Hydrocarbon Processing - July 2022 - 19

Digital O. RODRIGUEZ
Lloyd's Register, Houston, Texas
Layering up to avoid the cold realities
of asset performance silos
Operators may use a variety of tools
This topic has the potential to help
and techniques-hardware solutions,
software packages and sensor technologies-to
monitor and manage different
aspects of plant performance. However,
are they compromising their pursuit of
net-zero goals or asset performance if they
are not integrating that effort into their
overall management of individual assets?
Everyone has an angle when it comes
to managing critical pieces of infrastructure
within a plant. The integrity professional
is managing the asset from one
distinctive perspective, while it is likely
that others will have a specialist focus on
areas such as safety, reliability, productivity
and environmental impact.
However, if they are managing their
remit within a siloed structure with no
common platform where they can quickly
share data to expedite decision-making,
then is not each discipline operating
under a degree of avoidable constraint?
In turn, does not that mean the asset is
not being run at optimum efficiency?
Every element of a system is part of an
interconnected process and implementation
of discrete maintenance and repair
regimes since each of those in isolation
would never prove successful. It makes
perfect sense. If you go to the doctor with
an ailment, they will check the bigger picture
(e.g., medical history, other health issues,
allergies) before prescribing a remedy
that not only targets the problem but
also factors in your overall wellbeing.
Those same principles should apply
if one narrows the focus down to an individual
piece of equipment. Each discipline
with a stake in its performance and
wellbeing should not be going about their
work in isolation either. With access to all
asset data, they should be equipped to
make fully informed decisions not only
in the context of their specialist layer, but
also in the best interests of the asset, and
the business as a whole.
deliver on global sustainability goals in
the wake of COP26: an asset's optimum
working performance will embrace its energy
consumption and emissions levels.
As mentioned earlier, the integrity expert
has a particular focus, but any integrity
failure has potential consequences
in a much wider context-across areas
ranging from safety and productivity to
environmental. The expert's counterparts
in those disciplines have their own
specific responsibilities and indicators
that constitute good performance. They
are all using specialist technologies and
practices to deliver on their remit, but
not necessarily as part of a complete
plant strategy. They are deploying the
right tools and making the right decisions
within their own scope of duty, but
could they be impacting the other areas
of asset performance, as well?
This scenario presents the possibility
of wider challenges of someone, at some
point, missing something of operational
or commercial significance. It is also why
companies are exploring technologyled
concepts that can serve to underpin
a new approach, allowing businesses to
focus inspection and maintenance where
it counts and address risk beyond that
of only what its known. This can be referred
to as a layered model, fully aligning
the various disciplines and offering
a shared, centralized view of all areas of
asset activity.
Creating a centralized view not tied to
certain technologies or vendors that anyone
in an organization can access at any
time and anywhere would eliminate the
shortcomings associated with this form
of tunnel vision. This approach offers
every stakeholder full and live visibility
of not only their own data, but also the
changes and decisions others are making.
For example, an instant oversight of the
impact (positive or negative) that production
variations have on energy use or
emissions management can only support
optimum performance. Having full oversight
enables people to make smart use of
data, to speak the same language as their
assets and unlock their knowledge.
More broadly, it would better inform
strategic business decisions on asset
maintenance or replacement. Managers
could better understand where their
best long-term options lie. For example,
do the prospects of much enhanced energy
consumption and emissions performance
outweigh the cost of investing to
replace aging assets? Or, is the current
repair and maintenance program still the
best route to take in efficiency terms?
The concept of interconnected layers
would also facilitate the introduction of
new elements, if necessary; this is significant
given that many operators are looking
to introduce new emissions and energy
consumption-specific tools in pursuit
of net-zero objectives, enabling them to
drive better business value in both digital
and energy transitions.
Bringing new technology onboard
without integrating it into the full asset
performance structure may undermine
its power (e.g., " just another data point "
is not contributing to the complete asset
strategy because not every factor is being
considered). Certainly, the new application
might help monitor and control
emissions, for example, but not the production
regime, energy use or integrity
program, all of which are part of the bigger
net-zero picture.
The digital transformation journey
has delivered numerous industry gains,
but it is the author's experience that people
are, to a large extent, still working in
isolation, albeit with more advanced solutions
at their disposal. There is an opportunity
to harness the power of digital
technologies to fully connect asset layers
with their corresponding actors.
Hydrocarbon Processing | JULY 2022 19
Hydrocarbon Processing - July 2022

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