Safety and efficiency in the age of automation

At the World Utilities Congress held from 8-10 May, IFS’s Vijay Jaswal, chief technology officer, APJ&MEA and Thomas Ligocki, senior vice president for utility, spoke about the company’s cloud technology offerings.

Technical Review Middle East (TRME): How can IFS cloud technology reduce costs and drive efficiency?

Vijay Jaswal (VJ): If you look at cloud technology generally, there's a lot of cost reductions involved in supporting the actual infrastructure. Those costs then go to a cloud service provider, because it becomes a managed service. So organisations can focus on what they're there to do, which is providing energy, providing electricity, providing water, instead of trying to solve issues related to IT.

IFS cloud also provides a unique ability to connect different islands of information within organisations together. I think that's really important because of the amount of data utility companies or power companies have. Collecting all of the information together from back end systems and supplier systems means having better ways to link them with each other.

Thomas Ligocki (TL): One example of this is maintaining infrastructure worth billions of dollars. IFS can help understand which areas are put under heavier stress, and design a programme for inspections, maintenance, or repair replacement.

TRME: What are some major industry challenges that IFS technology can help with?

TL: One industry trend is the high number of people retiring, and not enough resources available. In addition to that, the assets in the field are becoming more sophisticated. We can give more tools to the field worker so that they can engage with smart products, so that they can interrogate them. That way, you can know whether you should provide more service or whether you should replace them.

VJ: With experienced workforce retiring, the industry is also losing knowledge experts. We've got a number of remote assistance tools, which use merged reality as well, and are available on smart glasses and web browsers. An experienced engineer who is based, for example, in Vancouver, will be able to help an inexperienced engineer in Abu Dhabi through this technology.

TRME: What other tools does IFS use?

TL: Whether it’s for use in tunnels, mines, pipelines, or water management, sensors come in handy for both maintenance and worker safety.

We have had situations where people faint and collapse, and our software will soon notice that the worker has been inactive. That will send an alert to the team. VJ: Sensors can also detect poisonous gases, and determine when it will be safe for field workers to enter mines and tunnels.

Our technology can help with identifying not only the right time to send in field inspectors, but also protect them from potential harm.

IFS is working with utilities stakeholders in the region, which includes both governmental organisations as well as the private sector. We've got key utility companies, both in Saudi Arabia and, and the UAE. IFS technology gives them this competitive edge to do things more efficiently. ■