Current challenges are increasingly highlighting just how vital digital transformation is to business continuity – especially in the industrial sector.

Owners and operators of refineries, chemical plants and manufacturing facilities must change the way employees work as quickly as possible, and it is clear yesterday’s traditional operating model of onsite availability has evolved – not just due to current circumstances, but because of “The Great Resignation,” retirement of experienced plant workers is creating a shortfall of key skills.

One solution to these challenges is remote technologies that can allow organizations to safely and flexibly harness expertise from around the world to maintain safe operations, increase productivity and cybersecurity and help to protect workers – all while taking a step toward digital transformation.

Let’s review the significant impact of digitization and how it is driving the adoption of remote solutions across the oil and gas sector.

Preparing today’s operations for tomorrow’s challenges 

Digital transformation holds significant promise for manufacturers, unlocking high levels of efficiency, productivity and safety within factories for a competitive, sustainable advantage.

Yet many manufacturers are making limited use of enterprise data to drive operational performance. The norm is still to extract insights from siloed software applications – which tend to be process or asset-specific – and then use analytics to determine what action should be taken. This is a cumbersome, disjointed process that fails to deliver a holistic view of operations.

However, by harnessing sensors, connectivity, data capture, visualization and advanced analytics, manufacturers can create robust remote monitoring and operations and condition-based and predictive maintenance capabilities to drive business performance. 

The industry’s move toward remote operations and project engineering is being facilitated by a new generation of software that can be deployed and used securely.

Remote solutions making transformational upgrades

Seasoned automation suppliers are offering customers a detailed path to digital transformation with remote solutions that deliver the skills, expertise and technology capabilities they need to navigate challenging business conditions.

Using data gathered from processes and assets, remote solutions enable operations personnel – no matter where they may be located - to manage daily production and maintenance functions and drive continuous improvement across multiple sites. They also enable employees to track production targets, operate plant processes, monitor asset health and even create demos or “practice scenarios” to determine the effect of operational changes before implementation.

Remote capabilities help manage installed automation systems, networks and devices; and facilitate development, deployment and testing, training and technology migrations.

The right tools for the right job

At present, manufacturers are reducing the number of facility workers to comply with social distancing guidelines and to help keep those remaining onsite protected. At the same time, they’re investing in safety equipment like digital video and access control systems to provide a clear view of who is on site at all times.

The latest digital workforce management solutions leverage real-time data to improve the compliance, productivity and safety of employees, contractors and visitors. These solutions provide real-time monitoring and enforcement capabilities and integrate with access control and enterprise resource planning systems to streamline workforce management activities. 

Plant operators, meanwhile, can now view critical processes running on physical equipment through a secure app on their mobile devices; and through remote technologies, they gain top to bottom, enterprise-wide data visibility that helps them make better decisions. 

Finally, advanced video collaboration, troubleshooting and maintenance tools are ushering in a new era of remote service and support. These capabilities can be enhanced further by onsite workers donning intelligent wearables to help remote service personnel pinpoint and troubleshoot issues in real time, or conduct Factory Acceptance Testing. Onsite workers, meanwhile, benefit from anywhere, anytime access to knowledge and insights that help them perform their jobs better and maintain operational uptime.

Preparing for the future 

By implementing remote and autonomous solutions, industrial manufacturers can minimize risk, time and effort in the field and streamline their migration process. Remote technologies can reduce cycle time by up to 80%, lower operational costs by as much as 20% and improve migration productivity by at least 60% – all while providing operations personnel with the latest cybersecurity and process control improvements.

As operating teams adjust to the new normal of remote working, they can use augmented reality training to strengthen their skillsets and get up to speed faster. They can even hold virtual training sessions whenever or wherever required via an ‘on-call’ operator.

Conclusion

Industrial manufacturers are increasingly embracing digital transformation in the form of remote and autonomous monitoring, operations, management and support capabilities. Through this operational model, they can connect and analyze asset data from across the enterprise and flexibly harness expertise from across the world to maintain operations, increase productivity and help protect workers.