Navigating the Future: Insights into TechBinder’s Innovations and Industry Impact
In an era marked by rapid technological advancement and increasing operational complexity, TechBinder stands at the forefront of transforming human-machine interaction within the maritime and technical fields. In this exclusive interview with Bram van den Boom, Founding Partner at TechBinder, we delve into the company’s mission and the groundbreaking technologies driving its success. Bram van den Boom provides an in-depth look at the Smart Vessel Optimizer and Smart Field Support technologies, their impact on efficiency, sustainability, and industry challenges. This comprehensive exploration also highlights how customer feedback shapes TechBinder’s evolution and offers a glimpse into the company’s vision for the future. Through Bram’s insights, we gain valuable understanding of TechBinder’s role in addressing contemporary challenges and shaping a more efficient, sustainable, and technologically advanced industry landscape.
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Company Mission and Vision: What inspired the founding of TechBinder, and how do you envision your company transforming human-machine interaction?
TechBinder aims to improve human-machine interaction. We have observed that many tasks currently performed by humans can be done far more effectively when humans and machines work together. This is not about automating work but giving people more relevant information that is used to support their daily work. There is a growing gap between what is technically possible and how we currently organise our work and operations. This gap leads to a waste of valuable time and resources. To illustrate this, I often refer to Martec’s Law, which highlights the significant challenge companies are facing, or will face shortly. TechBinder is inspired by this phenomenon, offering technological solutions that represent substantial improvements for maritime operations across all areas. This includes higher profits, reduced risks, a smaller ecological footprint, and future-proofing operations.
About two years ago, we recognised this challenge and began actively working to close the gap. We achieve this by offering direct support, establishing physical innovation labs, and collaborating with our ‘value-adding partners’—companies and individuals who contribute specific knowledge, technology, and market reach to support Smart Vessel Optimizer users in their adoption. TechBinder will continue on this path to support maritime operations in addressing operational challenges.
Smart Vessel Optimizer (SVO): Can you elaborate on how the Smart Vessel Optimizer enhances maritime operations and what makes it unique in the industry?
SVO enables effective data logging of virtually all assets on board. Implementing SVO immediately provides better insight into what is actually happening and has happened. This results in more relevant information that supports all aspects of maritime operations. Some examples of the value created by SVO include:
- Early Detection of Failing Assets: The system can detect a failing asset at an earlier stage. Not only does it notify the shore operation, allowing for faster action, but it also provides direct access to all the information needed to start troubleshooting. Combined with the embedded remote support tool (SFS), experts from shore can guide the crew to resolve the issue. If it cannot be resolved remotely, they can send the appropriate person with the necessary spare parts, significantly reducing the mean time to repair and lowering the cost of repair.
- Efficient Claim Handling: In shipping, companies may face claims for various reasons, such as warranty issues or damage. Traditionally, resolving these claims can take weeks or even months. We have seen cases where data from SVO supported swift fact-finding, especially when the onboard CCTV was also connected. This data and video footage provide direct facts about the issue or situation, shortening the claim handling period to days, if not hours.
- Optimised New Builds and Overhauls: When a new build or major overhaul is planned, the gathered information provides a detailed overview of the operational profile of the vessels or assets. This information helps design better-fit-for-purpose vessels and determine the best new technical configuration, saving both operational and capital expenditures while minimising the ecological footprint.
- Automated Reporting: SVO eliminates the need for manual reporting by the crew, reducing tedious tasks prone to human error and fully automating the reporting process. This results in more accurate and detailed reports.
These examples illustrate what makes Smart Vessel Optimizer unique in the industry. With a single data pipeline and data logger, maritime companies can feed their entire operation and value chain. Users retain ownership of their data, allowing them to manage and utilise it as they see fit. Additionally, TechBinder’s unique approach involves working closely with technology partners for development and tech validation. This collaboration creates a true ‘win-win’ for all parties involved.
Smart Field Support (SFS): How does Smart Field Support empower field operators, and in what ways does it integrate AR and VR technologies?
Smart Field Support (SFS) started as part of the Smart Vessel Optimizer portfolio. We noticed that many optimisation challenges and risks in shipping stem from the declining technical knowledge of the crew. With fewer available technicians and growing technological complexity, effectively solving issues has become increasingly difficult.
SFS enables less skilled personnel to perform more value-adding work. This is achieved through several key features:
- Remote Expert Assistance: Field operators can call remote experts for guidance, bridging the gap between less experienced crew members and highly skilled technicians.
- Pre-Programmed Instructions: Step-by-step instructions can be pre-programmed, ensuring that operators follow precise procedures even without extensive technical expertise.
- Access to Manuals: Manuals and technical documentation are available in a user-friendly format, ensuring essential information is always accessible. Now equipped with Large Language models (LLM) the crew can talk to their manuals as if it was an expert sitting next to them and thinking with them to solve an issue.
These features result in improved technical information management within a company. The significance of SFS became particularly evident during the COVID-19 pandemic, which led us to rebrand and separate this segment of our portfolio into its own proposition, now known as SFS.
Today, SFS is being adopted by both maritime and non-maritime customers. It remains fully integrated with the Smart Vessel Optimizer, offering substantial opportunities for enhanced operational efficiency. While the original response did not specify the integration of AR and VR technologies, SFS’s capabilities in improving technical support and information management are notable.
Efficiency and Optimisation: In practical terms, how do TechBinder’s solutions drive efficiency and optimisation in the industries you serve?
There is a growing need for more digitised operations across various industries due to several factors. These include new laws and regulations, a decline in the availability of technicians, environmental pressures, competitive advantage, and the increasing complexity of both technology and operations.
TechBinder addresses these challenges by leveraging digital technology to enhance operational efficiency. The company focuses on using technology to resolve real-world issues rather than simply showcasing advanced features.
By centering their approach on practical use cases rather than technological capabilities alone, TechBinder ensures that their solutions contribute meaningfully to operations. This approach helps clients improve their efficiency and optimisation without getting bogged down by unnecessary features or complexity.
In essence, TechBinder’s solutions are designed to make operations more effective and streamlined, allowing clients to tackle contemporary challenges while also seizing new opportunities for growth and improvement.
Sustainability Impact: How do your solutions contribute to sustainability in the maritime and technical fields?
This is an interesting question, and to be honest, the answer could fill a 50-page book, but I’ll keep it concise. Both the Smart Vessel Optimizer (SVO) and Smart Field Support (SFS) provide insights that were previously unknown or only speculated about. By using these tools, operations gain access to detailed information that enables faster and more precise actions.
In the short term, these tools support behavioural changes such as taking alternate routes, adjusting speed, optimising asset usage, and eliminating unnecessary travel. For example, a vessel operator with a diesel-electric propulsion system and four gensets discovered through monitoring that multiple engines were often running at very low loads. This practice resulted in inefficient fuel use, increased emissions, higher wear and tear, and unnecessary running hours on the gensets. By improving load sharing between the gensets, the operator achieved more efficient sailing, reduced fuel use and emissions, fewer running hours, longer maintenance intervals, and decreased oil consumption.
In the mid-term, maritime operators can address minor issues that impact sustainability. For instance, a case where a gearbox never reached its optimal operating temperature was identified. The cooling system was over-cooling, causing the gearbox to operate below the ideal temperature range of 45°C to 55°C. This led to increased wear and tear and wasted energy for cooling. Adjusting the cooling settings resolved this issue, leading to long-term optimisation over the vessel’s lifespan, which could extend another 20 years.
Another example involves the variability in captains’ ecological practices. With the data provided by SVO, operators can identify the most environmentally friendly captains and use them as benchmarks for others. This approach helps develop a structured plan to improve ecological footprints, which will be mandatory starting in 2025.
These tools not only contribute to immediate efficiency gains but also support long-term sustainability goals, aligning with upcoming regulations and industry standards.
Challenges in Development: What are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced in developing TechBinder’s solutions, and how have you overcome them?
There are many challenges in developing TechBinder’s solutions, and fortunately, that’s what makes our work complex and valuable. Here are some of the biggest challenges we’ve faced:
- Compatibility with Diverse Assets and Data Sources: One of the significant challenges is ensuring that our technology is compatible with the vast array of different assets and data sources. We currently have plugins for over 600 different PLCs and more than 100 industrial communication protocols. Despite this extensive range, we are constantly confronted with new data sources that require integration.
- Low Standardisation in Shipping: The lack of standardisation in the shipping industry, even among sister vessels, presents another challenge. For instance, while one vessel might be set up perfectly, replicating that setup for a sister vessel can be complicated due to minor differences onboard that make a straightforward “copy-paste” installation impractical.
- Connectivity Issues: Connectivity problems can result in randomly missing data, which can render analytics tools ineffective. To address this, we implemented “store and forward” technology, which allows data to be stored locally and transmitted when connectivity is available. However, this solution introduces additional challenges when it comes to visualising and analysing the data.
- Developing a Structured Data Hierarchy: Creating a highly structured data hierarchy with proper meta-tagging is essential. This structure is crucial for delivering a scalable system and allowing users to compare vessel and asset performance effectively. Developing this system requires careful planning and execution to ensure robustness and usability.
- Compliance and Security: We also face the challenge of complying with cybersecurity requirements, regulations, and ensuring the ruggedness of both hardware and software. Meeting these basic yet critical standards demands continuous effort and resources.
These challenges have driven us to innovate and adapt our solutions continually, ensuring that TechBinder remains at the cutting edge of technological advancement in the maritime industry.
Customer Feedback and Evolution: How has customer feedback shaped the evolution of your products and services?
Customer feedback plays a pivotal role in shaping the evolution of our products and services, accounting for approximately 75% of our development efforts. Given the vast array of opportunities and possibilities with our technology, it’s easy for us at TechBinder to get caught up in continuously creating new features. However, as illustrated by Martec’s Law, the technical potential often exceeds what maritime customers can readily adapt to.
Therefore, we prioritise developments driven by customer feedback and demand. This approach ensures that our advancements align closely with the real needs and challenges faced by our users. The remaining 25% of our developments are influenced by our own vision and that of our technology partners. This segment allows us to lead the industry by introducing innovative features and applications that may not have been initially anticipated but offer significant value to our customers’ operations.
By balancing customer-driven enhancements with forward-thinking innovations, we strive to deliver solutions that not only meet current needs but also anticipate future requirements in the maritime industry.
Future Technologies: Are there any new technologies or innovations that TechBinder is currently exploring to enhance your solutions further?
Absolutely, we are exploring a wide array of emerging technologies and innovations. It’s almost like opening Pandora’s Box, given the rapid advancements in digital technology. We’re looking into areas such as artificial intelligence (AI), large language models (LLM), and augmented/virtual/mixed reality (AR/VR/MR). The landscape is evolving with smarter sensors, improved connectivity, and faster computing power, which, when combined, unlock even more possibilities.
This is where our name, TechBinder, comes into play—signifying our role in connecting these diverse technological elements. While we explore these innovations, our approach to commercialisation is guided by customer involvement, ensuring that new technologies align with practical needs.
Additionally, our physical demo centres and access to ‘trial’ vessels allow us to test and refine new features and technologies in real-world scenarios. Supported by a network of students and industry experts, we continuously scout for new opportunities and advancements in technology to enhance our solutions.
Vision for the Future: Looking ahead, what is your vision for the future of human-machine interaction, and how does TechBinder plan to contribute to this future?
For those who embrace change and new opportunities, the future holds incredible promise. Technology is continuously opening new doors and challenging traditional ways of working. At TechBinder, our goal is to help customers lead and excel in this evolving landscape. We focus on ensuring that investments in technology and innovation are effective and worthwhile, avoiding unnecessary developments that don’t deliver value.
We envision a digitally-driven maritime industry where technology empowers humans to excel and find satisfaction in their work. TechBinder is dedicated to partnering with organisations to achieve this vision, ensuring they stay at the forefront of innovation and efficiency. We are committed to transforming human-machine interaction to create a future where technology not only supports but enhances human capabilities and job satisfaction.
