If you know everything upfront, you can make the best decisions. It’s a simple concept, but it’s not always the reality of the situation.

In engineering, for example, we have to make a lot of upfront assumptions — because we simply do not know everything early in the project cycle. Sometimes we assume correctly, and sometimes we later have to adjust, and that can impact schedule and cost.

So how can we improve the engineering software we use to reduce the risk of implications down the line?

Hexagon and AspenTech have created a partnership focused on just that, helping our customers to “know it all upfront.” Both companies are market leaders in their specific areas: AspenTech in process design and Hexagon in the detailed design world. Our goal in working together is to break down the silos between different steps of process simulation, process design, detailed design, project estimates and controls.

By doing this and using the latest technologies for integration and artificial intelligence, we can achieve a reduction in engineering hours, as well as a higher-quality outcome, and also get an early read on cost and resources that will lower the risk downstream.

Making the right decisions early is also crucial for operations, where you do not want to slow down production — and definitely do not want to impact the safety of personnel or the facility. By bringing the engineering data together with the real-time process data, we can implement predictive maintenance to safely maximize uptime.

That means we can tell when a piece of equipment is going to break down, and because we know the system configuration from the engineering side, we can also assess the impact on the process. With that information, we can make the right decision early and schedule the repair before something actually breaks.

This is just one example of how we can leverage the combined data to lower the risks and costs of plant operation, as well as change the business model of how plant maintenance is done and by whom. That is a big change. It is a definitive step forward, and beyond the traditional offering of some new features or integration.

And it’s great to see how excited our customers are about the possibilities of this new partnership:

“KBR has been a pioneer of digital twin technology for more than a decade. The collaboration between AspenTech and Hexagon adds yet another dimension in realizing the potential of digital twin beyond project design and bringing it into the full asset lifecycle,” said Greg Conlon, KBR’s chief development and digital officer.

“Eni is looking with interest to initiatives like the one between Hexagon PPM and AspenTech,” said Arturo Bellezza, engineering manager for Eni. “The resulting direct integration between process simulation, 3D models and operations will allow a major step forward in the digital journey of our industry.”

The partnership between Hexagon and AspenTech gives our customers a fantastic opportunity to make the right decision early and significantly improve their business outcomes. I’m looking forward to what we can achieve in the months and years to come.

 

For more details on how this collaboration will accelerate digital transformation in the process industries, please read our press release.