Welcome to our new team blog. We are members of the global Manufacturing & Distribution Industry team and spend a vast amount of time working with both customers and HP’s own design and supply chain teams worldwide. In that process, we discovered that, beyond the differences between industry segments, there are many experiences that can be adapted from one industry segment to another. That is the reason why we started this website. We want to share with you our findings from a business and technology perspective, covering industries as different as Automotive and CPG, Aerospace and Oil & Gas, Retail and Electronics, Utilities and Logistics.

I often hear companies telling me “we are different, so what is applicable to segment X is not applicable to us”. With respect, I would like to disagree. Indeed, if a company wants to be the best in its own segment, it needs to look outside its segment for ideas. Otherwise it can only be as good as its competitors. Obviously, you may not be able to copy an experience, a best practice, as is. It may have to be adapted to the specifics of your enterprise. But isn’t that where innovation actually comes in?

The use of RFID to track production across the Supply Chain is getting popular in the Electronics and Aerospace industry, but what about using a similar approach in Oil & Gas. Tracking barrels of oil across a pipeline obviously does not make sense, but in discussion with companies, we discovered the need to track drilling equipment. Indeed, when drilling a new well, loads of equipment is required. Particularly when off-shore, all equipment cannot be held on or around the platform. Managing the supply chain is becoming increasingly important to keep drilling going. And at 100K$ per hour, one better make sure there is no shortage of material. The application is quite different, but many of the best practices can be re-used.

Hope this gives you a glimpse of what we want to talk about. But blogging is not just about publishing a point of view, it is also about engaging in a dialogue. Let us know what you think, what subjects you would like us to address and don’t hesitate to disagree with us. That’s what makes it interesting.