Honeywell has embraced a concept to define how it wants to support the use of artificial intelligence (AI)—human-autonomy teaming—which is a human-centered partnership of people and AI working together to enhance cognitive performance. At the 2024 Honeywell User Group conference this week in Dallas, Cesar Bravo, AI solutions director, Honeywell, outlined the company’s AI technology, the Experion Operations Assistant, and how operators can benefit from AI augmentation.
“When people talk about artificial intelligence, especially the application of artificial intelligence in processes in any industry, the current question that comes to mind is, will it replace workers? Is this going to displace the workforce?” Bravo asked. Honeywell’s answer is no, and instead, AI and humans will work together.
“We see artificial intelligence and other technologies as enablers for the operator, to help the operator to make better decisions,” Bravo said. Instead of replacing the operator, Honeywell aims to enhance operators’ capabilities, so they can spend their time making more valuable decisions and bringing more value to the operation. Through Honeywell’s Experion Operations Assistance, “the users and the system are going to collaborate to create value for the application,” Bravo said.
In any typical process application, operators have specific production goals and tools to achieve their objectives, such as data spreadsheets to track trends. When a failure or event happens, an operator’s first task is to identify what has happened, and they assess the situation, including checking safety systems. Then, to investigate and troubleshoot the problem, operators review trends, check related parameters, do visual inspections and check logbooks.
“That process can be complicated,” Bravo said, as operators must also understand trends based on historical data and by considering the interaction of multiple variables. “It’s cumbersome, and it can be difficult,” he added.
Once an operator fully understands an event and can identify what action can correct the process, then the final step is logging and recording accurate records of the activity. “In the process industry, this is well defined because it’s part of safety, as well as part of the process,” Bravo said.
Faster situational awareness
So how would this process change with the Experion Operations Assistant? Ideally, Bravo said, it can provide predictions about production before events occur, by looking at data patterns to identify potential events in the future, saving investigation time and downtime costs in the first place. “What that brings is faster situation awareness,” Bravo said.
Even with data analysis and predictions, processes can still deviate from normal operating parameters and events can still occur. In that case, the Experion Operations Assistant can provide step-by-step alarm assistance. This is especially beneficial to early career operators and can lead to faster action by more experienced operators.
Then, once an action is taken and the alarm is remedied, the Operations Assistant will automatically log what happened. “What we like to say is that when we implement the assistant, we make every operator the best operator,” Bravo said. “The operator can now spend time looking into the process, improving the process, instead of taking time looking for information.”
The Experion Operations Assistant single-screen display provides all the information that an operator needs to understand what is currently happening in the process and what will likely happen in the future. The display shows a watchlist of current processes, as well as the ability to see historical data. A runway feature at the bottom provides a visual of what is currently happening with each process and also what is coming ahead for the next few hours, so operators can take action before events happens.
Course of action recommendations
When an event does occur, the Experion Operations Assistant can provide historical context about what has typically been done in similar situations without having to track down other operators or information. Analytic methods mine the historical data to find a similar pattern of alarms and the associated operator actions that led to a resolution. With AI-assisted troubleshooting, operators can choose from likely actions and initiate the appropriate action with a single click.
Also, a generative AI feature is available for questions on the dashboard. “We have a conversational agent that allows operators to interact in natural language and ask questions or do intelligent searches deep down into one issue,” Bravo said.
The Experion Operations Assistant is also valuable during shift changes, where it can provide a handover report, highlighting critical anomalies, actions taken, maintenance orders created or completed, and the number of events or equipment downtime that was avoided.
Help available to get started
To get started with the Experion Operations Assistant, Honeywell can collaborate with customers to start a pilot project that is specific to an application’s challenges, expertise, methods and workflows. The development process takes around six months, Bravo said, depending on the complexity of the operation. This includes the initial foundation work to identify a focus or specific site for the pilot project. “We talk about the challenges. We identify one of the use cases that we want to cover,” Bravo said.
Next, after Honeywell configures the solution, operators review the new user interface for usability validation, then 6 to 12 weeks of pilot testing. “We test the solution at the site and show value, and then we roll it out for the rest of the company,” Bravo said. The final stage also includes a training period for operators before the official launch.
Ultimately, all this can accelerate operator expertise. Instead of having an experienced operator training a new operator for six months to a year, the Experion Operations Assistant can provide immediate guidance to make better decisions without extensive supervision.
