The process industries have traditionally faced chronic losses when designing plants and trying to maintain and manage asset-lifecycle data, especially during handovers from capital projects to operational plant-life phases. New solutions are available, including 3D computer-aided designs (CAD) and simulations, more operations-focused building information management (BIM) software, and virtual/augmented reality technologies for design, training and longer-term use in operations and maintenance. Aided by the holistic information technology (IT) platforms and the emerging Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT), these new project- and data-management technologies may help users recoup billions of dollars per year in losses.
However, are owner-operators ready for them? While some might be deemed bleeding edge, it may be time for process industry people to upgrade to a fuller realization of today’s lifecycle solutions.
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Waking up from history
Because process facilities have been burdened for many decades with persistent problems reducing efficiency, safety and profitability across their lifecycles, it's often assumed that these difficulties are the unavoidable price of doing business. Project timelines and budgets are still routinely blown due to the inability of partners on capital projects to handle late-stage changes between design and engineering teams, training methods that can’t keep up with generational shift as older, experienced professionals leave the workforce, a lack of IT integration, and other sources of waste and inefficiency.
Read the rest of the article from our sister publication Control Global