International User Groups Conference 2024 | Kastin Deal | Hitachi Rail

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Kastin Deal

Head of IT Strategy

Hitachi Rail

play_circle_outline Hitachi Rail's strategic shift

play_circle_outline Enhancing Competitiveness: Hitachi's Integrated ERP and Manufacturing Systems for a Seamless Customer Experience

play_circle_outline Identifying capabilities and processes

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Kastin Deal | Hitachi Rail

Kastin Deal

Head of IT Strategy Hitachi Rail

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>> Welcome back. We're headed into the home stretch here at the Software AG International User Groups Conference in Dublin. I'm Paul Gellin on the Cube, and with me is Kostan Diehl, the head of IT strategy at Hitachi Rail, who gave a presentation yesterday about how they are going at Hitachi Rail, how they're going through a fairly big strategic shift right now. And Kostan, first of all, thank you so much for being with us today.

>> Thank you for having me. It's a big pleasure. Thank you.

>> Hitachi Rail, I have to admit, I hadn't heard of the company. Hitachi, of course, very diverse company, but what does Hitachi Rail do specifically?

>> Well, Hitachi Rail is a train manufacturer, one of the global leading train manufacturers. We provide the train, we provide the signaling and signaling services on the tracks, and then we also provide service and maintenance to our customers on the trains that we manufacture.

>> Must be a fascinating place to walk around.

>> Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah.

>> So you spoke yesterday about an initiative you have there called One Hitachi, where you're taking these various business groups within Hitachi Rail and uniting them. It's a big deal. It's a big project.

>> Yes.

>> What is One Hitachi and what are some of the complexities involved?

>> One Hitachi is a vision for us to combine multiple business units to work strategically under one process, under limited IT systems throughout the business, and it's really just to further standardize and become more competitive as a customer base.

>> How many business units are involved currently?

>> Currently, we have about four different business units.

>> And do you have different ERP systems, different manufacturing systems?

>> Yes, yes. We have several different ERP systems, manufacturing systems. I would say over the past three or four years, we have conducted projects and programs to integrate these systems, but it is still ongoing.

>> So talk about the outcome. What are you trying to achieve ultimately with this combination?

>> I would say the outcome is just to continue to be a competitive force within our market, being able to provide a seamless experience to our customers. And I think that's really what the main objective outcome, just based on the information I see from our CEO, our CIO, is to provide our customers that seamless experience, customer experience.

>> Now, as head of IT strategy, man, this is a big goal and there's a lot of complexity involved in it. Where do you start in trying to decompose this into the different project elements that have to be managed?

>> I'd say I'd start with the capabilities of Hitachi Rail. What we have done is really truly identify what Hitachi Rail is composed of. It's not just about what we provide to our customers. It mostly talks about who we are as a company. We are procurement, we are design and development, we are payroll, we are multiple different things. And then what processes and organizations and systems make up those capabilities?

>> Now, you have different systems already in place, invariably some are going to win and some are going to lose. Some will be chosen to be the standard. How do you manage making those decisions?

>> Well, those decisions are, Hitachi has several lovely solution architects, people that have really good technical expertise to understand what systems or what tools are going to give us that competitive edge. So we lean on our technical team for that. We have an understanding of the direction that we go in from a strategic perspective, but we also take that strategic perspective and give this to our proper technical people in-house who are able to communicate through technology the objective that we need to reach.

>> And part of this is about process. It's about understanding process, how things work now, how they will work eventually. You're a veteran user of ARIS, I understand. How does process mining enter into the equation?

>> To be honest, we haven't gotten that far deep in that process mining space. I would love to sit here and tell you that we have, but we have to be, as an employee of Hitachi Rail, we have to be a bit ethical and just say, we haven't gone to that level of depth in our processes.

>> Or maybe talk more generally about process mining because of your experience. What are the important factors in understanding how processes work? How do you get at how that process is really working and where the exceptions are?

>> I would say the transparency, being able to sit with process experts that are truly into that day-to-day understanding of what makes their specific processes, and then being able to create diagrams and create the story through pictures of what is it they're actually doing. Identifying the correct objects, articulating the process through objects. So for example, task objects, application objects, information objects. So really being able to create a complete picture of that process. That's what helps us, enable us to truly know what's going on and have insights into our process.

>> What's the importance of understanding process owners, the people who are really key to making that process work?

>> Well, I would say the key to it is having someone with the proper experience to speak for it. There are times when we have personnel or people that aren't necessarily at the right skill set, or sometimes they're a little bit too high in the business and sometimes they're a bit lower in the business. So finding that expertise, that proper expertise really provides this fruit for our air systems.

>> Now we've gone from, you said you have about 16 years of experience with ARIS.

>> Yes.

>> We've gone from process mining being a very interview intensive manual, people intensive. Now much of it is automated and the first day of this conference, they showed some gen AI capabilities that are being added. How does this strike you? I mean, does this excite you?

>> Oh, yeah. It is very exciting because what happens is sometimes when you sit down with a process expert and you're coming with a blank page, that takes a lot of time to shape their mindset because they don't necessarily look at things from a diagram perspective. So we have to shape their mindset, get them really understood on what it is we're trying to do, where AI could provide that foundation of information and then we can give that to a process expert. And then at that point, they're really kind of just reviewing and providing, checking if what the AI has said as correct. So it's kind of like just providing that foundation. We still need the expertise from our human race, but that AI can definitely provide a foundation.

>> Now, you're head of IT strategy. That's a job that would appeal to a lot of people. What does your job entail?

>> Well, this is a new role. So currently my job entails, as I know today, it involves working with our IT leadership team to really understand what their objectives and their goals are and being able to create palatable content, whether that be through IT projects, whether that be through capability analysis and assessment to, I guess I would say fulfill the goal of what the IT leadership team wants to do. So it's taking their high level strategy and identifying the correct projects, identifying the correct capabilities, working with the technology teams and identifying their correct solutions and just executing on that

>> And knowing what's strategic.

>> Yes, exactly.

>> What's the timeframe for One Hitachi?

>> I would love to tell you. I would say to be continued. Hitachi is a fascinating company. We are constantly evolving and there is a lot of elements that are now One Hitachi. We are still, like I think I told you earlier, we're about almost three to four years into this, but it is a continuous thing and it's part of our values now. It's part of our mission as well, to be continuously strategic working as One Hitachi

>> And always changing. Congratulations on your new role.

>> Thank you. Thank you.

>> Best of luck with the project.

>> I appreciate that.

>> Kostan Diehl, head of IT strategy at Hitachi Rail. Thanks for joining us.

>> Thank you.

>> That'll do it from the Software AG IUG Conference. I'm Paul Gellin for the Cube. Thanks for watching.

>> Thank you very much.

Kastin Deal | Hitachi Rail

search

>> Welcome back. We're headed into the home stretch here at the Software AG International User Groups Conference in Dublin. I'm Paul Gellin on the Cube, and with me is Kostan Diehl, the head of IT strategy at Hitachi Rail, who gave a presentation yesterday about how they are going at Hitachi Rail, how they're going through a fairly big strategic shift right now. And Kostan, first of all, thank you so much for being with us today.

>> Thank you for having me. It's a big pleasure. Thank you.

>> Hitachi Rail, I have to admit, I hadn't heard of the company. Hitachi, of course, very diverse company, but what does Hitachi Rail do specifically?

>> Well, Hitachi Rail is a train manufacturer, one of the global leading train manufacturers. We provide the train, we provide the signaling and signaling services on the tracks, and then we also provide service and maintenance to our customers on the trains that we manufacture.

>> Must be a fascinating place to walk around.

>> Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah.

>> So you spoke yesterday about an initiative you have there called One Hitachi, where you're taking these various business groups within Hitachi Rail and uniting them. It's a big deal. It's a big project.

>> Yes.

>> What is One Hitachi and what are some of the complexities involved?

>> One Hitachi is a vision for us to combine multiple business units to work strategically under one process, under limited IT systems throughout the business, and it's really just to further standardize and become more competitive as a customer base.

>> How many business units are involved currently?

>> Currently, we have about four different business units.

>> And do you have different ERP systems, different manufacturing systems?

>> Yes, yes. We have several different ERP systems, manufacturing systems. I would say over the past three or four years, we have conducted projects and programs to integrate these systems, but it is still ongoing.

>> So talk about the outcome. What are you trying to achieve ultimately with this combination?

>> I would say the outcome is just to continue to be a competitive force within our market, being able to provide a seamless experience to our customers. And I think that's really what the main objective outcome, just based on the information I see from our CEO, our CIO, is to provide our customers that seamless experience, customer experience.

>> Now, as head of IT strategy, man, this is a big goal and there's a lot of complexity involved in it. Where do you start in trying to decompose this into the different project elements that have to be managed?

>> I'd say I'd start with the capabilities of Hitachi Rail. What we have done is really truly identify what Hitachi Rail is composed of. It's not just about what we provide to our customers. It mostly talks about who we are as a company. We are procurement, we are design and development, we are payroll, we are multiple different things. And then what processes and organizations and systems make up those capabilities?

>> Now, you have different systems already in place, invariably some are going to win and some are going to lose. Some will be chosen to be the standard. How do you manage making those decisions?

>> Well, those decisions are, Hitachi has several lovely solution architects, people that have really good technical expertise to understand what systems or what tools are going to give us that competitive edge. So we lean on our technical team for that. We have an understanding of the direction that we go in from a strategic perspective, but we also take that strategic perspective and give this to our proper technical people in-house who are able to communicate through technology the objective that we need to reach.

>> And part of this is about process. It's about understanding process, how things work now, how they will work eventually. You're a veteran user of ARIS, I understand. How does process mining enter into the equation?

>> To be honest, we haven't gotten that far deep in that process mining space. I would love to sit here and tell you that we have, but we have to be, as an employee of Hitachi Rail, we have to be a bit ethical and just say, we haven't gone to that level of depth in our processes.

>> Or maybe talk more generally about process mining because of your experience. What are the important factors in understanding how processes work? How do you get at how that process is really working and where the exceptions are?

>> I would say the transparency, being able to sit with process experts that are truly into that day-to-day understanding of what makes their specific processes, and then being able to create diagrams and create the story through pictures of what is it they're actually doing. Identifying the correct objects, articulating the process through objects. So for example, task objects, application objects, information objects. So really being able to create a complete picture of that process. That's what helps us, enable us to truly know what's going on and have insights into our process.

>> What's the importance of understanding process owners, the people who are really key to making that process work?

>> Well, I would say the key to it is having someone with the proper experience to speak for it. There are times when we have personnel or people that aren't necessarily at the right skill set, or sometimes they're a little bit too high in the business and sometimes they're a bit lower in the business. So finding that expertise, that proper expertise really provides this fruit for our air systems.

>> Now we've gone from, you said you have about 16 years of experience with ARIS.

>> Yes.

>> We've gone from process mining being a very interview intensive manual, people intensive. Now much of it is automated and the first day of this conference, they showed some gen AI capabilities that are being added. How does this strike you? I mean, does this excite you?

>> Oh, yeah. It is very exciting because what happens is sometimes when you sit down with a process expert and you're coming with a blank page, that takes a lot of time to shape their mindset because they don't necessarily look at things from a diagram perspective. So we have to shape their mindset, get them really understood on what it is we're trying to do, where AI could provide that foundation of information and then we can give that to a process expert. And then at that point, they're really kind of just reviewing and providing, checking if what the AI has said as correct. So it's kind of like just providing that foundation. We still need the expertise from our human race, but that AI can definitely provide a foundation.

>> Now, you're head of IT strategy. That's a job that would appeal to a lot of people. What does your job entail?

>> Well, this is a new role. So currently my job entails, as I know today, it involves working with our IT leadership team to really understand what their objectives and their goals are and being able to create palatable content, whether that be through IT projects, whether that be through capability analysis and assessment to, I guess I would say fulfill the goal of what the IT leadership team wants to do. So it's taking their high level strategy and identifying the correct projects, identifying the correct capabilities, working with the technology teams and identifying their correct solutions and just executing on that

>> And knowing what's strategic.

>> Yes, exactly.

>> What's the timeframe for One Hitachi?

>> I would love to tell you. I would say to be continued. Hitachi is a fascinating company. We are constantly evolving and there is a lot of elements that are now One Hitachi. We are still, like I think I told you earlier, we're about almost three to four years into this, but it is a continuous thing and it's part of our values now. It's part of our mission as well, to be continuously strategic working as One Hitachi

>> And always changing. Congratulations on your new role.

>> Thank you. Thank you.

>> Best of luck with the project.

>> I appreciate that.

>> Kostan Diehl, head of IT strategy at Hitachi Rail. Thanks for joining us.

>> Thank you.

>> That'll do it from the Software AG IUG Conference. I'm Paul Gellin for the Cube. Thanks for watching.

>> Thank you very much.