STUTTGART, Germany & REDMOND, Washington–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Mercedes-Benz AG and Microsoft Corp. work together to make vehicle production more efficient, resilient and sustainable. With the new MO360 data platform, Mercedes-Benz is connecting its approximately 30 passenger car factories worldwide to the Microsoft Cloud, improving the transparency and predictability of its digital production and supply chain. The MO360 Data Platform is the evolution of the Mercedes-Benz MO360 digital production ecosystem and enables teams to more quickly identify potential supply chain bottlenecks and enable dynamic prioritization from production resources to electric and high-end vehicles. This unified data platform is standardized on Microsoft Azure, giving Mercedes-Benz the flexibility and power of cloud computing to run artificial intelligence (AI) and analytics on a global scale while respecting cybersecurity and compliance standards across all regions. The platform is already available for teams in EMEA and will be rolled out in the US and China.
Joerg Burzer, Member of the Management Board of Mercedes-Benz Group AG, responsible for production and supply chain management: “This new partnership between Microsoft and Mercedes-Benz will make our global manufacturing network smarter, more sustainable and resilient in times of geopolitical and macroeconomic challenges. The ability to predict and prevent production and logistics issues will become a key competitive advantage as we go all-electric. »
Judson Althoff, Executive Vice President and Chief Commercial Officer of Microsoft: “Mercedes-Benz’s partnership with Microsoft is a testament to the power of the industrial metaverse. Together, we merge the physical and digital worlds to accelerate value creation. Mercedes-Benz can endlessly simulate and refine manufacturing processes in the Microsoft Cloud before bringing them to the shop floor to improve efficiency and minimize its environmental impact in the face of constant change and uncertainty.
Jan Brecht, CIO of Mercedes-Benz Group AG: “With the MO360 data platform, we are democratizing technology and data in manufacturing. As we move towards a 100% digital business, data is becoming everyone’s business at Mercedes-Benz. Our colleagues on the shop floor have access to real-time data related to production and management. They are able to work with detailed dashboards and make data-driven decisions. »
Redefine production excellence with a unified data platform
With the MO360 data platform, the Stuttgart-based automaker can create a virtual replica of its vehicle manufacturing process, combining information on assembly, production planning, shop floor logistics, supply chain procurement and quality management. Virtual simulation and optimization of processes before running them on the shop floor helps to accelerate operational efficiency and save energy. For example, managers can optimize operational schemes to reduce CO emissions2– emissions in production.
Mercedes-Benz is also exploring integration of the MO360 data platform with data sources from other departments to enable a digital feedback loop that will drive continuous learning and innovation across the group.
The newly opened Mercedes-Benz Digital Factory Campus Berlin is home to the MO360 data platform engineering teams and will become the MO360 training and qualification center for implementing digital approaches to the global scale.
Increase supply chain resilience and efficiency
With the new centralized data platform, teams can instantly analyze and visualize production data, to more quickly optimize production processes and identify potential bottlenecks in the supply chain. This enables dynamic allocation of operational resources within and between plants to prioritize the manufacture of low-emission, high-end luxury vehicles. The Mercedes-Benz Operations Logistics team will be able to solve supply chain bottlenecks much faster. They can compare the availability of components, including semiconductors, with production orders and position this data against production parameters, including operational operating plans. As a result, plant managers keep production running and prioritizing relevant vehicles even if supply chain issues arise.
Fast forward to an all-electric future
The MO360 data platform will make it easier to keep production of electric and combustion engine vehicles on a single production line as market demand gradually shifts towards an all-electric future. To address component shortages and avoid delivery delays, the MO360 data platform will allow teams to explore a variety of production scenarios based on the availability of components like semiconductors, based on real-time data on the quality of parts and equipment. This is expected to result in 20% productivity gains in passenger car production by 2025 and help avoid unplanned downtime and schedule maintenance work in a timely and CO2– friendly mode.
Reducing the ecological footprint from water and energy use to waste management
As part of the MO360 data platform, Mercedes-Benz has implemented an analytics tool to monitor and reduce its environmental footprint during vehicle production, a crucial step towards the company’s growth. Ambition 2039 become carbon neutral by 2039. Using the data analytics tool, teams can track and forecast carbon emissions, energy and water consumption as well as waste management and deploy the best practices throughout the production network. Mercedes-Benz plans to meet more than 70% of its energy needs with renewable sources by 2030 by developing solar and wind power at its own sites and through power purchase agreements and plans to reduce water consumption by 35%.1 percent through the reuse of water in production.
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1 in production compared to the 2013/14 average
Democratize data to improve workforce productivity and distributed teamwork
Mercedes-Benz production personnel have access to the MO360 data platform through a self-service portal available on any company device, including tablets, smartphones and laptops. Its visualization with Microsoft Power BI provides a what you see is what you get experience, empowering employees to become data workers with the ability to model and correlate data. The Teams Walkie Talkie app gives workers instant push-to-talk (PTT) communication on their work phones – no additional devices needed.
With the MO360 data platform, Factory 56 teams have reduced their daily workshop meeting by 30%. Additionally, they identify priority tasks to optimize production workflows in two minutes, which took up to four hours before the platform was introduced. From team leaders and process engineers to shop floor and plant managers, employees are encouraged to contribute new use cases to drive process innovation with Microsoft Power Platform.
Working with a global community of internal and external developers, Mercedes-Benz production process software engineers are committed to open collaboration. They use free and open source software (FOSS), including GitHub, to improve software quality and speed of delivery. They benefit from Azure Data Lake, Azure Databricks, and Azure Purview to process and govern massive amounts of data and run AI and analytics using their favorite development frameworks. For software deployment and operations, they work with Azure DevOps.
Further information about Mercedes-Benz is available at www.mercedes-benz.com. Press information and digital services for journalists and multipliers are available on our Mercedes me online media platform at media.mercedes-benz.com as well as on our Mercedes-Benz media site at group-media.mercedes- benz.com. Learn more about current topics and events related to Mercedes-Benz Cars & Vans on our Twitter channel @MB_Press at www.twitter.com/MB_Press.
Mercedes-Benz AG at a glance
Mercedes‑Benz AG is responsible for the global business of Mercedes‑Benz Cars and Mercedes‑Benz Vans, with approximately 172,000 employees worldwide. Ola Källenius is Chairman of the Management Board of Mercedes‑Benz AG. The company focuses on the development, production and sale of passenger cars, vans and vehicle-related services. In addition, the company aspires to be the leader in the areas of electric mobility and vehicle software. The product portfolio includes the Mercedes‑Benz brand with the brands Mercedes‑AMG, Mercedes‑Maybach, Mercedes‑EQ, G‑Class as well as products of the smart brand. The Mercedes me brand offers access to the digital services of Mercedes‑Benz. Mercedes-Benz AG is one of the world’s largest manufacturers of luxury passenger cars. In 2021, it sold around 1.9 million passenger cars and nearly 386,200 vans. In its two business segments, Mercedes‑Benz AG is continuously expanding its global production network with around 35 production sites on four continents, while preparing to meet the demands of electric mobility. At the same time, the company is building and expanding its global battery production network across three continents. Sustainability being the guiding principle of the strategy of Mercedes-Benz and of the company itself, this means creating lasting value for all stakeholders: for customers, employees, investors, business partners and society. in general. The basis for this is the sustainable business strategy of the Mercedes‑Benz Group. The company thus assumes responsibility for the economic, ecological and social effects of its business activities and considers the entire value chain.
About Microsoft
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