With potential disruption and uncertainty still on the horizon for many industries, technologies that allow operators to increase asset reliability, enhance efficiency, and reduce unplanned downtime are continuing to see accelerating adoption. One of these technologies is the digital twin—a virtual copy of actual assets, equipment, and processes built from real-time sensor data—which can assist in carrying out predictive maintenance, asset optimization, and overall business planning.
The critical ingredient to digital twin simulations is the underlying data derived from various equipment. While the data necessary to construct a digital twin can be stored locally, it is far more common for centralized cloud storage to be used to grant stakeholders across an organization a single source of truth comprised of the best quality data available.
Following this trend, oil and gas company Shell Global has partnered with engineering and industrial software provider Aveva to hasten its digital transformation strategy by employing Aveva’s Engineering Data Warehouse, a cloud software platform that will serve as one of the building blocks for Shell’s digital twin models.
By structuring high quality historical data from across Shell’s numerous operational sites into a single, integrated database, Aveva says its Engineering Data Warehouse creates a common digital thread uniting engineering, operations, and maintenance that can be accessed securely and reliably by decision makers regardless of their location.
According to Shell, Engineering Data Warehouse supports its goal of empowering operational staff across its geographically diverse manufacturing sites while also keeping frontline industrial workers safe and ensuring business continuity.
“Empowering workers requires access to all [plant] information, as today’s new normal entails remote access to monitor, manage, and optimize production facilities,” said Johan Krebbers, vice president of IT innovation at Shell. “We are already witnessing the benefits of our strategic collaboration with Aveva through our fully aligned vision for digital transformation. This has enabled us to conduct operations remotely as well as seamlessly access the necessary applications to provide the insight, guidance, and tools to ensure safe, effective, and consistent work output specific to each role.”
Engineering Data Warehouse has been used across multiple industries, which Aveva claims has allowed its platform to develop the flexibility necessary to address numerous industry-specific scenarios and use cases involving applications for visualization, analysis, prediction, and guidance.
Read more about how to start using industrial digital twin technology.
