Early Learnings from a Logistics Testbed
4.2 THE PLATFORM TIER
The Platform Tier processes the incoming data from the Edge Tier . In addition to the typical cloud Infrastructure Services , such as storage and computing it is home to Information Services that process incoming data into information . An example of such an Information Service is the calculation of a forklift ’ s distance covered . This Information Service calculates how many kilometers a forklift was driven loaded / unloaded for any given timeframe . This service was implemented by the industrial service provider using the data available from the Edge Tier as Information Service – Data Interpretation .
Other Information Services use multiple data streams from the Edge Tier to interpret the data in a novel way . We classify them as Information Service – Data Contextualization . One such service in the testbed was the calculation of transported goods . It uses multiple data streams plus additional context data to calculate two new pieces of information . It produces an event that is stored whenever a good has reached his destination , be it the final assembly line or an intermediate storage area . And additionally provides the information of how many value adding transports have been performed today .
Information Services generate information based on the data provided by the Edge Tier . For this purpose , contextual information is usually integrated to obtain a better understanding .
4.3 THE ENTERPRISE TIER
The Enterprise Tier interprets the produced information in the context of the specific enterprise . Analytics Services on this layer go beyond Information Services by integrating live context from other parts of the business and integrating expert knowledge to provide actionable and specific guidance . Analytics Services – Key Performance Indicator provides indicators for managerial roles in an organization . These KPIs differ depending on the stakeholder and are based on the interaction of several Information Services and potential enterprise internal context .
They offer live insights into the business that can be a crucial tool to react fast to a change in one ’ s business , but they do only provide a well-defined information point , relying on the consumer of the KPI to draw his own conclusions and act accordingly . One example in our observation was the total productivity of all forklifts today and in the context of the average for the same day of the week . This KPI gives the logistics manager a quick overview of the logistics performance up to now .
A second set of Analytics Services differs in its scope by being able to directly tie back into the live system and change relevant parameters automatically . Those services classified under the term Analytics Services – Enterprise Autopilot describe services that are tailored to the specific needs of the enterprise . A set of industry experts work together with internal experts to set up the underlying service that runs changes in the enterprise on autopilot . They meet periodically to reflect on the performance and tweak the system to current requirements .
20 August 2023