Intellectual Property and Licensing

Innovation on a massive scale

The transportation industry is hampered by complexity, regulations, security concerns and global supply chains. Nothing less than innovation on a massive scale will speed development, reduce costs and differentiate products. Similar challenges extend throughout the various facets of the transportation industry, including automotive, aerospace and defense, rail, shipping and the airlines. IBM's investment in research and development has created an extensive portfolio of advanced technologies. These innovations are the framework to develop unique solutions that address specific transportation challenges.

One such challenge is improving operational efficiency—including the supply chain, workforce, inventory, load planning and overall decision making. Initial efforts in these areas eliminated much of the obvious waste. IBM technologies are now helping companies squeeze that last sliver of inefficiency out of their operations. Reducing fuel usage even a fraction of a percent can save millions of dollars. Inventory and replacement-part optimization ensures the right part is available when and where needed without maintaining an excessive inventory, improving efficiency and savings.

Innovations in the product development process also enable transportation companies to make their products better and faster than the competition. IBM best practices for developing intricate semiconductors with billions of transistors are being applied to similarly complex transportation components.

Analytics is another area where IBM breakthroughs benefit the transportation industry. IBM's advanced analytics help transportation companies convert vast amounts of disparate data housed in multiple sources into actionable intelligence. This intelligence improves both decision making and opportunities for success.