The cloud can transform the worlds of IT and OT. But to unlock the full potential of cloud computing, leadership must first recognize its benefits.

Compared with traditional IT or OT infrastructure, cloud computing not only helps refineries and petrochemical plants save money - it also helps them gain a competitive edge. Cloud technology boosts efficiency, agility, and scalability. As well, it allows all staff to share applications, data, and resources across departments and locations. Cloud networks also provide more robust security management, quicker service turnaround times, and better performance than on-promise networks.

For most business applications, the Cloud is already the infrastructure of choice. While it remains unexploited for many operational applications, the tide seems to be changing in the world of refining. Among the many benefits of cloud computing are:

1.    Better job developing products

Developing quality software is becoming easier. Developers are using the Internet and the Cloud together to collaborate more effectively on software projects and improve how they approach them.

The Cloud has also led to DevOps (software development combined with IT operations) and processes to deploy, manage, and terminate those software applications through their lifecycle. Thus, DevOps shorten the system's development life cycle while strengthening profits. In fact, a VMware study shows that businesses reported a 42% faster time to release applications due to their most recent digital initiatives, which produced 35% more revenue.

The Cloud has taken the business world by storm and the time has come for industrial operations to follow the same path. It offers an ecosystem for teamwork as it supports many collaborative tools used in an environment that is driven by IT/OT convergence. Team members across all functions and departments can share applications, data, and other resources to speed up their work in real-time

2.    Get products to market fast

By simplifying and unifying product development, the Cloud provides businesses with not only a platform to host, design and deploy applications and software fast but also gives enough computing resources to handle tasks and enable businesses to improve communication with resellers.

3.    Improve automated processes

With the use of analytics, artificial intelligence, and machine learning, automation allows industrial processes to adapt to changes that occur on the shop floor more efficiently. It offers an ecosystem for collecting historical and real-time data and integrating them into applications that drive digital transformation.

4.    Better data for better decision making

Industrial enterprises are increasingly moving towards digitalization that go beyond the limits of on-premise data centers.

The Cloud offers flexibility, scalability, and a holistic solution to manage large data sets and models. These simulation models are virtual replicas of an asset or entire facilities. To maintain multiple asset models efficiently, a digital twin, such as KBC’s Petro-SIM simulator can be rolled into an automated model maintenance service in the Cloud to spot and fix deviations from the plant early and avoid lost profit opportunities, as shown in Figure 1.

Figure 1 – Product plan target versus actual production

Now, IIoT is not just about collecting more data. It’s about an enterprise using the data to drive its strategy and boost performance.

5.    Different and enhanced Service Models

The Cloud opens the door to reinventing business models and digital services, such as Everything-as-a-Service (XaaS). Businesses can focus on delivering customers superior value as opposed to simple products. Examples of XaaS include the “all-you-can-eat” subscription models, ridesharing services, and redefining the tools and services in Finance, Marketing, and Human Resources. Thanks to the cloud, manufacturers are no longer limited to the technology hosted and managed in-house. Today, a cloud-based solution exists for almost any type of IT challenge:

• Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) grants users access to virtual computing resources such as servers and storage.

• Platform as a Service (PaaS) delivers resources typically needed for software development, such as hardware and applications.

• Software as a Service (SaaS) provides access to software that is hosted, managed, and maintained by a third-party cloud specialist.

6.    Fueling a Competitive Advantage

Cloud computing plays an important role in securely connecting, integrating, analyzing, and visualizing data from IT and OT systems. Combined with other benefits, such as agility, flexibility, and scalability, the possibilities of the cloud have gained momentum among manufacturers alongside other trending technologies, such as AI, edge computing, and virtualization.

The cloud has made a compelling case for being one of the most effective approaches to doing business in a fast-paced world and Yokogawa and KBC are prepared.

To find out more about the Petro-SIM automated maintenance model, please contact KBC or your local Yokogawa affiliate.

IA2IA - Industrial Automation to Industrial Autonomy

Currently, all companies are at some stage of digital transformation and automated operations as a starting point. IA2IA is what Yokogawa foresees as the transition from Industrial Automation to Industrial Autonomy. We help the process industries to set and redefine their smart manufacturing goals by applying digital transformation technology to manufacturing operations, as we believe that autonomous operations are the destination you should be heading to.

Watch a small clip about the evolution of process industries toward a future with autonomous operations.