80
Success stories
AVEVA Taking AIM at process visualisation and data optimisation thus only utilised where it absolutely has to be. Roy Calder, Oil & Gas Industry Principal New Energies
How is AVEVA thriving? Identifying demand among world leading energy players for improved, data-driven asset management solutions, AVEVA has spent the last eight years developing and fine tuning its Asset Information Management (AIM) digital twin, a tool that has quickly become the go-to solution for asset and process visualisation and data optimisation. The challenge Founded in 1967 and a fully owned subsidiary of Schneider Electric, AVEVA has a formidable reputation in the energy market, supporting international oil companies (IOCs) and national oil companies (NOCs) with industrial software and service solutions across the US, EU, Middle East and Asia. In recent years, the firm has witnessed its typical client base turning their attentions towards a data-driven, information management approach, targeting areas such as process efficiency improvements, asset management and predictive maintenance for good reason. Indeed, while such operators invest billions in their assets, poor asset information can cost them several percentage points of revenues. AVEVA recognised that data was becoming the new operational currency for its clients. Today, many operators are aware of the fact that they are sitting on vast amounts of data that is either not used or difficult to access, and
80
EIC Survive and Thrive
Often, this data takes the form of engineering documents contained either in physical files or document management systems as PDFs. However, the need to access this data at speed is becoming increasingly paramount as experienced staff retire or move on, leaving knowledge base to dissipates into the ether. This is the challenge that has been set by several oil & gas players – they now require systems that enable this data to be identified quickly and accessed in a usable manner. The solution These demands presented AVEVA with an opportunity, the firm responding by embarking on a focused development programme that was informed by engaging the specific needs of several early adopters. Initially, AVEVA was faced with a singular question from a US IOC and developed a visualisation concept for that client. By utilising a visual approach, supported by a common data management structure that enables complex search capabilities, the ability to find individual pieces of equipment carrying out a specific duty (i.e. control valves in high pressure steam lines) can be achieved in seconds, not hours. In seeing the value this digital twin delivered, the firm decided that this model needed to be productised and adapted so that it could be made fit for purpose for different industries, not just for oil & gas. Here, it settled on the name AVEVA Information Management, or AIM. Beginning developments in 2015, AIM is still going strong
2023