Ian Linaker on how Weave Intelligence is changing aviation with Big Data and AI

Ian Linaker sits down with OBH to discuss how Weave is changing aviation with Big Data and AI.

Weave Intelligence is a revolutionary software developed to meet a specific need within the aviation industry. It delivers fully connected product tracking to help customers make sense of their operations and find better ways to manage their complex procurement problems.  

“Airlines are very good at procuring products, but the understanding of the product lifecycle can often stop there, once it’s on the plane,” says Ian Linaker, Founder of Weave Intelligence. “There are so many products where it then becomes extremely difficult to know what you have, how many you have, how old they are, and importantly, where all the product is at any one time.”  

“Airlines have huge, costly black holes where money is leaving the airline.” These black holes are points all across the airline network, but “the airline doesn’t know where.”

Inventory visibility

Weave saves product usage costs, autonomously tracks product locations, and provides full global inventory visibility. “Our specialised  tracking tags give our customers powerful, insightful reporting that delivers savings and real, tangible change in their supply chains.”  

Weave Intelligence is built from the ground up using the very latest in Internet of Things (IoT) infrastructure and architecture, all connected through our cloud-based database and AI platform. Weave operates the world’s largest connected reading infrastructure for aviation, connecting laundries, cabin cleaners and caterers all around the world into a single network.  

“Weave humanizes big data to deliver invaluable intelligence that our clients use to achieve competitiveness, efficiency, and a new level of inventory awareness.”  

Weave makes it possible for airlines to track and locate individual products wherever they are in the world, providing valuable insight into inventory levels, value, age, flow between locations, rotations at laundries, as well as equipment balance.

Granular detail

Digitisation in the food and beverage industry enables caterers to track their supply chain, stock levels, expiry dates and the movement of units. Until now, however, a granular detail has not been available for textile products or other onboard items used by the airline industry.

“The only data our clients historically were able to utilise was how many items they inject into the operation per year,” Linaker says. Weave Intelligence solves this problem by giving accurate, near-real-time data that delivers a better understanding of what is really happening in the supply chain. It delivers valuable data that drive better procurement and operational decision-making.  

For example, for textiles, Weave uses tracking technology to monitor the lifecycle of every textile product in circulation.  

Connecting dots

Weave Intelligence connects the dots across an entire network of provisioning centres and provides a full picture of the supply chain by analysing the traffic of millions of individually tagged assets, collecting data from hundreds of reading points around the world.  

“The moment a Weave blanket enters circulation, you can track everything from the number of units on hand to a product’s age, its rotations, the overall equipment balance and location as well as product performance.  

“For example, ‘Are there enough pillowcases in circulation? Where are they? When are they going to run out? Are they performing as expected as a stock-keeping unit (SKU)?’ Weave can answer all of these questions by tracking inventory automatically at a unit level. We can differentiate between all of the different SKUs because every tracking data is unique.”

Supply chain assessments

Before implementing Weave Intelligence, our team conducts thorough supply chain assessments. “This ensures a seamless integration of Weave into existing systems and workflows, without requiring a change to processes.”  

Product data is securely transmitted to an encrypted, cloud-based database, which then undergoes complex analysis using AI and other reporting tools. Access to this data is made available through Weave Intelligence’s intuitive user interface.  

Weave’s software then leverages this global data to help its clients solve underlying supply chain issues. “Weave will be the largest global network of connected outstations in the world, providing our customers with one single source of real-time inventory data”.