Digital services for refineries and industrial parks

At the end of September, COSMO CONSULT Magdeburg invited current and potential customers to the Digital Summit 2019 at the Parkhotel Herrenkrug in Magdeburg. Over two days, project managers and IT experts from refineries, industrial parks and the process industry discussed the opportunities offered by digital transformation - especially with a view to the industry’s regular shutdown situations. The software and consulting company COSMO CONSULT presented current projects as well as new digital technologies and solutions. The presentations by companies such as TOTAL Raffinerie Mitteldeutschland, the H&R Group and PCK Raffinerie Schwedt which reported on their experiences with digital technologies were one highlight.

Every year IT experts and project managers from refineries, industrial parks and the process industry meet at the COSMO CONSULT Magdeburg’s Digital Summit to discuss the latest trends and ideas in the field of digital transformation. Everyone is facing the same challenge: the plants are shut down at regular intervals for maintenance and expansion. During that period of time, thousands of in-house and external service technicians go to work to update and upgrade the infrastructure, often under great pressure. Digital technologies help make these processes more transparent and efficient. COSMO CONSULT Magdeburg is one of the leading developers of integrated platforms for shut-down management that bring together cloud services, Internet of Things (IoT) technologies, sensor technologies and mobile apps.

There were two different event days set up for the participants at this year's Digital Summit. On the first day, the stage belonged to users with practical experience: They reported on their experiences using digital technologies in maintenance, shutdown management and project management. TOTAL Raffinerie Mitteldeutschland in Leuna gave a presentation about the challenges of the most recent shutdown and its timeline. In addition to comprehensive quality assurance, the company recommended the use of digital solutions such as the contractor portal cc|vendor & contractor portal and the mobile app cc|safety instructor. Service technicians can use the app to complete the obligatory safety briefings simply and within the shortest possible amount of time. The app was also recently used at the Lindsey Oil Refinery in the UK. The sister company of the TOTAL refinery in Leuna used the app to issue around 2,800 visitor passes during a shutdown following a safety briefing.

In another presentation, the Hamburg refinery operator H&R Group highlighted a modular project planning system developed together with COSMO CONSULT with which production expansions can be simulated, calculated and planned. The PCK refinery gave a presentation on the current state of play of its digital transformation initiatives and its vision for the future. A good example of this is the virtual, interactive 3D model of the refinery site, which was developed in cooperation with the Fraunhofer IFF.  The first day of the summit ended with a visit to the specialist distillery Abtshof - whose production processes are amazingly similar to those of many industrial parks - and dinner at the Hummels Brauhaus.

On the second day of the Digital Summit, the  Fraunhofer Institute for Factory Operation and Automation IFF - which is working closely with COSMO CONSULT on projects such as "Smart Industrial Parks", the "Digital Construction Site" and "Digital Factory" - gave three presentations. One topic dealt with was the development of electronic identification plates that can be used to easily identify machines or individual components using a smartphone. This allows technicians to access information, drawings and the maintenance history in just a few simple steps. Another presentation focused on data analysis, which is becoming increasingly important in this era of digital transformation given the rapidly growing volume of data. Neural networks could play an important role in this field in the future.

At the Digital Summit 2019, COSMO CONSULT looked back on the course of the five years that have passed since the Digital Construction Site project was launched: The project was once relatively small, but today it has become a complex ecosystem consisting of mobile apps, cloud-based portals and sensor technologies. The latest developments include the integration of gas detectors to monitor the situation in hazardous operational areas and a solution for mobile navigation in large industrial parks. Finally, the focus turned to the milestones of the current roadmap, the upcoming sensors, the mobile apps and the further expansion of the IoT platform. The Digital Summit participants thus not only benefited from seeing the current best practice scenarios, but also got a first glimpse of future technologies.