Robin Harris, global projects controls lead for Phillips 66
Lauren Willard, maintenance and reliability manager for OQ Chemicals.
According to Robin Harris, global projects controls lead for Phillips 66, digital tools have obviously increased efficiency in work processes related to turnarounds and day-to-day maintenance.
"We're not seeing our workflow changing, per se. We're just making it more efficient," Harris said. "The resources still go to the field, [but] now that they're just taking their computer with them, and they're able to add more valuable information at the time they're in the field, we are seeing a lot of advantages to that."
This enhanced efficiency, Harris said, proves "technological advancement is the right thing to do in this current environment."
For example, digital work orders enable workers to make the same decisions they did previously, but now "they are able to get their information quicker, so when they're back in their offices, the work can be done," Harris said in a panel discussion titled "Creating the Smart Asset: Technology Toolbox for Success" at the Downstream Virtual Conference and Exhibition presented recently by Petrochemical Update (Reuters Events).
"So we're seeing efficiency, but not necessarily changing work processes, because we already operate with best practices," she said. "We're just making them a lot more efficient."
Joining Harris on the panel, Lauren Willard said she "most definitely" has observed process improvements thanks to implementing digital tools at OQ Chemicals, where she serves as the maintenance and reliability manager.
"We had a great process and workflow on paper, but as soon as we started diving into this, most of us realized we saw some work processes not flowing the way we needed them to," Willard said. "So even as you're preparing to take that next step in-house and you're preparing your workforce, you realize there are things you can improve upon before you even get to that point. That's what we have seen so far in this journey."
Willard agreed with Harris that the most significant improvement relates to increased efficiency, but Harris noted another advantage of applying digitization to work processes is the increased ability to "pick up on the gaps now."
"Your process was there, but you weren't necessarily following the process, and all of this digital technology gives you a means of stating where the defect in the process was," Harris said. "The process hopefully wasn't causing it."
Don't be 'left behind'
Willard said she considers dealing with digital applications to be "an eye-opening experience" and added that it is essential to understand the technology is not alone in increasing efficiency; the pathways companies take to get there can also "tighten their ships."
"We decided to bring in a third party and do everything -- from tool time studies to really taking a deep-dive into our data -- to make sure our equip-equipment files were clean as we were preparing ourselves for this," she said.
As for justifying the financial investment of digitization, Harris reasoned, "Every project has a value. That's just how you get a project [approved].
"[In] some cases there are intangible benefits that can never be quantified, but sometimes it's just the right decision to make, like going from analog to digital and making a process more efficient. It doesn't really give you any new information, but it's still the right step because that's where the technology is headed. You don't want to be left behind."
