From left to right: Duco Boer, Marc Steigenga, Thomas Schouten & Martijn van 't Wout
Companies in the (petro)chemical industry can enhance the integrity and safety of their installations with tank storage at lower costs. A new collaboration between Smart AIS and Falcker makes this easier. They do this by creating a ‘digital twin’ of the most important assets and largely digitalising the inspection process.
In the entire ARA industrial area (Antwerp-Rotterdam-Amsterdam), there are plants dealing with ageing assets. Many installations date back to the sixties and seventies of the last century. Naturally, they are maintained excellently, and in recent years every part has been renewed or repaired at least once. However, it remains crucial to inspect the installation for potential (upcoming) defects. There are legally prescribed standards for this, but of course, the asset owner in particular wants to know what to expect in terms of maintenance. Particularly in the current phase of the petrochemical industry, where it is still uncertain which direction the energy and raw material transition will take, you want to maintain your current assets as long as possible. A perfect and tailor-made inspection policy helps with this life extension. Through the new collaboration between Smart AIS and Falcker, companies can enhance the integrity and safety of their installations at lower costs.
Innovation and digitalisation
‘Falcker and Smart AIS have found each other in a common love for innovation and digitalisation’, says Thomas Schouten, CEO of Falcker. ‘At Falcker, we have had a perfectly working system for several years to create a ‘digital twin’ of storage tanks using aerial photography, drone photography, 360-degree ultra-HD photography and 3D scans. Smart AIS has exactly the same system, but for piping, jetties and pressure equipment. By joining forces, we can now offer every asset owner that uses tank storage a complete picture and relieve them in the inspection work. Naturally, they also get access to the model. This allows them to tailor their maintenance programme to a combination of on-site inspections and the inspection images from the ‘digital twin’. We have already implemented the new, more comprehensive collaboration for several asset owners.’
Much faster
Such a ‘digital twin’ is essentially a one-to-one digital 3D computer model of your entire installation. Moreover, all parts are numbered and indexed, so you can quickly reach your destination with a few clicks, no matter which part you want to zoom in on. Having arrived at the relevant spot, you can immediately look up all important documentation, such as previous reports, past repairs, deviations or findings, such as early corrosion. The photos are renewed every three months. ‘Of course, creating such a model is an investment, but it pays off quickly’, says Thomas. ‘Not only in terms of safety and integrity, but also in manpower. Just like in all other technical professions, industrial inspectors are scarce, and any work that can be automated is very welcome for many companies. Customers outsource part of the inspection process to us. Moreover, you can carry out your inspections much faster from behind the screen than when you have to physically walk through the plant. I estimate that our online inspectors can do four times as much work in the same time as an on-site inspector.’
Experience
Additionally, during the years that Falcker has been working according to this method, a lot of experience has been gained with online inspection work and identifying areas where the inspector should pay extra attention. Thomas: ‘Our customers thus save on human capacity, can demonstrably comply with legal regulations and are able to work safer because fewer people need to physically be on site. Moreover, the quality increases because everything is recorded and any deviation, including its development, is immediately visible. You can monitor more in less time, and that ease of use is, especially in an older plant, a great advantage.’
For more information, please contact Martijn van 't Wout of Smart AIS.
For more information about Falcker: https://falcker.com/