Vijayalakshmi Ramanujan

Overview Robotics and automation is becoming more prevalent in the oil & gas industry nowadays. The global demand for more production has urged many oil & gas companies to invest heavily. To gain competence, robotics and advanced automation systems have been currently used to reduce cost and improve safety, efficiency and accuracy. An oil & gas facility is a complex myriad of equipment, patterns and staff. Determining the processes with in-depth knowledge prior to bringing automation is imperative to effective operation. System integration becomes easier with effective configuration of digitalization and automation parts during operation. The impact of new standard policies is evident, especially for inspection & maintenance of equipment. Automation in oil & gas is still in inception due to the challenges in implementing robots or automation systems in offshore environment and a lack of standards or prototypes. The real challenge is process management, i.e. achieving productivity, reliability and compliance with standards through data management. Automation is thus set up to adhere to standards, provide robust integrated operation with less commissioning time, and reduce costs, risks and inconsistencies. Scope Challenges Some of the main challenges faced by our clients in robotics and automation projects include  The plant required an electronic design capable of withstanding adverse environmental conditions, such as deep extreme heat, temperature, dust, and corrosion.  Coordinating the workforce with different levels of expertise and the robotics or automatic systems in the field involved painstaking effort.  Streamlining the requirements of automation and business operation to establish end-to-end solutions to thrive in the market.  Valorisation is an everlasting issue, involving harnessing resources based on the long or short term plans.  Needed to revisit the extraction, production and distribution processes to improve environmental footprint for confirmed solutions.  Modernising systems with variable span of automation control to achieve excellence, flexibility and security to gain competitive edge.  Inconsistent plant operations while remodelling systems based on size and span.  Stakeholder expectations vary with the latest automation and digitalisation trends. Solutions We were able to help our clients overcome their challenges by the seamless integration of industrial processes with digital and automation for reducing commissioning time as follows: 1. Designing explosion proof or corrosion free suite from the recognised portfolio 2. Prior decision on replacing young or retired workforce with automatic machines 3. Optimising the business strategy for fixing the automation and industrial processes 4. Fuel use with supply–demand analysis 5. Implementing the transparent environmental procedures abiding the standards 6. Refining the model functionalities based on different levels of automation to achieve competence 7. Improving interoperability to ensure consistent operations 8. Incorporating marketing measures with constant touch with the market Impact As a total system integrator, we have framed a long-term strategy of balancing the industrial processes with automation approaches in this project. Implementing the aforementioned solutions, our clients will experience reduced human errors and green energy, enjoy flexible operation even in marketing fluctuations, have increased customer base with innovation, confirm modularity needs and play a reputable role in the market.