Software For Santa? Using Data To Optimize The North Pole

There are nearly 2 billion children under the age of 15 living in the world, up from 1 billion in 1960. In fact, kids seem to be everywhere these days, but, strangely, the shockwaves of this population explosion — which shows no signs of abating — are being felt most acutely on the largely barren North Pole. “Santa is relying on the same technology just like 50 years ago, not only to make toys for twice as many kids, but also to distribute them,”said a source familiar with the matter. “Every year his stomach is tied into a knot like a pretzel. Something’s got to give.”
Or someone. Just in time for Santa’s busiest night — he currently has only 0.00004 seconds per child — GE proposed to create a digital twin for the old man, connect his toy factory and sleigh to Predix, optimize his flight path and, in general, take some of the pressure off. Predix, of course, is GE’s software gift to the industrial world. Unlike Santa, it creates magical moments for companies every day. “If Santa was using Predix, he would definitely be more efficient,” says Amy Sarosiek, spokeswoman for GE Digital.

One of Santa’s green-clad employees admitted that “the perfect toy was once simply fiction.”  But the GE pitch, which the company dispatched north over video, says elves could use Predix apps to figure out “what kids want now, and not later” and even reach for the Holy Grail of holidays: Determine which toy is best using the predictive power of analytics. Go figure!

[embed width="800"]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kf22k5QuWBA&feature=youtu.be[/embed]