April 2019

Stephen Woodhouse is chief digital officer at Pöyry, looks at why we must start planning for the coming digital age today. ‘D on’t work harder, work smarter’, this old adage is taking on new significance as digitalisation transforms our economies. Today, we stand at the precipice of a global productivity revolution and the watchword of this will be: “work smarter.” Yet, while this transformation will free us from a great deal of wasted time, it will also require us to change the energy industry. In the future, we will all be required to learn new skills and change the way we work – quite fundamentally – to adapt to this emerging reality. This requires workforces to change their cultures and mindsets, while also learning new ways of working. This is no small task. Yet it is vital, because those who succeed will find themselves at a competitive advantage. Digital applications in energy have the potential to transform the sector, by delivering greater efficiency throughout the entire supply chain, by revolutionising companies’ relationships with their customers, and by unlocking the potential for deep decarbonisation through automating flexibility to match production patterns of renewable energy. The earliest digital breakthroughs are in predictive asset maintenance, improved forecasting and real-time monitoring, and digital tools that aim to attract and retain customers. Drones and UAVs for remote inspections, as well as process mining and text mining are also helping to improve efficiency. Digital twins allow ‘what-if’ and predictive analysis to be performed on virtual representations of physical assets. Artificial intelligence is unlocking value almost everywhere it is applied. So, while this revolution will be full of opportunity, we must ask ourselves some tough questions: What does the future look like? How do companies ensure they have the right structure and skills to lead this change? And what does the company of the future look like? Skilling up While still a nascent technology, predictive asset maintenance is becoming one of the more mature digital technologies in the energy sector – and it tells us important things about the changes to come. Today, predictive maintenance is at the cutting edge, but tomorrow it will be part of a much bigger system. We are still at the cusp of what the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) can do. The guiding star for all “industry 4.0” technologies will be data. The data that these IIoT sensors gather will enable companies to identify and resolve problems remotely, allow engineers to deploy their time more efficiently and, eventually, machine learning might help plants automate simple engineering jobs. It will also allow plant owners to gain insights into their own operations and identify how assets can be used more productively. Energy companies are still only at an early stage in exploiting digital technologies and data streams, such as machine learning applied to rich data sources. However, this future is not yet here. To reach this point, we need better access to clean, accessible data streams and we need to better identify where to focus our efforts. We also need to get around 22 | Plant & Works Engineering www.pwemag.co.uk April 2019 Smart Maintenance Management Focus Don’t work harder, work smarter…

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