Combining ABB Ability and IBM Watson for Superior Customer Value
HANOVER, Germany, April 25, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- ABB and IBM
(NYSE: IBM) today announced a strategic collaboration
that brings together ABB's industry leading digital offering, ABB Ability ™, with IBM Watson Internet of Things cognitive capabilities to unlock new value for customers in utilities, industry,
transport and infrastructure.
Video - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kZ0OELI_r8M
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Customers will benefit from ABB's deep domain knowledge and extensive portfolio of digital solutions combined with IBM's
expertise in artificial intelligence and machine learning as well as different industry verticals. The first two joint industry
solutions powered by ABB Ability and Watson will bring real-time cognitive insights to the factory floor and smart grids.
"This powerful combination marks truly the next level of industrial technology, moving beyond current connected systems that
simply gather data, to industrial operations and machines that use data to sense, analyze, optimize and take actions that drive
greater uptime, speed and yield for industrial customers," said ABB CEO Ulrich Spiesshofer. "With
an installed base of 70 million connected devices, 70,000 digital control systems and 6,000 enterprise software solutions, ABB is
a trusted leader in the industrial space, and has a four decade long history of creating digital solutions for customers. IBM is
a leader in artificial intelligence and cognitive computing. Together, IBM and ABB will create powerful solutions for customers
to benefit from the Fourth Industrial Revolution."
New suite of breakthrough solutions
The new suite of breakthrough solutions developed by ABB and IBM will help companies address in a completely new way some of
their biggest industrial challenges, such as improving quality control, reducing downtime and increasing speed and yield of
industrial processes. These solutions will move beyond current connected systems that simply gather data, to cognitive industrial
machines that use data to understand, sense, reason and take actions supporting industrial workers to help eliminate inefficient
processes and redundant tasks.
"This important collaboration with ABB will take Watson even deeper into industrial applications -- from manufacturing, to
utilities, to transportation and more," said Ginni Rometty, IBM Chairman, president and CEO. "The
data generated from industrial companies' products, facilities and systems holds the promise of exponential advances in
innovation, efficiency and safety. Only with Watson's broad cognitive capabilities and our platform's unique support for
industries can this vast new resource be turned into value, with trust. We are eager to work in partnership with ABB on this new
industrial era."
Bringing real-time cognitive insights to the factory floor
For example, ABB and IBM will leverage Watson's artificial intelligence to help find defects via real-time production
images that are captured through an ABB system, and then analyzed using IBM Watson IoT for Manufacturing. Previously these
inspections were done manually, which was often a slow and error-prone process. By bringing the power of Watson's real time
cognitive insights directly to the shop floor in combination with ABB's industrial automation technology, companies will be
better equipped to increase the volume flowing through their production lines while improving accuracy and consistency. As parts
flow through the manufacturing process, the solution will alert the manufacturer to critical faults - not visible to the human
eye - in the quality of assembly. This enables fast intervention from quality control experts. Easier identification of defects
impacts all goods on the production line, and helps improve a company's competitiveness while helping avoid costly recalls and
reputational damage.
Bringing real-time cognitive insights to smart grids
In another example. ABB and IBM will apply Watson's capabilities to predict supply patterns in electricity generation and demand
from historical and weather data, to help utilities optimize the operation and maintenance of today's smart grids, which are
facing the increased complexity created by the new balance of conventional as well as renewable power sources. Forecasts of
temperature, sunshine and wind speed will be used to predict consumption demand, which will help utilities determine optimal load
management as well as real-time pricing.
About ABB
ABB (ABBN: SIX Swiss Ex) is a pioneering technology leader in electrification products, robotics and motion, industrial
automation and power grids, serving customers in utilities, industry and transport & infrastructure globally. Continuing more
than a 125-year history of innovation, ABB today is writing the future of industrial digitalization and driving the Energy and
Fourth Industrial Revolutions. ABB operates in more than 100 countries with about 132,000 employees. www.abb.com
About IBM
For more information, please visit www.ibm.com/iot,
https://www.ibm.com/internet-of-things/iot-solutions/iot-manufacturing/ and follow @IBMIoT on Twitter.
Media Contacts:
For ABB
Saswato Das
+1 646 954-8982
saswato.das@us.abb.com
Reiner Schoenrock
reiner.schoenrock@ch.abb.com
+41 43 317
65 68
For IBM
Kaveri Camire
+1 914 625 6395
kcamire@us.ibm.com
Erica Topolski
+1 617 803 7665
ericat@us.ibm.com