The audience reflected vehicle Supplier manufacturers, OEMs, fleets, and dealer groups. They asked several questions, some of which were quite detailed and specific. These questions were addressed by our panel of experts.

Those interested in our presentation should feel free to contact us at Ubiquiti.

Please contact Ubiquiti for access to materials discussed at our sessions. We look forward to continued participation in our future Info Exchange sessions.

Our upcoming “Info Exchange” session will be held on 26th Sept. 2012, at the MEC in Troy, Michigan. There is no charge for participants for the Ubiquiti sessions, and lunch & breaks etc. will be provided.

The current agenda includes:
- “No Trouble Found” Supplier presentation
- Warranty & Quality issues by EU Supplier
- Data Mining for Actionable Useful Patterns
- Early Warnings using Automated Alerts
- Integrating Text & Ontologies in Analytics
- New in Ubiquiti – Web & Microsoft enablement
- Current Industry Update by Warranty Week

More on our Info Exchange session:

Updated agenda at: Fall2012_InfoExchange.pdf

When: 9am to 3:30pm, including Lunch & Breaks provided by Ubiquiti, Wednesday 26th Sept 2012
(Networking breakfast starts at 8am. Informal discussions continue after 3:30pm.)

Where: Troy, Michigan – see http://www.mectroy.com

Venue: Management Education Center, 811 W. Square Lake Rd., Troy, MI
Register at http://www.ubiquiti.com/meetings/fall2012/register or by email to team@ubiquiti.com

Note OESA Warranty Council meeting is on 27th Sept 2012 also in Troy, Michigan. See http://oesa.org/Events/OE-WM092712.html

Ubiquiti provided brief overviews of its core software technologies and products, illustrated with a few real-life cases. These mainly covered our Analytics technologies. As demonstrated during the presentations, Ubiquiti plans to make available a concept-based Search for NHTSA data, and we are examining the legal aspects to ensure this can be provided.

Toward the end of the sessions, a joint presentation previously shown at a conference was described. This presentation addressed NTF issues by Data Mining whereby significant moneys were saved by a major automotive Tier-1 Supplier. The level of interest in the topics covered was evident by the presence of a majority of the 70+ participants who stayed till the close of the Info Exchange sessions.

Please contact Ubiquiti for access to more materials as described above.

Our upcoming “Info Exchange” session will be held on 1^st Nov. 2011, right after the OESA event (see links below), and at the same venue in Troy, Michigan. There is no charge for participants for the Ubiquiti sessions, and lunch & breaks etc. will be provided.

The current agenda includes:
* Technologies to address “No Trouble Found”
* Early Warning using Automated Alerts
* Techniques to help in Globalization Issues
* New features using Ubiquiti software

Also, Mr. Eric Arnum of Warranty Week (see http://warrantyweek.com )
will provide an update on Automotive Warranty Trends.

Here is more on our Info Exchange session:

Meeting one-pager at: OnePager.pdf

Detailed agenda at: Agenda.pdf

When: 11am to 4:30pm, including Lunch & Breaks provided by Ubiquiti, Tuesday 1^st Nov 2011

Begins after OESA Warranty Council session on OEM Warranty Programs, see http://oesa.org/OESA-Event-Details/Comparative-Analysis-of-OEM-Warranty-Programs.html

Where: Troy, Michigan – see http://www.mectroy.com

Venue: Management Education Center, 811 W. Square Lake Rd., Troy, MI

Register at http://www.ubiquiti.com/meetings/fall2011/register or by email to team@ubiquiti.com

Ubiquiti provided brief overviews of its core software technologies and products, illustrated with a few real-life cases. These included concept-based Search, Diagnostics, and Analytics technologies. As also mentioned, a concept-based Search for the WarrantyWeek website, and similar utility for NHTSA data, will be made available for free public use by Ubiquiti soon. A major automotive Supplier representative spoke on their approach to Early Warning tracking based on Alerts in the Ubiquiti system. The external speakers’ presentations are described below. The day was rounded off by a panel discussing various current issues and best practices – and an interesting related topic that emerged was that of suppliers obtaining the repair histories for vehicles in an easy manner.

Mr. Eric Arnum of Warranty Week described the current trends in the automotive sector, and indicated the positive and negative trends. It was mentioned that there are clear indications of quality improvement seen overall based on the general downward trends in warranty costs, but that there is increased pressure on certain sectors of the industry to pay greater shares of the costs. The presentation slides are available by clicking here.

Dr. David Cole, Chairman Emeritus of the Center for Automotive Research, spoke on current & future trends in the automotive industry. He sees renewed interest in, and a resurgence in the importance of, the automotive sector – which is particularly good given the relatively recent poor economic news. Giving several examples, he illustrated how the industry is changing, and becoming faster and better. He also touched on the importance of innovation, but highlighted the difficulties in bringing those to bear in the automotive sector. Dr. Cole’s presentation is available by clicking here.

Prof. Khargonekar, Eckis Professor and Dean Emeritus of UFL, described the technical details of the machine-learning approach for rapid online diagnostics based on the knowledge represented in stored repairs data. Having briefly introduced the problem and opportunity, he described the solution techniques used in Ubiquiti’s approach – which was also accompanied by a demonstration of the software. Prof. Khargonekar’s presentation is available by clicking here.

Please contact Ubiquiti for access to more materials as described above.

• “Automotive Industry: Current & Future Trends”, Dr. David E. Cole, Chairman Emeritus, Center for Automotive Research, see http://cargroup.org/
• “Automotive Warranty Trends”, Eric Arnum, Warranty Week, see http://warrantyweek.com/
• “Rapid Diagnostics based on Data”, Prof. Pramod P. Khargonekar, Eckis Chair and Dean Emeritus, see http://ppk.eng.ufl.edu/
• “A Flowchart for Ubiquiti Technologies”, Team Ubiquiti
• “Ubiquiti Software Products”, Team Ubiquiti

A Summary of the event will be posted by Ubiquiti in the near future.

Confirmed External Speakers and their Topics include:

• “A Current Perspective on the Automotive Industry”, Dr. David E. Cole, Chairman Emeritus, Center for Automotive Research, see http://cargroup.org/
• “Automotive Warranty Trends”, Eric Arnum, Warranty Week, see http://warrantyweek.com/
• “Rapid Diagnostics based on Data”, Prof. Pramod P. Khargonekar, Eckis Chair and Dean Emeritus, see http://ppk.eng.ufl.edu/

Download the following PDF document for further details: Agenda.pdf

Request to attend at http://www.ubiquiti.com/Spring2011_Registration/

Attendance is limited by space availability, and not guaranteed until confirmed by Ubiquiti.

A major automotive Supplier representative spoke on using their vast corporate knowledge gathered within informational documentation – both technical (e.g., 8Ds or case studies etc.) and regulatory (e.g., OSHA or TREAD etc.). The aim was to use new computing technologies to make informed decisions consistent with their lessons learned, best practices and regulations. As was pointed out, the efforts spanned multiple administrative departments, geographical locations and levels within their organization. However, a description was provided on how customized concept-based Search enabled accessing the information rapidly and consistently. Furthermore, how generating documentation becomes easier was also discussed – since the authors need not have to conform to strict guidelines which are often put in place to enable easier subsequent access by others. And as such, different ways of describing the information, alternative organization of data and information, and ongoing changes – all can be supported by the simpler expedient of concept-based Search.

An automotive industry veteran in the areas of engineering, quality and warranty spoke on several high-profile cases, sometimes publicly discussed and aired, with which he was involved. It was interesting to understand how the situation is managed from inside an organization which may be “under fire” as a crisis unfolds. Often, it is a matter of managing the message that goes out, and deflecting unfair blame that gets placed – as opposed to having an opportunity to address the key problems. In fact, sometimes there really may not have been a real quality issue, but the public perception and conviction is one that becomes difficult to sway. The discussion also provided an insight into how areas such as warranty start affecting and get affected by essentially all parts and levels of a large organization – finance, legal, engineering, quality, PR etc.

A senior faculty member from the College of Engineering at Univ. Michigan, Ann Arbor, spoke on various research projects that are indirectly related to the automotive industry – such as in intelligent semi-automated vehicle control, military vehicle technologies, and robotics. The discussions that ensued touched upon legal & regulatory issues (eg, for vehicle control), industry-academia ties (eg, for military projects), and even issues concerning safety (eg, in robotics). The presentation provided a look at cutting-edge technologies that are currently being investigated, and may make their way into vehicles in the near future.

A senior member at another major automotive Supplier discussed how lessons learned via quality data analysis could/should make their way into product development. This is a very important topic, and in many ways, the real reason to analyze data such as arising from warranty and repairs. The processes needed, the hurdles to be overcome, and the different organizational aspects to be addressed were described. In fact, a tie-in was noted between these efforts and those related to using comprehensive organizational knowledge as discussed above in the context of concept-based Search.

The theme for our Meeting was on the large volumes of data and information now becoming available. While these may be regarded as “information overload”, the fact is that by the use of appropriate technologies, such organizational data may be leveraged and converted into a rich knowledge repository to guide future efforts. Ubiquiti presented its ideas on how such “collective knowledge” gathered from a vast number of individuals, over different periods of time, and from geographically dispersed areas, may be gathered and utilized effectively and easily. While our analytics form one aspect of such utilization, our newer technologies in Search, Diagnostics, and use of Machine Learning provide a powerful means to realize a practical, ever-enriching and adapting knowledge-base.

Please contact Ubiquiti for access to some of the materials described above, and we will contact the appropriate individuals.