ARCHIVE FOR THE ‘oil-and-gas’ CATEGORY

 

 

In a recent edition of the Field Service Podcast, Field Service News, Editor-in-Chief, Kris Oldland sat down with Patrick Jansen, Field Service Manager, VBR Turbines, about why they decided to undertake an in-depth build of their own bespoke IoT solution.

"It all started about 6 years ago. We are an MRO (maintenance and repair organisation)  so we do own anything, we don't produce anything, our business is service. We saw that our market was changing. There was knowledge drain, changes in the labour market and more." Jansen explained. 

"So we started to look at what our service deliver should be like ten years from now and alongside that how could we overcome the challenges that we face in the labour market and how could we address the knowledge drain with our customers. There were a couple of things that saw needed to be done.

"One of the main drivers for us was to create an additional tool to facilitate remote support for the customer but also do diagnostics on the assets. This is because in the energy market within Europe has changed significantly." he added.

One such change has been the shift within the energy sector is that the traditional way of working with a predictive maintenance schedule was to base the schedule on running hours, but this is no longer an appropriate methodology as the amount of running hours has reduced. 

However, there were other benefits that Jansen and the team at VBR Turbines were able to benefit from - including the reduction in training time for new engineers. 

"The remote solutions can help people to get trained faster, the time to training a field service engineer really dramatically reduced." Jansen added. 

 

---

 

Want to know more? Check out the Full Podcast in our Premium Content Library by clicking the button below or subscribe to the podcast on iTunes 

 

According to a new research report from the M2M/IoT analyst firm Berg Insight, the number of devices featuring cellular or satellite connectivity deployed in oil and gas applications amounted to 1.3 million at the end of 2018.

 

Growing at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 6.8 percent, this number is expected to reach 1.9 million units by 2023. Remote monitoring of tanks and industrial equipment in the midstream and downstream sectors comprise the most common applications for wireless solutions in the oil and gas industry. Berg Insight expects that shipments in the upstream sector will grow faster, although from a much smaller base, as cellular communications become an increasingly viable alternative to proprietary radio due to improved 4G LTE coverage in North America and broader support from the industry.

 
While the market has been affected by the decrease in oil prices in recent years, significant developments have taken place in regard to the industry landscape and technological advances. Major automation vendors such as Emerson, Siemens, Schneider Electric, Yokogawa, Honeywell and ABB are investing heavily in the development of software platforms to support use cases surrounding predictive analytics and digital twins. Recent developments further include Rockwell Automation’s joint venture agreement with the major oilfield service company Schlumberger to create Sensia, an integrated automation solution provider in the oil and gas industry. On the communications side, several initiatives have been launched to promote the adoption of cellular technologies in the utilities industry, primarily in the US. In early 2019, leading cellular device providers, including Sierra Wireless, Cisco, MultiTech Systems, GE and Encore Networks together with spectrum licensees and utilities formed the Utility Broadband Alliance (UBBA) to advance the development of private LTE networks for critical infrastructure industries.

Solutions for remote monitoring of assets such as wellheads, storage tanks and pipeline infrastructure are offered by major industrial automation vendors, as well as a large number of specialised providers. “Key consolidators in the market for remote monitoring solutions are the private equity held companies Quorum Software and DataOnline that have acquired six and three businesses respectively between 2015–2019”, said Fredrik Stalbrand, IoT Analyst, Berg Insight. He mentions recent deals such as Quorum’s acquisitions of the Coastal Flow Measurement family of companies and Flow-Cal in March 2019, as well as DataOnline’s purchase of Sierra Wireless’ iTank business in December 2018. Important vendors that specialise in remote SCADA and tank monitoring further include AIUT, Critical Control, eLynx Technologies, Silicon Controls, SkyBitz, WellAware, Zedi and ZTR Control Systems. “Several players continue to have inorganic growth as a key strategy, so further M&As can be expected among IIoT solution providers targeting the oil and gas industry in 2019–2020”, concluded Mr. Stalbrand.

You can read the full report here.

 

Kris Oldland, Editor-in-Chief, Field Service News talks to Kevin Starr of ABB's Oil and Gas Division, to get his take on just how pivotal it is we all get on board with the digitalisation agenda…

Kevin Starr, Program Director, Advanced Digital Services, for ABB jokingly refers to himself as someone who is just getting started, having spent 31 years in the industry.

Given Starr’s wide-ranging background which encompasses installing industrial automation, working with pneumatics, then electrics, DCS and now digital and across roles that include R&D managers, software developer, data scientist and cloud specialist - he is perhaps the very personification and embodiment of how the field service sector is in constant flux on a journey of continuous evolution.

Yet, underneath all that evolution, there also remain fundamental goals in place that we mustn’t lose sight of either.

As Starr himself explains - across his varied career the core objective for ABB, regardless of the technology surrounding the discussion is always to allow their clients to “hit their value, production and quality requirements by providing them with solutions.”

 

"Regardless of the technology surrounding the discussion is always to allow their clients to “hit their value, production and quality requirements by providing them with solutions...”

 

However, Starr also absolutely sees a convergence in the various skill-sets he has honed across his career in the area and era of digitalisation we are all working within today.

Indeed, certainly within field service circles, when it comes to digitalisation Starr is to be regarded a leading subject matter expert – a fact that is attested to the fact he is a highly sought-after speaker at industry conferences as well being the host of a successful YouTube series and author on the topic.

“We definitely are in the industrial revolution 4.0,” Starr asserts with conviction when I spoke to him recently during whilst recording a forthcoming episode of The Field Service Podcast.

All well and good, but what exactly does this shift to the Industrial Revolution 4.0 actually mean in real terms for most companies, who perhaps are lacking the innovative streak ABB certainly have embedded at their core.

Whilst there are undoubted opportunities to be had, for many it means stepping into a brave new world of the unknown and for many, this can be a daunting proposition.

“We are definitely moving into an area where our customers may have some new concerns and fears. There are some misunderstandings that need clarification and there are a number of different issues relating to digital that they have to consider," Starr explains continuing, “so what we’ve tried to do is make this discussion feel more real for them, we’ve tried to make it concrete and actionable.”

 

"When clients hear things like Data Science, Cloud Computing, Big Data, and all the other tech jargon that is being thrown around, they can get nervous...“

 

When clients hear things like Data Science, Cloud Computing, Big Data, and all the other tech jargon that is being thrown around, they can get nervous.”

Additionally, the wave of technological innovation we are witnessing today is only part of the sea change of disruption that currently surrounds us.

“It is something of a perfect storm,” Starr agrees expanding on the topic.

“There is an ageing workforce, there is knowledge retiring, there are new people coming into the workforce who just aren’t ready to spend thirty years with the technology,” he adds.

Yet, it is exactly within these challenges that Starr sees big potential for innovation.

“We have here some opportunities to really change the game for our industrial clients and along with this is what is really an industrial explosion of automation.,” he explains.

“When I started off the controllers were on a wall, so the size of the service was aligned with the physical proximity of a wall. Now, you have dots on a screen. Where once you might have had thirty or forty devices, now you have three or four thousand.”

 

"What we’ve always done in the service space, doesn’t work today..."

 

This anecdote serves as a stark example of just how much service delivery has moved within just a matter of decades.  In terms of actual service delivery, automation, particularly in industrial sectors, has made the way work today almost unrecognisable from how things were done in the past.

This is something which needs to be fully understood and acknowledged for companies to be able to bring their business and operational processes in line with modern means of tackling service delivery.

“What we’ve always done in the service space, doesn’t work today,” Starr states bluntly.

“What this means is that there are a lot more failures, a lot more downtime and a lot more product instability. This leads to a lot more fear, uncertainty and doubt  - because if that phone rings and your client calls you and says my system is down - what do you do?  That is a terrifying call to get and it always has been, but with digital, we can solve all that.”

“In the Oil and Gas sector, for example, we have clients who are trying to remain competitive in an industry in which price changes sent a complete shockwave through the sector. Companies who used to have large corporate staff are shrinking, with reduced manned or unmanned solutions becoming more prevalent.”

“Yet, most solutions involve people working on a system, so we truly have a gap. We’ve got to keep the site running but we also have to make our production and our quality efficient - and of course first and foremost we have to make sure our people are safe.”

“To me, the digital arena is what will allow us to use devices to reduce this problem space.”

Of course, many of the challenges that Starr outlines are also prevalent in sectors well beyond the Oil and Gas industry and searching for solutions for those challenges within the digital realm is now well established as the correct path to follow.

Yet, one of the reasons perhaps Starr has proven to be such a popular speaker on this topic is his ability to blend the technical and the practical and to help those listening to visualise how the often vague concepts sitting under the umbrella of digitalization will manifest in real, pragmatic terms – something he demonstrated again when we spoke with a particularly neat and effective summary of how the implementation of such tools can really have a significant impact on service delivery.

“It’s kind of like a heads-up display in a car. When I have a problem, it advises me so I then know when to dispatch somebody and make sure they have the right tools at the right time,” he explains.

 

"When that happens, great things happen and you can actually push through and hit production, quality and cost to produce levels that have literally been unheard of..."

 

“When that happens, great things happen and you can actually push through and hit production, quality and cost to produce levels that have literally been unheard of.”

“That’s what keeps me just giddy with excitement,” he says before adding wryly “but if it was easy it would already be done.”

Here, of course, Starr has hit the nail firmly on the head with regards to the current dichotomy most service companies find themselves in.

Whilst it seems that digitalisation of service delivery offers us great opportunities they equally bring additional challenges. As with many things in life, it appears there is an ever-evolving arms race between these two. As one challenge is solved thus creating new opportunities, so a new challenge is born.

With this in mind, I was keen to see if Starr sees field service today as something that has been simplified by technology, or in particular as we consider the vast amount of data we are now generating, has it actually become further complicated?

“I was always one of ABB’s smart guys with a bag of tricks. If there was a problem I’d get a ticket and I’d go fix the site. But I was always able to do that because the problem space wasn’t as huge as it is today,” he replies.

“Today our guys have to worry about cyber attacks, IT Security, Back Ups, Disk Space, Uptime, Communication, Visualisation and much, much more – so it’s very difficult to have someone who is an expert in all of those areas - and we’ve got to quit trying,” Starr explains.

“What’s different now is that the components being produced, and ABB makes an awful lot of these, each has their own digital signatures. Basically, they have a built-in data stream associated with the asset.”

 

"If I go outside and see a vapour trail in the sky I know a jet went by – even if I don’t see the jet. That’s the same principle on every single connected asset – it will leave a digital signature behind it..."

 

“For example, if I go outside and see a vapour trail in the sky I know a jet went by – even if I don’t see the jet. That’s the same principle on every single connected asset – it will leave a digital signature behind it.

“I was fortunate to have been the fireman and put the fire out on the site, but I would think ‘If I had just been here yesterday and I could have seen this data trail I could have prevented the failure.’ So that’s where we started packaging that and we called those diagnostic solutions, benchmarks and fingerprints - where we would provide scope and insight.”

“We would go and harvest the data and fifteen or twenty years ago that was very difficult. We would go and hook up resistors and current line – but we learned the technique.”

But it was time well spent and a highly precipitous move that has placed ABB perfectly at home in today’s world where there is more data and storage than they’re ever has been.  And a reflection of their expertise in this area is that they are now getting more requests from customers for us to go and look at there data than ever before.

As the conversation begins to conclude Starr offered up one ore excellent anecdote that really helps visualise the importance of digital in service delivery today.

“I was driving along the road in Vietnam the other day when we came to a bridge across a river,” he begins.

 

"That’s what modern service is – you can either fish with a hook or fish with a net..."

 

“On the side of the bridge there were two men fishing with a line, but in the shallows, there was a man fishing with a net – and he was bringing in a far greater haul than those two guys with their lines.  I thought to myself, that’s what modern service is – you can either fish with a hook or fish with a net.”

“In our world of automation, you don’t need to physically go and touch every single asset, that is hurting people, putting them in harm's way. When there are digital components you can actually send out agents, pull that digital signature back, run data analytics and compare it to known failure rates, known performance and you can tell exactly where your systems are.”

“So you can actually know if your safe reliable and optimised and you can demonstrate it.”

If your organisation hasn’t done so already perhaps it’s time to start thinking about what your digital net should look like as well?

---

Subscribe to The Field Service Podcast to be sure to hear the full interview with Starr by clicking here

---

 

Be social and share

In this latest of his Momentum Case Studies, Jan van Veen, co-founder of moreMomentum, interviews proven leaders across the globe who are successfully implementing the 4 Winning Habits to lead innovative, energised and engaged teams.

Here the case study examines a global leader serving the mining and oil & gas industries. Much of their recent success has come because they take services very seriously, being seen as a knowledge partner to help their customers improve operational efficiency, reduce risks and increase profitability.

The challenges faced

The company operates in traditionally slow-moving industries with large incumbent players and has become a leader by creating a strong service business which now generates a significant portion of total revenues, deepens customer relationships and creates resilience during economic downturns.

However, it has now spotted that a potentially significant disruptive threat could emerge from ‘big data’ and data analytics technologies, enabling new types of services. In the past, they would have considered taking five years to develop new equipment to be fast for the industry, but now understands that when it comes to future services, the speed of innovation needs to be higher.

Senior management is very aware that customers will move away if they see a better way of doing things, so the company must adapt if it is to stay a market leader.

The Strategy

The company has entered a period of change. To meet the disruptive threat ahead it must be visionary: to redesign itself and its culture so it can move much faster to keep ahead, enthusiastically embracing digital technologies with a focus on the end-to-end customer experience. In fact, it has to re-imagine its relationship with its customers so that rather than selling products, it provides ways to help its customers improve their operational processes and even their business models.

The company has demonstrated success from the 4 Winning Habits for Momentum so far, but now they need to take it to another level. Here we will show how they are using each of the 4 Winning Habits in the implementation of its strategy, creating Momentum for long-term sustainable success.

Direction – the common cause that everyone can get behind

The company management has recognised that, at a time of change, a compelling vision describing their role to help customers be more profitable is important to pull everyone together in the same direction. It is being spread throughout the company using both traditional townhall meetings, the company intranet as well as new digital social sharing methods such as Salesforce, Chatter and Yammer.

It helps operational messages fit into context if there is a beacon for people to move towards if there is a vision of what the company will look like in five yearVP of Service Marketing: “It helps operational messages fit into context if there is a beacon for people to move towards if there is a vision of what the company will look like in five years, what the industry will be like, what our company will be like. Otherwise, you have isolated initiatives”.

To push the new company direction, the company has been busy hiring a new CEO, CMO and CDO (Chief Digital Officer), all with experience in driving innovation. The Board understands the need for change, but the company can be a supertanker which takes time to turn. However, it is also aware that the competitive landscape can change quite quickly.

Dialogue – open discussion at and between all levels to encourage new ideas

Digital initiatives are at the centre of this company’s reinvention, so senior managers are heavily involved in steering new ideas, to get behind them and also to prevent them from breaking current business streams.

Across the company, at least 75% of targets and incentives are collective, leading to limited silo thinking between teams since they’re all in the same boat. Where there is friction, it’s usually because goals have been set too narrowly and issues fall between the silos. As a result, there is much less politics than might be expected in a large company and a higher level of transparency on performance.

This all helps create a culture of trust with less finger pointing and blame.

VP of Service Marketing: “Rather than looking for blame, people look at how to fix issues and learn from mistakes. It works well due to open dialogue. People don’t feel threatened and are not so eager to hide problems”.

Decision-making – local decision-making empowerment

The company has always had a decentralised structure. Different markets are quite autonomous and allowed to make their own local sales decisions, choosing which sales and marketing initiatives in which to participate based on market needs. This has been a successful approach so far, but staff at all levels and across the business will need to now be included in the decision making processes if the company is to continue adapting at a fast enough pace.

Discovery – Looking for new trends, opportunities and threats (internal and external)

The newly established Digital Office is a powerhouse of new ideas to add new technology to client relationships, including tools such as the Internet of Things devices and data analytics. It has been set up to operate somewhat separately from the mainstream company in order to be free from ‘business as usual’ thinking.

Companies, middle managers actually, are often quick to kill new products they see as a threat to the status quo and that’s why it’s good to have a Chief Digital Officer, tasked to create change and disruptionVP of Service Marketing: “Companies, middle managers actually, are often quick to kill new products they see as a threat to the status quo and that’s why it’s good to have a CDO, tasked to create change and disruption. We might all be comfortable with how things are today and not want to change it but I’m damn sure there’s someone out there who wants to kill our business model, and will be aided and abetted by our customers if they see a better way of doing things”.

The company has even started trying new approaches to R&D, such as hackathons.

VP of Service Marketing: “When I first heard of hackathons I have to admit I was sceptical, but from what I’ve seen they actually allow people to look at problems in new ways and get people involved who would never normally be involved, and maybe redesign the way of doing things. And for big companies, that’s what we have to do, because our competitors don’t worry about the fact we have an established base and products, they’re actually thinking ‘How can I change the industry to make money? They don’t care if it destroys our business’”.

The company has also started involving customers in its processes, for example with surveys. They keep the company honest about its achievements, drive change and allow them to spot systemic issues. The voice of the customer can be very powerful.

Next Steps:

Change is an ongoing process at this manufacturing company, but they recognise the need to accelerate the pace of change to a new level and then make it ‘business as usual’ – a revolution in the mining sector!

The 4 Winning Habits for Momentum will be key. They are working on a clearer picture of the future state of the company, to give stronger Direction to the business units and local staff for local Decisionmaking.

Dialogue with staff will improve, so personal objectives will be better aligned to the strategy and not be so focussed on purely financial targets, but also learning, collaboration and Discovery of new opportunities. If they can do all this, then they will truly be creating a revolution in mining.

Outcomes

The huge growth in the service business at the company has brought enormous benefits for their customers, made the company a trusted ‘knowledge partner’ and expertly positioned them to forge ahead into digital transformation.

People buy from them now because of the advice they give and their approach to improving their customers’ businesses. For instance, mining equipment runs 24/7/365 and downtime can cost many €100,000s per day so, they have redesigned parts, consumables and field services to reduce the time it takes to change them, so reducing costs for their customers.

Energy efficiency has been another focus, as has the charging model – customers pay for service contracts by the ton, so they know their costs in advance. These changes epitomise the innovations that the company has achieved, and there are many more on the way.

Be social and share

Michael Blumberg, President Blumberg Advisory Group explains why Augmented Reality will be at the core of field service in the not too distant future giving examples of three companies that have already embraced this game-changing tech...

Want to know more? You’ll find a white paper on this topic @ fs-ne.ws/7Q9230fLKu7

If your Field Service Organization (FSO) is not using some form of remote telepresence or video collaboration tool today like Augmented Reality (AR) or Virtual Reality (VR), chances are you will be in the future.

There are many compelling data points and trends that support this prognosis. First, a recent study by Salesforce.com reports that 92% of service executives indicated they need to transform their service models to keep up with consumer needs.

Second, according to Aberdeen Group, Best in Class field service organizations are 72% more likely than their peers to utilize visual collaboration tools (e.g., AR/VR). It is only a matter of time before other companies follow suit. Third, end-customers have begun to expect this type of service experience. Indeed, 84% of millennial customers have used a self-service portal for customer service. The immersive nature of AR/VR apps makes it the ultimate self-service experience.

Customer demand is obviously a critical factor driving the proliferation of AR/VR applications in the field service industry.

Fueling the demand for AR/VR technology is the fact that it is both relevant and effective within a broad array of industry segments and use casesAs a result, the use of collaboration tools like AR will become the standard by which customers evaluate and measure field service performance. Fueling the demand for AR/VR technology is the fact that it is both relevant and effective within a broad array of industry segments and use cases.

Indeed, it is difficult to find any technology segments where AR/VR does not have practical value. In fact, any technology that is comprised of electronic, electro-mechanical (e.g., pneumatic, hydraulic, etc.) or electrical components can benefit from AR/VR enabled service and support.

Another factor driving demand is the fact that early adopters are achieving measurable results from the deployment of AR/VR pilot projects. For example:

Siemens Industrial Turbomachinery is exploring AR and VR solutions to increase both field service utilisation and productivity while reducing travel expenditures. AR would enable the company to send technicians who communicate with remote experts, thus reducing the total number of man-hours on site as well as travel costs.

Bombardier, a provider of propulsion and control equipment for trains, was able to make significant savings, per service event every time they utilized AR to resolve technical issues remotely.

Bosch Rexroth, a manufacturer of hydraulic drive systems, spent every year in Sweden alone a lot of travelling time to go to customer’s sites to inspect what problem or question the customer had prior to deploying AR. The company now offers its customers the option of purchasing support hours to their value-added service offering that utilizes AR to deliver remote support. The collaborative and visual aspects of this technology are far more effective than telephone support. As a result, Bosch Rexroth is now able to provide quicker uptime to customers while generating a profitable income stream.

The technology industry, of which field service is a subset, is already considered to be the biggest economic driver of ARIn the coming years, we are likely to see an exponential growth of AR in the field service industry. In fact, the technology industry, of which field service is a subset, is already considered to be the biggest economic driver of AR. Furthermore, industry forecasters anticipate that expenditures on AR technology will exceed $100 million by 2020.

While we are likely to see new developments in AR/VR feature functionality, this technology will be deployed in one of two environments:

1. In support of an existing installed base of equipment
2. Embedded in the design of new products

We are also likely to find different versions of AR deployed in the field. For example, certain service environments, like Oil & Gas or Utilities, may require that AR applications be integrated with rugged wearable devices to deliver a hands-free environment, whereas non-rugged wearable devices or smartphones/tablets may be more than sufficient in enabling a collaborative experience in markets like IT or Telecom.

As technology improves it is very likely that consumers will purchase AR for business use in much the same way they purchase their own laptops and smartphones for similar business use. It is also quite possible that “Bring Your Own Device” (BYOD) will apply to AR as well.

This will completely change the paradigm of service support and break down barriers to finding and hiring talent, which in turn will continue to facilitate the use of freelance technicians. Regardless of future possibilities, these potential developments should not stop FSOs from investing in AR and reaping the benefits today.

Be social and share

SkyX, a Canadian company specialising in long-range unmanned aerial monitoring, have recently announce the successful delivery and installation of its first production xStation, a unit that remotely recharges SkyX drones during missions – a key milestone in the company’s evolution.

For field service organisations, particularly those operating in sectors such as oil and gas or power generation, considering using drones to monitor their assets and infrastructure in the field this could be a significant development that could potentially increase efficiency of such operations dramatically.

The xStation is a rugged, all-metal piece of engineering designed to allow the SkyOne drone to remotely recharge while monitoring long-range infrastructure, then continue its mission. By installing multiple xStations along a route, SkyOne can monitor assets like oil and gas pipelines or railroad tracks that stretch hundreds – even thousands – of kilometres.

SkyX is the only operational Unmanned Aerial Systems company to combine a fixed-wing VTOL aircraft with remote charging stations, giving it a distinct competitive advantage.

“I’m thrilled to see this successful milestone in the SkyX journey,” says company CEO and founder Didi Horn. “I’m particularly proud because this unit was invented by our team. From conception to testing to patenting – this is a proprietary SkyX product. It is extremely exciting to see our product coming together as a full service to enhance the efficiency and safety of the oil and gas industry."

 

For clients, xStations are installed along the route. When algorithms tell SkyOne it’s getting close to recharge time, the aircraft autonomously seeks out the next xStation instead of having to return to home base. The clamshell-like station roof opens automatically; SkyOne then transitions to vertical mode and descends like a helicopter onto the xStation landing pad. The roof closes, providing safe harbour while SkyOne recharges and performs a complete systems check before continuing on its mission.

The complex proprietary engineering behind the xStation was developed completely in-house. SkyX proved the concept with a scaled-down xStation in August of 2016, and has since pushed ahead to ensure the production xStation is as efficient and robust as possible, built for demanding conditions in a wide range of climates.

For the production models, SkyX has partnered with leading-edge Canadian automated solutions firm CMP  and the first xStations are scheduled to be installed for clients in July of 2017.

 

---

 

Be social and share this feature