Industrial Automation Magazine India

I think it is becoming a true merger of IT and OT

Published on : Tuesday 15-10-2019

What are the latest trends in automation for the industry?

Earlier automation was limited to sensing and controlling but now automation is related to efficiency, productivity, ease to operations, datacentric decisions, etc. Intelligent sensor and the great interest of IT industries in automation segment is changing the overall ecosystem of automation. I think it is becoming a true merger of IT and OT (Information Technology and Operation Technology).

Is the pace of changing technology too rapid for user industries to adjust to?

It depends how you see changes in technology. I feel the basic concepts are still the same – I mean we are having DCS for plant control and ESD for safe shut-down of plants. I agree that now vendors are coming up with faster updates, but it may be because of world-wide research in microprocessors, which is making for faster computation day by day. I feel user industries need to have a plan to deal with these updates.

Are the user industries, especially SMEs, adequately informed and equipped to handle digital transformation and its challenges?

I am not sure about situation in SMEs but I personally feel nowadays information is available everywhere, and with little effort you can get relevant information and same should be the case with SMEs. In my opinion SMEs should have some ecosystem or someone responsible to understand the pain points of their industry and map how digital transformation can overcome these pain points.

The Indian market always has its own challenges when it comes to technology adoption, especially the RoI factor. Are things changing?

I think the mind-set is changing in Indian industry because of global exposure to industry specialists. Return on investment (RoI) is important but industry is looking of long term benefits and also additional opportunities with digital transformation.

Is there a fine balance between total automation and safeguarding jobs?

It’s a difficult question to answer, as reply can be yes or no. Based on my experience I feel that type of competencies will change with automation but still number of jobs will be similar.

Dharmender Singhal is leading the Haldor Topsoe Global Team located at Denmark, Moscow and India of Electrical & Instrumentation engineers to execute the technology projects, equipment supply, inspections, site commissioning, pre commissioning and trouble shooting. He collaborates closely with other engineering departments in Denmark, Delhi, and Moscow, as well as the departments in the business units. Singhal was instrumental in establishing Smart Engineering department in India to promote global digitisation initiatives, team will work for Product Configurator, AI & ML, VR/ AR initiatives, optimising engineering tools and processes.