Best of Hannover Messe 2015: Top 5 Takeaways
Last month I had the opportunity to travel to Germany with our broader Microsoft manufacturing team – discrete, process & resources and power & utilities – to join the more than 220,000 participants at this year’s Hannover Messe industrial fair.
I think this year’s record international attendance, the volume of interest, the showcases, even Microsoft’s level of activity, were all fueled by the same strong undercurrent this is sweeping the industry forward. Which is?
That a new digital era of business is truly here. Its transformative potential is real. And the industry is ready to take advantage of it. This is a truly exciting time to be in manufacturing!
Here are my top five takeaways and observations from this year’s show.
1. Industry 4.0 has arrived, Hannover showcased a new industrial revolution that is reshaping industries.
This year’s event made it pretty clear: Industry 4.0 isn’t a buzzword. Today’s advancements in sensors, devices, connectivity, machines and data insights are bringing a new, fourth revolution to the manufacturing industry. And Hannover presented an incredible opportunity not just to talk about its potential, but to experience it first-hand.
We are now entering a new era of business systems enabled by emerging capabilities like the Internet of Things. With the advent of unlimited computing capacity in the cloud and rich platforms that enable us to reason in real-time over massive amounts of data, businesses are now building systems of intelligence. Manufacturers are taking advantage of these new business systems to empower their people, empower their organizations, and also reshape their industries.
In addition to all the great Industry 4.0 discussions and Microsoft’s participation in the topic’s panel discussion, our goal in our booth was to give attendees an Industry 4.0 immersion, with day-in-the-life experiences of what’s possible through the Internet of Things (IoT). And we were honored to be selected for the prestigious Industry 4.0 guided tours offered to Hannover Messe visitors.
2. The power of IoT is real, organizations want to move quickly.
The catalyst for this new digital era of business, and its power in helping the manufacturing industry transform faster and more efficiently to service-centric business models, was also front and center at the event. Based on our conversations, organizations want to move quickly to take advantage of IoT’s opportunities. And they want to bring IoT transformation across multiple parts of the world.
We were able to share a look at some of the digital transformations that industry innovators like KUKA Robotics, Fujitsu, Miele and Qoros are making in the fields of robotics, smart factories, connected homes and automotive. You can read a roundup of some of these headlining examples here.
3. Security is top of mind, especially for those starting their IoT journey.
We received a lot of important questions around security and Microsoft’s involvement. For many, a major takeaway was learning that earlier this year Microsoft became the first major cloud provider to adopt the world’s first international standard for cloud privacy. Many weren’t aware of this. It’s another reason customers can move with confidence to the Microsoft Cloud.
Another surprise learning for some was that Microsoft has a Digital Crimes Unit. I’m not saying it stole our show, but many people said it was the best thing they’d seen all day, and it remained packed right up until closing, a rarity.
4. Industry standards are taking root, organizations want interoperability.
In addition to the cloud privacy standard developed by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), I was thrilled to see the nearly 20 years of hard work by standards body organizations like the OPC Foundation taking hold. OPC’s part in the Microsoft booth, showing interoperability from sensor to Microsoft’s Azure cloud platform, was also busy as organizations looked for assurances to support the business models around IoT.
At Microsoft, we believe there is a critical set of work our industry must undertake in order to make sure we deliver the right set of platforms and services to realize IoT’s opportunity. That’s why Microsoft has been a longtime supporter of OPC standards and committed to reducing the time and complexity of connecting devices and services. You can read more here.
5. Microsoft has amazing partners, advancing IoT for manufacturing customers.
Helping companies build on their existing technology assets, devices and data to derive business value from IoT is a cornerstone of Microsoft’s vision for the mobile-first, cloud-first enterprise. And our industry partners are critical to making that happen. We had more than 35 Microsoft partners and customers join us in our booth, and the innovation was amazing.
We saw tremendous examples of partners helping our manufacturing customers get to IoT business-driven outcomes. This included fascinating examples of artificial intelligence and machine learning in action to transform the factory floor; smarter, faster vehicles and new customer experiences; transforming collaboration and field service; even digital farming! Watching a robot learn from human movement was a highlight for sure!
Hannover Messe 2015 was a tremendous showcase of IoT and the new digital era of business, and we can’t wait to see what they bring to the future of manufacturing! What other highlights stood out for you? We’d love to hear about them in the comments.
Twitter at @MSFTmfg
LinkedIn: Sanjay Ravi
Twitter: @sanrav
