Serafeim Katsikas, LAROS explained “The key role of Information Intelligence towards Greener Vessels Operation’’ during the 2016 GREEN4SEA Conference & Awards. He referred to the Green Vessel Operation which is a concept that includes the implementation of more environmental friendly technologies and the optimization of the vessel efficiency, maintenance and operation. He said the big challenge for the management of a Maritime Company is the transition to the modern ship management in the most optimum way, exploiting the new technologies and advised the implementation of Data Driven Decision Management is a key to succeed it.
Data Driven Decision Management actually means that any decision making inside an organization is based on accurate and verifiable data and not just on feelings, instincts, or intuition. In other words, prior to any decision, one needs to know what to measure, how to measure it and which KPIs will answer the right question. You can easily find a lot of information and analysis on this subject. No matter the market sector and the activity of your organization, the benefits adopting the Data driven decision management horizontally and vertically, are a lot like:
- improved strategy execution
- better investment decisions
- increased value creation/capture from diverse assets
- improved relationships (customers, employees, suppliers, partners)
- increased synergy and synchronicity of the supply chain
- increased forecasting accuracy
- enhanced employee performance
- greater organizational learning
Statistical researches from Institutes like MIT, proved an increase of at least 4% in the productivity and 6% in the profits because of the Data Driven Decision Management.
Now concerning the maritime companies and greener vessels operation, we are looking to find a way how to optimize:
- FO Consumption
- Fleet Management
- Fault Diagnostic Methods
- Navigation Performance
- Voyage and Routes
- Maintenance
- Engine and Vessel Operation
- Regulatory Compliance
All these are under the umbrella of Green Vessel operation.
The implementation or the transition, if you prefer, to Data Driven Decision Management is a difficult task. The managers have to face up significant barriers. The first one is the mess of the measurements. In our days, named The Information Era, you have to deal with large amounts of data from different sources and in different formats. Additionally, you cannot be sure about their accuracy, mostly because you do not have enough information about their sources and the way that they have been produced. Moreover, a lot of these data are not in an exploitable form, like files, images, orally provided information etc. So you have to spend a lot of time to handle them or use them to extract the knowledge that you are looking for.
The second barrier is the variety of technologies. Every day you are bombarded with new technical terms like Big Data, internet of Things, Cloud Computing, Analytics and a lot of new tools and systems about data visualization, simulations, reporting, weather routing etc. So the selection of the proper technologies and tools and the implementation of a solution addressing your exact needs and particularities are very complicated tasks and in a lot of cases time, resources and money have been invested in a wrong way with poor results.
The optimum way to succeed the implementation of Data Driven Decision Management is the developing of a system to support the Information Intelligence inside your organization. The most critical parameter for such type of systems is the quality of the collected data and the effectiveness of the analysis and the interpretation of the data for obvious reasons. Especially in the maritime industry, where there are a lot of ships with different makers and ages, the solution is quite complex and there are 4 fundamental sections.
The first section is the collection of the data. On board there are many sensors and controls, there are instruments and special equipment and of course there is the crew. The second one is to intergrade data as ERP, CBM, reporting system, to your system and not try to create a new one for them. The third sector is how to monitor KPIs which is also demanding task as you have to homogenize data, to perform analysis, to create new KPIs and test these KPIs and finally to secure the data because it is a very valuable asset for the company. The last section, a very important one, is the visualization of the results, and how you share the information not only among your organization but also among the outside partners of your company.
Having all these in mind, we came up with LAROS. We designed a platform providing Shipping Companies information intelligence in order to improve the operational efficiency, control the operational expenses and to ensure the environmental compliance and therefore to have a green vessel operation.
Above text is an edited article of Serafeim Katsikas presentation during the 2016 GREEN4SEA Conference & Awards
You may view his presentation video by clicking here
| Click here to view all the presentations of 2016 GREEN4SEA Conference & Awards |
The views presented hereabove are only those of the author and not necessarily those of GREEN4SEA and are for information sharing and discussion purposes only.
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About Serafeim Katsikas, CTO, LAROS
Serafeim Katsikas is Electrical Engineer, CTO of LAROS and member of the Board of Prisma Electronics SA, Co-founder and CTO of NOMIA SA, Co-founder of KNOSYS SA (USA), Board member of the Hellenic Marine Equipment Manufacturers and Exporters (HEMEXPO), Member of the Board of the Hellenic Semiconductor Industry Association (HSIA – ENEBH). In my twenty years of business I have been involved in the design and development of electronic and software products in various technological fields, such as industrial automation, medical equipment, wireless communications, defense equipment, specific scientific and space applications. I have also been very active in collaborative research programs, international conferences and clusters. The last five years I am focused on developing of systems and methodologies to apply new technologies like Big Data Analytics, IoT, Environmental Protection and Green Energy in the field of Maritime and Waterborne transportation.
