The May Technology Evening was kindly sponsored by Honeywell, where sales leader Keegan Moodley brought his extensive experience (and passion) in the sales, design and implementation of technologically-driven solutions for the industrial process industry to the fore, when he presented on the topic of ‘Advanced technologies in automation and control.’
Keegan, who has a BSc. in chemical engineering from the University of the Witwatersrand, worked for over 10 years in the offshore oil and gas industry, MMM and other process industries, where he successfully project managed, designed and implemented advanced solutions to a host of major companies all around the globe, so he was well qualified for his talk.
Within our region, the last five years have seen a tremendous uptake in institutionalising the concept of OE (operational excellence) beyond just the definition stage. Until recently, most OE programmes were anchored around enabling independent SOPs (standard operating procedures) along with processes technology. The depressed oil and gas business environment has been a vital catalyst in revisiting this independent SOP-based approach towards OE, while pushing the adoption of technology, and rationalising the organisational setup. With technology, people, and integrated business processes aligned, the foundation for implementing OE programmes is in place. Europe, Middle East and Africa can all boast of practical ‘Smart Operation’ initiatives with impressive case studies. The stage is now set for the next wave of evolution of these decision support systems (DSS) into Adaptive DSS or Smart Operations.
Rapid advances in IIoT/Industrie 4.0 and connectivity protocols are embedding intelligence into our machines, sensors and instruments making them smarter and more aware of the ecosystem in which they operate. An Adaptive DSS system will interrogate these smart gadgets for data, analytics, visualisation and process knowledge to provide advisory services to augment human intelligence. Practically, this evolution is observable with the launch of digitisation programmes within most operations, with the mandate to harness additional productivity and advisory capabilities from a smart system comprised of intelligent sensors, machines and technology – thus leading towards Enterprise Intelligence.
The presentation was lively, informative and entertaining, and Keegan discussed the concept, progression and industry response of such Adaptive DSS platforms through case studies and anecdotes.
The Durban Country Club provided a lavish spread (complete with tiny desserts) and a great evening of technology and networking was had by all.
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