With more than 3,800 in-person visitors onsite and 1,000 more live-streaming online, Aveva World 2024 in Paris on Oct. 14-16 was reported to be the largest event in its history—all focused on overcoming barriers to using industrial software and digitalization to bring real results and solid value to the physical world.
“We can’t share data among applications and users by continuing to work in silos. That era has to be over. We have to do things differently because the way they were done previously no longer works, especially in the world of industrial software,” said Caspar Herzberg, CEO at Aveva, which is now wholly owned by Schneider Electric. “The two big changes lately are the scale and natures of changes occurring, such as climate change. Most people don’t understand how bad it’s gotten, but the solution is humanity collaborating in new ways across borders and industries. The second change is technology fusing with other technologies, and enabling this radical collaboration in different ways, which include combinations of big data, digitalization, artificial intelligence (AI) and quantum computing.”
Elkem implements SCADA, MES and AIM
For instance, Norway-based Elkem operates 15 plants and 19 control centers to produce its silicon-based materials, and over the years it adopted several of Aveva’s software packages, including:
- Supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) by implementing Aveva InTouch software at five plants that produce silicon, carbon and graphite products;
- Manufacturing execution system (MES) for production support by using Aveva MES at four carbon plants, eight silicon plants and one graphite plant;
- Asset information management (AIM) at an as-built information hub, which lets users access various disciplines and systems, and allows a visual approach to mixing features, such as 3D drawings, diagrams, tables and text;
- Operational safety management (OSM) by using Aveva OSM software to digitalize the work permit and safe job analysis (SJA) processes at Elkem’s Bremanger plant; and
- Unified operations center (UOC) for aggregating and displaying processes on the plant-floor level, also at the Bremanger facility.
“We can analyze complex data from Aveva’s applications and integrate results from competitors’ software, too,” added Herzberg. “This drives efficiency more quickly, so users can cut emissions sooner, and develop the faith and confidence they need to collaborate.”
Human element helps AI digitalize and decarbonize
However, Herzberg cautioned that the key to these innovations will be people because their technical strides will continue to rely on trust, standards, requirements and competitiveness. “AI is humanity’s digital twin, but Aveva has been doing it for 17 years. However, it’s still just technology that serves us,” added Herzberg. “It’s only insightful and effective when we build something with it, and bring information and analytics together on one platform, which allows digital transformation at scale, and lets us cooperate on addressing the challenges facing our planet.”
This unified platform is likely to combine technologies from Aveva, Schneider Electric and Databricks, which are planning to release a joint solution in January 2025. In fact, Herzberg’s opening-day keynote was punctuated by an onstage discussion with Jean-Pascal Tricoire, chairman of Schneider Electric, and Mattei Zaharia, professor at University of California Berkley and CTO of Databricks, which supplies its AI-enabled data intelligence platform.
“The two big items that comes up when we interact with customers lately are digitalization and decarbonization, but these efforts require a partnership to get their data right,” said Tricoire. “Digitalization is constantly shifting the human role, not to mention the way we live, so how can the C-level convince potential users that adopting it will empower them to do want they couldn’t do before? This is similar to AI performing better inspections and freeing users to focus on responding to results, or digital twins making collaboration easier by allowing different users to see the same data views.”
Zaharia added, “AI makes massive-scale, deep-learning possible, which can generate better-quality data, results and decisions. We’re excited to see how the new Aveva Connect unified, cloud-based industrial intelligence platform will take on challenges like sustainability.”
Tricoire added that many sustainability technologies are presently available, but the obstacle to using them is deployment. “Massive collaboration using these technologies is the only way to approach sustainability,” added Tricoire. “Industry could save 30% of the energy it uses today by using tools like this, but people are slow to adopt them.”
Putting AI into practice
Rob McGreevy, chief product officer at Aveva, reported that multiple early-adopters are already using the Connect platform and AI to optimize their processes. These users include:
- Talison Lithium produces 40% of the world’s hard-rock lithium, and it’s employing Connect to reduce energy costs, improve efficiency and yield, increase uptime and reliability, and empower its workforce.
- etap and Red Sea Resorts are using Connect on renewable energy projects to maximize utilization, reduce energy losses, and improve reliability.
- BAE Systems and Visony Production are using Connect to enable real-time ship operations on floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) vessels, such as optimizing fuel consumption to save £35-140 million, and reduce engineering costs.
“Applying AI to the SCADA data from an FPSO’s pumps can show vibrations and current draws more easily, as well as provide text manuals and recommend corrective actions,” added McGreevy. “Connect can also provide digital twins, including 3D models of pumps on the ship, and what devices need to be fixed. It can also blend AI with 2D and 3D visualization, and enable digital manifestations of winds farms and energy-producing processes, downstream hydrogen production, drying and packaging lines in food and beverage facilities, and other applications. This can improve predictive analytics in all the industries we cover, and extend the value of their existing investments.”
For example, Aveva can combine it’s Wonderware InTouch and PI System software with its generative AI (gen AI) software to animate and enhance pipe designs. These drawings usually take 30-60 minutes to produce manually, but McGreevy reports that genAI can animate designs, such as auto-connecting connections points for pumps, in just a few minutes. Scheduled for release in the coming months, this gen AI capability can also reduce setup time by 70%, enable collaboration with other users’ teams, merge with Aveva’s digital twins, and potentially save millions of dollars for large projects.
Similarly, McGreevy added that Aveva’s Connect cloud-based industrial intelligence platform can scale to link worldwide teams. “InTouch and Connect can aggregate reporting and visibility for multisite productivity gains that breathe new life into existing systems,” explained McGreevy. “PI System and Connect can also enable visualization and collaboration. PI securely transmits data to Connect, which aggregates it and applies AI and machine learning (ML) techniques. Next, PI’s writeback function lets PI Vision software expose Connect’s analytics, and deliver them back to operations on the plant-floor. This lets users get advanced insights from familiar tools. Connect can also relay data to Databricks for enterprise analytics.”
On the sustainability front, Lisa Wee, chief sustainability officer at Aveva, reported Oct. 15 that it’s agreed to help battery manufacturer Vulcan Energy Resources decarbonize its lithium production, and develop its first zero-carbon lithium process that’s expected to produce 24,000 tons per year. Aveva’s Connect platform will serve as the production backbone at the lithium processing facility Vulcan is building.
In addition, Wee disclosed that Aveva is helping Oxford Quantum Circuits decouple its computing power from the energy it consumes to integrate quantum computing into commercial data centers. Users can access and employ quantum computing to solve complex problems exponentially faster, such as scheduling, inventory management and grid optimization.
