DGAP-News: USU Software AG / Key word(s): Miscellaneous/Alliance
Heidelberg and USU successfully implement 'Big Data for Smart Service' development project

17.10.2016 / 10:04
The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.

- Big data analytics provide the basis for data-based services aimed at increasing the productivity of print shops

- Partnership with USU Software AG successfully drives the digitilization of the printing industry

Heidelberg / M?glingen, October 13, 2016.
Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG (Heidelberg) is expanding its service portfolio in cooperation with USU Software AG (USU) to respond to customer requirements with additional data-based services. The big data platform developed together with USU provides the basis for a range of innovative, data-based services that Heidelberg will be offering in the future via the "Heidelberg Assistant" customer portal presented at drupa 2016. The portal recently won a "Digital Leader Award 2016", and underlines the importance of a high-performance, scalable big data analytics platform in combination with a modern customer interface.

With this in mind, the two companies have agreed to extend their successful and comprehensive partnership in the field of data analysis using the jointly developed big data analytics platform.

"The main way we are addressing the change in the business models of print shops in the digital age is by working with our technology partner USU to increase machine availability for our customers." says Harald Weimer, Member of the Management Board Heidelberg Sales and Services. "It won't be enough in the future to just offer good service. Instead what we need to be doing is looking ahead to prevent machine-related interruptions of production and optimally planning maintenance. How can we do this? By evaluating daily information supplied by the status data of the machines in question. In doing so we transform big data into valuable smart data that we can then use to develop smart services and increase our customers' productivity."

Predictive Monitoring and Performance Plus are two Heidelberg services that use this technology and have already been successfully launched in key markets. Heidelberg is pioneer in the field of innovative services. It uses state-of-the-art, scalable technological and analysis capabilities to both improve existing service processes and develop new service packages. Predictive Monitoring involves evaluating the machine data in order to identify emerging faults early on and avoid them through planned service measures before they result in unplanned machine failures. The goal is to achieve maximum machine availability through intelligent, proactive action.
With Performance Plus, Heidelberg offers a consulting service aimed at improving the entire production environment by working together and sharing the successes achieved. In order to improve the efficiency of a production system comprising people, press, and process, losses in the form of time, speed, and quality must be identified and eliminated. This is done by analyzing and constantly monitoring both technical and process data using big data analytics. When complemented by on-site analyses and lean management methods, significant and sustainable improvements in productivity can be achieved. "In many projects we have already been able to improve output by up to 40 per cent, and in this way achieve six-digit cost savings for the customer over the project lifetime," says Harald Weimer.

However, big data analytics would not be possible without the ever increasing number of machines being connected via Remote Services. Most Heidelberg printing machines today are connected on installation. There are now 10,000 machines and 15,000 Prinect software modules regularly supplying machine and process data to the cloud.

USU Industrial Smart Services
Heidelberg is currently using the USU Industrial Smart Services cloud. This big data platform was developed by USU on the basis of open source components, a powerful complex event processing (CEP) engine in combination with a rule editor and machine learning components. Heidelberg uses this technology stack to develop and operate its Smart Services.

As well as processing historical data in order to identify unfamiliar failure patterns, new data can be instantly integrated into the active process and therefore very quickly processed in order to pass on decisions to subsequent processes. Analytical methods tailored specifically to machine and plant engineering are available, for example to carry out correlation analyses, cluster analyses, detection of trend changes, prediction, and anomaly detection. This offers Heidelberg highest flexibility for future product and services development to further drive the digital transformation and offer customers a concrete competitive edge with new data-based services.

"The 'Big Data for Smart Service' project by Heidelberg and USU is based on a successful partnership. The combination of both partners' professional and technical competence enabled a very fast rollout of the new data-based services like Predictive Monitoring on the basis of our big data analytics platform. These will be a key component of the Heidelberg Assistant. We are very pleased with this success, which was confirmed by the Digital Leader Award 2016. Further intensification of the cooperation will provide the basis for further expansion of the service business models at Heidelberg," says Henrik Oppermann, Business Unit Manager at USU Software AG.

Image material can be found in the Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG press portal at www.heidelberg.com.



USU Software AG

The USU Group is Europe's largest provider of IT and knowledge management software. Market leaders from every sector of the international economy create transparency with USU applications, while also increasing flexibility, decreasing risks and cutting costs. In addition to USU AG (founded in 1977), the subsidiaries Aspera GmbH, BIG Social Media GmbH, LeuTek GmbH, OMEGA Software GmbH and USU Consulting GmbH belong to USU Software AG (ISIN DE 000A0BVU28), which is also the parent company of the USU Group and listed in the Prime Segment of the German Stock Exchange (DAX) in Frankfurt.

USU's Business Service Management division supports companies with an extensive, ITIL(R)-compliant portfolio for strategic and operational business service management (BSM) and IT service management (ITSM). With it, our customers can obtain an overview of their IT processes and IT infrastructure, allowing them to transparently plan, allocate and actively manage their IT services. The USU Group's products in this sector are complemented and enhanced by further topics such as software license management, systems management and strategy consulting on all aspects of IT service management.

With the aid of consulting services and software solutions from the USU Knowledge Solutions division, customers can activate and leverage all the knowledge resources within their organizations. The focus is on intelligent knowledge bases for a wide range of different service areas. As a result, for example, call and IT service centers efficiently provide accurate, individualized answers to over 30 million inquiries per year. Dialog is supported over all communication channels, including social media.

At the USU Business Solutions division, USU experts combine user-requested features, sector-specific knowledge and technological expertise to create individual, customized solutions. Our core competencies also include process and system integration based on service-oriented architectures (SOA) as well as deployment of knowledge and employee portals, from initial planning to operation.

For further information, please go to: http://www.usu-software.de

Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG

Heidelberger Druckmaschinen Aktiengesellschaft (Heidelberg) has been a major provider and reliable partner to the global printing industry for many years. We offer our customers all the components tailored to their requirements for successful business operations; we are advancing the digitalization of the industry, providing integrated and reliable production processes, financially optimal investments and smooth access to all necessary materials.
We have geared our portfolio towards the growth segments of our industry. It is based on equipment, service and consumables. Services and consumables together account for around half of total Group sales. Within our portfolio we are continuing to expand the growth segments of packaging, digital and services through partnerships as well. On the one hand, the priority is to integrate and automate customers' entire value chains and thereby to enhance the competitiveness of print shops. Also, system operations will be both increasingly smart and autonomous in the future with the right services. On the other hand, new digital printing offerings target customers' expanded business models.

In total around 11,500 people worldwide work for Heidelberg, around a third of them in our global sales and service network. With our own sales and service branches and via partners, we supply our customers all over the world with products, services and consumables, generating consolidated sales of around EUR 2.5 billion in the 2015 / 2016 reporting year.

Kontakt

USU Software AG
Corporate Communications
Dr. Thomas Gerick
Tel.: +49 (0) 71 41 - 48 67 440
Fax: +49 (0) 71 41 - 48 67 300
E-Mail: t.gerick@usu-software.de

Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG
Global Marketing & Communications
Dirk Henrich
Tel. +49 6222 82 2200
Fax:+49 6222 82 992200
E-Mail: dirk.henrich@heidelberg.com

17.10.2016 Dissemination of a Corporate News, transmitted by DGAP - a service of EQS Group AG.
The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.

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