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The COVID-19 crisis that has spread across the world has done so at an unprecedented scale and speed. This has clearly shown us that executives must take decisions rapidly, and actions to safeguard people and assets must be quick and agile. These decisions, however, are effective only if leaders and executives have the right – and complete – data at hand.

With the regional infection of workforces, disturbances in logistical support and remote decision capabilities, the importance of having complete and up-to-date data is more critical than ever.

Process industry assets in this current scenario are also going through these quick start and turnaround capability cycles. Many operations and maintenance activities are being planned as demand cycles change, and efficiencies are being questioned in these disruptive times. It is of prime importance that our assets not only remain efficient but also sustainable to the ever-changing global landscape.

This is true even for greenfield projects in which companies need to make sure that planning should be done for longer durations, and assets should be made sturdier and resilient to environmental, technological and even economic changes.

The question arises, how do we make our assets sustainable to all the variables around us but still ensure they are efficient and productive?

The answer lies in providing access to the right information at the right time to the entire workforce, including technicians, supervisors and leaders. Doing so will unlock the potential to operate at higher, predictable and safer levels.

Our assets produce gigabytes of data on a daily basis from their business processes and production areas. Most of the time this data is disconnected and available only in different silos in their respective data centers. The power of an integrated, seamless and centralized repository will drive sustainable assets for the future.

Hexagon’s PPM division works with various owners in the process industry by helping them create this seamless access to their data through the creation of digital and operational twins. This enables them to harness disruptive benefits, such as enabling data-driven decision-making, automating business processes, increasing collaboration and creating higher efficiencies through data-driven models, etc.

Hexagon’s digital twin technologies automatically connect data flowing in through sensors, work processes and human-driven workflows from a physical environment to the HxGN SDx platform. This in turn allows decision-makers to create a virtual asset of the physical one and make changes by eliminating the risks and errors in the actual location. HxGN SDx Projects solution enables operators to have a strong information management tool with the capabilities of deliverables management, quality assurance, tag management – and all with seamless project communication combined with the power of CIFHOS compliance.

Similarly, HxGN SDx Operations enables operational efficiency and safety and regulatory compliance through templated work processes. It also manages change and interoperability with other operations systems.

Another critical aspect of any asset is the safety of its workforce. Digital twin technologies automatically bring all system, sensor/human-derived inputs together in a combined and consolidated way to evaluate their cumulative risk impact and help create safer work environments. These technologies not only assist in ensuring the creation of a safe working environment but also in improving productivity.

Connecting the digital and operational twin with the available laser scan data – if there are no readily available 3D models – allows owners to have visual representation of their asset areas. And having all this data seamlessly available in a single database of SDx allows users to get all the relevant data of their asset down to an equipment or tag level, enabling them to make decisions based on real-time information flowing through other enterprise solutions.

These game-changing solutions are now helping many owners around the globe to reduce their capital and operating costs by many percentage points, allowing executives to improve on their three critical parameters of revenue growth, efficiency and safety of the workforce.

The advantages of using these Hexagon solutions are many and can be categorized as:

• Improving maintenance timelines and costs

• Reducing downtime costs due to the right information being available

• Getting back to production faster and improving workforce efficiencies

• Having a safer workplace and hence reducing health, safety and environmental (HSE) costs

However, one of the main areas where we see our solutions helping our partners and valued owner operators is in creating assets that are future ready. And we are helping them increase the life of their assets by deploying technologies that are available at every stage of the life cycle of assets and improve their efficiency at every phase.

Curious? To learn more about Hexagon’s digital twin technology and how we’re helping clients in India create future ready assets, reach out to us at info.india.ppm@hexagon.com.