About Maersk
Maersk, an industry leader in the global integrated logistics arena, has a track record that speaks for itself. In the world of transportation and logistics solutions, Maersk is highly respected, serving Fortune 100 customers and positioned as a prominent player in the field. Maersk’s operations span the globe, with operations in 130 countries and over 100,000 employees – a force to be reckoned with in the context of the global supply chain.
“The setup of our video wall provides immense flexibility. It allows us to project various critical tools such as sensors, WCS [warehouse control system], and cameras onto the screen. Simultaneously, our operators can work with these tools using their individual workstations, providing an efficient and adaptable system.”
Jacques Van Der Merwe
Head of Engineering & Automation at Maersk WnD
The Challenge
Revolutionizing Asset Management
Maersk’s U.S. warehousing and distribution business is operated by Maersk Warehousing and Distribution Services USA LLC (“Maersk WnD”). As an industry leader, Maersk WnD monitors diverse assets such as warehouse inventory, transportation fleets, facility equipment, supply chain components, IT infrastructure, storage facilities, and environmental conditions.
Maersk WnD’s chief objective was clear: they aimed to unify and manage their assets more effectively, gaining complete visibility of their global operations from just one location. This would improve the team’s ability to monitor and control their critical facilities. To achieve this, two of Maersk’s key leaders, Jacques Van Der Merwe, Head of Engineering & Automation, and Fitzgerald Speare, Head of Engineering Maintenance, turned to integrator and owner of IE Solutions, Andrew Haner, for guidance on the right partner for their Network Operations Center (NOC).
Video wall technology would be needed to support the NOC and to oversee and easily manage crucial assets in global logistical operations. Known for its cutting-edge, intuitive video wall solutions, Haivision became the ideal partner for Maersk WnD, enhancing its ability to monitor and manage operations across its worldwide network.
The new solution had to allow for scalability as Maersk WnD expands its network operations center across multiple national sites and, eventually, internationally. Fitzgerald’s team needed to guarantee no downtime on their facilities when moving seamlessly through their operations.
The NOC acts as the nerve center, offering quicker decision-making through real-time insights and centralizing essential reports and data. The main function of the NOC is to provide monitoring of the Maersk WnD mechanized facilities; this is accomplished by stitching together all the warehouse control systems that detect any sort of issues and funneling different feeds monitoring asset functions (such as sensors, their warehouse control system, and cameras) back to the NOC.
The Solution
How Haivision Transformed Maersk WnD's Network Operations Center
Incoming information is channeled to the NOC, where a designated manager makes decisions about resource allocation. Each panel within the NOC serves a dedicated purpose, whether showcasing HMI (Human-Machine Interface) screens for the WCS systems or live camera feeds to monitor specific building areas. The video wall displays critical management screens, weather updates, and key performance indicators, leveraging Haivision’s video wall solution API to unite content feeds into a single platform and preset content layouts for streamlined visualization and consistency.
This dynamic setup accommodates live feeds from multiple sites and offers customization that allows the team to visualize content from a variety of monitoring tools and technologies. In turn, this ensures the team can address specific needs and enhance operational efficiency. Additionally, Maersk WnD is able to integrate data from Power BI, ServiceNow tickets via web links, and even weather updates, giving users the complete and comprehensive picture of all system activities at the same time.
Overcoming Challenges
Although Maersk WnD initially faced some challenges in terms of stability, Haivision’s dedication and commitment to solving these issues were exceptional. A system redesign was undertaken to improve overall stability and functionality. Ultimately, Maersk WnD highly valued Haivision’s adaptability and support.
“The account managers and technical support personnel were patient and dedicated to working collaboratively with us to find the right solution,” Jacques shares.
The Result
Maersk WnD's Vision Realized
“The solution offers both continuity and asset consolidation while providing centralized visibility. This adds substantial value to our operations by allowing us to monitor asset performance proactively. It significantly enhances reliability by enabling us to identify trends, collect real-time data, and analyze it comprehensively. Leveraging the Haivision video wall system, our team can scrutinize data for negative trends, interpret issues, and devise solutions, ultimately improving site uptime,” explains Fitzgerald Speare, Head of Engineering Maintenance at Maersk WnD.
With Haivision’s video wall solution, Maersk WnD was able to centralize its monitoring through the optimized NOC, significantly contributing to asset reliability. The system streamlined alerts and continues to help Maersk WnD to achieve its aggressive uptime commitments for its critical facilities.
The Haivision system became an invaluable tool in their arsenal, facilitating quicker issue resolution and upholding the critical nature of their operations. In addition, the NOC has proved to be an impressive marketing tool – you might go so far as to call it a ‘wow-factor’, allowing Maersk WnD to demonstrate its investment in innovation and leadership in logistics to potential customers.
Looking at the Future
Maersk WnD’s journey with Haivision doesn’t end here. They continue to explore new tools and plan to expand their NOC capabilities to more facilities, with a target of 30 facilities in the next year and aspirations for international expansion in the future. The flexibility of the Haivision setup provides them with opportunities to be proactive, enhance visibility, and drive essential continuity and consolidation of assets through a high-performance NOC.
From Maersk WnD’s experience, the importance of thorough documentation and the utilization of APIs can’t be overstated. These factors play a pivotal role in the seamless functioning of the Haivision video wall system. Additionally, support from companies like Haivision is important; Haivison can act as a partner who highlights needs and solutions that they may not have considered but should. By working closely with solution experts, you can confidently outline your operation center needs and a blueprint to tackle those challenges.
Haivision’s video wall solution, by centralizing monitoring, has not only enhanced asset reliability but also set a new industry standard by supporting Maersk WnD’s commitment to delivering top-notch services and maintaining facilities at peak performance. Maersk WnD’s collaboration with Haivision has revolutionized their asset management, making it a benchmark of efficiency and reliability, aligning with critical business goals and promising scalability for future expansion.
