Digitalization

I have watched with interest and also been involved with the Energy Industries examination of the latest initiative broadly titled "Digitalization". I have come to believe that this is too broad a term to meaningfully convey what services can be delivered and value obtained. An example in the Energy Industry is the use of the term Digital Twin which frequently used about the software model of the plant. However to some it is the physical representation of the plant and to others it is the flowsheet representing what is going on in the pipes and vessels. A common and clear language would be very beneficial to better allow communication between the parties.

A second observation is over the fight for data, who owns it and what are the operator's rights. The fight is whose IP the plant data is that is a feed for the Digital Twins - who owns it can obtain a competitive advantage in the race to obtain a dominant position. It would appear that it would simply be the Operator who owns the data, but Confidentiality Agreements between Licensors and the Operator frequently prevent the Operator sharing data with 3rd parties. This is certainly disruptive and an impediment to progress.

A third and final thought for today relates to the human factor and the fact that there could be someone as well as the software looking over your shoulder! At one level it is possible to see that a software tool monitoring a complex plant's performance against plan would be very beneficial the engineer responsible may not agree - indeed if the companies culture os not one of modeling then this information may not be accepted. If accepted the question becomes how is this new information included into the work process of planning, if the information is not used then it is of little value.

These are some initial thoughts and I would be interested in everyones thoughts and experiences. This is a direction that the industry is going in and ML and AI will start to be incorporated in the future. I will write some more about the "value proposition" at a later date.