At today’s keynote session to mark the opening of the Honeywell Users Group (HUG) meeting in Madrid, Pramesh Maheshwari, president, Honeywell Process Solutions, outlined the company’s commitment to keep its customers a step ahead of the array of challenges that face industry today—as well as those sure to emerge down the road.
His message fit well with the meeting theme, “Ahead of the Curve,” on which Sonia Sulis, HUG program chair and advanced control and alarm management supervisor for the Saras Group, congratulated the event’s steering committee, as she welcomed the more than 1,100 registrants from 54 countries to the 47th gathering of this seminal industry group.
“Ahead of the Curve means staying ahead of the challenges we face, as well as the passion and vision to tackle those ahead,” explained Maheshwari. “As you plan your activities these next several days,” he challenged attendees, “ask yourselves: what is it you and your organization need to move your business forward?”
Maheshwari said that the HUG 2024 agenda has been built around three key aspects of Honeywell’s development efforts that are key to industrial progress: AI, cybersecurity and energy transition.
“Digital transformation, especially facilitated by AI, plays a central role in advancing key business objectives—but implementation can keep you up at night,” he said. “How do you ensure that AI systems are integrated consistently, scalably and holistically?”
AI to augment more effective workers
Also, with a nod to the pandemic-spurred uptick in retirements, Maheshwari stressed the importance that AI plays in how we are to train and accommodate industry’s next-generation workforce. “AI is a tool to facilitate that training, to augment human capabilities,” he said. “Imagine predictive abilities that allow workers to envision future developments and intervene proactively,” he said. This technology holds the potential to revolutionize the productivity and effectiveness of workers whether they be in maintenance, operations and engineering roles.
Many AI capabilities already are available in Honeywell’s current products, Maheshwari added. “And we’re bringing AI to other core capabilities to make plants run better and more safely and for organizations to respond more quickly.”
And as AI and digital transformation increase the level of automation, cyber risks are also increasing, he continued. “It’s not just an IT issue; it’s a core business priority,” he said.
The final HUG focus area is the challenge of energy transition, one Honeywell faces together with its customers. “We have targets, too, including carbon neutrality by 2035, which we declared in 2021,” Maheshwari said.
Among the energy transition initiatives that Honeywell is actively pursuing is the reduction of emissions. “And not through monthly estimates,” Maheshwari explained, “but in real-time: including detection, measurement, monitoring and reporting.” Honeywell is also investing in battery storage technology to facilitate industry’s energy transition, he said.
“It’s a complex journey with many hurdles and milestones,” concluded Maheshwari. “But imagine a world of unprecedented industrial productivity that is safer; that is cyber-secure; that advances the energy transition and is ultimately a better place to live. We have to stay Ahead of the Curve.”
