June
2016
51
HYDROCARBON
ENGINEERING
R
efining and processing are not only technical
and engineering operations, but are subject to
changing market demands and environmental
and safety regulations. Facilities continue to
develop new ways to streamline operations and make
better use of assets, automate and improve process
efficiency, better manage the supply chain in response
to business and market needs, safeguard employee
safety, and ensure environmental compliance.
With an ageing workforce, growing security
requirements, and a deluge of new data sources,
technology is required in order to successfully innovate
existing use cases and drive new ones. With more
visibility into operational workflows through technologies
such as wireless and location services, the effort to
improve average worker productivity (wrench time) in the
field can be increased and even doubled. A 2009 study
1
shows process industry averages of between 25 - 35%, and
in an upstream processing facility project an increase
from 18 to 40% was observed.
A 2015 Cisco study
2
indicated that oil and gas leaders
are focusing on getting more from existing assets. The
LET'S GET
Rik Irons-Mclean, Cisco Systems, UK,
describes how operators can increase
worker, process and plant productivity in an ever developing digital world.
