CONSULTING

Countries are looking towards more sustainable, cleaner energy solutions. Renewable sources of energy such as solar, wind and biogas are very promising, but the transition cannot happen overnight. It is predicted that over the next 10 years the overall energy mix in...

During the 1970s, the process industry was at the forefront of digitalisation. At the time, the vision of a single integrated system running on a database became what would later be known as ERP (enterprise resource planning). The earliest large-scale deployments of...

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has become a catchphrase used by marketers that attributes the characteristics of human intelligence to a computer system. AI incorporates concepts like machine learning and pattern recognition. It is impressive that facial recognition can...

Over the past few years, there has been a growing realisation that traditional IT (Information Technology) and OT (Operations Technology) must work very closely together in order to unlock new value. Digitisation projects, spurred on by Industry 4.0 and technological...

In common with many engineers, I do enjoy shopping for new power tools for my workshop. I therefore often find myself totally absorbed in hardware stores, captivated by new innovative devices for solving almost any problem. The low cost of modern mass-produced tools,...

The Gartner hype cycle provides a simple graphic representation of how emerging technologies are adopted in the market. The principle is quite simple: a new technology (such as augmented reality) will start moving up the hype cycle curve as a result of an innovation...

Back in the 1980s, as a junior process engineer, I spent a great part of my first job working with DCS and SCADA systems. At the time, I was working on a synfuels plant that made use of a Honeywell TDC3000 DCS. Most of the field instruments were connected to the...

Digital transformation, according to Microsoft, is about reimagining how you bring together people, data and processes to create value for your customers and maintain a competitive advantage in a digital-first world. For manufacturers, digital transformation involves...

The early morning air was still cold when I arrived together with a colleague at the mine for our underground visit. Our hosts were keen to show us the practical challenges of the drilling and blasting operation, and the many ways in which rock fragments containing...

Industrie 4.0 introduces the somewhat abstract concept of a ‘digital twin’. But is this really new, does it actually exist anywhere in practice, and if so, what steps should be followed to build one? A process control engineer who is already familiar with CAD, SCADA,...