Disruption is driving signifi cant industry change Are you preparing for possible consequences and challenges? We are experiencing the acceleration of change and are being relentlessly aff ected by what has been dubbed the Age of Disruption. Advanced technologies are driving innovations that are bringing about signifi cant and permanent change to disorderly life, business and the global economy. Th is is the most rapid time of technological transformation ever, especially with regard to information. Th e role of digital, mobile and telematics technologies – which are being adopted at an unprecedented rate – is rapidly shift ing from being a driver of marginal effi ciency to an enabler of fundamental innovation and disruption. Th is is having a massive impact on both the transportation and fl eet maintenance industries. Digital Disruption Digitalization is the cause of large-scale and sweeping transformations across multiple aspects of business. At the same time, it is representing a major source of risk. Some industries have been much more impacted. Th e world’s largest taxi company – Uber – doesn’t own any taxis. Th e world’s largest movie house – Netfl ix – owns no cinemas. Th e largest accommodation provider – Airbnb – owns no real estate. Th e world’s most valuable retailer – Alibaba – has no inventory. Vehicles Th ink about all that is going on within the trucking and vehicle maintenance industries. Th e Internet of Th ings (IoT) – a network of smart devices, sensors and the Cloud that allows the physical world and computer systems to interact directly, coupled with the proliferation of mobile sensors, is improving the effi ciency and reliability of commercial vehicles. Manufacturers are accelerating their use of robots and automation in U.S. factories, and that is boosting productivity. Highways are becoming intelligent and automated. Th ere is the pioneering of autonomous (selfdriving) vehicles and the testing of delivery drones. At the Los Angeles marine-cargo facility, autonomous carriers are currently being used to move containers across the wharf and deliver them to waiting trucks and trains, and autonomous technology is being used to double the speed of loading and unloading container ships. Th en there is artifi cial intelligence and the evolution of cognitive computing – self-learning systems that use data mining, knowledge representation and reasoning and natural language processing to mimic the way the human brain works. Th ink IBM’s cognitive computing system Watson. It “takes in” questions, searches its repository for information, develops and analyzes hypotheses and produces answers that are in natural language form. Advancing technologies, digitalization and disruptive innovation are signifi cantly transforming the transportation and fl eet maintenance industries. The challenge is how to prepare to ride the enduring waves of metamorphosis. Photo from iStock Blue-Sky Thinking Nowadays, we are constantly running full speed just to try and keep up. Th ere never seems to be time for considering where the acceleration of change is taking our industries and how we might cope with it. Yet, the only way for an organization to remain viable and thrive is to plan for the future. As a former boss told me: “Planning is bringing the future into the present so that you can do something about it now.” Naturally, none of us has the ability to foresee the future. Nevertheless, we can think abstractly and employ creative thinking skills and behaviors to imagine what the future might look like and then conceive future business scenarios. Within 14 Years Some projections of what could be by 2030 are off ered in the book, Clean Disruption of Energy & Transportation, written by Tony Seba, an instructor at Stanford University’s Continuing Studies Program. Among them: • All new mass-market vehicles will be electric. • All of these vehicles will be autonomous or semi-autonomous. Fleet Maintenance wants your photos We are seeking photos of technicians working on vehicles, as well photos of vehicle maintenance shops “in action,” for use within the publication. Credit for any photos used will be given to the submitting company. Submit your photos to David A. Kolman, editor, at david@fl eetmag.com. Photos should be a minimum of 300 dpi and as large as possible. • Up to 80 percent of highways will not be needed. • Up to 80 percent of parking spaces will not be needed. • Th e concept of individual car ownership will be obsolete. Ponder the probable consequences that could arise from these fi ve factors alone. If you aren’t already doing so, I highly recommend that you regularly block out time to brainstorm about how to deal with the disruptive innovations and advanced technologies that are bringing about signifi cant and permanent change to our industries and organizations. Th e better prepared you are, the more you and your organization will be able to adapt and prosper. I welcome your thoughts and comments. | Uptime By David A. Kolman, Editor Tune in to this exclusive bi-weekly newscast featuring Fleet Maintenance Editor David A. Kolman at: VehicleServicePros.com/media-center/newscasts. 6 FLEET MAINTENANCE ❚ JULY 2016 ❚ VehicleServicePros.com
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