Time to get onboard with industrial autonomy

One way the process industry impacts its own future, as well as the future of the industries it serves is through the transition from industrial automation to industrial autonomy (IA2IA). It’s a change Peter Kwaspen, facilities & equipment technology lead, Shell Global Solutions International, said is not only inevitable, but also needed. Kwaspen addressed more than 750 attendees during the opening keynote session at Yokogawa’s YNOW2024 users’ group conference this week in Houston, Texas, the first held in North America since 2018.

A lot has changed since then. Back then, industry was still grappling with cloud computing and data collection and analytics. In the meantime, The COVID-19 pandemic super-charged interest in remote operations while the integration of artificial intelligence (AI) and augmented reality changed planning (and budgets), but also caused some fears and hesitations in current control rooms. That fear won’t last, according to Kwaspen, looking to the influx of Generation Z workers, who have a much different comfort level with autonomous technologies, entering control rooms.

“Generation Z is the first to grow up with this technology being easily accessible,” he said. “Big data and AI are part of what Gen Z will bring into the control rooms.”

And he welcomes the change. “Things need to be made easier and simpler,” he continued.

Responding to change

Before Kwaspen took the stage, Yokogawa’s president and CEO for North America, Kevin McMillen, set the tone for his presentation by emphasizing how digital transition has become part of our lives. “AI impacts every part of our businesses. We can either be run over by it or face the change and use it.” He got a little help from a Boston Dynamics robotic dog, which made an appearance on stage, to illustrate his point.

McMillen implored the audience to embrace their role as architects of the future. “We can harness the power of change to ‘Impact Our World,’ ”’” he added, noting the conference’s overall theme.

Kwaspen filled in the details of how conference attendees can be the architects of change, and it begins with a look beyond the current goals of many companies, who tend to stop their focus at becoming a “decision integrator,” which he defined as allowing decisions to be prepared by machines but with actions taken by people. Rather, he said, the inevitable evolution will lead to intelligent operations, which will transform the workforce, and usher in operations that leverage fully adaptive, autonomous assets.

“Assets today are maturing and morphing into intelligent, autonomous and sustainable assets of the future,” he said, pulling no punches.

This was an opinion largely shared by a follow-up panel discussion, which included Kwaspen, as well as Pankaj Goel, digital transformation advisor, ExxonMobil; Mark Sen Gupta, director of research, ARC Advisory Group; and Rafael Araujo, automation coordinator for Advanced Solutions, Acelen. The panel was moderated by Tom Fiske, principal technology strategist for Yokogawa.

“The next frontier is to leverage information to make it more autonomous,” Sen Gupta said. Meanwhile, Goel pointed out that the quest for industrial autonomy is a journey that will take some time yet to truly achieve.

Araujo sympathized with the fears people in the industry may harbor about autonomous operations, noting that resistance to change often goes together with fears over job losses. However, “It is inevitable that some jobs will shift,” he noted.

Kwaspen agreed noting that, “Getting people to adopt new data sets is a big challenge [for the industrial sector].”

The foundation for industrial autonomy

It’s no surprise to anyone who’s attended a process automation conference over the past few years—and most likely any other industrial conference—that companies have been good at developing new ways to collect data but challenged when It it comes to interpreting and using that data productively. Enter AI and smart field instruments to not only help, but to lead smart operations in plants and facilities, which is the goal of IA2IA, Kwaspen said.

The foundation of design for industrial autonomy is the activation of the “criminally rich data sets from process and safety instrumentation,” Kwaspen explained.  Such data can add significant process value to operations, particularly when it comes to determining the health status of equipment, performance metrics, configuration and process conditions. And it can enable fully remote diagnostics and testing in many cases, which helps move people out of hazardous environments, he said.

He added that such easily accessible instrumentation data leads to more easily implemented action. Shell actively partners with its suppliers, including Yokogawa, on a cloud-based portal to improve the effectiveness of its computerized maintenance management system (CMMS) and business process integration within operations. Autonomous operations also entail using information from advanced analytics and special use-case applications, he said.

Kwaspen also addressed concerns over using more standard methods for all this data handling. He said his experience with many international user associations and operators in the processing industry indicates an increasing demand for standards and fit-for-purpose instrument data handling solutions.

“I’m convinced those challenge will be solved,” he said. “We just need to put our shoulders into it. I think the process industry can solve these challenges.”