| | January 20159CIOReviewPlant OperationsReal-time remote, predictive monitoring and maintenance of fixed and mobile assets, people, and materials to optimize safety and output are key needs for chemical plant operations. Chemical plants' needs are distinct from those of, say, an auto factory, and the software suites are often slightly coupled to plant design and construction services from Engineering Procurement and Construction (EPC) firms like KBR and Intergraph.Market and Product PerformanceData from markets (such as commodity prices and competitor action), internal sales results, and service needs all impact future design and production decisions. Like upstream supply chain data, the systems used to capture and analyze this information is often not specific to the chemicals industry, and comes from the same major IT vendors. Chemical-specific vendors do exist, such as Big Data Integrates the Complete Chemical Manufacturing LifecycleIn the near term, we expect to see these solutions become more and more part of an integrated suite. As an example of how this will look, consider PLM giant Dassault Systeme's acquisition of cheminformatics startup Accelerys (now Biovia) in April 2014 in a deal that reportedly valued the startup at $750 million. As more of today's alliances and partnerships become mergers and acquisitions, full-cycle offerings of chemical-industry automation software will emerge.Another key trend is in the automation inside the factory, as pervasive sensors give the entire enterprise a richly-detailed picture of operations and output. A key challenge, however, is the mismatch in lifecycle between fast-evolving information technology (such as sensors and screens) and long-lived manufacturing equipment. Companies risk saddling themselves with millions of dollars of quickly-obsolete machines, if the sensors, analytics, and user interfaces of plant equipment are too-rigidly tied to the equipment itself. As a way to avoid this, we see manufacturers in many industries exploring the use of augmented reality--worker-mounted devices, sensors, and screens--as a form of "middleware" between IT and equipment. A particularly advantageous approach is to integrate the devices with Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), so that a worker's goggles and gloves actually become part of the execution and documentation of factory-floor activities like scheduled maintenance. Companies specializing in these "middlewearables" include EON Reality, Fitiri Energy, EquipCodes, Google Glass, Intel RealSense, Marxent AR, Metaio, and WadeFX.Future StepsAll of the initiatives above are geared towards solving operational problems that are important, but relatively tactical: improved productivity, product development, and customer relationships are the leading benefits of Big Data cited in surveys of chemical industry executives by systems integration consultants like Accenture. These same goals would be found in a survey of bankers, carmakers, food processors, and almost any industry you care to ask.There are, however, applications of Big Data and advanced analytics that are not only unique to chemical manufacturing, but strategic and transformative--addressing major new areas of science or global megatrends. For example, the field of synthetic biology promises to transform specialty chemicals, bringing new methods of research and production and even new chemical classes, as when DuPont bought Danisco for $6 billion in 2011. DuPont is, of course, an iconic chemicals and materials company, while Danisco is an industrial biotech company, making chemical "parts" for products as different as biofuels, foods, and detergents. Today, every major chemical manufacturer has an industrial biotechnology initiative, and synthetic biology tools from companies like Teselagen, Gen9, and DNA2.0 help them design new ways to make chemicals from new feedstocks like biomass or known ones. For example, Bolt Threads learned to make high-performance textile fibers like spider silk, and DNA2.0 spinout Calysta makes plastics from natural gas. Taking a page from enterprise software's evolution, these startups are using free software, tools, and open source datasets like OpenWetWare, OpenPCR, and the Antha programming language, and being incubated at traditional IT accelerators like Y Combinator, to form what could be the next generation of chemical industry leaders.Like any major global industry, chemical manufacturers need better supplier product data, real-time operations information, and logistics planning systems"
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