PPPA MEET 2020 – A Maiden Success
Published on : Monday 02-03-2020
The PPPA Meet 2020 concluded on a highly encouraging note laying a strong foundation for future meets.
ISA Maharashtra Section successfully conducted the inaugural Power, Petroleum and Process Automation Meet 2020 (PPPA Meet 2020) on 7th & 8th February, 2020 at Hotel Taj Santacruz, Mumbai. The event, a Conference cum Exhibition, with ‘Intelligence Simplified with Futuristic Automation’ as the theme, was attended by over 325 delegates, and there were 25 booths at the venue from various vendors who came in as sponsors.
Mr Neeraj Agrawal, Executive Director, NPCIL, and Chief Patron of PPPA Meet 2020, welcomed the Chief Guest, Mr B Narayan, Group President (Procurement and Projects), Reliance Industries Ltd, other dignitaries, and delegates. In his opening address. Mr Agrawal dwelt upon the rationale for organising the event. “These days we hear a lot about emerging technologies like IIoT, Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Big Data, et al, but do the persons in the middle – the engineers – understand these, and more importantly, know how to apply them in operations and benefit from them? The PPPA Meet, with the theme ‘Intelligence Simplified with Futuristic Automation’, seeks to address these concerns,” he said.
In his inaugural address, Mr B Narayan, who being a chemical engineer described himself as the odd man out in the gathering of automation professionals, said, “We have stepped into the digital era – anything we do is some way connected to digitalisation. We are all using smart gadgets – phones/watches – drive smart cars, live in smart homes and increasingly in smart cities. My understanding of smart is connected, and so much so that in healthcare one can be monitored remotely for health condition through an implant with periodic alerts in case of any abnormality for seeking further remedial measures. What was earlier available in separate automation packages in each sphere is now, thanks to digitalisation, a seamless integration of every operation of the plant – from design, building, production, maintenance, supply chain, asset management, security, etc., right through the life cycle of the plant. In the process, this also makes the system less prone to problems due to human errors. In addition, the entire physical plant is now replicated in a virtual digital twin, making it easier to monitor remotely.”
Delivering the keynote, Rajiv Gupta, Group General Manager, EIL drew an analogy of instrumentation and controls with the human body elaborating how the mind works in conjunction with the nervous system and commands and controls the movements of the limbs. “Instrumentation is always at the forefront of digital technologies. We are leading in the implementation of IIoT in process industries – refineries and petrochemicals – using it for things like rotating equipment monitoring, valve leakage monitoring through acoustic sensors, implementing cloud based detail engineering for DCS, as also remote universal I/Os quite frequently in our plants today. Digitalisation is not limited to plant alone, but is also used for project implementation and instrumentation is also contributing towards end to end workflow integration,” he said. Mr Gupta summed up by exhorting the audience to develop applications for the areas that are still lagging, to take the industry to the next level through digitalisation.
A number of technical papers were presented by leading experts in the field from India and abroad during the two-day meet. Day One of the PPPA Meet 2020 concluded with the Awards Ceremony and a cultural extravaganza – Colours of India, followed by gala dinner.