LIVE FROM MOBILE WORLD LIVE UNWRAPPED DIGITAL INDUSTRIES: One of Honeywell’s leading engineering experts highlighted the human and safety aspects involved in bringing technologies including AI into the day-to-day operations of the company’s aerospace unit, explaining cautious optimism is the watchword of its approach.

Senior engineering programme manager Juan Fuentes (pictured) told Mobile World Live Honeywell is of course interested in bringing in fresh technologies to improve its operations and production, but emphasised the nature of its work means it must keep an eye on safety and regulations.

Fuentes said a key digital transformation strategy for Honeywell Aerospace is to find common ground between “the different sectors of the business and making sure we invest strategically in the proper technologies” and infrastructure.

The nature of Honeywell Aerospace’s work means safety is a key consideration.

“So, although there’s all this new technology like AI that we’re so interested in bringing in…at the same time we have to make sure that these technologies are safe, that they have been proven.”

Digital twins are one tool the company is employing as part of a broader modelling and testing set-up which Fuentes said it is putting a “lot of investment” and resources into, using the technologies across all aspects of its product development cycle and even reaping benefits in the running of its factories.

“We’re able to create models around all those processes and systems and then develop a plan to ensure that everything is going to be there for when our new products go into production.”

Human touch
Honeywell targets technologies which are a “force multiplier”, a means of “making us more productive, more efficient” and which improve working conditions.

The company engages closely with its staff, ensuring they have a say in what is needed and how it should be implemented.

During the interview, Fuentes also discussed the impact technology is having on data generation and analysis, and delved into the benefits open architectures could bring to industrial players. Click here to view.