What is the present state of digital transformation for the process industry?
Aims of today’s Process Industries include achieving higher productivity, reducing product life cycles, and improving operational efficiency and safety. In order to stay ahead in the oil and gas solutions market, they must remain compliant with the regulations. Digital transformation is essential for industries: They need a highly connected, data-intensive ecosystem of digital solutions and services. By leveraging the benefits of digital transformation, industries gain more flexibility, efficiency and productivity than ever before, through connectivity, compatibility and collaboration.
An essential qualification for the digital transformation is the connectivity of various devices and assets along the entire value chain, including controllers, machines, products, and even operators. In the industrial sector, networks of digital systems are seamlessly interconnected and controlled and monitored through distributed control systems. Industry is improving productivity, safety, and efficiency through digital transformation. A complete picture of operations and their optimization is crucial to operational performance. The enterprise is becoming increasingly interconnected. Flow of information easily across operational and business systems, allowing for new abilities like predictive maintenance, operational efficiencies, and data-driven decision making.
Information technology (IT) and operational technology (OT) have traditionally been responsible for managing operations in manufacturing and process industries. Technology-based management and operations were handled by IT teams, while equipment, machines, and processes were monitored and controlled by operational teams. Information technology and operations have long been siloed, with limited communication and knowledge sharing.
In conjunction with the Industrial Revolution 4.0, and plant-wide connectivity, and the expansion of the Internet of Things (IoT), intelligent manufacturing technology has been introduced, bridging the IT and OT divides.
Alternative energy sources and low prices threaten the Oil & Gas industry, is digital transformation able to help?
During these times of plummeting oil prices, many oil and gas companies are capitalizing on digitalization. Using data and insights generated from the digitalization of oil and gas services, companies can gain end-to-end visibility into their performance along with a granular view of their resources, enabling them to draft faster and more effective strategies to grow their business.
For better efficiency, security, and safety, oil and gas companies are connecting oil fields, refineries, and pipelines that will let them manage the performance and process productivity more efficiently, more securely, and more safely. Moreover, they will explore collaborative and integrated operations with remote management in order to reduce costs and risks while ensuring business continuity.
How can the industry benefit from digital trends?
Oil and gas companies benefit from automation in the following ways:
- To identify hazardous situations and prioritize the response according to their priority through an alarm system and safety system
- Obtaining various types of information, such as test reports, shutdown reports, and alarms, to ensure plant safety
- The detection of leaks and thefts in pipelines
- Provide a virtual commissioning approach that results in fewer on-site changes, and
- Using configurable I/O drastically reduces marshaling and hardwiring, saving time and money.
By using the same communication protocol, the connected devices and machines understand the information and can respond appropriately. Coordinating these interactions creates an autonomous state, allowing machines to execute any task with minimal supervision. We focused on developing an autonomous future for industry by using advanced methods such as industrial artificial intelligence.
Digital transformation includes elements such as the digital twin. Using simulations reduces development, testing and production times and even production costs, allowing industries to streamline development, testing, and production. To successfully use digital twins, it is essential to have consistent data along the entire asset lifecycle. The assets can be either products, systems, or factories.
