Chemical Engineering May 2020 - 19

vest between 21% and 40%. When
asked where digital investment for
product and operations will be in
the next three years, 24% of the top
three chemical companies cited mobility/wearables.
" The
internet of things is affecting
all our lives - small sensors sending
data via the internet to and from
connected homes, connected cars
and connected factories. It is inevitable
that most industrial workers in
the developed world will, in years to
come, wear sensor devices to monitor
their health, safety and efficiency, "
says Bernstein.
But how do wearables help increase
productivity and enhance
safety? " First and foremost, wearable
devices are productivity boosters
because most of them can be
loaded with digital versions of work
procedures and other documents
that maintenance technicians and
field operators need to do their jobs
and these documents and information
can be accessed by voice. So
instead of carrying binders or a tablet
which they have to keep picking up
to search for the necessary information
and then put down to complete
the task, they can quickly locate the
information, view the instructions and
work on the equipment all at the same
time because their hands are free, "
explains Sanjay Jhawar, co-founder
and president of RealWear, Inc. (Vancouver,
Wash.; www.realwear.com).
" And because you can operate these
devices hands-free, they can be used
in locations where handheld devices
would be inconvenient or impossible
to operate due to protective gloves
or other PPE or while climbing into a
confined space such as a distillation
column or vessel, and this is a safety
enhancement. "
In addition, several available devices
include location and other sensors
to detect falls, unresponsiveness
and dangerous health conditions and
assist with mustering, access control
and emergency response.
Boosting productivity
One of the biggest productivity benefits
associated with wearables is the
ability to not only store, but also to
easily access, necessary documents
and videos, on demand, in the field.
Pepperl+Fuchs
Emerson
FIGURE 2. Pepperl+Fuchs's Onsight Cube EX is
a wearable camera certified for hazardous areas
that, along with the Remote Field Expert software
feature enabled, allows a person in the field to initiate
a video call so they can communicate directly
with technical support
" During the digital transformation,
we aim to provide customers with
digital solutions and opportunities
using software, hardware and services
that improve safety, productivity
and collaboration, " says Veronica
Turner, business development leader
with Honeywell Process Solutions
(Houston; www.honeywell.com). " So
when we think of field personnel, our
Intelligent Wearables - android devices
that can be hooked through
clips to an industrial hard hat - are
an ideal solution. These devices are
loaded with software that provides
field personnel with the necessary
tools, such as forms, P&IDs [piping
and instrumentation diagrams] drawings,
manuals and libraries of procedures
in PDF format, as well as photos
and videos, so they can complete
tasks more efficiently " (Figure 1).
Accenture's Countryman agrees:
" If you go to a chemical plant or [petroleum]
refinery today, it is highly
paper-driven. There are binders for
work orders and work procedures. It
is not an efficient process. However,
we are seeing a major trend around
digitizing work processes, which allows
workers to access the needed
information and pull up different
drawings and instructions in the field
to work on a particular asset.
" Wearables allow them to scan
barcodes for a particular asset and
quickly access operating procedures
and real-time information related to
that asset, so they can do the work
efficiently and properly the first time
without going back for tools or information.
Today, there's a lot of time
spent not having the right informaCHEMICAL
ENGINEERING WWW.CHEMENGONLINE.COM MAY 2020
FIGURE 3. Emerson's Location Tag can be used to
create a virtual fence for access control and mustering
purposes
tion at the right time to do the right
work, but people are beginning to
look at mobility and wearables to address
that issue. "
Taking it a step further are applications,
such as Video Assist from Honeywell,
which allow users to make
their own video library of work procedures
and break the procedures
down into rational steps. " The entire
video can be viewed, if needed.
However, workers who don't need to
watch an entire five minute video, but
may need to review just one step in
a process, can access only the part
they need using voice commands,
making it easy to navigate among
the steps. Search engine optimization
allows procedures to be tagged
with key words, so workers can access
the information they need, " explains
Turner.
While it does take effort to add data
and work instructions to the software
in the devices, it is often worth the
effort in increased productivity, according
to the experts. RealWear's
Jhawar says customers who have
done ROI studies often see task time
reduced by 40% and error rates reduced
by 80%. Likewise, Accenture's
Countryman cites their most
recent digitalization project, in which
the customer sought to improve productivity
and maintenance planning.
" They had 10,000 pieces of equipment
that were barcoded and an integrated,
realtime information system
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http://www.honeywell.com http://www.realwear.com http://WWW.CHEMENGONLINE.COM
Chemical Engineering May 2020

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