SAP Chemical Customers Looking for Platform Solutions

Blackmer sliding-vane pumps stand ready to meet the needs of the rapidly growing oil and gas industry in the United States. Photo courtesy of Blackmer, a brand of PSG, a Dover company.

There’s a lot of talk about the “things” in the Industrial Internet of Things formula, but analytical platforms are also very integral parts to this complex solution. Return on investment (ROI) or even total cost ownership (TCO) metrics are key ingredients for many manufacturers in realizing the justification for a digital transformation for a plant.

Recently, SAP chemical manufacturers discussed platform and investment at the Best Practices for Chemicals event in Houston. Mark Sen Gupta, from ARC Advisory Group’s Industrie 4.0 blog, recently wrote a post, titled, “Cloud Adoption Slow and Steady Among SAP Chemical Users.” The post outlines the urgency for chemical plants to modernize and connect their assets to transform legacy facilities.

Here’s an excerpt from the post:

Companies are at different stages regarding cloud adoption readiness. Some companies have a clear Cloud strategy; some are in the process of moving their test systems into the cloud, others are still waiting. Overall, though, attendees agreed that moving to the cloud should be part of system migration considerations targeting at Total Cost of Ownership and complexity reduction through standardization.

The takeaway for me is more learning is needed by plant managers and executives to better understand platform solutions and possible new business outcomes, beyond asset management. SAP has two resources to help in this area, the Leonardo Portfolio and a Digital Transformation Navigator tool. The Leonardo Portfolio advertises its ability to “bridge things with processes” but also new business processes and business models.

For more information on Leonardo Portfolio, click here, and more about the Digital Transformation Navigator Tool.

For more IIoT coverage in maintenance and operations, click here!