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[My name is Thomas Konditi. I am the president and CEO of ]
[GE's Equipment Services Asset Intelligence Business.]
[Asset intelligence essentially tries to bring productivity and level of security ]
[to transportation of freight through the global supply chain.]
[Because we do have this global focus, one of the big wins that we have been able to make]
[in the supply chain has been to work with our partners at Wal-Mart,]
[arguably one of the world's largest users of the global supply chain.]
[They selected our imagination breakthrough called VariWise for trailer tracking,]
[for all of their North American trailer assets--]
[and that's one of the largest fleets in the world--]
[in order to see where all the trailers were, to see what was going on inside of them,]
[and to be able to track all of the products and goods as they went from]
[ports to distribution centers, into the retail stores. ]
[One very simple example to illustrate the power of combining this information ]
[is imagining that there is a truck that is carrying some freight from,]
[say Los Angeles to Chicago, and we may know exactly where the truck is]
[because we have this technology.]
[We'll also know what the condition of the freight is because we're monitoring things like]
[temperature and pressure and humidity.]
[But when you start combing that with, say, a data feed of traffic along the path]
[and then you also combine a third data feed of fuel prices along that path,]
[you start to be able to provide the driver, as well as the fleet manager of that company,]
[a comprehensive view of just how to get around the traffic choke points, ]
[how fast you're going to be able to get to your destination, ]
[and hopefully shave some time off, and then on top of that, ]
[know where the cheapest fuel is, and then be able to pull that into the equation]
[and hopefully reduce the overall fuel costs, which, as we know, are some of the ]
[key components of the transportation sector today.]
[So, it becomes very powerful; ]
[I think you can do a lot of things with just combining information.]
[In the global supply chain, people are looking for real time information.]
[They're looking for it to be linked, and they're looking for it to be global,]
[so they can avoid stock-outs and missing things on the shelves.]
[They can reduce their costs.]
[They can reduce their losses, and to some extent, they can enhance their security,]
[as well as improve compliance with all of the different regulatory requirements out there]
[for getting things in and out of countries. ]
[The imagination breakthrough VariWise is actually a technology that is very simple.]
[A lot of people kind of use it today.]
[It is based on GPS, and it uses the satellite system to transmit information about ]
[A lot of this technology was developed with our friends over at the Global Research Center,]
[lead by Dr. Joe Salvo, and he's on the line with me now, and I'll let him talk about ]
[how the technology works for our business.]
[[Dr. Joe Salvo] Well, hello. As Thomas said, I'm Dr. Joe Salvo.]
[I manage the Pervasive Decisioning Systems Laboratories at GE's Global Research Center.]
[All types of transportation assets that GE is involved with need this kind of real-time data]
[to allow people to manage their supply chains and manage their business operations.]
[Now, even though the description of the technology is quite simple ]
[using the GPS technologies, which most people are familiar with,]
[making it occur on a global basis with many, many different parties in different countries,]
[with different standards, is quite a challenge.]
[That's where the Global Research Center came in, to make sure ]
[that the technology was able to be internationalized]
[and that it would seamlessly interface with our customers' IT systems.]
[>> Well, Joe, that brings up actually the unique relationship that my business ]
[and the Global Research Center and the labs have within this growing market,]
[the exploding market, actually.]
[You know--our team was focused on assets, as part of the equipment services business,]
[and we weren't technologists. ]
[We didn't know everything about what is literally rocket science]
[when you're talking about GPS and satellites,]
[but the ability to go to a team of very experienced professionals in this space,]
[and be able to work together with them, I think gave us an enormous advantage,]
[both in getting to the market with a product that really works well for the application,]
[but also in impressing on our customers just the power of GE and the ability for GE]
[to dig deep within its expertise and bring solutions to their doorstep.]
[This is really--for me, at least--has been a tremendous business technology relationship.]
[[Dr. Joe Salvo] The real value of a system of asset management is to understand ]
[how certain events affect business rule, so the asset intelligence business has added features]
[like monitoring door open and close events, when trailers have stopped ]
[for a certain period of time, when they enter or leave a particular place on the earth--]
[we call that forming a geo fence--and automating a lot of the alerts]
[that trigger business activity.]
[So, in essence, just establishing where an asset is is just the beginning. ]
[All of the high-value decisions that flow from that are the essence of the services]
[that have been enabled using GE technologies.]
[>> Wal-Mart, in our example, is actually both a shipper, as well as a carrier of freight.]
[We've certainly worked very well with them on the trailer side, ]
[as we have with another 100 customers around the world,]
[because we are now in about 6 different countries]
[and expanding into several others, but that brings to mind the bigger question of]
[all the other assets and all the other things that transport freight.]
[In the trucking space, we're certainly done a lot around tracking of freight and trailers, ]
[but we're expanding into the refrigerated trailer tracking and monitoring market.]
[We're also integrating RFID, which is going to become another big game changer]
[in the movement of products and freight.]
[In the rail space, we're focused on all sorts of different rail cars, ]
[from hazardous material tankers, seeing where they are, to other types of tank cars, ]
[and even box cars that are hauling high-value freight.]
[On the container side, the container world is part of the global supply chain.]
[It's a big part of it, and we're collaborating with our sister company in GE Security]
[to bring an added enhancement to not just the productivity, but the security side ]
[of the container shipments. ]
[That has been a--that is something that continues to go on,]
[and we see a lot of benefit there. ]
[We're also working with our sister company in the sensors business--]
[that's GE Sensors--to bring to bear their domain expertise in producing]
[really great and efficient sensors for things like temperature and pressure,]
[taking it down to the level of a simple tire, monitoring the tire pressure of a trailer.]
[In some cases, just a change in 10 psi on a truck trailer can yield as much as ]
[one mile per gallon of fuel efficiency.]
[We are working together with sensors, working together with our security business,]
[to really affect this chain, but the growth opportunities are substantial.]
[[Dr. Joe Salvo] Well, I think the world really needs a total solution,]
[because of the complexity of performing any of those activities today]
[it requires a transparency of the operation, ]
[so even though the different asset classes require different technologies, ]
[our customers are demanding a visibility to those items,]
[and it has to fit the value that we can create by adding these features.]
[It's a very big challenge to be able to implement these kinds of solutions. ]
[>> Then, as you mentioned the information commodity--]
[that's almost the starting point for asset intelligence. ]
[We talk about putting hardware and tracking on assets, on containers, on rail cars.]
[but what we're really going after is the information and the data that comes off ]
[[Dr. Joe Salvo] Thomas is constantly challenging me]
[ to come up with better and better ways, ]
[and to create automated decisions that are going to capture value for our customers.]
[The amount of data and information that is going to flow into these systems]
[is just going to continue exponentially to expand, so that puts an enormous demand ]
[on the architecture of what we call the imagination platform]
[that will collect all of this data from a wide range of sources,]
[some of which are even beyond the borders of GE,]
[but we're going to collect, collate, validate, and then integrate ]
[into incredibly complex decision algorithms, the types of solutions ]
[that our customers are demanding to be competitive in the global marketplace.]
[One of the things that really has distinguished the space is, ]
[because of the huge amounts of data and information that is involved,]
[we've had to come up with really unique ways to visualize it.]
[When you have a fleet manager looking at 10,000 or 20,000 assets or more, ]
[he can't be looking at individual points,]
[so using a state-of-the-art geographical information system,]
[we can come up with some very unique points of view that allow people ]
[to strategically plan and tactically react to things that are happening in the moment,]
[because now, with the unpredictable nature of the world marketplace, ]
[you have to be able to react in almost an instant to things like rising fuel prices, ]
[or traffic conditions, or a change in the competitive nature of your business.]
[Whoever can change fastest, and has the access to this real-time data ]
[and the decision engines to handle it, is going to win.]
[>> Let me illustrate that one with the fact that more and more of our internal consumption]
[within the U.S,, as well as in other countries, comes from places outside of their borders,]
[and it's real easy when you're shipping something from, say, Chicago to St. Louis--]
[if you make a mistake with that shipment, you're 2 or 3 hours away from fixing it. ]
[You can order something new and typically get it the same day.]
[But, if you move that production of that item from Chicago over to--let's just say--]
[Tokyo or to Shanghai, you make a mistake in shipping something from Shanghai,]
[and you're talking about a 6-week to 8-week journey.]
[I know of a company that recently shipped a whole set of electronics ]
[that had one faulty chip in it.]
[If that were done in the States, you would've been able to probably re-do that shipment]
[in a matter of days, if not just a week or so,]
[but they basically had to throw away the entire shipment of electronics]
[because it didn't make any sense to send it all the way back there. ]
[The importance of tracking, knowing where things are, being more efficient]
[in your global supply chain, just increases as we become a more globally-reliant ]
[[Dr. Joe Salvo] Absolutely, and I think many people don't realize ]
[that the whole area of logistics and material management accounts for anywhere ]
[from 10% to 25% of the total gross domestic product of the country.]
[In the developing worlds, the number is closer to 25%, and in the developed world,]
[closer to 10% to 15%, a huge number.]
[If you just look at the transportation assets that GE directly controls, ]
[over a trillion dollars of goods flows through that transportation pipeline every year. ]
[So any kind of improvements in efficiency and risk mitigation really makes]
[big, big improvements on our bottom and top line. ]
[>> When you consider that GE supports a trillion dollars of freight ]
[moving through the system every year, in addition to the fact ]
[that General Electric actually owns almost 3% of all the transportation assets ]
[within the global supply chain, close to 2 million trucks, trailers, containers, rail cars, ]
[intermodal units, we have a vested interest in where this is going.]
[But, we also have, I think, a great opportunity to affect how the world takes advantage ]
[of this technology and all of this innovation and information.]
[There is probably about 45 to 50 million different assets ]
[moving freight around the world, and if we can just get into 5% or 10% of those ]
[over the next few years, you're easily talking about a billion dollar market.]
[There's plenty more for other folks out there.]
[[Dr. Joe Salvo] Yeah, and as you said, this is a really global place,]
[and who else but GE has the reach of distribution and technology?]
[We have research centers all around the world, Bangalore, India;]
[Shanghai, China; Munich, Germany.]
[We can reach and develop technologies that fit the marketplace wherever it is ]
[in the world, and respond faster than anyone else. ]
[>> You can clearly tell that I am excited about this space. ]
[You know--we've got a team that has grown globally, as well as in terms of competency,]
[and I think the customers, who are always number one, have been very excited ]
[about this technology and growing with it, so I'm looking forward to some great things. ]
