Maersk, an industry leader in the global integrated logistics arena, has a track record that speaks for itself. In the world of transportation and logistics solutions, Maersk is highly respected, serving Fortune 100 customers and positioned as a prominent player in the field. Maersk’s operations span the globe, with operations in 130 countries and over 100,000 employees—a force to be reckoned with in the context of the global supply chain.
A recent project revolved around Maersk’s U.S. warehousing and distribution business operated by Maersk Warehousing and Distribution Services USA (Maersk WnD), and was spearheaded by Jacques Van Der Merwe, head of engineering and automation at Maersk, and Fitzgerald Speare, head of engineering maintenance. The implementation of Haivision technology in Maersk WnD’s Network Operations Center (NOC) was led by integrator Andrew Haner of IE Solutions.
Maersk WnD’s chief objective was clear: They sought continuity and consolidation of their assets and visibility from a single point. As an industry leader, Maersk WnD monitors diverse assets such as warehouse inventory, transportation fleets, facility equipment, supply chain components, IT infrastructure, storage facilities, and environmental conditions. Their need for effective asset oversight spans various critical elements fundamental to their expansive logistical operations, many of which benefit from Haivision’s video wall technology and its role in streamlining monitoring and management across their worldwide network.
This approach had to allow for scalability as Maersk WnD expands its network operations center across multiple national sites and, eventually, internationally. The mandate for Fitzgerald’s team was to maintain an aggressive uptime commitment within their facilities, and the Network Operations Center (NOC) played a crucial role in achieving this goal.
Enter Andrew Haner, the owner of IE Solutions, whose role was to help construct a plan for Maersk WnD’s NOC, allowing the team better visibility into the operational status of key facilities. His role as a key integrator connected Maersk WnD with Haivision, setting the stage for a transformational partnership.
Haivision emerged as the ideal partner for Maersk WnD, thanks to its undisputed standing as a cutting-edge video wall provider in the industry. With a reputation for providing intuitive, high-quality solutions, Haivision’s expertise complements Maersk WnD’s dedication to high-performance operations.
Quicker Decision-Making
The NOC acts as the nerve center, offering quicker decision-making through real-time insights and centralizing essential reports and data. The main function of the NOC is to provide monitoring of the Maersk WnD mechanized facilities; this is accomplished by stitching together all the warehouse control systems that detect any sort of issues and funneling different feeds monitoring asset functions—such as sensors, their warehouse control system, and cameras—back to the NOC.
Incoming information is channeled to the NOC, where a designated manager makes decisions about resource allocation. Each panel within the NOC serves a dedicated purpose, whether showcasing human-machine interface (HMI) screens for the warehouse control system (WCS) systems or live camera feeds to monitor specific building areas. The video wall displays critical management screens, weather updates, and key performance indicators, leveraging Haivision’s video wall solution API to unite content feeds into a single platform and preset content layouts for streamlined visualization and consistency.
This dynamic setup accommodates live feeds from multiple sites and offers customization that allows the team to visualize content from a variety of monitoring tools and technologies. In turn, this ensures the team can address specific needs and enhance operational efficiency. Additionally, Maersk WnD is able to integrate data from Power BI, ServiceNow tickets via web links, and even weather updates, giving users the complete and comprehensive picture of all system activities at the same time.
“The setup of our video wall provides immense flexibility,” Van Der Merwe explained. “It allows us to project various critical tools such as sensors, WCS, and cameras onto the screen. Simultaneously, our operators can work with these tools using their individual workstations, providing an efficient and adaptable system.”
Although Maersk WnD initially faced some challenges in terms of stability, Haivision’s dedication and commitment to solving these issues were exceptional. A system redesign was undertaken to improve overall stability and functionality. Ultimately, Maersk WnD highly valued Haivision’s adaptability and support.
“The account managers and technical support personnel were patient and dedicated to working collaboratively with us to find the right solution,” Van Der Merwe shared.
“The solution offers both continuity and asset consolidation while providing centralized visibility,” Speare said. “This adds substantial value to our operations by allowing us to monitor asset performance proactively. It significantly enhances reliability by enabling us to identify trends, collect real-time data, and analyze it comprehensively. Leveraging the Haivision video wall system, our team can scrutinize data for negative trends, interpret issues, and devise solutions, ultimately improving site uptime.”
With Haivision’s video wall solution, Maersk WnD was able to centralize its monitoring through the optimized NOC, significantly contributing to asset reliability. The system streamlined alerts and continues to help Maersk WnD to achieve its aggressive uptime commitments for its critical facilities.
The Haivision system became an invaluable tool in their arsenal, facilitating quicker issue resolution and upholding the critical nature of their operations. In addition, the NOC has proved to be an impressive marketing tool: You might go so far as to call it a wow factor, as it allows Maersk WnD to demonstrate its investment in innovation and leadership in logistics to potential customers.
Maersk WnD’s journey with Haivision doesn’t end there. They continue to explore new tools and plan to expand their NOC capabilities to more facilities, with a target of 30 facilities in the next year and aspirations for international expansion in the future. The flexibility of the Haivision setup provides them with opportunities to be proactive, enhance visibility, and drive essential continuity and consolidation of assets through a high-performance NOC.
From Maersk WnD’s experience, the importance of thorough documentation and the utilization of APIs can’t be overstated. These factors play a pivotal role in the seamless functioning of the Haivision video wall system. Additionally, support from companies like Haivision is important; Haivision can act as a partner who highlights needs and solutions that they may not have considered but should. By working closely with solution experts, you can confidently outline your operation center needs and a blueprint to tackle those challenges.
Haivision’s video wall solution, by centralizing monitoring, has not only enhanced asset reliability but also set a new industry standard by supporting Maersk WnD’s commitment to delivering top-notch services and maintaining facilities at peak performance. The collaboration has revolutionized the company’s asset management, making it a benchmark of efficiency and reliability, aligning with critical business goals, and promising scalability for future expansion.
