Honeywell’s Big Thrust on IoT

By: Ibrahim Ahmad

The Hague: At the 28th annual Honeywell Users Group (HUG) for Europe, Middle East, Africa and India regions, the big focus is on industrial IoT and security.

“Actionable paths to adapting IoT solutions are not a thing of the future, they are here now and are helping manufacturers transform their operations today,” said Vimal Kapur, president of HPS. “The amount of data generated from today’s facilities is exponentially larger and the IIoT is allowing manufacturers to efficiently manage, gather and analyze that data across multiple operations and plants to transform entire enterprises.” Over 900 of Honeywell technology users from across the oil and gas, chemical, pulp and paper and metals and mining sectors such as Lukoil, Shell, Saudi Aramco, British Sugar, Sabic, Marathon Oil, and others are attending this conference.

The main themes of the conference include the technologies critical today that can drive gains in operational efficiency, productivity and ultimately revenue growth.

The conference will also deliberate on new opportunities in a volatile marketplace that will examine how to take advantage of technology and services to improve reliability, safety, compliance and productivity in a time of low oil prices, increasing globalization and political instability.

The other key topic to be discussed will be about how to embrace change and empower the next generation that will cover how the right environment, training and tools can unleash the power of the smart, tech-savvy and collaborative millennial workforce. "This is critical as the industry moves from hardware centric organizations to very customer centric and agile companies", said Andrew Bird, VP, Digital Transformation at Honeywell.

A Honeywell-commissioned survey, conducted by KRC Research, found that about two thirds of respondents believe data analytics can help address important operational issues such as equipment breakdowns, unplanned downtime and supply chain management. At the same time, nearly half said they don’t fully understand the potential benefits of the IoT. “Managing digital transformation for their operations is a question mark for a number of companies – how to use the IoT to increase production from existing assets and improving process safety, reliability, security and sustainability,” said Kapur.