Management by Exception could be shipping’s future
Management by Exception (MbE) is an emerging technology that promises to revolutionise the way ship operations are monitored and controlled, one of its leading advocates believes
Richard Buckley named his company 90 Percent of Everything to reflect shipping’s vital role in transporting the vast majority of everything that is traded worldwide. He is convinced that we’re on the threshold of a new way of looking at shipmanagement, based on his experience of developing software to support what he calls ‘Management by Exception’ (MbE)
IN many areas of our lives, Management by Exception (MbE) is already playing a significant role, but the shipping sector is yet to fully embrace it, believes Richard Buckley, founder and CEO of the maritime software provider 90 Percent of Everything (90POE).
In this podcast, he says that MbE programs — such as 90POE’s OpenOcean STUDIO platform — can automate routine operations and issue alerts when they detect anomalies and deviations from a system’s normal operating conditions. He considers some of the implications and benefits of taking this approach, including how it can support regulatory compliance and the impact on the bottom line.
He offers some examples of MbE applications, including two that will be familiar to many drivers: satnav-powered mapping software that warns of delays and instruments that monitor a vehicle’s systems and alert the driver if they deviate from acceptable settings.
But although “management by exception is all around us, … it hasn’t been embraced by our industry yet,” he suggests. Instead, the maritime sector mostly uses manual processes and experience-based decision making that could be transformed by applying MbE, he believes.
It would “focus people’s attention on deviations and anomalies”, enabling managers to avoid spending time on constant oversight of operational systems. For example, if MbE triggers an alert, it gives people “a smarter, clearer view of disruptions,” he says. “The term we use is that humans are on the loop; they’re not directly in it… and they get pulled in when needed,” enabling them to intervene promptly and effectively.
MbE can benefit from advances in artificial intelligence (AI), Buckley indicates in his podcast comments. At its core, MbE uses “event-based systems” that are not new technology but are little used in maritime management but could be “fundamental to making AI effective in our industry”. The rapid evolution of AI could build on that foundation to “deliver real, tangible value”, he says, that will allow companies to anticipate and manage disruptions, “significantly enhancing safety, efficiency, sustainability and competitive positioning”.
In the future, AI processes could also make operational decisions, he says, using “agentic” AI techniques. He describes this as a “frontier technology” and explores in this podcast whether listeners should be concerned about AI taking corrective action on its own initiative, which he acknowledges is “a very understandable and real concern”.