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| Gianfranco Casati, Group Chief Executive, Growth Markets, Accenture, delivers the welcome address. |
Accenture has opened an Internet of Things (IoT) Centre of Excellence for Resources in Singapore to help companies transform their businesses through a combination of deep industry experience and innovative technologies.
Supported by the Singapore Economic Development Board, the centre will house an innovation hub for Rio Tinto, which will be the centre’s foundation client.
The centre will focus initially on agriculture, forestry, metals, mining, oil and gas, chemicals and utilities companies to capitalise on innovation and new digital services and business models. It will also work on intelligent connected devices and machines that comprise the industrial IoT.
“As a robust international trade hub and base for some of the world’s top commodities producers, shippers and logistical supply chain firms, Singapore is uniquely placed for companies to use technologies to achieve cost reductions, efficiencies and productivity gains, and more importantly, to generate new revenue streams,” said Rachael Bartels, Natural Resources Global Industry MD for Accenture.
Jean-Marc Ollagnier, Chief Executive of Accenture’s Resources operating group, emphasised: “As resources industries navigate commodity price cycles and challenges around talent shortages and rising production costs, digital technology provides a way to gain competitive advantage. This is the reason the centre is here, to help customers navigate any type of business cycle and pursue long-term growth.”
The centre will employ more than 30 researchers, scientists and engineers with expertise in domain areas that include machine learning, cognitive computing, IoT sensor telemetry, advanced machine-human visualisation, IOT security and business integration. Through the centre, Accenture plans to hone the skills of up-and-coming leaders and collaborate with knowledge partners including universities, research institutes and technology companies in Singapore.
Rio Tinto group CIO Simon Benney said, “Rio Tinto has a strong history of developing world-class innovation to improve safety and productivity across our global operations. It is part of our DNA. The speed of innovation and the adoption of technology in our business is the key to competitive advantage and being a leader in the mining industry. We look forward to the Rio Tinto innovation hub bringing new business insights from a broad range of information systems and technology (IS&T)-driven technologies developed by Accenture and its ecosystem into our business.
"The ongoing innovation agenda in RioTinto, led by the Technology and Innovation group, will be supported by the new centre to continue to drive IS&T-enabled productivity improvements. Rio Tinto is committed to a long-term investment in technology through our Mine of the Future programme, and in the talented and well-trained workforce needed to develop, plan, build and operate technological innovation.”
Yeoh Keat Chuan, Managing Director of the Singapore Economic Development Board (EDB), welcomed the centre as a significant milestone for the EDB and Accenture, adding: “We are delighted that Accenture has established its first global Internet of Things Centre of Excellence for Resources in Singapore. Today, Singapore is already Asia’s largest commodity trading hub, conducting key trading, financing and supply chain management activities. Accenture’s centre of excellence will further deepen the presence of resource companies here by helping them harness IoT capabilities and develop new technology solutions. This will generate exciting career opportunities for Singaporean digital researchers, scientists and engineers.”
In one scenario involving a pump, maintenance personnel receive a notification through their smartwatches that there is an imminent problem, and can switch off the faulty component remotely to prevent damage to the extended system. A temporary part could even be 3D-printed as a stop-gap until it can be replaced. Similar environments can be found in the utilities, oil and gas, as well as mining industries.
Virtual reality and augmented reality technologies can be useful for training, especially if the real thing is not available, or if safety scenarios are being taught. Gamification can be added to training software for added impact, Accenture noted.
The centre features a CAVE (cave automatic virtual environment), basically room with screens on the floor and on three walls, to provide complete immersion in a 3D mining scenario. Cameras and projectors track body movement, and change what is displayed on the screens as the person moves. Virtual reality goggles can also be used to view the CAVE instead.
An engine repair scenario combines stereoscopic (3D) images, a touch screen and gestures to manipulate a 3D model, while an augmented reality scenario makes use of a tablet that uses 2D graphics - flat graphics printed on paper - to trigger the display of a computerised 3D model that can be used for training.
Healthcare and aviation companies are good candidates for the technology, Accenture noted.
A conveyor belt exhibit at the centre is relevant to mining, manufacturing and chemical industries, for example. The exhibit had sensors that formed a digital curtain near the conveyor belt to prevent people from getting dangerously close, as well as examples of video intervention. With video cameras trained on the contents of the belt, image analytics and machine vision technologies can automatically identify foreign objects or items of the wrong size which could complicate upstream and downstream processes. The video stream can also be used to identify if the belt is properly aligned or other issues so that predictive maintenance can be conducted.
Another IoT demonstration involves unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), popularly known as drones, for aerial monitoring. The UAVs can travel to many places more quickly than humans can, and analytics can be used to make sense of the video captured. Petrol-powered UAVs can last 10 hours. Unlike satellites, which can take at best pictures where a pixel would represent a length of a metre, UAVs can produce higher-resolution images, and require far fewer skills to operate.
Applications could include using the UAV to take thermal images that can be used to identify fires in charcoal mines, cracks in structures which show up because of heat dissipation, leaks from oil and gas pipelines, or resistance in high-tension cables that indicate imminent failure. With GPS coordinates recorded, a UAV could direct maintenance teams to the exact spot where the work is required.
While drone operation is still dependent on prevailing weather and cloud cover, UAVs can replace inspections done by men on foot, in one real-life example taking 7 minutes to complete an inspection that would have taken four days for two field workers on foot to complete.
Yeoh Keat Chuan, Managing Director of the Singapore Economic Development Board (EDB), welcomed the centre as a significant milestone for the EDB and Accenture, adding: “We are delighted that Accenture has established its first global Internet of Things Centre of Excellence for Resources in Singapore. Today, Singapore is already Asia’s largest commodity trading hub, conducting key trading, financing and supply chain management activities. Accenture’s centre of excellence will further deepen the presence of resource companies here by helping them harness IoT capabilities and develop new technology solutions. This will generate exciting career opportunities for Singaporean digital researchers, scientists and engineers.”
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| Source: Accenture. From left: From L-R: Simon Benney, CIO, Head of Global IS&T, Rio Tinto, Gianfranco Casati, Group Chief Executive, Growth Markets, Accenture, Yeoh Keat Chuan, Managing Director, Economic Development Board (EDB), Teo Lay Lim, Senior Managing Director ASEAN & Country Managing Director Singapore, Accenture, and Senthil Ramani, Managing Director & Centre Director, Accenture. |
Senthil Ramani, Centre Director, Accenture IoT Centre of Excellence for Resources, said that the centre focuses on operationalising IoT in the real world, and shows clients what can happen at the confluence of business and technology. "Digital and the IoT have become the heart of the digital revolution. The cost of innovation has gone down significantly," he said, noting that an estimated US$14.2 trillion is how much value companies can realise through digital business between now and 2022. "Business enablement is what Accenture can do really well."
Six zones at the centre, which bring together cutting-edge technologies and real-world problems that Accenture has worked on, provide a flavour of what is already possible today with IoT solutions. Many of the scenarios involve analogue situations for which digital technologies such as analytics can bring enhanced visibility and integration, advanced optimisation, and self learning to bringing the right information to the right person at the right time, said Ramani. |
| Senthil Ramani, Centre Director, Accenture Internet of Things (IoT) Centre of Excellence for Resources, explaining how the IoT comes together to pre-empt a catastrophic failure in a plumbing system. |
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| An augmented reality simulation of the failure of a valve, reflecting what is being viewed by a maintenance engineer on-site through smart glasses. Such an arrangement could be very useful if someone is on-site while experts are viewing the image remotely. |
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| An alert about the valve failure can be sent to maintenance personnel via a smartwatch. |
In one scenario involving a pump, maintenance personnel receive a notification through their smartwatches that there is an imminent problem, and can switch off the faulty component remotely to prevent damage to the extended system. A temporary part could even be 3D-printed as a stop-gap until it can be replaced. Similar environments can be found in the utilities, oil and gas, as well as mining industries.
 |
| Sensors in this CAVE (cave automatic virtual environment) training scenario track what the user focuses on, directing the ceiling projectors to change the scene and perspective accordingly. |
The centre features a CAVE (cave automatic virtual environment), basically room with screens on the floor and on three walls, to provide complete immersion in a 3D mining scenario. Cameras and projectors track body movement, and change what is displayed on the screens as the person moves. Virtual reality goggles can also be used to view the CAVE instead.
An engine repair scenario combines stereoscopic (3D) images, a touch screen and gestures to manipulate a 3D model, while an augmented reality scenario makes use of a tablet that uses 2D graphics - flat graphics printed on paper - to trigger the display of a computerised 3D model that can be used for training.
 |
| This augmented reality training scenario uses a 2D image on paper to generate a 3D virtual image on the tablet that can be used for training. |
Healthcare and aviation companies are good candidates for the technology, Accenture noted.
A conveyor belt exhibit at the centre is relevant to mining, manufacturing and chemical industries, for example. The exhibit had sensors that formed a digital curtain near the conveyor belt to prevent people from getting dangerously close, as well as examples of video intervention. With video cameras trained on the contents of the belt, image analytics and machine vision technologies can automatically identify foreign objects or items of the wrong size which could complicate upstream and downstream processes. The video stream can also be used to identify if the belt is properly aligned or other issues so that predictive maintenance can be conducted.
Another IoT demonstration involves unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), popularly known as drones, for aerial monitoring. The UAVs can travel to many places more quickly than humans can, and analytics can be used to make sense of the video captured. Petrol-powered UAVs can last 10 hours. Unlike satellites, which can take at best pictures where a pixel would represent a length of a metre, UAVs can produce higher-resolution images, and require far fewer skills to operate.
Applications could include using the UAV to take thermal images that can be used to identify fires in charcoal mines, cracks in structures which show up because of heat dissipation, leaks from oil and gas pipelines, or resistance in high-tension cables that indicate imminent failure. With GPS coordinates recorded, a UAV could direct maintenance teams to the exact spot where the work is required.
While drone operation is still dependent on prevailing weather and cloud cover, UAVs can replace inspections done by men on foot, in one real-life example taking 7 minutes to complete an inspection that would have taken four days for two field workers on foot to complete.
The new centre is Accenture's third in Singapore. "We do innovation for a living but it has to be innovation for real. The centre is a testament of what we mean by it," Gianfranco Casati, Group Chief Executive, Growth Markets, Accenture said.
Accenture opened an Analytics Innovation Center in Singapore in 2012.
Accenture opened an Analytics Innovation Center in Singapore in 2012.
posted from Bloggeroid
I am sure many other IOT Development Companies will follow suit & create a centre of excellence to attract budding startups & enterprises to transform their businesses.
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