Industrial Autonomy on the Horizon

For the most part, the far upstream oil and gas business is one of autonomy—wellheads and pipelines are largely unmanned. By reducing the physical presence of people on an offshore platform to the few times it is absolutely necessary, operating companies can dramatically improve human safety while lowering operating costs. The mining industry is also rapidly moving toward autonomy, substantially decreasing the number of people at often very remote process locations in favor of centralized operations.

Although the aforementioned maturity model does have a natural sequence and evolution—it is recognized that most facilities will have a varying degree of capability at each level—plant operators might find that there are manual procedures for some operations, and they also have pieces of equipment that operate largely autonomously. So, it is instructive to assess existing capabilities at each level.

Trending toward the future

The trends are unmistakable: Autonomy is a critical technology that will lead process industry operations into the future. As technology moves beyond automation, autonomy and autonomous systems will bring improvements in many areas.

The latest developments around industrial autonomy provide a timely response to several key industry trends, including the desire for post-COVID-19 preparedness and resilience, growing operational complexity, the aging industrial workforce and upskilling needs.

Regardless of an enterprise’s current tools, design, or talent, integrating autonomous solutions at any level of production serves as a catalyst for increased operational performance by addressing safety, efficiency, and reliability issues to help promote business continuity. An unencumbered vision is necessary to plot the incremental steps to achieve a more autonomous future. This vision requires investing in automation systems in a strategic and consistent manner with the total lifecycle of the plant in mind.

Images courtesy of Honeywell Process Solutions

This feature was originally published in the December 2021 issue of InTech magazine.