow their digital capabilities and unlock new business opportunities. Through this collaboration, Hitachi will provide solutions in the following three areas:

1. Increase manufacturing productivity

The companies will use Hitachi Digital Supply Chain as well as Azure IoT to analyze 4M data collected from manufacturing sites. They will visualize and analyse production processes to optimize factory operations and increase productivity.

2. Optimize logistics with data analytics

Increasing the logistics efficiency and reducing operational costs by analyzing traffic congestion, storage locations and delivery locations, and enabling smart routing to save miles and deliver faster through advanced digital technologies such as Azure Maps and Hitachi Digital Solution for Logistics/Delivery Optimization Service. An image of a logistics optimization and operational efficiency tool built with Hitachi Digital Solution for Logistics/Delivery Optimization Service.

3. Predictive maintenance and remote assist

Enabling predictive maintenance, real-time remote assistance and remote training scenarios for first-line workers, leveraging HoloLens 2 and Dynamics 365 Remote Assist as well as other smart devices. Going forward, Hitachi intends to extend the rollout to North America and Japan. Microsoft and Hitachi plan to expand the scope of the collaboration to additional industries. Hitachi and Microsoft will also explore options to integrate Lumada and Azure into an industry data platform to deliver added value to mutual customers.

What did the industry leaders have to say on this?

“We are delighted to expand our partnership with Microsoft and combine our OT, IT and products excellence to provide manufacturing and logistics companies with digital solutions. We use Lumada to provide total seamless solutions to solve challenges by connecting cyberspaces with physical spaces. So, through this collaboration with Microsoft, we will be able to accelerate our customers’ digital transformation and continue to deliver social, environmental and economic value,” said Jun Abe, Vice President and Executive Officer, CEO of Industry & Distribution Business Unit, Hitachi Ltd.

“Building resilient and flexible digital supply chains is critical to grow a business and meet customer needs in today’s fast-changing environments. By expanding our collaboration with Hitachi, we’ll also unlock new opportunities for manufacturing and logistics companies as they strive to lead in their industries and pioneer with a data-driven mindset and digital capabilities,” said Çağlayan Arkan, Vice President Manufacturing at Microsoft.