Remote Data
When we at DJS talk about remote data, we are discussing the opportunity of bringing plant data/SCADA systems into the cloud so that they can be (with high security) easily accessed through a web browser by the right people.
In this post I’ll run through the benefits of remote data, how impressively it scales up when multiple plants are involved and how it combines with our automation solutions to amplify savings.
First off, there’s one key difference to understanding a plants saving potential when bringing their data online:
- Solo Plants
- Owned by a company who has just that one plant
- Family Plants
- Owned by a company who run this and many other plants within a similar industry (Mining, Oil, Packaging, Food Processing, Manufacturing etc)
So why is it important to note the difference? Well both have the opportunity to grab the following benefits by bringing plant data online.
- Enables low cost 24/7 plant monitoring to stabilise the process swings common on weekends/night shifts
- Minimise site visits required
- For test facilities this means clients aren’t required to visit which has cost, logistic and time saving benefits
- Enable data focused employees to work off-site eg: cheaper to employ people in cities than in remote areas
- Enables smaller plants to employ contracted solutions to plant problems at lower cost
Given the relatively low cost of implementation, these benefits make for a highly cost-effective way to reduce costs.
For larger companies however the benefits quickly ramp up as they begin to stretch, currently the standard large company will have a mix of high and low performing plants to which the solution is standardisation. This standardisation however comes with great difficulty and debate, rarely achieving real standardisation within companies, this is where the bulk of the new benefits come from for larger companies:
- Centralising the process monitoring along with giving the 24/7 benefits also allows optimisation or advancements to be realised across multiple sites without barriers
- Automated standard reporting across multiple sites improves the process of identifying areas for improvement
- Centralised model development and optimisation of that model
If all these benefits aren’t enough to justify looking into remote data opportunities, consider how this ties into our overall objective at DJS. As discussed in a previous post (here) DJS specialises in automating the optimisation of various tasks including:
- Production forecasting
- Process analysis/monitoring
- Unit operation optimisations
- Turnaround optimisation
- Maintenance planning
- Set point optimisation
- Reporting
- Much more
Once these automated solutions are made for one plant and with data available on the cloud the programs can easily be tweaked to fit the next plant or 2 or 3 or… Allowing for a significant amplification of savings seen by combining both remote data and automation to plants. Both remote data and automation are highly valuable in their own right, when combined they can bring substantial savings to the business by making everything transparent, easy to access and reliable.
Please feel free to leave comments and share so we can bring real standardisation and automation to an industry that stands to gain incredible value
To contact us and discuss how we can help you contact us by phone or email
Europe/North America – David Smith
David.Smith@DJSProcessConsulting.co.uk
+44 7769 705 979
Asia/Oceania – Joshua Koszo
JoshuaK@DJSProcessConsulting.co.uk
+61 416 238 367
Thanks for reading,
Joshua Koszo
Senior Automation Specialist