Did you find this article helpful for what you want to achieve, learn, or to expand your possibilities? Share your feelings with our editorial team.
In recent years, advancements in information processing technologies have led to an expanding trend where AI in virtual (cyber) spaces optimizes various information to enhance efficiency in the physical world. As these technologies evolve, they will become more integrated into our daily lives, advancing to serve humanity more closely.
DENSO aims to realize a Well-being Circular-Society by providing Cyber-Physical Systems (CPS) that integrate cyber and physical realms. These systems are designed to be safer, more environmentally friendly, and to maximize human creativity.
Contents of this article
Establishing a New Team to Create a Data Distribution Platform to Link Value for Realizing a Circular Economy
In 2023, DENSO established Social Innovation Business Development Function Unit, focusing on the business areas of the Five Flows: Free Movement of People, Flow of Goods, Energy Utilization, Minimization of Resource Requirements, and Flow of Data. This unit is advancing multiple business developments aimed at realizing a Well-Being Cycle Society.
Within the Social Innovation Business Development Function Unit, teams are divided by business area. In January 2024, CPS Software Platform Development Department (CPS Department) was established within the Digital Solution Business Development Department to provide cross-functional support from a CPS perspective.
The CPS Department defines IT requirements and supports backend IT system operations. It focuses on assisting with integrated hardware and software system development, quickly creating prototypes for customers to experience product value firsthand, and developing a unified system platform that addresses security and infrastructure needs across various business units.
Daisuke Minoura, Head of Digital Solution Business Development Department, explains the background of establishing the CPS Department:
" If each business pursues individually optimized system development, it can lead to discrepancies in data standardization, data analysis accuracy, and security levels across different operations. To address social issues like carbon neutrality and circular economy while maintaining market competitiveness, various industries and businesses need to collaborate. This requires a balance between data sharing, cooperation, and data siloing. Individually optimized systems could become bottlenecks. That's why the CPS Department is working on creating an infrastructure for efficient data distribution and sharing."
Social Innovation Business Development Function Unit aims to create systems where data flows smoothly, leading to new value for society. The CPS Department plays a crucial role in achieving this ambitious goal.
Moreover, in cases like the circular economy where market redesign is necessary, we must start with building partnerships and forming ecosystems. The CPS Department is vital in enhancing partner companies' engagement by clearly presenting data-driven evidence. They actively participate in on-site discussions, and work on the front lines from the earliest stages, including requirement exploration and definition. The CPS Department is unique in that it both solidifies the backend and takes the initiative on the frontend.
Consolidating Various DENSO Technologies to Build a Unified Platform
How does the CPS Department—involved across various business developments—operate? Currently, it focuses on two main projects: the SLOC trunk relay transportation service and system development for battery diagnostics services to maximize the use of batteries in electric vehicles.
SLOC is a trunk relay transportation service that aims to reduce long-distance truck drivers' working hours and automatically suggest environmentally friendly transportation methods. It optimizes dispatching and transportation routes across multiple shippers and transportation companies. Hideyuki Shimazu, the CPS Department Manager, explains the specific development content:
"Currently, the logistics industry involves diverse business stakeholders such as drivers, transportation companies, and shipping companies, each using different operational systems. To realize relay trucking, we need to coordinate with numerous shippers and transportation companies, calculate optimal container handover timing, and optimize and automate transportation routes and schedules.
This requires acquiring various real-time data, including changing traffic conditions and schedules for each transportation company. Based on such data, we're developing a service that automatically recalculates routes when changes occur, supporting the commercialization of SLOC."
- Go for Sustainable Food Supply Chain
- On the Front Lines of Commercialization: SLOC's Journey from Concept to Reality
Related articles:
Another project supported by the CPS Department is the system development for battery diagnostic services. This initiative aims to extend the lifespan and enhance the residual value of onboard batteries in electric vehicles during their use. This also includes utilizing storage batteries in urban settings during their reuse phase, providing solutions to maximize battery usage until the very end. Specifically, the system involves detailed sensing of the vehicle's operating conditions and battery status, analyzing the data, and applying it to a battery degradation prediction model to derive optimal solutions.
How do DENSO's accumulated technologies and know-how contribute to this software development? Rin Misumi from the CPS Department explains:
"In terms of collecting diverse data, DENSO's technologies, such as sensors and onboard cameras, developed over the years, are proving invaluable. For example, in SLOC, we've begun demonstrations to ensure cargo stability and driver safety by integrating data obtained from sensors and onboard cameras. I believe DENSO's key strength also lies in its ability to conduct these demonstrations and evaluation tests with a high degree of precision."
Our Work: Laying the Groundwork for Creating Happiness
Projects like SLOC and battery diagnostic service system development involve numerous companies and stakeholders, making each business development a significant challenge. While providing solid support to individual business teams, our goal is to view these projects holistically, elevate them to a unified departmental system platform, and create frameworks for overall optimization in areas such as security, architecture, database, and cloud design and operation.
"At DENSO, we believe that realizing our vision of a Well-being Cycle Society requires interconnecting people's well-being across various internal business domains. However, without a robust infrastructure that allows for the seamless utilization of data and systems potentially linked to future happiness, we risk missing opportunities to deliver value. It's not an exaggeration to say that the unified platform development we're spearheading is, in essence, laying the groundwork for creating happiness.” says Shimazu.
Several projects under Social Innovation Business Development Function Unit, have already progressed in system construction and development. In light of this, we're identifying business challenges and enhancing our understanding of architectural concepts to realize a unified system platform. Although we're still midway, Shimazu describes the process towards realization:
"We prioritize maintaining a thorough on-site and customer perspective above all else. In system construction, simply replacing human-performed tasks with systems often leads to operational issues in the field. Rather than creating and imposing systems based on our subjective views, we aim to provide optimal solutions by frequently visiting sites with business teams and quickly prototyping based on customer feedback."
Changing your "Can'ts" into "Cans"
Where Knowledge and People Gather.
