Tokyo – July 22, 2022 – Konica Minolta and Kyndryl (NYSE: KD), world’s largest IT infrastructure services provider, have announced that they will collaborate in an imaging IoT solution business to drive digital transformation (DX) for smart factories and smart cities to address social issues.
The partnership will capitalize on solutions revolving around Konica Minolta’s imaging IoT platform “FORXAI” and Kyndryl’s extensive track record and technological prowess for IT infrastructures, from development to operation. The parties will jointly make proposals and develop systems for businesses and municipalities.
Needs for IoT imaging are on the rise to visualize and address issues that are becoming ever more present at production sites of various industries, including in-facility maintenance and improving safety and quality. However, image- and video-based DX involved exchanging large amounts of data inside systems and risked overworking and stopping existing IT systems. Furthermore, various cameras and devices introduced at onsite were not being centrally managed, being operated by different frameworks between different sites and organizations, causing facility malfunctions, delays in sharing information, hindering quick decision-making and response based on imaging data.
The companies plan to offer a system which centrally manages large amounts of image and video data from various cameras and devices, and uses AI to process this information and share it with different sites and organizations. As the information is processed at the onsite, the amount of data exchanged between systems will be minimized. This, combined with an IT infrastructure environment for the amount of data exchanged, will minimize the risk of existing systems being stopped. Through this solution, the parties will contribute to addressing issues in manufacturing, such as productivity enhancement, facility maintenance, and safety and quality improvement.
In the near future, the partners will apply the know-how developed through the smart factory domain to municipalities’ safe city development from the standpoint of disaster prevention, aiming to drive DX in smart cities.
For this collaboration, Konica Minolta will provide edge devices based on the open and collaborative platform FORXAI, imaging AI, and a video management system (hereafter “VMS”), while Kyndryl will provide IT infrastructure incorporating these solutions, and conduct high-quality and sophisticated system operations.
Konica Minolta’s imaging IoT technologies combine special image and video information from image input devices with data from various sensors, bringing advanced recognition and decisions in real time on the onsite side through AI processing, while analyzing chronological data and peripheral data to provide new value-added data services.
Meanwhile, Kyndryl has over 30 years of experience in complex and mission-critical ERP system consignments and is equipped with skills and expertise for migration to and operational management of hybrid and multi-cloud environments, as well as technological prowess to support advanced digital foundations such as IoT and AI. The company will provide the IT infrastructure to support DX by operating the systems in a safe, secure, stable and advanced manner.
The companies plan to focus on supporting the following use cases:
- Preventing fire and work-related disasters through the use of images:
The facility can be monitored centrally with cameras and VMS, including by detecting abnormal temperatures with thermal cameras and sensors, detecting moving objects and detecting human presence to alert that someone is entering a danger zone, and monitoring explosion-proof areas with explosion-proof cameras, and a dashboard will be created. As on-site abnormalities can be instantly detected, safety and quality can be improved and prevention measures can be advanced. - More sophisticated manufacturing facility maintenance:
Cameras and VMS will store videos and alert the operator when AI detects unusual behavior. This can play a part in making operations more efficient and improving productivity by preventing defects arising from a decline in production facility performance, and by detecting outages. - Enhanced municipality services for residents through improved reception support:
Congestion of reception desks is visualized in real time and shared with citizens to improve services. The solution aims for safe and secure service use by installing monitoring features at reception desks. The movement of reception desk personnel is also analyzed to optimize their allocation and their operational efficiency.
In the future, Konica Minolta and Kyndryl plan tol boost their collaboration and enhance their respective strengths, aiming to provide better value to clients.
About Kyndryl
Kyndryl (NYSE: KD) is the world’s largest IT infrastructure services provider. The company designs, builds, manages, and modernizes the complex, mission-critical information systems that the world depends on every day. Kyndryl’s more than 90,000 employees serve over 4,000 customers in more than 60 countries around the world, including 75 percent of the Fortune 100. For more information, visit www.kyndryl.com.
About Konica Minolta
Konica Minolta, Inc. is a leading global tech company, leveraging “imaging” technologies that have been developed over the nearly 150 years since its founding and comprise maninly image input, output, and processing technologies. The company have fulfilled the desires of customers to “see” and helped make society more fulfilling. With around 40,000 employees, Konica Minolta provides products and solutions in about 150 countries across the world. For more information, visit www.konicaminolta.com.
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