TWTG makes terminals smarter

from HCB Magazine March 2020

ADR looks set for major changes

THIS IS TOMORROW CALLING

DIGITISATION • VOPAK IS LEADING THE WAY IN DIGITISING THE TERMINAL. BUT WHAT EXACTLY DOES THAT MEAN AND WHAT DOES IT LOOK LIKE IN THE REAL WORLD?

The arrival of digitised systems and the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) is widely predicted to bring with it a significant change in the way that business across the supply chain operate. But what exactly does that mean? What will future operations look like in practice?

Perhaps one place to start looking is with Vopak, which – as it reiterated in its annual results released recently – is continuing to invest large sums of hard cash in pursuing the IIoT potential. That strategy was kicked off a few years ago when Vopak hired Leo Brand to the new position of chief information officer, giving him a wide remit to examine what new technologies can do to improve the efficiency and profitability of its bulk liquids storage terminal network.

More recently, Vopak has appointed TWTG as one of its preferred IIoT suppliers, with the task of delivering products and services to support it in its quest for digitisation. The products supplied by TWTG are tailored to meet industry demands, such as the necessary ATEX- and IECEx certifications, and built to last in environments with high safety standards. In this way, this agreement can accelerate Vopak’s pursuit of operational excellence and determination to improve employee safety.

Speaking at the time of the appointment, Goran Gavric, CEO of TWTG, said: “We are really proud to work with Vopak and to offer our unique and forward-thinking solutions. TWTG is constantly working on cuttingedge solutions that can benefit industrial environments such as oil and gas storage terminals, mostly by retrofitting on top of existing infrastructure to make implementation easy to manage.”

PEOPLE POWER To strengthen its links with this major client, TWTG has appointed Leo Brand to its supervisory board. Gavric explains the thinking behind this move: “Having a supervisory board can help us to maintain and adjust focus within the key verticals for which we create our IIoT solutions. I am delighted to welcome Leo to our advisory board as we can build on his entrepreneurial vision and the years of experience. Our goal is to fast-track digital transformation in our core markets, and Leo is the best person to guide us through in this endeavour.”

Not only is Brand Vopak’s CIO, he also sits on the board of advisors at PortXL, a maritime and port innovation accelerator, and Innovation Quarter, the regional economic development agency that covers the greater Rotterdam area. Brand says of his role at TWTG: “I met the TWTG team some time ago. It was clear for me early on that I would be interested in supporting TWTG. In my new role as supervisory board member, I can be instrumental in helping the team create fitting innovative solutions that enable industrial, utility, and logistics companies to meet their goals and leverage the new benefits that digital transformation can bring.”

SMART VALVES CAN LEARN HOW TO OPTIMISE

Brand will also be speaking this month at the StocExpo conference in Rotterdam, alongside TWTG’s recently appointed commercial director Nadine Herrwerth, to talk about what IIoT technologies can do for terminal operators. In Vopak’s case, this started with the installation of smart valves, initially at the Vlaardingen terminal in the Netherlands and now being rolled out across the network.

The little green boxes now seen across Vopak terminals are valve sensors, which are designed to provide greater visibility in real time of the status of terminal infrastructure, helping to protect workers and the environment. The sensors communicate via a LoRan WAN network, developed by TWTG for use on industrial sites, and confi gured so as not to send data off-site. This helps allay cybersecurity fears by ensuring there is no way to access the information from an offsite location.

ONE STEP AT A TIME For Herrwerth, talk of the revolution being wrought by IIoT applications is misplaced; she prefers the idea of evolution, with a considered and gradual approach to the implementation of new, agile systems. This will help operators make the most out of the infrastructure already in place.

The next step, Herrwerth says, is the creation of a ‘digital twin’ of the real-world terminal. This will happen when an operator achieves the optimum arrangement of infrastructure, integrating engineering and technology and allowing machine learning, artifi cial intelligence (AI), and data analytics to create autonomous and semi-autonomous reactions to real-time infl uences and circumstances. The incorporation of AI into this arrangement effectively allows the terminal itself to ‘learn’ how to run itself more effi ciently. Decisions will be made before humans are aware that there is a problem, while operators can be warned if an action they are about to take will cause a problem.

Herrwerth is fi rm that this future can be brought about most cost-effectively not by the replacement of existing equipment with digitally enabled equipment, but with the addition of smart sensors and the use of the appropriate software. This is the route that Vopak is taking and, so far, it seems to be paying off. www.twtg.io