Apollo seeks digital transformation with Amazon service

MUMBAI, India—Apollo Tyres Ltd. is employing Amazon Web Services (AWS) as part of a digital transformation program geared towards improving production efficiency and enhancing customer experience.

The Indian tire maker is moving all its IT infrastructure to AWS, using the company's portfolio of services to "drive productivity, compliance and process efficiency across seven global factories," AWS said in a Nov. 23 statement.

The move will see Apollo "transforming into an agile, data-driven enterprise" by tapping into AWS' capabilities such as internet of things (IoT), data and analytics, and machine learning.

As part of the program, Amazon will provide data from the factory floor and real-time information from production machines, such as tire rubber mixer machines.

Using the data, Apollo said it can more accurately manage machine utilization and improve machine efficiency.

"With AWS, Apollo Tyres is connecting all of its factories to the cloud this year in India and Europe," the company said.

By 2022, Apollo plans to migrate all mission-critical enterprise applications, including its SAP applications, to AWS "to enhance customer experience, improve process efficiency and enable process automation."

Apollo Tyres produces more than 2.4 kilotons per day of tires across its seven factories.

According to AWS, each factory previously ran their on-premises infrastructure in silos, which provided "limited visibility into global manufacturing efficiencies."

"Apollo Tyres needed to upgrade its infrastructure to develop new ways of engaging with fleet operators, tire dealers and consumers," AWS said in a statement.

As a "first step," Apollo has created a data lake on AWS, which centrally stores its structured and unstructured data at scale.

The data lake provides the foundation for an integrated data platform, which enables Apollo engineers to collaborate globally.

Furthermore, using IoT services offered by AWS, Apollo has developed an "IoT-in-a-box solution," which connects production machines on the factory floor to AWS in as few as five days.

Once connected, the system captures data from multiple machines—including mixers, tire building equipment and curing presses—and feeds it to the data lake.

The data can provide teams and plant managers with real-time visibility into the manufacturing process.

"This visibility improves production efficiency and productivity," AWS added, noting, for example, that it can reduce idle time of curing presses by 50 percent.

Among other digital initiatives, Apollo has also launched an automated tire inspection program that checks for tire defects using photos taken as tires progress along the production line.

Based on Amazon Rekognition, a machine learning service that automates image and video analysis, this program allows factory supervisors to intervene when manufacturing anomalies occur.

"By digitally transforming with AWS, we can unlock productivity and efficiency gains in our factories globally, innovate new products and services faster, and enhance customer experience," said Hizmy Hassen, chief digital officer of Apollo Tyres.

Capabilities such as IoT and machine learning services will connect factories and make them smarter, Hassen added.