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Hitachi, Ltd. has announced the launch of Lumada Inspection Insights, its end-to-end portfolio of digital solutions for the inspection, monitoring and optimisation of critical assets. Pioneered by Hitachi Energy and Hitachi Vantara, Lumada Inspection Insights enables customers to automate asset inspection, support sustainability goals, improve physical security and reduce risks and impacts related to storms or fires by using powerful Artificial Intelligence (AI) to analyse photographs and video, including LiDAR, thermal and satellite imagery.

The launch of the new portfolio is fully aligned with Hitachi’s Mid-term Management Plan 2024 announced last month by Keiji Kojima, President and CEO at Hitachi. In the Plan, Hitachi has set out its growth strategy and commitment to strengthening its digital and green portfolio, which is centered on the Lumada ecosystem. Central to Hitachi’s commitment to social innovation, the Lumada ecosystem is accelerating the journey towards sustainable society through the data-driven cycle of value co-creation with customers. The company is also focused on growing its IT/OT/Products business through constant portfolio transformation.

The new Lumada Inspection Insights portfolio addresses various root causes of failures and forced shutdowns by deploying AI and Machine Learning (ML) to analyse a wide spectrum of image types, assets and risks. Predictive analytics assesses the risks to operations or environment and organisations can streamline remediation before outages occur. Available as a comprehensive solution or standalone, the portfolio’s four core applications are Hitachi Image Based Inspections, Hitachi Intelligent Infrastructure Monitoring, Hitachi Vegetation Manager and Hitachi Map. These represent the company’s latest advancements in its growing Data Operations (DataOps) and Industrial IoT offerings.

Massimo Danieli, Managing Director at Hitachi Energy’s Grid Automation business, said, “The energy transition is one of the most urgent issues of our times and together with customers, we are co-creating pioneering digital solutions to enable the carbon-neutral future.” He added, “In collaboration with Hitachi Vantara, we are delighted to launch the Lumada Inspection Insights portfolio, which gives industrial organisations the tools they need to get the right information to the right teams when they need it most. The result is improved reliability, safety and sustainability.”

Frank Antonysamy, Chief Digital Solutions Officer at Hitachi Vantara, said, “Becoming data-driven is essential to accelerating digitalisation and sustainability. This collaboration across Hitachi creates better outcomes for businesses, broader society and our environment by harnessing data and AI to solve multiple operational and business challenges. Together, we can improve industrial asset reliability, prevent wildfires and accelerate global sustainability efforts.”

Lumada Inspection Insights features comprehensive, microservices-based capabilities that allow visibility of assets and factors, such as current state, asset health, and encroachment, in a single pane of glass actionable view and from a variety of sources. With these unified insights, organisations can improve safety, reliability and agility. The use of high-resolution, autonomous and accurate wide-area surveillance ensures that truck rolls and workforce deployments are optimised, reducing waste and furthering a sustainable approach to operations and maintenance.

Utilities around the world are dealing with unprecedented climate-related challenges. In 2021, global wildfires generated an estimated total of 6,450 megatons of CO₂ equivalent—approximately 148% more than the European Union’s total fossil fuel emissions in 2020. These wildfires and other extreme weather events also take a significant toll on transmission lines and other utility assets, threatening worker safety and grid reliability.

“Inspection, planning and monitoring are among the most critical tasks utilities undertake to maintain grid reliability and resiliency,” said John Villali, Research Director, IDC Energy Insights. He added, “Lumada Inspection Insights combines a variety of visual asset data types with advanced analytics and AI. This empowers utilities to improve decision making, optimise operations and as a result, achieve their reliability, safety, and sustainability goals.”

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