The transition from industrial automation to industrial autonomy requires sensing and a digital infrastructure, says Sajiv Nath.

Yokogawa envisions industrial autonomy as a key driver for aligning with an organisation’s long-term goals in several impactful ways.

Yokogawa conducted a global survey on the advancement of industrial autonomy with companies in seven key process industries and received responses from over 500 decision makers for each. The results were real eye openers. 45% of the respondents from manufacturing companies anticipate that industrial autonomy will have a significant impact on environmental sustainability in the areas of dynamic energy optimisation, water management, and emissions reduction. In contrast, only 6% expect industrial autonomy to have no impact at all on environmental sustainability. Majority of the manufacturers surveyed also mentioned that the implementation of industrial autonomy projects is starting to gather pace and their organisations are scaling deployment across multiple facilities and business functions

Yokogawa believes, for many end users, autonomous operations is the destination to achieve their smart manufacturing goals. Yokogawa’s approach to industrial autonomy not only enhances operational efficiency and reduces costs but also supports sustainability goals, making it a comprehensive strategy for long-term organisational success.

By partnering with the right automation experts, organisations can achieve autonomy not just in production processes but also in higher-level functions. This expanded autonomy can encompass areas beyond traditional controls and efficiency, including safety, reliability, margin optimisation, compliance, supply chain management, and other critical manufacturing functions.

Risk management

Progress toward the development and adoption of autonomous vehicles is in many ways analogous to the journey upon which industry has embarked. Major strides have been made in technology in automobiles like Automatic braking based on inputs from various sensors. However, driverless cars have still not become a reality, simply because of the far broader array of information about its surroundings that the fully driverless car must sense, understand and respond to.

And if one considers the even greater diversity of operational tasks that a refinery or larger chemical plant entails—from the control room to the field to planning and scheduling—then fully autonomous plant operations are a bit further into the future than they are for cars. But industry will clearly continue to take strides in that direction, realizing smarter and more semi-autonomous subsystems that allow human operators to focus on higher level tasks and our automation systems to control processes closer to optimum in response to a broader array of changing conditions.

The transition from industrial automation to industrial autonomy requires sensing and a digital infrastructure that spans the entire operation and integrates data, smart devices at the edge, bulletproof hardware and software to deliver the required level of flexibility, adaptability, resilience, and eventually, autonomy. 

Human-autonomy collaboration

Yokogawa can empower your workforce to adapt to industrial autonomy through several key initiatives. Yokogawa can bring its experience in automating thousands of plants. Yokogawa’s experienced professionals offer mentorship and support, guiding customers through the transition to industrial autonomy. 

Further by integrating advanced technologies such as AI and robotics, Yokogawa helps employees leverage these tools for predictive analytics, process optimisation, and quality management. This empowers them to make data-driven decisions and improve operational efficiency.¹

Through these initiatives, Yokogawa ensures that your workforce is not only capable of supervising and intervening but also innovating alongside autonomous systems, driving long-term success and sustainability

Reference: https://www.yokogawa.com/solutions/featured-topics/ia2ia/enablers-in-industrial-autonomy/

Sajiv Nath is Regional Chief Executive for India and South Asia Region and Regional Managing Director for Yokogawa India Limited.

A keen planner, strategist and implementer with deftness in devising and implementing strategies aimed at ensuring successful running and management of operations, Sajiv has expertise in transforming organisations and operations to the next level ensuring high sustainable growth in topline and bottom line.

His accomplishments are wide ranging:

Verifiable year after year success achieving revenue, profit and business growth objectives within start up, corporate restructuring and rapid-change environments.

Proficient in driving diverse business functions encompassing Sales & Marketing, Projects, Logistics, Corporate Governance, HR, Finance and Operations.

Rich experience in the areas of sales, marketing, projects, strategic planning, manufacturing and integration, process automation, engineering.

Adroit in coordinating project finance, conducting evaluations & appraisals, analysing project viability, reviewing existing systems and procedures, preparing business continuity plans, designing internal control systems and facilitating effective decision-making.

An impressive communicator with honed interpersonal, team building, negotiation, presentation, convincing and organisational skills.

Ability to think out of the box, and contribute ideas towards achieving operational excellence.