German carmaker Mercedes-Benz, and American tech giant, Microsoft, are reportedly collaborating on making vehicle production more sustainable, resilient, and efficient.

With its MO360 Data Platform, Mercedes will connect around 30 of its passenger car plants around the world to Microsoft Cloud, improving predictability and transparency in the digital production and supply chain.

The data platform is a part of Mercedes-Benz’s MO360 digital ecosystem, with which teams can detect possible supply chain issues quicker and allow for a dynamic prioritization of production resources of Top-End and electric vehicles.

MO360 has been standardized on Microsoft Azure, giving the carmaker flexibility and cloud computing power to operate AI and analytics at a global scale, while taking into account compliance and cybersecurity standards across regions.

The platform is available in the EMEA region and will also be deployed in China and United States.

Joerg Burzer, Member of the Board of Management (Production & Supply Chain) of Mercedes-Benz Group AG, stated that the partnership with Microsoft will make the company’s global production network more resilient, sustainable, and intelligent amid ongoing macroeconomic and geopolitical challenges.

Burzer noted that being able to predict and prevent issues in logistics and production will be a major competitive advantage as Mercedes-Benz goes all-electric.

Judson Althoff, Executive VP and CCO, Microsoft, stated that the partnership with Mercedes-Benz signifies the power of the industrial metaverse and that together they will combine physical and digital worlds to ramp up value creation.

Althoff further stated that Mercedes-Benz will be able to refine and simulate manufacturing processes infinitely with its cloud services before introducing them to the shop floor, boosting efficiency and reducing its environmental impact.

Jan Brecht, CIO, Mercedes-Benz Group AG, explained that with the MO360 data platform, shop floor staff will be able to access real-time data related to production and management, and therefore work with drill-down dashboards while making data-based decisions.

Mercedes-Benz’s recently opened Digital Factory Campus in Berlin will be the home base for the data platform, and will also be used as the training and qualification center to implement digital approaches worldwide.

Source credit: https://news.microsoft.com/2022/10/12/mercedes-benz-and-microsoft-collaborate-to-boost-efficiency-resilience-and-sustainability-in-car-production/