The 10 Best Franchises to Buy in 2019

Next Generation Automotive Tech Solution Providers 2019

Vol 11| Issue 03 | 2019

Jรถrg Astalosch CEO

ITALDESIGN BRINGING ITALIAN PERFECTION IN AUTOMOTIVE DESIGN

Infrastructure Transformation AI Moving Towards Transforma on of Industries

Future in tech Are We Being Watched ?

W

hoa! Look at the self-driving car! Isn’t this cool? Exclaimed the kid excitedly.

Drive? Or to be Driven Around?

I looked at the beautiful machine and without any doubt the car looks ultra-cool, and a pure art on four wheels.

However, upon witnessing the technology, I wasn’t so sure of the self-driving or the autonomous driving tech. It might be helpful for few of the owners or drivers for whom driving is just a day to day task in order to reach from point ‘A’ to point ‘B’.

On the other hand, there are few so called purists, who still prefer the good old IC engines, manual transmissions, and the sweet sound of a V8 or V12. I know that you might label me as not so environment friendly.

Drive! It helps you to know the world. Better!

However, my question is what will happen, if a shady person from another corner of the planet armed with a $1000 laptop gets access of the vehicle. These connected or the self-driving vehicles are mostly reliant on software and require connectivity around the clock, which obviously opens up many opportunities of remote access.

Wait! Wait! I’m not the only one who is paranoid about this safety issue. According to a recent study, around 41 percent of the consumers are not completely sure when it comes to using a connected or a self-driving car.

Not only that, recently a famous manufacturer’s autonomous driving system failed to engage even after detecting a pedestrian. Result? The SUV ended up hitting the pedestrian. However, it was not due to hacking, it’s a hands-on experience of the flawed autonomous driving system.

So, if you ask me what’s the future of this technology? My answer would be, autonomous driving tech is still in its infancy and its risks eventually outweigh its benefits. When it comes to large fleet operators, then autonomous driving

tech is a decent proposition, only if the operators are deploying security measures in order to keep any threat at bay.

However, as a private car owner I’d still prefer my sweet sounding V8 with a manual transmission mostly for the mechanical feel. “I’m a purist”- they say.

So with the intent of recognizing companies who are working hard to make these technologies much more reliable, Insights Success has shortlisted Next-Gen Automotive Tech Solution Providers-2019.

As our Cover Story, we have Italdesign, which is one of the leading companies in the provision of development services for the automotive industry. The company’s mission is to provide a wide range of services dedicated to the development of new vehicles and industrial products, from styling to engineering and from prototypes manufacturing to testing and validation.

Also while flipping the pages of the magazine don’t forget to go through the CXOs and Articles written by industry experts and our in-house editorial team, respectively.

Happy Reading!

Kaustav Roy

COVERSTORY

08 Italdesign Bringing Italian Perfec on In Automo ve Design

ARTICLES

26

36

Infrastructure Transformation

Future in tech

AI Moving Towards Transforma on of Industries

Are We Being Watched ?

CONTENTS

COMPANY OF THE MONTH

16 IES Synergy Market Leader of Charging Solu ons for Electric Vehicles

24

34

Advanex Europe Ltd Designing High-Precision Products

22

Tech- Talk Emerging Tech and Revolu ons to Avoid Digital Irrelevance

Fisheyebox Making Cars Intelligent and More Connected

32 Mentor’s Standpoint BEYOND AUTOMATION: AI powered Autonomous Factories of the Future

Editor-in-Chief Pooja M. Bansal Managing Editor Anish Miller

Executive Editor

Assistant Editors

Hitesh Dhamani

Jenny Fernandes Kaustav Roy

Visualizer

Art & Design Director

Associate Designer

David King

Amol Kamble

Kushagra Gupta

Co-designer Shweta Ambilwade

Senior Sales Manager

Business Development Manager

Kshitij S

Peter Collins

Marketing Manager

Sales Executives

John Matthew

David, Kevin, Mark, Sagar

Technical Head

Business Development Executives

Jacob Smile

Steve, Joe, Alan, Binay

Technical Specialist Aditya

Digital Marketing Manager Marry D’Souza

SME-SMO Executive Prashant Chevale

Research Analyst Frank Adams

Circulation Manager

Database Management Stella Andrew

Robert Brown

Technology Consultant David Stokes

sales@insightssuccess.com November , 2019

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We are also available on : Copyright Š 2019 Insights Success, All rights reserved. The content and images used in this magazine should not be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior permission from Insights Success.

Reprint rights remain solely with Insights Success.

COVER STORY

Next Generation

AUTOMOTIVE

Tech Solution Providers

2019

BRINGING ITALIAN PERFECTION IN AUTOMOTIVE DESIGN

Italdesign is a service company offering ultra-limited series production, complete vehicle development and development of Integrated Mobility Solutions as well as outstanding Industrial Design solutions.

Jรถrg Astalosch CEO

Italdesign is a hub of ground-breaking solutions for any form of mobility.

H

ave you ever wondered, if your car was designed by an Italian company with great heritage and typical Italian classic design language? If yes, then Italdesign is the perfect stop to rely on. With fifty years of experience, it has worked closely with car makers starting from the first product definition up to the start of production.

Companies in the automotive sector can benefit from Italdesign’s consultancy services for various turnkey projects, covering all the phases through the development of styling, concept and vehicle architecture, series engineering, simulation, prototyping, testing and final production tuning. In addition, Italdesign can provide services for shorter projects covering only a part of the overall vehicle development cycle.

In an interview with Insights Success, a spokesperson of Italdesign, shares the exciting journey of the organization, and its vision.

Below are the highlights of the interview between Insights Success and Italdesign; Give a brief overview of Italdesign, and its vision.

Italdesign is a state-of-the-art customer-centric, methodand fact-based company operating in four major areas: Design, Engineering, Production and New Mobility Solutions. Our mission and vision is being among the key players in the mobility world.

What inspired Italdesign to enter into this segment?

Fifty years ago, designing and engineering automobiles in Turin for national and international carmakers meant everything except a novelty. The new formula created by Italdesign envisaged the strong combination in simultaneous engineering of design, development and production so to offer an organic set of methods, techniques and tools allowing a product and production process integrated design approach, embracing concepts such as time-to-market and design-to-cost. This is still valid today.

What are the cutting-edge automotive tech solutions offered by Italdesign?

We believe that only innovation will keep us cutting edge.

This means we constantly have to push that our customers can achieve competitive advantages. And none of our working fields can be an exception. Neither the classical ones like the body in white development, nor newer fields like HMI/UX or new business fields like the special processes to run Small Series Production runs, fully homologated, in about 1,5 years from first sketch to first delivery.

Let us take the HMI /UX as an example. Last year we up set an HMI Lab to define, develop and test the ergonomic validation of next generation vehicles thanks to a fullyadjusting seating buck, for all cars between Hypercar or delivery van. We have created a multidisciplinary environment to perform analysis and studies focusing on HMI/UX and allowing an Immersive Experience through

26 nations, dozens of different backgrounds and skillsets, one goal and the same passion for mobility: the basis for our success.

cutting-edge VR technologies. This year we have further improved this tool and our HMI/UX team has worked on the design of a state-of-the-art, modular, fully customizable and flexible HMI platform able to offer HMI solutions especially for UltraLimited Series Production. And there is more: Immersive Engineering, for example, is an innovative tool based on VR. With IE we can visualize real-time engineering CAD data and technical specifications and monitor the status of the project to minimize blunders and increase the quality of our final product.

Give a detailed description of the Founder’s contribution over Italdesign and the industry.

Our Founders, Giorgetto Giugiaro and Aldo Mantovani started Italdesign with a simultaneous engineering approach we would call agile today – small cross-functional teams that work in a customer centric way, delivering solutions making our customers, usually OEMs, more successful. The company has grown over the years: today we are a turnkey-project service provider of 1,000 experts offering turnkey development solutions for future vehicles and complete mobility concepts, incl. the development of the business models and the so called Ultra Limited Series Production for e.g. special sports car series. Today the

Italdesign management accepted the challenge to ensure that the 1,000 experts of Italdesign will shape also in the next years mobility for the people and create exciting new ideas. So we take the responsibility for our team and ensure that this brilliant group of 1,000 and all our partners throughout the industry can fully live their creativity and ingenuity.

What strategies has Italdesign undertaken to stay ahead of the competition?

We are running since years a consequent strategy process that engages all our people, explaining the need of permanent change, creating buy-in and engagement. Our people are carrying the constant change, always understanding that they are committed to the customers.

Various short- and long-term initiatives exist, such as: -HMI and UX, that represents the combination between Design and Development and is a key instrument for a people-centred innovation and communication.; -DIGITIZATION. From internal digital processes to digital business models, we are optimizing all in this initiative and leave no stone unturned. This has direct impact on the business, e.g. we can run a fully-virtual design process,

closely interlinked with a highly virtual development process. The Nissan GTR50 by Italdesign was developed, engineered and built by us, fully digital.

-SMART CITIES. Since 2016, the pace of transformation in the automotive industry has accelerated dramatically and we are in the middle of the age of radical change in the automotive industry. A massive transformation of socio-physical spaces is taking place the landscape, the city, the social relationships - affecting infrastructures, software programs, laws, insurances.

We are all involved. We have invested in R&D and human resources to offer advanced technologies and new services for citizens, aiming to rethink cities and become a service provider of smart solutions. We have presented a pilot project named InTO aiming to give support to metro users in their distribution in coaches, especially during rush hours, in order to optimize their comfort onboard and provide a higher-quality service. Also the projects WheeM-i reflects what we understand by ’future mobility’ namely providing solutions to emerging needs within smart aka connected cities.

Also, we are part of the City of Turin Lab for Autonomous and Connected Driving in Urban Environment for the ideation, creation and realization of Smart Roads.

-COMPETENCE TRANSFORMATION. Ours is a team of 1,000 experts, all together we represent 15,000 years of experience in the automotive and non-automotive development fields and 190 different professionalisms. This wealth of knowledge must be kept, increased and adapted to promptly respond and anticipate the market requirements in terms of know-how and social skills. We are doing this by promoting a "learning culture", therefore boosting employees awareness and engagement about technical evolution changes, defining a strategic training plan to foster new competences and careers, by supporting a program for encouraging the change, involving all the employees in an active way.

Beside those initiatives, which are carried by our people, without external consulters, we run various other action items to further improve our status quo and stay relevant.

Describe the experiences, achievements or lessons learnt that has shaped the journey of Italdesign.

We always have to ask ourselves the question: how can we improve the life of the people in a sustainable way? If we have solutions for that, developed in our customer-centric way, we ultimately make our direct customers, the OEMs, new or established, more successful. How can we offer more complete solutions? In the past there have been cars like the first MPV or the VW Golf, like the Fiat Panda or Uno. Or WheeM-i, the work we’ve conducted with the Toyota Unlimited Mobility Foundation and our Urban Air Mobility work. One thing was always key – the cooperation across the departments, between different skills and competences, also with our partner network, always focussed on the customer needs. We will continue to investigate the future mobility as this is in our DNA and keep the company’s forward thinking one step ahead.

Describe the ways in which your automotive tech solutions are focused on being customer centric.

We support our customers by understanding their needs and the needs of their customers and by applying standardized processes to develop solutions for their challenges that are based in the ideation methods. In terms of tech solutions, we have adopted an electronic tracking allowing then to be always aware of what part of their projects we are working on and where we are with the complete work; and our PLM, a system consenting to manage in an efficient and costeffective way the product lifecycle, from its conception phase, to its development, its launch onto the market and final distribution. It allows the development of the product in a multi-target and IT-based environment, since the product life-cycle management integrates people,

documents, data, and processes. It’s also a new business for us as we are selling this service and software.

With the growing competition, how does your company ensure optimal efficiency for its customers?

Our daily doing is to focus on drivers as Customer Understanding, Speed, Competitiveness, Precision, Methods, Innovation Spirit, Sustainability and Efficiency.

We are aiming to ensure the efficiency and the effectiveness of all the processes through the direct involvement of our people, with a continuous improvement approach and creating value for the customer. It’s all about the analysis of processes, the identification of waste, bottlenecks and consequent KPI follow up as well as about standardization and the creation of leaner processes by using dedicated methodologies.

Where Italdesign does sees itself in the long run and what are its future goals?

Our aim is that we make those who work with us on any form of mobility more successful in business and that we improve the life of the people by all means of sustainable mobility. We excited customers in the past 50 years and shaped new trends, like the first minivan or the most successful compact car, we made them dream by visionary ideas like the modular urban air mobility Pop.Up Next. We see ourselves more globalized, at the forefront of mobility, playing the role of an incubator with our highly competent series development team of professionals.

Give us a few testimonials of your clients that accurately highlight Italdesign’s position in the market.

Our ambition is to take on the same importance we had in the past, and even more. We are considered as a reliable development partner and currently enjoy prestige among traditional carmakers, but start-ups and new players are stepping forward to explore with us future scenarios and model future mobility. Let me mention the Mini 2nd Generation, for which BMW Group asked us to coordinate the development and validation of the body, structure and chassis, the building of the pre-series prototypes, the vehicle release and the SOP assistance and the Volkswagen Group that relied on us to engineer successful vehicles.

Also, we have been honoured by Nissan to name our common work for them the GT-R50 by Italdesign. Finally, also our industrial clients like world renowned Okamura or SAME Deutz-Fahr have launched successful products created with us.

Our ‘next 50’ philosophy underpins the company’s development strategy for the near future.

IES Synergy Market Leader of Charging Solutions for Electric Vehicles

O

ffering new costsaving, efficient charging solu ons to poten al users is key in pushing the largest number possible towards moving to an electric vehicle. IES Synergy has long been convinced that of all the alterna ves, electromobility based on rapid charging solu ons is an essen al factor in comba ng climate disrup on. Since its beginnings, IES has ac vely contributed to electrifying means of transport, be this actually in the vehicles in the industrial market, by helping to develop new solu ons for car manufacturers, or by making it easier for operators, communi es and retailers to provide charging sta ons in public spaces. IES has built up its range around innova ve products through new solu ons for the rapid, sustainable development of electromobility. But the IES rela onship with its customers does not stop there: Ensuring correct installa on, availability and faultless opera on of sta ons in the field, customer sa sfac on is at the heart of the IES corporate strategy. IES designs and provides the most advanced, versa le and universal solu ons on the market.

16 | November 2019

Jean-Michel Cornille is the President and CEO of the IES Synergy. Under the exemplary leadership of JeanMichel Cornille, IES Synergy is commi ed to concrete ac ons to reduce its industrial impact due to concerns over the footprint of its ac vi es. Below are the highlights of the interview between Jean-Michel

“We have achieved wide recognition as a technology leader and a proven supplier of innovative charging solutions.”

Cornille and Insights Success: Give a brief overview of the company, its vision.

IES, a pioneer in ba ery charging, has been suppor ng industrialists all over the world for 26 years in developing their electromobility solu ons. IES has used this unique exper se to develop rapid charging solu ons for all situa ons: charging sta ons for private vehicles, fleets and buses, whether in urban areas, public places or on the roads, mobile

chargers and on-board chargers for industry.

What inspired IES Synergy to enter into this segment?

Engaged since incep on in the onboard chargers for industrial electric vehicle market, IES has ac vely contributed to the development of solu ons enabling the adop on of electric cars by the general public.

We are convinced about the need to innovate in the e-mobility sector and provide new solu ons to make electric vehicles easy to use for everyone. A proper charging infrastructure network is key in that aspect.

What are the cu ng-edge automo ve tech solu ons offered

by IES Synergy?

Environmental issues are at the heart of the evolu on of major ci es and are deeply disrup ng the mobility sector. The adop on of electric vehicles is strongly related to the availability of a welldimensioned charging network that combines both slow and fast charging solu ons to meet all uses.

IES mainly focuses on fast charging sta ons for urban use (business areas, public car parks, shopping centers, restaurants, sta ons, taxi www.insightssuccess.com

Comapny of the Month

www.insightssuccess.com

November 2019 | 17

About the Leader Graduated from Ecole Polytechnique & Ecole Na onale des Ponts et Chaussées, Jean-Michel-Michel Cornille joined IES Synergy in March 2015. He spent most of his career in Telecom or Electronic Industry, in Execu ve Management posi ons within large interna onal companies, such as President of ALCATEL Mobile Solu ons Division, Execu ve Vice-President of AREVA T&D Automa on and Senior VicePresident of ALSTOM Grid Power Electronics & Automa on. JeanMichel-Michel brings his high level execu ve management experience in leading IES Synergy to reach to new heights.

stands, etc.), ensuring op mized charging mes (typically in one hour) as well as durability of the electricity network. IES provides the most compact, universal and economical charging solu ons on the market.

These a ributes are key levers to support the mass deployment of charging solu ons in public and commercial areas, usable by everyone and in a flexible way.

What strategies has IES Synergy undertaken to stay ahead of the compe on?

Based on our long exper se in high frequency ba ery charging, our ambi on is to be at the forefront of the market. By mastering all technologies in-house, from power electronics, communica on with

vehicles, interfaces with users, to charging sta on compact design, we have developed our KEYWATTTM range of external fast chargers, well recognized by many car manufacturers and charging operators in the world. For instance, we are the only one on the market to offer a full herme c design concept, removing the need to use air filter, thus allowing high durability in extreme environmental condi ons and low maintenance needs on the field.

Describe the experiences, achievements or lessons learnt that has shaped the journey of the company.

IES has always been there at the major stages in the electric vehicle industry. The first to design and manufacture an on-board charger for forkli s and li ing cradles, first to equip a mass-produced light electric vehicle, involved in developing the Combo charging protocol for major German manufacturers, delivering mobile solu ons for the development of many vehicles in the marketplace, taking up the compe on challenge by equipping the FIA Formula-e World Championship, IES has been a part of the major events that have forged the market.

This innova on track record has spurred IES to expand interna onally into Europe, America and also in China with an equal joint venture with the Wanma Group.

Jean-Michel Cornille President & CEO IES Synergy

18 | November 2019

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Emerging Tech and Revolutions to Avoid Digital Irrelevance

T

he past several years have brought about sweeping changes in business technologies from main stream adoption of AI and voice activated devices to AR and VR solutions. Personal assistants power multiple devices and the internet of things push companies to keep up or get left behind. As emerging technologies push forward, consumers are getting use to a level of service, unimaginable just a few years ago. Millennials and Gen Z’ers have grown accustomed to being able to customize everything, get it the next day, and return it with no ramifications.

All of these technological advances are changing the way business is conducted at a base level and automation is finding its way into everything from marketing to warehousing. To cap it all off SEO is becoming increasing qualitative. Since quantitative factors can be gamed to beat the system, giants like Google and Amazon have decided that just because your company has an excellent keyword and schema strategy, doesn’t mean your business is the best at what it does. Both are relying more on qualitative factors like customer conversions, customer reviews, and even the amount of foot traffic you have at your physical locations.

Amazon and Google get set to square off as the Ecomm arms race continues to escalate and Zero Click ECommerce becomes ground zero for these platforms to gain your business. Zero Click Ecomm allows you to book a service or buy a product from your home speaker or phone without leaving the Google or Amazon platform or going through a traditional checkout process.

In order to succeed, businesses need to be flexible, adapt to a changing landscape and meet consumer expectations.

What often is not addressed, however, is whether a business should adopt these technologies and how to decide which ones make sense. With development costs for custom built consumer-based apps starting at 100k and lead times over 3 months, todays CITOs and CEOs need to drive innovation, protect it, and capitalize on it just to stay ahead of the competition. Three technologies or revolutions that every 22 | November 2019

business needs to consider right now are Artificial Intelligence (AI), Augmented Reality (AR), and Zero Click Ecomm. Ÿ

Artificial Intelligence (AI): No matter what generation you are from, Artificial Intelligence (AI) has impacted you in some way. The old chess playing robot Deep Blue project, with origins dating back to the 80’s, has evolved into the advanced systems like IBM Watson and Amazon Lex. Once highly guarded proprietary systems, AI platforms have become open and friendly to developers with systems capable of learning and driving results. Today Artificial Intelligence drives consumer interactions through website and texting platforms.

Many automated marketing platforms are incorporating AI to make sure that your advertisements reach the people most likely to purchase your product.

AI is an emerging tech that all businesses need to put on their short list. PWC predicted that AI will help marketing solutions based on Big Data and we already see business systems like Buxton incorporating AI into their mapping models. AI is advancing science, marketing, and business management, AI has the power to predict results, improve ROI, and save money. Ÿ

Augmented Reality (AR): Augmented Reality is becoming a game changer for many industries, however, what exactly is it and how does it benefit modern business? Many people I talk with still confuse Augmented Reality with Virtual Reality (VR). Virtual Reality is a 3D environment, a complete virtual world that is immersive where the consumer is fully rendered inside a digital space and requires somewhat cumbersome electronics like headsets and haptics to complete the experience, (á la Ready Player One).

Augmented Reality (AR) is much more practical and prevalent. AR allows the consumer to change things about their real environment with the assistance of technology, www.insightssuccess.com

Tech- Talk usually a phone app or integrated web tech. The beauty space has flocked to AR to allow consumers to virtually try on make up or change their hair color such as the YouCam Makeup – Magic Selfie Cam showcased at the 2019 CES show. These are practical solutions to consumer pain points, allowing them to try before they buy. AR can help a consumer choose furniture, car accessories, and more, as they look in real life on themselves or in their own house as opposed to how they think they will look be online images. Wayfair has been leading the charge in this space and revealed at Shoptalk that they are digitizing much of their online inventory and converting them into interactive images. Ÿ

Zero Click Ecomm: Zero Click Ecomm isn’t tech, but it is a revolution. Powerhouses Google and Amazon are going head to head for your business and it is a two-pony race. According to an Adeptmind Survery, 46% of product searches originated on Amazon compared to 34% originating on Google. Amazon has been dominating the global Ecomm market, proving a long tail strategy can be immensely successful. As they grow, Amazon is bringing that level of innovation into the brick and mortar world with automated checkout and account based transactions.

Google however has not given up. They may be behind in product search originations, but according to Statista.com 63% of all searches still start with Google. Google’s goal over the next couple of years will be to have you never leave the Google Platform. Google’s technology investments in Google Business, Google Merchant, Google Manufacturer, Google Reserve, and Google Analytics, allows business to list their location, sell their products, book their services, advertise their wares, and track their ROI, all without ever leaving the Google Suite.

As business tech evolves and progresses, business need to keep pace to avoid becoming obsolete. The good news is that as the tech advances so do the solutions, and many software companies are building out of the box solutions for various industries to bring you up to date. There are AI solutions for customer service, marketing, and management. There are AR app builders who can help you utilize the technology for your consumer solutions, even if your company hasn’t been keeping up to date. It will be every CEOs responsibility to provide the vision of how the tech fits into their organization and CITOs and CMOs will be integrating the technology and pushing it even further. If we embrace the change, we will be able to do more and achieve higher ROIs with deeply satisfying consumer experiences. Artificial Intelligence will make sense of Big Data, Augmented Reality will provide the ultimate customer experience, and Zero Click Ecomm will make the transaction process easier and simpler, bringing more ROI to companies with the vision to utilize the technology and avoid digital irrelevance.

www.insightssuccess.com

About the Author Greg Forsythe is the Senior Director of Branding and Innovation for Deka Lash and serves as a marketing consultant and advisor for the beauty and wellness industries.

Greg has directed commercial projects for Fortune 100 clients such as Wal-Mart, CVS, Verizon, Kroger, Walgreens, Johnson and Johnson, and UPS. Greg studied Operations Management at Penn State before obtaining his Marketing Certification from The Wharton School.

November 2019 | 23

Next Genera on Automo ve Tech Solu on Providers - 2019/Advanex Europe Ltd

Advanex Europe Ltd Designing High-Precision Products

P

recision Engineering created the modern world. Since the Industrial Revolu on, Precision Engineering has fine-tuned every aspects of our modern world. From the USB port of our beau ful looking Apple MacBook to the coffee machine, even the pilot pen we use to at our desk and probably the desk itself. With a diverse range of market supplies from agriculture, automo ve, through to medical and aerospace Advanex Europe Ltd is a global corpora on specializing in precision engineering solu ons.

In an interview with Insights Success, Steve Barker the Sales & Marke ng Manager and Ian Beardsmore, the Managing Director at Advanex Europe portray the key highlights, strengths, and uniqueness that will effec vely complement the company's profile.

Below are the highlights of the interview conducted between Advanex Leaders and Insights Success.

Give a brief overview of the company, its vision. Advanex Europe is the European division of the Advanex Group. With a network of over 20 opera ons including Japan, South East Asia, and the United States. Advanex specializes in designing and supplying metal and plas c components, springs and assemblies to a diverse range of markets including Pharmaceu cal, Medical Devices, Aerospace and of course Automo ve.

Advanex is firmly commi ed to developing new products and processes to help us stay at the front line of innova on with our precision

“We aim to be the No.1 manufacturer of precision metal parts”

components.

What are the cu ng-edge automo ve tech solu ons offered by Advanex?

Advanex has extensive experience in bespoke precision spring design throughout our Global network.

Working with some of the world's largest Automo ve OEM's and Tier manufacturers to find the most efficient and cost-effec ve designs for their spring component needs. It is our ability to design components as well as the in house, automated manufacturing process that makes Advanex such a reliable supply chain partner.

What strategies has Advanex undertaken to stay ahead of the compe on?

Advanex has a diverse product range that covers a variety of market sectors.

The focus of the business has in the past centered around the manufacture of precision springs. However, since the early 2000's technologies such as KATO® CoilThread® fasteners, deep drawn parts, precision stampings and wire forms along with our hinge components have been added to our product por olio providing opportuni es to supply across a wide range of manufacturing sectors with a focus on the Automo ve industry.

Describe the experiences, achievements or lessons learnt that has shaped the journey of the company.

In the past Advanex in Europe manufactured the metal components that went into 80% of the floppy discs produced worldwide. A huge amount of business at the me but now this technology is part of history. Once these parts started to see a decline, the company had to look at developing other technologies. This is when the

24 | November 2019

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CoilThread® fastening technology was brought to Europe from Japan. In the me that these components have been manufactured at one of our UK sites, we have managed to increase the produc on speed to nearly 10 mes faster than the original process.

Our global network also allows us to support customers in every major con nent. We have no ced in recent years localiza on is a big priority for many of our customers and our large network means we have local sales teams to service these markets. Advanex Group currently operates several engineering projects on a global basis with several key sector customers, supplying locally but centrally managed to ensure global supply providing economies of scale for our customers.

Where does Advanex see itself in the long run and what are its future goals?

Our long-term strategy has always been defined by our head office in Tokyo, Japan. The target that was set in 2018, by the then new Advanex President Steven Shibano was to become the number 1 manufacturer of precision metal components across the world. This has provided an excellent focus, but it just shows the ambi ons we have as a global network. We have earmarked the Automo ve industry and more specifically the Tier Supply Chain for a large part of this growth and we are confident in growing our support in this industry as it drives forward with a transi on towards electric vehicles.

engineers and a leader should understand the importance of cul va ng a team and its role in an organiza on. He connects with the teammates and solves the problems related to their work. With a background in mechanical engineering, Steve Barker is a Sales and Marke ng Manager at Advanex. He is responsible for all sales & marke ng ac vi es within Advanex Europe covering three sites in Southwell and Bilborough in No nghamshire and recently opened manufacturing facility near Prague in the Czech Republic.

Tes monials- "We involved Advanex in the development of a spring in one of our components as we were unable to find a solu on with other manufacturers. Their innova ve approach to the manufacturing process and assembly of this part meant we were able to win the business of one of the largest Automo ve brands. Without the Advanex input, this may not have been possible" Global Automo ve Components Manufacturer

What inspired Advanex to enter into this segment?

The challenges set by the Automo ve industry help us to maintain an efficient and cost-effec ve approach to all our projects and management techniques.

Give a detailed descrip on of your Management's contribu on over the company and the industry Our Managing Director for the European division is, Ian Beardsmore, he began his career at Advanex as an engineering appren ce so he has always had an affinity for the company. Ian moved on from Advanex to gain experience elsewhere, within business development, specifically for automo ve manufacturing companies within Europe. Later, he returned as European Sales Manager for Advanex in 2012 and was promoted to Managing Director in 2016. In this me Ian has overseen a growth project that has resulted in Advanex's European division becoming the most profitable in the Global Group as well as nearly doubling turnover in the past 5 years.

Provide one line that best describes the company and its services.

Advanex Europe is the European division of the Advanex Global Group. We specialize in designing and supplying precision metal components, springs, KATO® CoilThread® Tangless inserts, and assemblies.

Steve Barker Sales & Marketing Manager Advanex Europe Ltd.

Sales and Marke ng Leader It takes a leader when guiding a team of designers and www.insightssuccess.com

November 2019 | 25

AI

Moving Towards Transformation of Industries

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n the recent years, Artificial Intelligence (AI) has transformed various industries and helped to perform better and achieve success in their respective arena. An ideal amalgamation of human intelligence and machines has proven that it can create wonders in the businesses. This attachment of human intellect with the machine assists businesses, to automate their day-to-day activities, to understand customer behaviors, to decrease work expenditures and to create occurrences on an individual level.

Therefore, business individuals need to keep a close eye on the latest developments occurring in AI industry. This information can be vital as they can utilize AI in areas where it can create profit for them.

There are various industries that are already utilizing AI in their respective business functions and are getting benefited.

Following are some of the leading industries that have utilized AI as an instrument to optimize their operations: 1. Healthcare Healthcare sector has shown a positive response to assimilate AI in its field. That is the reason; Healthcare has received enormous funding to develop and execute AI. The modern day machine intelligence is assisting healthcare sector to examine medical data extracted from X-rays, CT scans and various other tests.

Segregation of this information is important as doctors go through the patient’s history to check and diagnose illness.

Healthcare experts are dependent on their years of experience and prefabricated algorithms to acknowledge the symptoms of an illness. However, sometimes they overlook and make mistakes unconsciously. A BBC report titled ‘AI Early Diagnosis Could Save Heart and Cancer Patient’ stated that 26 | November 2019

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Infrastructure Transformation

nearly 20% of experienced doctors make mistakes while diagnosing patient's illness. Therefore, this arduous as well as daunting task is certainly made easier by AI. There are famous examples of utilization of AI in healthcare sector. The Babylon AI doctor app avails speech recognition to interact with patients cross-examines carefully against its database and provides necessary treatment. Another interesting healthcare AI, Molly by Sense.ly -virtual nurse app- links patients to scientific recommendations and help, with the assistance of proprietary categorization engine pays attention to the patients and replies appropriate response to them. Microsoft’s Hanover project utilizes machine comprehension with natural language processing to forecast productive cancer drug compatible to the patient.

2. Automobile and Logistics Automobile industry is witnessing crucial shifts such as autonomous driving, connectivity, electrification and divided mobility. It is anticipated that the automobile industry will experience rise in economic growth by shifting from conventional to disruptive technologies and unconventional business models.

On October 14 2015, Tesla announced that it is going to launch an autopilot car i.e. a car with self-driving capability.

The car is expected to drive itself from coast-to-coast with the help of autonomous navigation. Other car makers are aiming to implant AI services like Amazon’s Alexa. This will authorize passengers to self-command car technologies with the help of natural language voice orders.

German premium car maker Mercedes-Benz has deployed voice command personal assistant in CES show 2018 held in Las Vegas. Its arch business rival BMW followed the footsteps and decided to adopt Alexa and its assimilation into its handpicked BMW and mini automobiles. KIA Motors has also proclaimed that it is thinking about assimilating Google assistant in its cars.

It is the need of the hour for any business to perform better in its services and increase profit as much as possible. It is expected that machine learning (ML) will empower systems to an extent that they will comprehend the data and utilize it to increase their performance. This is where AI comes into the picture. The association between AI and ML can create wonders in logistics, where time is a paramount entity.

The logistics sector gathers extensive data from diverse sources such as websites, smartphones and various telematics tools. Predictive analytics not only rearranges delivery schedule but also predicts subsequent orders which gives logistics sector an advantage to utilize its resources effectively.

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Interestingly, AI does not stop there. It assists in semiautonomous driver assistance, autonomous fleets for ride sharing, engine overseer and forecasting maintenance for automobiles.

Also, AI has been assisting logistics sector to construct supply chains beforehand with the help of advanced systems. This computer assistance in automobiles delivers goods in the efficient manner which is essential for the success of a logistics company. The forecasting helps logistics to avoid disastrous calamities such as difficult weather situations, traffic delays and many unexpected occurrences.

3. Marketing and Advertising Marketing sector has changed drastically over the years.

Customers anticipate for a personal experience and it is the need of the hour for marketing sector to change itself and adjust accordingly. They are required to leave the conventional methods of marketing and concentrate on enhancing their communication, execute demands as well as aspiration. This adaptation of AI is vital for marketing sector as reluctance to implement this new technology can lead to loss of business for the company.

Virtual Assistants such as Amazon Echo as well as Google Home incorporates ‘Routines’ attributes which allow these Virtual Assistants to carry out many tasks on a single command given by the user. This means a user can create a ‘Routine’ command which will instruct the Virtual Assistant to start multiple tasks it supposed to execute.

Industries are constantly trying to update themselves by adapting new technologies. AI is transforming industries and helping them to grow their businesses. It is going to advance into more sectors. It will help human beings to operate risky tasks, decode universal issues and take care of various human tasks. We can definitely anticipate a future where AI will be the new normal.

AI assists marketers to find and forecast customer attitudes.

This precious information allows marketers to carry out impactful keywords and communicate with consumers on a more personal level. Moreover, chatbots also help to execute this communication in a less expensive, effective and in a persistent way.

On top of it, AI generates ideas which are subdivided into many sub ideas. This way the risk of catering a sole idea is eliminated and various ideas can be catered according to customers and their preferences. Brands have started to acclimatize on this useful technology and are focusing on selected customers. Startups have also begun to apply AI with the help of AI automated personalization and compelling video content.

4. Virtual Assistant A Virtual Assistant can help you to handle smart home devices. This feature will allow you to administer door locks, lights, appliances and many smart home devices. There are Virtual Assistants available in the market, which show the capacity to function as an intercom. A user needs to place Virtual Assistants in every room to communicate with others.

Amazon Echo’s ‘Drop In’ feature enables users to interact with each other from different rooms.

Users can also utilize Virtual Assistants to shut down and start TV sets on compatible television models. In addition, a Virtual Assistant in the kitchen can also be utilized to handle kitchen machines.

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BEYOND AUTOMATION:

AI powered Autonomous Factories of the Future

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ise of the industrial robots in 1980s led to a major evolution of Henry Ford’s assembly line concept. Routine tasks that were being handled by factory workers started to be performed by robots with greater accuracy and efficiency. With the spread of device-to-device communication and IoT protocols, robots started taking a serious amount of responsibility from factory workers. This movement was initially led by German high tech firms that branded this shift as the 4th industrial revolution. On the opposite side, there was China, taking advantage of their access to low cost human labour as an alternative to automation. Very recently, a few years ago, China flipped their strategy 180 degrees, becoming the biggest advocate of automation by starting to invest aggressively on buying robots and developing their own robotics know-how led by government initiatives. So the technology won. There is no question about the need for automation anymore and major manufacturing companies, including the ones in China, Germany and rest of the world are racing to automate their industrial processes to increase productivity.

Daghan Cam Co-founder & CEO Ai Build

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Everything that can be automated will be automated, according to Zuboff’s law.

However, some things are more difficult to be automated than other things.

Those are non-repetitive tasks which require higher level of cognition and ability to adapt into unknown conditions. These tasks can be defined as the last mile in factory automation. Tesla, the electric car manufacturer, was recently criticized by analysts for automating their assembly line more than necessary. The reason of the criticism was the fact that the cost of automation exceeded the cost of a human led assembly

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Mentor’s Standpoint line. This may be a valid argument for today but the solution should be found in increasing the bar for commercially viable automation and not by going back to lower levels of automation.

So if we are moving towards full automation and lights-out manufacturing, how can the last mile in factories be automated without overspending and over engineering?

Autonomy seems to be the answer, therefore Artificial Intelligence…

There is a slight but important difference between Automation and Autonomy. Autonomy is the state of being able to make independent decisions in situations that were not experienced before. By definition, autonomous systems are always automated, but the other way around is not always the case. A system may be fully automated but not autonomous.

“Blind Automation” is the term we use for this category.

Systems that are blindly automated are based on hard coded rules, as in expert systems, and they tend to be very difficult to be reconfigured if the conditions or requirements change over time. Autonomous systems, in contrast, generalize the rules for decision making in different scenarios by allowing a higher level of abstraction in their programming.

For example, in the blind automation scenario, a robot may be programmed to go to coordinates x, y, z in order to pick up an object. This will work without problems as long as the object is found precisely at coordinates x, y, z.

However, if for any reason the object is positioned at a slightly different location, the robot will still go to x, y, z, fail to pick the object up and continue executing the rest of its commands without noticing this problem. Eventually every step subsequent to this failure will also fail.

A better strategy for performing the same task, is using a robot with vision

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sensors, and programming it to go to the object’s position (as a variable) to pick it up. Regardless of where the object is positioned, robot will localize it using its sensors and successfully pick it up. This difference between the two programming paradigms; “go to x, y, z” and “go to an object’s position” makes a big difference in making the system less prone to making mistakes in unexpected conditions which is crucial for last mile factory automation.

About the Author Daghan Cam is the Co-founder and CEO of Ai Build, a London based startup developing Artificial Intelligence and Robotics technologies for the construction industry. He is also a visiting lecturer at University College London doing research on robotic fabrication, large scale 3d printing and parallel algorithms with GPU computing.

His work focuses on developing intelligence for automating complex tasks in design and manufacturing by using computer vision and machine learning techniques.

In this scenario where robots make autonomous decisions by using realtime sensor data, a feedback loop is established between physical and digital environments. The constant flow of information from physical to digital and vice versa create immense amounts of structured data which is the fuel for AI powered autonomous factories of the future. Such actionmeasurement-action strategies allow the systems to self-improve over time, creating a data network effect in manufacturing. The more one process is executed, the more efficient it will get. This allows super-human performance in almost every domain given enough data.

Robots making hundreds of decisions every second and receiving hundreds of measurements from the environment and from other devices also require massive computation and storage capabilities. Despite the popularity of cloud computing in most applications today, a decentralized compute power is necessary for most robotic applications and for IoT devices in general. The throughput between the edge and the cloud through internet connectivity is simply not enough to process all data generated by sensors and make sensible decisions in realtime. So edge computing, or fog computing - dedicated servers on premise as a layer between individual devices and the cloud - will likely be the norm in autonomous factories of the future unless we experience a breakthrough in science that leads to infinitely fast and reliable internet connectivity. However unlike compute power, storage of important data, that is filtered on the edge, should be centralized in order to achieve the best decision making models at every location.

As a summary, a few conclusions and predictions about the future are: Ÿ

We are moving towards an autonomous black-box factory model where the factory robots are operated by themselves without human intervention.

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These factories will be powered by the data that is generated by themselves and their productivity will increase over time exceeding human performance in every process involved in manufacturing.

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Factories will compute on-premise / on-edge and they will push important data to cloud for benefiting from a shared pool of data with other factories.

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Next Genera on Automo ve Tech Solu on Providers - 2019/Fisheyebox

Fisheyebox Making Cars Intelligent and More Connected

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here's no doubt in how Ar ficial Intelligence is redefining the human lives. Taking the thriving nature of AI as an inspira on, Fisheyebox Innova on Lab ( Fisheyebox ) was formed. Fisheyebox is a team of scien sts, researchers, programmers, designers and automo ve enthusiasts trying to make an AI for Good. The team at Fisheyebox is fundamentally working on human inspired driving and highly intelligent urban mobility solu on. It does not intent to build cars, it wants to make them intelligent and more connected in an affordable way.

Fisheyebox's work ranges, from high level driving behavior modeling, robo c scene es ma on to low level driving firmware actua on for universal compa bility. The company has developed an all-in-one solu on for an intelligent drive system which can be interfaced with any automo ve grade drive-by-wire pla orm in the world. It's the brain for the autonomous and connected vehicles.

Also, as more and more cars are now having drive-by-wire systems by default, it will be able to develop a "snap-on" Level 5 auto-pilot in the not too distant future.

How the Idea was Generated?

This origin of the idea was started a couple of years back, when the autonomous technology was just in R&D a er comple on of its primary level research in the field of computer vision and image processing along with Ar ficial Intelligent area. The existence of drive by wire system of the newly designed and developed car added an extra flavor of an advantage in this idea.

Fisheyebox is super-enthusias c about self-driving cars, a er drive-by-wire pla orm was invented to fit high-level logic. That was the start of it all. The company ended up working in a garage and came up with the prototype finally.

Thus, making this technology for the world market is a challenging story which Fisheyebox has tried its best to develop in the real-world road scenario in India.

Integrated Solu ons Fisheyebox has worked on an Auto-Pilot capable of autonomously naviga ng a car in a clu ered urban environment. It was involved in the development of a highly-robust Percep on Module for sensing and es ma on of the environment around the vehicle from 34 | November 2019

vast vocabulary of visual cues (explicit and implicit) such as drivable road space, lane markings, traffic lights, to moving obstacles (both sta c and dynamic) such as vehicles and pedestrians, all by using sensor fusion camera data and Deep Learning techniques include Scene Segmenta on, Object Detec on and Localiza on.

The company has also worked on areas such as sensor selfcalibra on, vehicle ego-mo on, percep on, mapping and localiza on using a variety of sensor modali es (Camera, Radar, INS, GPS, Odometry). It was also involved in the development of a highly precise Naviga on Module for localiza on of the vehicle on a cen meter scale accuracy.

Besides, it was also involved in the high-level programming of embedded systems for interfacing robo c actua on with the vehicle and worked on real- me programming of embedded pla orms, automo ve ECUs, automo ve Ethernet/ CAN controllers.

The Fisheyebox's DriveX package comes with a black-box hardware package men oned above, on top of which runs a sophis cated Ar ficial Intelligence Opera ng System (OS) which acts as an human-machine interface between the driver and the vehicle, to self-diagnose repairs and communicate with other vehicles but also manage their internal environment, managing each passenger's preference for entertainment and work produc vity. That is valuable me drivers will re-acquire once relieved of the a en on burdens of driving. On the road, everyone will get more hours back in their day to do what they want and not stress out in traffic. The OS technically turns the vehicle into an intelligent and connected ecosystem.

The OS features a highly intelligent Vehicle Diagnos c System (VDS) capable of analysing in-vehicle telema cs and repair data in order to predict and prevent problems before they result in mechanical failure. With the VDS running onboard, the company would be capable of transforming the en re automo ve ownership experience by iden fying problems more quickly, reduce unplanned maintenance, improve customer service, lower warranty costs through more accurate diagnoses, and offer diagnos c services tailored to each vehicle/owner. www.insightssuccess.com

Pinaki Laskar CEO & Founder

We Think, Invent and Create, Intelligence Innovatively Engineered.

Its state-of-the-art AI algorithms can detect driving behavior pa erns from dri ing, braking and accelera ons that indicate poten al danger, coupled with biometric data directly from the driver inside the vehicle, and processes it by making required adjustments autonomously in the driving actua on that would help keep it safer or help navigate dangerous driving condi ons.

And yes, it does come with an intelligent Personal Assistant capable of engaging in natural language conversa on with the vehicle occupants. From key-less Voice Encrypted Start, to guiding you the best route to your des na ons, to playing your preferred music, calling your contacts, to all auxiliary controls it does it all.

A Thought Leader The incep ve mind behind Fisheyebox is Pinaki Laskar, the CEO & Founder of the company. A disrup ve Innovator & www.insightssuccess.com

Cogni ve Technologist, Pinaki has been founding brain for many disrup ve AI solu ons ranging from Autonomous Car and Intelegent Transport System (ITS), AI-based Music and Retail. He is an expert and dis nguished Inventor in Ar ficial Intelligence and IIOT with research in AI and Ethics. As a thought leader he has been speaker at various conferences including 'Make in India', Mumbai, TIE – Bangalore, Sevan Startup Summit - Armenia, Neural Networks Conference - Finland, Ar ficial Intelligence Interna onal Conference - Barcelona, Cloud Expo Silicon Valley, USA and many more with a work experience of two decades. Currently, He is leading AI for business transforma on & Innova on by design thinking using technology as a catalyst.

Autonomous Future In the near future, Fisheyebox will

work on perfect design and DNA of building smart Intelligent autonomous car, the one without conven onal Non-Steering Gear, brakes or accelerator and The OS which will feature a high performance microkernel architecture, with an enhanced kernel-level security, encryp on, access control and fault tolerance, to make it almost impossible to compromise.

Currently working on Prospec ve customer for autonomous vehicles and Advance Driving System with Pre - AV (Pre - Autonomous Vehicles) System.

The company is also striving to enable vehicle manufacturers procure vehicle middleware solu ons from Fisheyebox rather than invest in their own research and development, including exis ng vehicle owners who would like to purchase the middleware solu on as a plug-and-play system.

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Future in tech

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ith the advent of Internet and Internet of Things, each passing days more and more things including cars, cameras, equipment, speakers, health devices are getting connected to the internet. And since then where ever I look, whomever I ask, I’m seeing people going gaga over this technology.

Now! Don’t get me wrong! I’m not against the use of IoT devices, I love technology and IoT obviously will play a big role in every industry. However, for a person like me, who is always paranoid about his security and privacy IoT does ring few bells.

Personally, I’d never like to see my fancy self-driving car being controlled or tracked by some shady

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personalities or someone listening through the smart speakers or someone hacking my phone’s or laptop’s webcam. The last thing I would like to be hacked is the security system of my house, which can eventually put my beloved family at risk.

You may ask; why such paranoia? It is because I love my privacy!

So! What should I do? Basically, we need to stick to few basic points and know the challenges that are currently plaguing the world of IoT. In this article I’ll share some of those challenges, that are affecting IoT devices.

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The Age old Issue of Default Passwords: If you are well versed with IoT, you might know the name of Mirai botnet. This botnet caused few of the largest and most destructive/disruptive DDoS attacks across the globe, and it is one of the best examples of the issue that occur while shipping devices with default passwords and not notifying customers to change them into a more complex one.

The one and only reason this attack was so successful, is that Mirai successfully identified those vulnerable IoT devices and used default ids and password to infiltrate and infect them. Ÿ Small Scale Attacks: Back in 2017, another botnet named Reaper came into foray. Reaper was potentially much more dangerous than the famed Mirai mostly due to its small-scale attacks that often evade detection. Ÿ Home Security: Since the invention of IoT devices, they are being used in home and office automation.

For some which is a need and some merely a cool gadget. However, very small number of people

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know IoT devices can expose the IP addresses of its users and can pinpoint the residential address. Later on, this vital information can be sold in the darkweb, jeopardizing personal security. Ÿ Accessing Vehicles: With the growing usage of selfdrive cars, a skilled hijacker can get access a smart car through remote access. At the end which can be lethal as anyone can have control over your car and leave you vulnerable to various crimes. Ÿ Ransomware Attacks: Ransomware attacks have recently brought the world of internet to its knees, and IoT devices are not completely protected against those ransomware either. A ransomware attack could potentially disable or limit the functionality of IoT devices and stealing user data at the same time.

So, at the end all I can say, adopting a multi-layered security while developing IoT devices is essential for security. Also by keeping few basic pointers like using stronger passwords and multi-point security systems one can avert the attack.

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