Advanced Analytics in Zone 1 Hazardous Worksites
Gaining a competitive edge over the competition is a significant driver for innovation. Nothing is better for the bottom line than pairing that with cost-effective systems that require little to no facility or equipment retooling. That is the promise of advanced analytics. Petrochemical organizations that adopt advanced analytics are doing just that — gaining profit and market share advantages over their rivals.
Advanced analytics can efficiently and cost-effectively transform operational data into operational intelligence by taking advantage of high-quality, high-frequency data generated by widely-used process-control approaches.
What Are Advanced Analytics?
Advanced analytics uses existing data collected and stored from analyzers and sensors, or anything related to data collected for processes in a new way to optimize the system. For example, a mid-stream sensor may have a primary purpose for verifying chemical composition during a reagent reaction, but this same data can optimize and reduce impurities.
One
analysis found a 5% throughput increase by controlling variables that could lead to impurities. Another example from that analysis found a 2-5% margin improvement when using advanced analytics for supply chain optimization in planning and scheduling for changes in availability, prices, and market demand.
Advanced analytics relates to
artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning. AI can identify trends and use that to predict results in a way people cannot, due to the large data sets in processing. The machines are not basing their interpretation on specific skill sets or data preferences. Instead, they are learning to analyze the data as they complete the computations and present the information to increase productivity without intrinsic bias.
Leveraging Data With Advanced Analytics
Leveraging advanced analytics can generate the greatest value for petrochemical organizations in four main operational areas.
Profit Per Hour
Many factors go into profit per hour at a petrochemical facility. Existing and older facilities often trend lower for throughput and profitability. However, with advanced analytics, facilities can find energy efficiencies to reduce energy and fuel consumption, optimize yields and throughput, and convert raw materials to finished products cost-effectively.
Asset Reliability
Predictive maintenance aims to increase asset reliability by ensuring equipment and components experience minimal unplanned downtime. Currently, advanced analytics for asset reliability works well for large-scale fleet management of identical assets with sufficient data to predict typical failure modes. Industries like petrochemical organizations can develop predictive maintenance systems across facilities and use AI to continually refine system reliability.
Value Chains
Petrochemical organizations are highly interconnected across facilities and continents. This includes internal and external supply chains for products and transportation. Advanced analytics can optimize this interconnected network for planning activities to better use all facilities across their system, including identifying intermediate or external product delivery risks.
Sales Performance
Traditional data analysis methods can make sales performance improvements difficult with many global external factors. But using advanced analytical methods, system-wide improvements are possible by creating customized and dynamic pricing structures. Success in sales performance often necessitates implementing systemic change in management principles.
Advanced Analytics Considerations for Zone 1 Industries
Petrochemical and other Zone 1 industries are prime candidates to use advanced analytics to
digitize record keeping. Advanced analytics uses continuous data collection to improve throughput, increase efficiency, and create secure and reliable on-site personnel communication. This can reduce downtime for maintenance and reduce the risk of accidents. Aegex Technologies' digital solutions make digital hazloc a reality with intrinsically safe tablets like the
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Aegex Technologies to see how to increase operational intelligence with advanced analytics.
