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Dear Readers, Welcome to the latest issue of The Magazine
The chemical industry has been one of the leading sectors in industrial automation for years, where more and more complex systems are being brought together that are allowing to highly improve competitiveness. All this in an environment where safety and environmental regulations are among the most demanding.
Therein lies the value of turning maintenance into a differential advantage. Ensuring an optimal state of the installation and maximizing process time is considered a decisive value in a sector where margins tend to vary greatly and where the value is in the volume produced – especially in the base and secondary chemistry.
5 key points to take your chemical facility or factory maintenance to the next level:
1.A CMMS or APM according to current needs and possibilities. There have been maintenance software for a few years now, in charge of planning work teams, installed assets, and stock. Its main function has been to coordinate what is necessary to carry out corrective and preventive maintenance actions.
Now, there is already software that allows in an affordable way to perform predictive maintenance without the need for Data Scientists on the team. This should allow anticipating errors as it has not been possible to do so far.
It should also be noted that, in the same way, that these years a gradual merger between IT and OT equipment is being noticed, the same is happening with operations and maintenance needs. The trend clearly marks that they must coordinate more and better than until now, therefore, CMMS or APM software must have the possibility of interacting in a simple way with production software – SCADAs and planners -.
2. Knowledge of the most critical communications.
Today, due to the advantages offered by the most critical communications, they are carried out with field buses – where Profibus is still the most used -. Their properties continue to make them the most suitable communication method for this over Ethernet or wireless media.
However, these field buses are noticeably more difficult to supervise, monitor, and diagnose than TCP / IP communication. Therefore, in the event of any failure, it will be necessary to have the necessary tools to find where a problem has occurred or may occur.
3. Possibility of Fast Recovery. When an instrument stops working, replacing it is enough. However, there are multiple essential elements that, in case of failure, a replacement is not enough.
For example, if a PLC breaks down, not only should another be installed, but the latest version of its program must be installed on it. How to manage this backup management and version comparison requires specific tools, but the return and peace of mind they provide in the event of a possible failure is evident.
4. Possibility of local reporting. Either using the maintenance software mentioned above or using another specific tool, maintenance and operations need to have the ability to make studies of the production areas and of the specific machines and instrumentation.
This study near the field is of great interest because the information at a high level can simply remain at that, high level, when in the field having the concrete data makes a difference. In the same way, those closest to production can understand and contextualize the information since their work applies directly to it.
5. Training and technological support. It is undeniable that digitization is here to stay in the world of maintenance. This has innumerable advantages, but it also requires recycling of the classic work equipment in charge of it.
Therefore, in the face of any type of improvement of the aforementioned, it is necessary not only to choose a technology but also with whom to work. Today, it is considered unthinkable to choose a tool, no matter how powerful, where the supplier does not also have a specific training program on the tool and technology, an advisory team or staff dedicated to providing support, in case there are problems or doubts once installed.
This last point is especially important in the chemical industry. As mentioned, safety, traceability, and environmental regulations are especially rigorous in this sector, so any type of incident or problem must be solved as quickly and rigorously as possible.
Digitization in the chemical industry Digitization is transforming the global chemical industry with significant repercussions on all basic functions: supply chain, production, maintenance, services, marketing, sales, research and development, human resources, etc. Developing a digital strategy and integrating agile digital initiatives across the organization are essential to address current and future challenges, as well as to harness the business potential arising from the destabilizing elements of digitization.
After decades of consolidation through mergers and acquisitions, downstream specialization with higher value-added products, as well as the emergence and rapid development of new competitors in Asia and the Middle East, the chemical industry heavily equipped is currently facing, like all other global markets, the upheavals arising from the disruptive potential of digitization.
These inevitable consequences on the global ecosystem of the chemical industry require rapid (and, in some cases, radical) adjustments to business models by developing and implementing a digital strategy. To stay competitive, companies must be ready to take on new digital challenges to meet customer needs and, if possible, define the future of digital engagement.
Traditional companies in the chemical industry cannot adopt the business model of “Digital Pure Players”, e-businesses created for the digital age without physical channels. However, they can draw fundamental lessons and key indications to follow on the path to digital transformation.
In this perspective, it is important to ask questions such as:
● Are we creating better products, stronger customer loyalty, and new business models fast enough to ensure future growth? ● Are we attractive to customers who are increasingly eager for real-time responses? ● Are our internal processes able to cope with the increasing demands for efficiency and agility?
Our digital strategy experts will put at your service their knowledge of the chemical industry and their functional skills in digital customer management, business model development, process optimization, and technology.
We have developed a scalable approach to determine the state of your company’s digital activities, assess the digital options of today and tomorrow, and guide you from digital vision to digital strategy. The following steps are the stages of implementation:
● Develop a progressive digital transformation plan ● Define the principles and internal integration of digital ● Increase agility to overcome structural inertia ● Develop a digital culture and failure (dare to fail) ● Define, implement and monitor coherent key performance indicators to ensure economic and commercial relevance and competitiveness ● Building the digital business on data analysis
Your advantages:
● Strengthening customer focus and improving innovation performance ● Improved responsiveness and quality of services compared to competitors ● Strengthening competitiveness ● Sustainable growth
If you want more information about our solutions focused on the chemical industry, do not hesitate to ask us for more information.
Author Bio Name- Sumit Agarwal Bio- Sumit is a director of marketing in MLA Group. MLA Group is the largest manufacturers of Aluminium/Calcium Silicates in India having complete vertical integration and unique product properties.
