Hitachi and Microsoft to Digitally Transform Manufacturing and Logistics Industries

Hitachi and Microsoft announced a multiyear strategic partnership for the digital transformation of the manufacturing and logistics in Southeast Asia, North America, and Japan.

Hitachi will integrate Lumada, and its IoT ready industrial controllers HX Series, with the Microsoft cloud platform. Lumada provides advanced digital solutions, services, and technologies. It helps turn data into insights to drive digital innovation, notes the announcement.

Vice President and Executive Officer, CEO of Industry & Distribution Business Unit, Hitachi Ltd, Jun Abe, said, "We are delighted to expand our partnership with Microsoft and combine our OT, IT and products excellence to provide manufacturing and logistics companies with digital solutions. We use Lumada to provide total seamless solutions to solve challenges by connecting cyberspaces with physical spaces. Through this collaboration with Microsoft, we will be able to accelerate our customers’ digital transformation and continue to deliver social, environmental and economic value."

Vice President Manufacturing at Microsoft, Çağlayan Arkan, said, "Building resilient and flexible digital supply chains is critical to grow a business and meet customer needs in today’s fast-changing environments. By expanding our collaboration with Hitachi, we’ll unlock new opportunities for manufacturing and logistics companies as they strive to lead in their industries and pioneer with a data-driven mindset and digital capabilities."

Hitachi will leverage Microsoft technology stack to increase the productivity and efficiency of workforces in different businesses. The announcement noted usages of Azure, Dynamics 365, and Microsoft 365 platform. 

Hitachi will provide solutions in Predictive maintenance and remote assist with the help of HoloLens 2, Dynamics 365 Remote Assist, and smart devices. The data analytics solution to optimize logistics includes usages of Azure Maps and Hitachi Digital Solution for Logistics/Delivery Optimization Service. The company will also use Hitachi Digital Supply Chain and Azure IoT to analyze 4M data to optimize factory operations and increase productivity, notes the announcement.