According to Chad Broussard, digital implementation lead for Phillips 66, an essential first step of the company's digital journey began with transparent and ongoing communication among stakeholders.
"There is a steering and advisory committee above us that oversees that whole digital transformation," Broussard said during BIC Magazine's recent webinar "A Digital Roadmap to Maximizing Plant Performance," available on demand at BICMagazine.com.
That "bottom-to-top" oversight was applied to all processes, and the advisory committee would also receive regular updates mapping Broussard's teams' digital progress, he explained.
"We would give them a monthly or quarterly report about everything we'd done and how we'd performed against the metrics," he said. "Everything was pretty much vetted the whole way through, and we had approval."
Jeremy Osterberger, president and COO for BIC Alliance, served as the panel's moderator and asked participants to prognosticate about how digitization is changing industry.
Broussard recalled the time before the development of handheld technology became a reality. "We always wanted to have the digital power to be able to see and do things from [devices like] tablets and smartphones," he said. "The things we're able to do now is really amazing -- permitting and everything else is right there on my smartphone."
Broussard noted that the convenience has also morphed into efficiency that can reduce costs. "We're beginning to see that it takes fewer people to do certain things," he said. "We still need a lot of people to make great things happen, but technology plays a vital role today."
Richard Bass, HSE supervisor for Kuraray America Inc., remarked about how simplified and intuitive the technology has become. "One of our older operators said anyone who can operate Facebook can operate this new technology, and I think he's right," he said.
Bass observed that many workers were initially resistant to embrace technology "because they were not sure how it was going to affect end users," but as workers, especially front-line field and maintenance teams, became more familiar with their new digital tools, they came to appreciate the benefits they offer. "Our planners are able to do workflow studies where they can see all the permits they need for the day. They can say, 'We've got two permits here, they're on top of each other and involve totally different [types of] work that could potentially impact each other. So, we schedule one of them for a different day.'"
Cost and time savings advantages like this also helps to reduce hours, Bass said.
Osterberger asked the speakers if any of them were wary that a sense of complacency might set in with workers as a result of the "information-on-demand" culture that accompanies digital convenience.
"Are we still going to have face-to-face communication?" Osterberger asked.
Keitt Wannamaker, manufacturing manager of the Polypropylene Growth Project for ExxonMobil, said he believes the opposite to be true.
"When you talk to someone who was operating at the plant 25 years ago, they can go through story after story and explain why we have these systems and do the things we do," Wannamaker said. "The generation working today won't see all of that. It'll take them years to gain that experience because the plants and equipment are so much more reliable -- we have more tools now and fewer incidents."
Wannamaker said he looks forward to seeing the incoming workforce use VR, which he believes will "increase competency and actually help eliminate complacency."
