Groupe Renault will use Google’s cloud platform and analytics engine to bring tighter integration and keener insights to its centralised Industry 4.0 data management platform, the company has announced.
Renault has been developing its own digital platform since 2016 to connect and aggregate industrial data from around 2,500 machines in 22 manufacturing sites worldwide, covering 76 percent of its vehicle production. The partnership with Google Cloud will “optimise” management and analysis of data within its platform, the companies said.
The agreement with Google for cloud-based data management and analytics, leveraging the California giant’s artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) functions, will accelerate digitisation of its production facilities and supply chain, the France-based automotive manufacturer said.
The partnership also puts focus on new digital manufacturing solutions, including to reduce the carbon footprint and environmental impact across the automotive supply chain, at large. “These improvements will foster the development of new vertical solutions for the automotive industry,” the pair said in a statement.
Their work will also seek to upskill staff in operational information technology (OT and IT) at Renault, on the production floor and in computing departments, in new Industry 4.0 techniques. The objective is to “enhance a data-driven culture… in operational as much as decision-making processes”, they said. The project has buy-in from Renault’s management teams in IT, manufacturing, and supply chain, it said.
José Vicente de los Mozos, director of manufacturing and logistics at Groupe Renault, said: “This collaboration is a perfect illustration of Groupe Renault’s digital strategy, applied here to the industrial field. This agreement… [is] designed to transform and connect our production sites and logistics processes around the world to improve our standards of excellence and performance. This partnership is also an asset for Groupe Renault employees who will benefit from high-level training in digital data management.”
Thomas Kurian, chief executive at Google Cloud, commented: “The automotive industry has innovation in its DNA, and there is immense potential for digital technology to have a significant impact on production. We are proud to be partnering with Groupe Renault to help revolutionize the future of automotive manufacturing and power the next generation of supply chain excellence.”
