Inspiring Innovation at PSA
At PSA, we believe that innovation is in our corporate DNA and central to the organisation’s future success. We encourage our employees to grow through innovation, pushing past the confines of the comfortable and cultivating an agile mindset to deal with uncertainties. Nurturing a culture of innovation is fundamental to realising our innovation vision for PSA, where opportunities to innovate abound and leaders champion out-of-the-box thinking.
The Heart of Innovation
At the heart of innovation is the power of collaboration. PSA’s iCAN platform enables our diverse groups of employees across the world to connect and collaborate on ideas, unbounded by geography or language. The platform currently caters to more than 13,000 staff, including newly added business units like PSA Ameya, PSA Honeycomb and PSA SECH. In the true spirit of innovation, iCAN saw an increase in ideas submitted during the COVID-19 pandemic, as our members discovered better ways to work around the new normal.
We held our inaugural global PSA Innovation Festival in 2021, a month-long event packed with exciting activities and events hosted by various business units. PSA employees across the world connected on our iCAN Platform to cross-share ideas, provide feedback and build new connections.
Honouring Our Boldest and Brightest
The annual Kua Hong Pak Innovation Awards (KHPIA) recognises PSA employees who have displayed a strong spirit of innovation, be it through championing new ideas or experimenting with a new way of doing things. The annual KHPIA received a record 556 entries in 2021, a 15% increase from the year before.
Turning Ideas Into Reality
In order to encourage our employees to develop an agile mindset, PSA’s Group Innovation Fund sets aside US$1 million annually to support the test-bedding of innovative ideas. PSA approved US$243,000 (S$331,000) in grants in 2021, which was more than twice the amount approved in the previous year.
Embracing an Intelligent Workforce
Robotic Process Automation (RPA) was rolled out across several regions in 2021, allowing PSA’s business units worldwide to streamline and automate manual and repetitive processes. RPA has greatly improved workflows and benefitted our staff by freeing up their time for higher-order tasks.
In 2021 alone, we onboarded 14 new businesses and saved 41 man-years through 122 RPA projects. We also launched webinars, workshops and newsletters to further interest, as well as training programmes to get our staff up to speed on the latest RPA technology.
Building Ecosystems of The Future
PSA has kept its finger on the pulse of evolving technologies, adopting automation, innovation and data analytics in its terminal operations and collaboration with the port community. The Global Terminal Operating System (GTOS) and GLOBAL PORTNET® (GPN) are examples of the innovative use of technologies to drive business success.
GPN is a collaborative e-business digital solution serving both the port community and wider maritime ecosystem. Simplifying complex and integrative networks of information, the platform orchestrates efficient workflows between the port and its adjacent community, shipping lines, government agencies and maritime service providers, thus reducing turnaround time, delivering higher value and enhancing inter-operability among port users.
The digital solution platform has now been implemented in the Beibuwan region in Guangxi, China. The rollout has benefitted the four container terminals there and achieved a 60% savings in documentation and digitalised workflows. GPN has also been integrated with local regulatory and maritime functions to serve as the Maritime Single Window of Guangxi, China.
In 2021, PSA partnered with Singapore’s Maritime Port Authority (MPA) to introduce GPN to power the MPA’s Digital Port Just-In-Time Planning platform. MPA will use GPN to coordinate with Singapore port stakeholders such as ship owners, agents, terminal operators and marine service providers. This will enhance the turnaround time of ships calling at the Port of Singapore, increase port efficiency and reduce business costs.
PSA Global Terminal Operating System (GTOS) is one of the global products built by PSA for PSA terminals. It provides an integrated solution that empowers end to end terminal operations around the clock. GTOS embeds PSA’s operational best practices and is our strategic vehicle to drive operational efficiency and sustainability.
GTOS is continually enhanced with advanced intelligence, new process automation, data-driven and Internet of Things (IoT) connectivity capabilities to ensure PSA operations continue to function at the forefront of smart port technology. With adaptive and pre-emptive features built in GTOS, terminals are able to better respond to supply chain disruptions.
Beyond terminal operations, GTOS is also infused with digitalisation technology that facilitates real-time visibility and collaboration with the port ecosystem, a key step towards enabling more resilient, agile and sustainable supply chains.
Technology Blueprint for the Future
PSA Technology 4.0 (PSAT 4.0) is our enhanced technology blueprint which was newly launched in 2021. There are five broad families under PSAT 4.0: Port Technology; Enterprise Technology; Business Analytics Technology; Cargo Solutions Technology; and Marine Technology.
Each technological family provides the vision, knowledge and insights to automate our processes and help our digital workforce work smartly, speedily and securely. PSAT 4.0, together with the technology classification and management frameworks, and our Centre of Expertise programme, form the key elements of PSA’s Technology Franchise.
Leveraging Startup Thinking
In 2021, PSA unboXed partnered with global supply chain visibility provider, Roambee, to enhance real-time visibility in port and cargo flow. PSA’s domain expertise in port and cargo flow, combined with Roambee’s real-time sensor intelligence and immersive location-aware platform, will prove to be a powerful combination for supply chain orchestration capabilities.
The strategic investment and partnership will allow PSA and Roambee to co-create a verifiable item-level, multimodal Full Container Load/Less than Container Load visibility solution and ocean milestone standard backed by first-hand sensor and port operations intelligence.
