BXB Digital to establish an office in Silicon Valley.
Brambles looks to leverage its unique network to create enterprise-level data analytics solutions.
Brambles continues to move in the direction of value-added solutions with the establishment of BXB digital, which will target data analytics opportunities. The move could have significant implications regarding the deployment of tracking technologies in pallets, as well as design criteria for pallet durability.
“Mr Gorman said outside expertise would be used to find the best way to embed sensors and other devices into most of the 500 million pallets, containers and crates,” the Sydney Morning Herald reported. “Durability is a major consideration, along with the ability to find the right power source to ensure the devices keep transmitting data.”
“We’re talking about a business that has high asset velocity,” Gorman was quoted in the article, emphasizing that the vast asset pool operating across 60 countries had hidden potential in delivering real-time information, adding that, “Today, our assets are essentially dumb assets. We could move to a space where we get real-time information.”
In conjunction with the launch, Brambles has appointed Prasad Srinivasamurthy to the new role of President, BXB Digital. Mr. Srinivasamurthy previously served leading global enterprise software company, SAP, most recently as Senior Vice President, Customer Innovation & Internet of Things. Over his 18-year career at SAP, Mr. Srinivasamurthy has had product and innovation responsibilities in data analytics, customer relationship management, supply chain planning and the Internet of Things.
Srinivasamurthy’s most recent role focused on building digital solutions in areas including connected retail, consumer insights, and energy.
Brambles has several different solutions related to asset tracking already in place or that are part of development projects. A number of these are successful commercial solutions, such as CHEP-TRAC, which is used by CHEP Pallecon (intermediate bulk containers).
One of the initial things that Prasad and the BXB Digital team will do, Brambles explained to Packaging Revolution, is to take a look at all of these existing or ‘in-development’ solutions to determine which ones are scalable.
BXB Digital will look at opportunities that will bring benefits both to:
- internal customers, e.g. where solutions like asset tracking can help make Brambles’ businesses more efficient, and
- external customers, e.g. where asset tracking can help customers better manage their inventories and, over time, also where Brambles can harness the data to which we have access as a result of our strong network positions to bring new and improved solutions for customers.
“We are excited to appoint Prasad to this important role,” stated Brambles CEO Tom Gorman. “His experience at SAP is a great fit for our business as we look to expand our capability in data analytics and to leverage our unique network position in the supply chains we serve to develop innovative and improved solutions for our customers.”
Mr. Srinivasamurthy has master’s degrees in business administration from the Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley, and in computer science from the Viterbi School of Engineering at the University of Southern California, Los Angeles. He will report to Mr. Gorman and will be based at a new Brambles office in Silicon Valley, Northern California, where he will establish the BXB Digital team. His appointment will take effect in March 2016.