As part of HP's latest press release on its partnership with GS1 Canada, HP is announcing the HP cloud computing ecosystem for manufacturing industries. This is a real exciting development. Let me explain why.

In many entries of this blog, I have been talking about the need for companies to increase visibility across their value chain, exchanging information with suppliers and distribution partners to reduce supply chain costs, improve responsiveness and mitigate risk. Although many companies understand the rational for such an approach, they have issues with the investments required to develop the infrastructure needed to obtain that infrastructure. Also, many of them do not trust the use of public hubs. They are looking for something else, but what?

In a previous post, titled "Cloud Computing in Manufacturing", I mentioned that the cloud could be used for cross enterprise collaboration. Well, that's exactly what the HP cloud computing ecosystem for manufacturing industries enables. Now, why is that the case and what is different from the approaches discussed above?

First, by putting the collaborative functionality in the cloud, we remove the hurdle of having to invest upfront in infrastructure, loading the CAPEX portion of the balance sheet, as the cloud typically works with a pay per use model. But where things are even more interesting at this point in time is that a cloud approach allows the access of massive amounts of distributed data by discrete or composite services, created by any number of community stakeholders. This actually resolves another perceived problem of the traditional hub approach. Suppliers in particular are often reluctant to have their information located outside their control, not knowing how far this information will percolate. Allowing them to keep the responsibility for their portion of the data makes them feel way more willing to participate in such environment.

So, what is available today? The HP cloud computing ecosystem for manufacturing industries, developed and managed by HP, comprises:

• HP cloud services - these are technology-enabled services that are used by manufacturing, distribution and retail companies. The available services allow those companies to track, trace, recall and authenticate manufacturing products. Working with customers, we intend to develop more services addressing a variety of cross-enterprise collaboration needs.

• The HP cloud platform - a development and run-time environment that provides data, analytic, management and security services. This platform has been developed by our team in Galway, Ireland in conjunction with HPLabs.

• The HP cloud infrastructure - a scalable infrastructure that automates resource provisioning and system management

The first commercial application has been developed with GS1 Canada, to enhance the product recall process. Over the last couple years an increasing amount of recall cases have hit the press and millions have been spent in ensuring food safety. Through providing  a better understanding of where particular batches of products have been distributed, the service not only enables a significant decrease in the amount of time needed to respond to a recall (hence improving safety), but also limits the amount of products that have to be recalled, hence reducing costs.

The biggest challenge facing both the food industry and the consumers for the provision of a global food supply chain that can be tracked and traced is not the absence of data; it is how:

• Data is integrated and managed
• Data privacy is maintained
• Value-added services that harness the collective intelligence the data represents are provisioned. The proposed services need to:
  • Protect the food business organizations IP and brand
  • Meet the needs of the customers' appetite for information.

HP saw what the market lacked: a single service that acts as an independent broker of information and spans the entire supply chain, and the absence of a provider that offered a full suite of services addressing the industries needs. 

The HP Cloud Computing Platform for manufacturing industries is the supporting platform for these services. Obviously, being focused on the provision of real-time information, communication standardization, the generation of alerts and the maintenance of audit trails, there are many other business problems that can be addressed using the same platform. We are currently looking for partners and customers interested in developing other cross-industry services.