Using AI to Earn Real Results at the Manufacturing Level Across Sectors
Wonder when artificial intelligence capabilities will manifest themselves in the energy sector? They already are.
As trumpeted at the IFS Unleashed event earlier this month, deploying agentic and generative AI is making a difference at the operational and maintenance levels in both conventional and renewable power assets across the world. IFS leaders contend that many companies are utilizing only 60% of their revenue potential and AI can aid them in accessing the remainder to the tune of trillions of dollars in new income.
They believe that’s where next-gen automation and operational efficiencies meet the bottom line.
Honeywell Technologies today announced one of those latest industrial AI launches at Dangote’s petroleum refinery in Nigeria. Honeywell’s Forge Plant Cognition industrial AI platform was deployed there and built with supercomputing capabilities including components from NVIDIA and Dell Technologies.
The refinery at Lekki, Nigeria is a single-train facility which processes up to 650,000 barrels of crude oil per day. Honeywell and Dangote are hoping the AI operational efficiencies can save more than 29 cents per barrel, which at full capacity could mean nearly $190,000 per day or $60 million a year.
“Industrial plants are among the most complex operating environments in the world, with enormous potential to realize greater performance and value using digital technologies and connected solutions,” said Rajesh Gattupalli, President, Honeywell Technologies UOP, in a statement. “By collaborating with Dangote to launch Forge Plant Cognition, we are demonstrating how AI can help transform industrial operations, driving new levels of productivity, reliability and profitability at significant scale.”
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Honeywell recently launched its Forge Cognition platform deploying AI in industrial automation and data recognition. In action, this could mean that plant operators are identify operational and maintenance issues quicker, from performance constraints to equipment degradation or failure threats.
Honeywell’s tool combines several NVIDIA and Dell technologies which help to create a digital twin of the Lekki oil refinery plant. The parallel and actionable data can optimize workflows and plant operations, the companies say.
“We chose Honeywell Technologies’ Forge Plant Cognition because the platform can deliver unrivaled industrial expertise combined with differentiated AI capabilities to help us optimize performance, unlock greater value from our operations and evolve how we operate our assets,” said David Bird, CEO and Managing Director, Dangote Petroleum Refinery and Petrochemicals FZE.
At the IFS Unleashed event in Orlando, leaders are several industrial AI and software giants noted numerous examples at AI at work in streamlining and prioritizing data analytics in plant operations. IFS estimates that commercial and industrial firms may be missing out on a “hidden” 40% of value accessed through AI discovery and pattern recognition.
Microsoft, Siemens and others are working with industrial AI to find those profitable efficiencies.
“How much do you truly obsess over your data?” Andy Pratt, corporate vice president of the emerging technologies group at Microsoft, said in an IFS Unleashed session. “Making decisions on critical infrastructure is based on more data in more places … as long as that data is trusted.”
The AI benefit may prove cost-effective across numerous sectors. Pharmaceutical firm Merck, for instance, is using “computer vision” to inspect products in its manufacturing line while also optimizing its enrollment processes for clinical trials.
BMW uses AI-powered robots to assist assembly line workers at its Spartanburg, South Carolina plant, while chip (the kind you eat not the kind you compute) maker Frito-Lay is deploying AI-driven predictive maintenance to reduce unplanned downtime and increase production hours across the board.
Human job losses in roles replaced by AI are certainly anticipated, but much research anticipates those impacts to be less than initially feared and maybe even job creative. Reports by Goldman Sachs, Stanford Institute, Boston Consulting Group and Pew Research Center forecast reductions but find that many of those roles will be shifted in newly created functions and job augmentation.