'Invensys Offerings Facilitate Real-Time Operations'

Enterprise analytics and BI applications help companies to make decisions in real time and keep pace with changes in their environment. However, for the manufacturing vertical, given its wide-ranging operational structure, making real-time decisions is tough. Biztech2.com spoke to Ken Fox, Vice President, Marketing, Invensys Operations Management, Asia Pacific & Middle East, on how the Invensys Operations Management (IOM) solution makes this possible.

The operations management solutions offered by Invensys are mostly targeted at the manufacturing vertical. Is there any particular reason for this?

In general, the main industries that Invensys plays in are the continuous industries. These are refining, petrochemical, oil and gas and the likes where the process is always on the move rather than the batch-type manufacturing involved in segments like specialty chemicals, pharmaceuticals etc.

We have noticed in the large, continuous industries that companies tend to become less competitive over time because they can’t react and adapt and change their processes quickly. Our focus is to provide interfaces to all the sub-systems and then present that data to the business manager. This data will be consistent and multi-dimensional and thus, will eliminate the need for moving to multiple screens to check on how many tankers took to the streets today, how many loads were unloaded, how many ships were attended to etc.

The single screen can give a complete picture of what has arrived, what tasks have been completed etc. The essence is how close to real time is that.

How do you compare the current IT solutions used for intelligence and the Invensys offerings?

We have generally found that the current ERP systems being used at enterprises don’t have the real-time element to their information display to be able to drive business on the fly. They generally tend to give end-of-the-shift information. The ERP reporting is more about management reporting than managing the business process. What did we make, how much did it cost, how many assets did we use, what is not working? These are the questions answered, so it’s about managerial reporting. It’s not about managing the business.

We provide information that will help businesses drive market opportunities by giving real-time information. For example, in a petrochemical company, how many tonnes of butane did we produce in the past hour at a given moment and at what price should I sell it in the market at this moment? Should I produce propane rather than butane? What is the impact on my energy cost when I am making that? What is the net gain on that cost? To cite another example, in a power company, if we can alter the pressure in the tower now, the company can make $10,000 by the end of the shift. Our offerings allow analysis of the kind described here.

In the US, companies can buy and sell power in a matter of minutes. However, it is only if the company has data in real time that it can leverage this market opportunity. So whether you can produce power will depend upon the availability of the data at your disposal. Then you need an Enterprise Control System rather than an Enterprise Resource Planning and scheduling and reporting system. Our idea is not to replace or supersede those systems but to complement them. They are just one more source of data for us to drive the business rather than mere reporting of data.

Taking the cue from the tower example, how will the Invensys solution help power companies to tap market opportunities?

Data will help make business decisions on the basis of market opportunities. We can provide a comprehensive, single interface to all the necessary systems, be it ERP or anything else. Can we through the network, call in our sister stations to ask, for example, Generator 24 A to come on stream in ten minutes because there is an opportunity to make some money there? Yes, we can with our solution.

We have developed about 300-400 interfaces that can reflect data in a way that people can make decisions related to the same in real time. On top of that, somebody has to develop an application to help what you want to do with that data. Our partners like L&T, Cognizant come into the picture here.

It’s no different than an iPhone that provides the framework to buy music tracks from the Net. You can be in a record store listening to a track, you can press the button that can go and tell who that singer was and where you can buy it from. Who could think that could come out on a phone?

What is the competitive edge provided by Invensys solutions?

The essence of a truly competitive business lies in its ability to react on the fly, businesses that can change what to make, how to make it, how much to make and of what quality to make in close to real time will always have a winning edge. We are trying to provide an environment that enables and facilitates provision of information in real time. It’s done in conjunction with our partners. They will process real-time data and use that to drive the business.

So if there is an opportunity that the spot price of a particular commodity that is manufactured at the site will go up during the course of the day, we provide the intelligence to shift production activities accordingly. In fact, we have been in touch with a big petrochemical company that is changing its operations philosophy. Until now, they had varied types of refineries but now they are going for large and super-large refinery complexes that are adaptable and flexible. They can operate according to changing market opportunities and make more or less of a particular product. The company is combining its petrochemical and refining complexes to maximise the market opportunities and drive the business.

We are driving a business environment that will help companies decide on what’s the best thing to produce, how much would it cost and when they should produce it. To me, that’s the business operation model that we want to move towards, in real time.