ATOP executive of a major global-technology engineering company recently said local industrial plants need to change how they operate to become relevant in the world of digital transformation.
“There are four reasons why plants need to change the way they operate. These are to pursue energy efficiency, safe workplace, and environmental sustainability and achieve higher production,” Jonas Berge, applied technology senior director of Emerson Automation Solutions, told the media in an interview on April 27 in Makati City.
The Emerson regional team recently concluded a conference with its local partners to announce the introduction of major enhancements to its Plantweb digital ecosystem, the company’s most comprehensive industrial IoT automation platform.
The company said manufacturing jobs are becoming more data-centric requiring immediate information from experts across the enterprise.
In the transformation, Berge said plants will shift from manual to automation which will be data driven. He added data will be an important part of the transition period as it will provide the information to the sensors connected to the various operational processes of the plants.
“In the automation process, data will guide the sensors and recommend the right measures to a certain problem affecting the operation,” Berges said.
Through its Pervasive Sensing suite, Berges added Plantweb guides a plant to achieve efficiency and sustainability in its operations with its analytical software tools, secure and robust data infrastructure devices and expert services.
Berges said the Emerson platform is user-friendly and that it can be easily operated by the staff of the plant. As a software company, he added Emerson can lead the transformation by creating a software that can be used by the company in their operations.
In rolling out digital transformation, Berges said Emerson will send experts to conduct workshops for the plant personnel.
He added Emerson is also flexible as far as the needs of a plant are concerned. In case the plant is not ready to implement a full implementation of the Plantweb, Berges said a plant has the option to do it on a modular basis. He added Emerson can also offer software-as-a-service (SaaS) to its customers if they think they are not yet fully prepared to go with the transformation.
In the same briefing, Kenneth Tan, Emerson Automation Solutions vice president for Southeast Asia and Taiwan, said they are very optimistic in the Philippine market and the rest of Southeast Asia.
“There is much potential in the Philippine economy as indicated by the strong macroeconomic fundamentals and growth in consumption,” he said.
“With the growth in local consumption, this means industries will need more power to produce the goods and services needed by the market. This means power plants need to be efficient, sustainable and productive in producing energy,” he added.