SARAS DIGITIZES OIL REFINERY MAINTENANCE, ENHANCES WORKER SAFETY AND PRODUCTIVITY

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1 SARAS DIGITIZES OIL REFINERY MAINTENANCE, ENHANCES WORKER SAFETY AND PRODUCTIVITY ABOUT OUR CLIENT Saras aims to become a reference point as a provider of sustainable energy that fuels people's lives. As one of the largest high complexity refineries in the Mediterranean Sea, Saras holds about 300,000 barrels per day of refining capacity in addition to one of the largest liquid fuel gasification plants in the world. Additional activities of Saras include trading, marketing, generation of electricity from renewable sources and industrial engineering services for the oil sector.

2 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY As part of a company-wide digitization project, Saras aimed to improve oil refinery operations and maintenance processes by introducing mobility to field workers routines. Overcoming some basic obstacles of the downstream production sector, they successfully launched two applications: Switchgear Assistant and Checklist Companion which have allowed them to increase worker safety standards and boost field worker productivity. THE CHALLENGE Saras Digital is a company-wide digitization project led by Saras, together with their IT engineering team Sartec. One goal of this project is to boost their field workers productivity and safety on oil refinery maintenance tasks by introducing mobile applications into their day-to-day routine. In the downstream production world, mobile applications are rare due to two governing issues: a lack of network connectivity in the locations where the mobile applications are needed, and the requirement of safety certified, high-security devices that are approved by a governing body. For these two reasons, many oil refinery operations and other downstream product operations have been incapable of interjecting a tangible amount of mobility into their processes, leaving field workers to perform nearly all tasks manually.

3 THE SOLUTION Saras selected Sartec and Techedge to help them realize their worker safety and productivity improvement goals, overcoming the traditional challenges of downstream production operations by adopting two basic mobility applications: Switchgear Assistant and Checklist Companion. SWITCHGEAR ASSISTANT Switchgear Assistant is a simple application that increases the safety on the industrial shop floor. When a pump needs maintenance, technicians must find the proper drawer to turn the power on or off. In most organizations, this maintenance is done manually through the placement of paper tags on the switches and pumps. With Switchgear Assistant, this process is controlled digitally leveraging a QR code. When the QR code is scanned, the Switchgear Assistant makes a few checks, including: User Authentication ensuring the person performing the task is authorized to do it Pump Identification ensuring the right drawer/pump is being opened Pump Status which indicates the user if the pump is on or off before they start to perform maintenance activities The Switchgear Assistant application then stores all the maintenance activity in a log, providing a comprehensive view of all the pumps/switches in the refinery that have been operated on.

4 THE SOLUTION CHECKLIST COMPANION Checklist Companion increases the safety and efficiency for field workers in the refinery by supporting routine data collection on machinery and equipment. Without Checklist Companion, workers typically collect data on paper and input it into systems when they return to the control room. Checklist Companion digitizes this process by allowing workers to input data for a piece of machinery or equipment as they are making the checks, allowing the control room to receive updates almost immediately. With Checklist Companion, each piece of machinery and equipment has a QR code that can be scanned before performing a maintenance check or activity. After scanning the QR code, the record is pulled up on the workers' device and they can input data about that specific piece of machinery or equipment (i.e. level of oil). If the workers are not connected to a network they can continue to the next piece of machinery without concern, as data are saved in a queue and automatically submitted to the control room as soon as network connection is regained.

5 RESULTS, FUTURE PLANS, ROI After launching Switchgear Assistant and Checklist Companion, Saras has seen increases in worker productivity (through reduced working hours on manual tasks) and improved their worker safety standards. Saras has immediate plans to roll out the Switchgear Assistant and Checklist Companion applications to their entire plant network.

6 ABOUT THE AUTHOR ALESSANDRO MENALE Practice Manager Alessandro helps clients go digital by supporting them with projects of high strategic relevance in the mobile application sector. Having worked both as Integration Architect and Solution Architect, he is an expert on all major technologies related to the integration between SAP and legacy systems, as well as on Open Source platforms integrated with mobile devices. At Techedge, our mission is to help organizations evolve into true digital companies through short iterative cycles of business-driven innovation. We provide business solutions and services that combine business advisory, technology expertise and premium delivery capabilities, with a lean, trust-based approach. With nearly 1,700 professionals worldwide, we offer our clients the scalability of a global provider, the flexibility of a local partner, and the competence of a strategic, trusted advisor. See more at: techedgegroup.com His well-rounded knowledge of mobile applications allows Alessandro and his team to design and deliver best in class solutions for their global customers. We are efficiency, energy and the environment. We are research and innovation. We design solutions to improve the industrial and environmental performance of large industries, SMEs and public agencies. We have experience and technical competence in environmental protection, in energy efficiency and industrial automation.