SAS, an analytics service provider, believes that leveraging analytics enables companies to transform data into actionable insights for better decision-making. This will allow companies to drive greener business strategies and bolster their sustainability efforts.
Artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), the Internet of Things (IoT), and analytics can help them develop smarter and more efficient operations that can lead them to reduce emissions.
“A sustainable future requires solutions grounded in science and data to address climate change and adapt to its effects,” said Jim Goodnight, CEO of SAS.
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SAS Viya
SAS offers SAS Viya, a cloud-native, massively parallel AI and analytics platform.
As a case study, SAS noted that Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality (IMM) has turned to SAS to create smart-city digital infrastructure. With SAS analytics, Istanbul’s engineers and planners can better understand, forecast and manage the city’s traffic challenges.
At its core, the new system is powered by AI and machine learning running on SAS Viya. It analyzes historical traffic data and incorporates live data feeds from a growing network of sources, including traffic cameras, sensors, data readers, mobile applications, and payment gateways.
The results of this analysis can optimize bus routes with new traffic and passenger data to improve service and route availability. It can also anticipate traffic anomalies such as accidents, lane closures, and sudden areas of congestion in real-time by analyzing route densities, driver behavior, and journey maps. With analytics models, IMM road operations can better control traffic signals and notify drivers through digital signage and mobile apps.
“SAS AI and analytics help reduce congestion, lower pollution levels and improve the quality of life for our citizens,” said Dr. Naim Erol Özgüner, CIO of IMM. “The SAS-powered system supports Istanbul’s sustainability goals, restores public confidence in mass transit, and ultimately improves traffic flow that leads to better economic opportunities.”
Data-driven factories
Wienerberger turned to AI and IoT analytics from SAS, running SAS Viya on Microsoft Azure Cloud, to help optimize energy costs and achieve its ambitious sustainability goals. By 2023, the company aims to reduce emissions by 15% compared to 2020 and be completely climate-neutral by 2050.
Working with SAS, Wienerberger selected a factory in Poland for an initial project. As one of the brickmaker’s best-performing plants, the successful project now serves as a template for expanding the use of AI to other facilities.
Wienerberger collects data from a wide range of sources, from IoT edge devices and sensors throughout its factories to environmental data on weather and humidity to product spot checks during and after production. All this data reveals fluctuations that can lead to inefficiencies and unnecessary energy use.
With kilns for drying bricks running at 1,475 degrees Fahrenheit (800 degrees Celsius), the goal is to reduce variability to find ideal, repeatable production steps.
SAS helped Wienerberger develop a digital twin of its brick production processes that helps explain the fluctuations. The AI-powered digital twin also offers insights into changes that can lower energy use, improve product quality and reduce emissions.
“We use SAS AI and IoT analytics to link all our data streams together and analyze the entire production process,” said Florian Zittmayr, Team Lead for Data Science at Wienerberger AG.
Wienerberger is seeking to expand the use of advanced analytics in the cloud across 149 facilities in 23 countries. By optimizing energy consumption and reducing CO2 emissions through SAS AI and IoT analytics, Wienerberger is turning brick plants into data-driven factories.