Francisco Blanquer, Innovation & Development Senior Manager at Terminal Link (under the umbrella of CMA CGM), and Chairman of the Operations Council at TIC 4.0, “talks TIC” and delivers a masterclass at TOC Europe where he explains the importance of a common data language for the industry
With the increasing digitalisation trends revolutionizing our industry, data exchange has become more critical now more than ever. Yet, how can this be achieved if we do not speak the same language?
According to Francisco Blanquer, Innovation & Development Senior Manager at Terminal Link, and Chairman of the Operations Council at TIC 4.0, the sector is “reaching the limits of human capacity”, and to truly capitalize on novel digital tools and bring the industry forward, the need for a standardised data language is crucial. For Blanquer, just like humans utilize language to represent reality, machinery in the maritime & logistics sector does the same, whether referring to cargo handling or ship arrivals. All this information exchanges are supported by data, but in order to become truly useful for all industry parties, the language must be standardised. “If we limit the number of possible ways to represent the reality in a digital format -better if it is just one- the same software can be used in many terminals interconnected with many other types of software or devices,” Blanquer says.
The current multiplicity of data languages currently used at the sector makes it worth questioning whether the industry might be racing towards a scenario that resembles a ‘digital Tower of Babel’, making actual communication challenging. Could the new digital standards that TIC 4.0 is currently developing become a new universal data language that facilitates communication transversally across the industry? Blanquer explains that the ontology that is used in these standards is based on the human language, adapted for machines.
To facilitate the learning of this new -hopefully- universal new digital language, TOC Europe is proud to host a masterclass focusing on its ‘Digital Day’, where specialist Francisco Blanquer will be explaining how the semantics of these standards and how these can be implemented across the sector.
Join us at TOC Europe and let’s talk TIC.
