Driving value-added technology in manufacturing
DIGITAL REPORT 2020
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Driving value-added technology in manufacturing
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TWINTHREAD
Erik Udstuen, CEO at TwinThread discusses digital innovation, realizing value and the current technology trends in the manufacturing industry
W
orking in the industrial automation and manufacturing space for 25 years, Erik Udstuen began his career as a chemi-
cal and process engineer working in the pulp and paper industry, before forming his own company in the early nineties providing customers with manufacturing optimization solutions for multiple 04
sectors. After selling the company to General Electric (GE) in 2003, Udstuen joined the firm in 2007 as a Senior Executive driving digital transformation across multiple business units. “I left GE in 2012 and went back into the startup world and formed a couple of other companies, the latest company is TwinThread,� comments Udstuen, who believes that a significant differentiator between TwinThread and other organizations is its results guaranteed position. “The idea of TwinThread is to provide similar capabilities and concepts that monitor and optimize a fleet of power plants or gas turbines to other industries like manufacturing, consumer products, food and beverage, and automotive. The enabler for this is the fact that we have these pre-built applications that someone can just take, apply and
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TWINTHREAD
With this in mind, when it comes to digital innovation, TwinThread’s vision is “to be able to optimize on a global basis and drive 1 or 2% more efficiency out of manufacturing operations or a network of assets,” adds Udstuen. In order to achieve this he further explains that “the enabler is algorithms and the power of technology such as machine learning to make that practigain valuable insights without having
cal. We have a customer, for example,
to go through a long deployment.
that is monitoring 450 data centers
“We embrace the opportunity to 06
across the world and they’re doing that
deploy pilot projects that deliver proof
with just a few people. The only way
of value for outcomes and that as well
that becomes practical and economi-
is very unique. In doing so, we want to
cally feasible is if you apply algorithms
roadmap and fund future opportunities
and machine learning technologies.
for our customers.”
With these capabilities, organizations
“It may be a bit of a cliche, but really the executive buy-in sponsorship commitment to any kind of digital transformation effort is essential” — Erik Udstuen, CEO, TwinThread
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can drive innovative opportunities to
terms of the culture and mindset
drive efficiency.”
in this new digital age, and with the
When it comes to deploying a digi-
incorporation of machine learning
tal strategy, Udstuen highlights the
and artificial intelligence technolo-
importance of having the right culture
gies, leaders have to think in terms of
and mindset. “It’s critical. It may be a
their change management strategy
bit of a cliche, but really the execu-
- how do you bring together the roles
tive buy-in sponsorship commitment
of the IT teams, the data scientists
to any kind of digital transformation
and the engineer to understand the
effort is essential. But maybe what
data and solve business problems
potentially is less obvious is that in
using digital technology.” www.t wi nt hrea d . com
TWINTHREAD
“ With the advancement of innovative technology such as machine learning, cloud computing, artificial intelligence (AI) and 5G, the concept of connected environments are becoming more and more feasible and in real-time” — Erik Udstuen, CEO, TwinThread
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TwinThread - Digital Innovation CLICK TO WATCH
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1:53
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TWINTHREAD
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Within the industry, Udstuen
implementing artificial intelligence
explains that when it comes to the
and machine learning based tech-
importance of technology, ‘we’re
nologies. But, only 16% actually have
obviously very biased given that we’re
a program that’s deploying that
a technology company, focused on
technology. So there’s a huge gap
applying machine learning and artificial
between the desire and the people
intelligence technologies. However,
that are actually implementing.
in a recent Harvard business review
The trends in terms of the applica-
article, it was suggested that 84%
tion of that technology are clear,
of leaders believe they should be
but the trends of how to actually
get moving and start deploying that
began investing in sensor technology,
technology, those trends are only just
the technology to record the data
emerging.” Udstuen also highlights
from the sensors and the technology
that within that article, it was refer-
to store the data for long periods of
enced that successful companies
time. In the mid two thousands this
that are applying this technology are
expanded into most industries which
doing two key things. “One is the use
means that there are billions of sen-
of cross functional teams, and the
sors that have been deployed and
other is making the commitment and
are collecting data.
adopting technology in production as a first step.” Other trends within the industry
Today, the concept of connected factories and fleets is to mine new insights from not only the informa-
seen by Udstuen include the concepts
tion that’s already been collected,
of connected factories, connected
but also new data being created.
fleets and predictive maintenance.
With the advancement of innovative
“Starting with manufacturing there
technology such as machine learning,
are multiple innovations and layers
cloud computing, artificial intelligence
to the technology, some are new and
(AI) and 5G, the concept of connected
some have been around for a while.
environments are becoming more
In the mid nineties, organizations
and more feasible and in real-time.”
“ There’s a lot of value in looking backwards and understanding what went wrong and what went right, but it is a whole new level of value to be able to look forward and anticipate problems” — Erik Udstuen, CEO, TwinThread www.t wi nt hrea d . com
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TWINTHREAD
12 E X E C U T I V E P R O FILE :
Erik Udstuen Title: CEO
Company: TwinThread
Industry: Internet
Location: Charlottesville, Virginia
Erik’s in-the-field industrial experience working as a chemical and process engineer, paired with his proven acumen for co-founding successful tech. start-ups is what fuels his passion for developing and driving innovative, game-changing solutions specifically tailored for manufacturing organizations committed to ever-improving efficiency and performance. His 25 years in the manufacturing sector have equipped him with the background necessary to know exactly what it is engineers, operators, problem-solvers and domain experts need. They need a predictive platform that will cater insights to their understanding, so they may be unleashed to expand their reach and effect greater operational change.
TwinThread - Trends in the Industry CLICK TO WATCH
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2:55
13 Another part of TwinThead’s vision
the problems might be, and to be able
is that “a modern operating strategy
to act before those problems manifest
should be one where a company can
themselves. There’s a lot of value in look-
optimize their entire enterprise of assets
ing backwards and understanding what
efficiently. It’s no longer about optimizing
went wrong and what went right, but it is
a single plant or a single line. It’s about
a whole new level of value to be able to
how to optimize the performance of all of your assets and do that efficiently. This is where predictive maintenance comes in. It’s one thing to be able to look backwards and say, these were the problems that I had and this is how I applied these resources enabling me to solve the problem. It’s another to be able to look forward and to anticipate where
2018
Year founded
30+
Number of employees www.t wi nt hrea d . com
TWINTHREAD
“ A modern operating strategy should be one where a company can optimize their entire enterprise of assets efficiently, it’s no longer about optimizing a single plant or a single line” 14
— Erik Udstuen, CEO, TwinThread
TwinThread - Future Innovations CLICK TO WATCH
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4:09
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look forward and anticipate problems
blocks, and actually create applica-
and to have strategies in place, to deal
tions out of them so that customers
with problems in real-time in a proactive
can just deploy the application that
and predictive way,” comments Udstuen.
solves the problem without having to
Reflecting on the future, Udstuen
conduct the development work based
believes that from a TwinThread per-
on a tool set. This helps to eliminate
spective what the company is trying to
the development time so that custom-
continuously achieve, “is that with any
ers can get straight to deploying and
adoption of technology, an organiza-
straight to getting value.”
tion requires a tool set to do their own development work, in order to turn the technology into an actual application that delivers value. So what we’re trying to drive is the ability to take those building www.t wi nt hrea d . com
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