While some tools of technological advancement have elevated productivity and performance within the oil and gas and petrochemical industries, other tools may be considered too invasive in terms of personal autonomy to be a worthy investment.
Bruce Taylor, director of digital transformation for Sinclair Oil Corp., believes the return doesn't always balance with the investment.
"We did a pilot and tested it, and I think there is value there," Taylor said, speaking as a member of a panel during a recent AFPM webinar. "The problem is the unit costs for the devices, even though there are some very great activities to integrate safety management."
As is the case with most other technological transitions, Taylor expects personnel tracking to eventually become more prolific throughout the industry.
"Like everything else, I think it's a matter of time," Taylor said. "In maybe three to five years, the cost per unit will be in the range of something we will have, instead of having something to scan to get in the plant."
Paul Stephen Simmons, turnaround and maintenance manager of Phillips 66, noted that the concept of personnel tracking "is definitely tied to a cultural thing."
Taylor agreed with Simmons.
"It is a big cultural issue if somebody is watching you all the time and looking for a percentage of time on tools and the jobsite," Taylor said, recalling one job where nothing was tracked unless there was a general alarm or emergency.
"It would turn on and populate a screen and show where everybody was with respect to the incident that was being alarmed," he said. "That seemed acceptable."
Hardy Kemp, director of projects and turnarounds for Flint Hills Resources (FHR) and co-moderator of the discussion, shared that FHR had conducted pilot programs to measure the value of personnel tracking, but he said the value derived was limited.
"We did not connect it to any specific person, to [avoid looking] like we were 'big brother' and 'after' some specific individuals," Kemp said.
FHR did gain some general learning from the pilot, he said, including the "constant cost for transportation and the actual cost of the time it takes for travel."
"Those were some opportunities for us to improve things like tool time," Kemp said. "It was much more of a general approach, rather than a specific approach."
Jim Irwin, operations excellence director for CHS, said his plant has not explored introducing personnel trackers.
"But while we haven't gone ahead with this, we have seen a similar benefit in some of our turnaround mobile apps' and our status tracking apps' ability to hone in on status updates between day shift and night shift, between sections of the plant, and see trends of where we were more efficient or times were more efficient, or groups that were more efficient," he said.
Focusing on the big picture
Kemp questioned how other panelists convinced their workers "to not be so connected to specific applications, technologies or devices, but get them more focused on the 'big picture.'"
"For the bigger picture view, it's not going to be solved by anything digital. It's about getting out and connecting with your people, getting their input and then bringing them along for the journey," Simmons said.
Taylor observed the emotional connection to a particular logo or app package.
"Understand, first of all, what it is they really like about that app," he said. "Whatever you deliver has to match or exceed what they're expecting from that application."
Irwin approaches the "big picture" challenge as a change management project, noting one instance the company "found pretty successful."
About a year ago, CHS set up "The Art of the Possible" workshops that brought some key stakeholders together, he said.
"We talked about how we perform the functions today and then [imagined] where we could be in the future," he said. "We gave specific demonstrations of future case possibilities and contrasted that with how it works today. That helped open some eyes."
Jimmy Jernigan, associate director of global maintenance and reliability for LyondellBasell, co-moderated the panel.
For ongoing industry updates, visit BICMagazine.com.
