In the next few years, as the world continues its trajectory of digital transformation, the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) will permeate all industries, spreading even more than it has already done so today. Among the many sectors, the oil and gas industry would highly benefit from AI integration due to the number of large and sensitive machinery they operate. Unexpected downtime or a slight mishap could create catastrophic consequences leading to the loss of large amounts of money. The future of machine maintenance and monitoring lies in the hands of predictive analytics. 

PTT Public Company Limited, a Thailand based organisation, established the now Alpha Com Company Limited to create a new business model that integrates the best existing commercial enterprises and the most promising prototypes. Out of that creation, the Soothsayer project was born. In a recent interview, Patiphat Sumrongthong, General Manager of Soothsayer, joined us to discuss the specifics of the machine monitoring AI solution. 

The Soothsayer was established as a unit that pooled the efforts of both engineering experts and data scientists to focus on machine-based predictive learning and risk management. The team combined data science theory and engineering theory to create an AI solution with data integration, data understanding, machine understanding, model creation and dashboard creation capabilities. Amidst the data scientists and designers, the Soothsayer team also contains developers to help create user-friendly dashboards customised to the needs of the customers. 

In essence, this predictive maintenance and machine monitoring solution works by taking data collected from the customer’s plants through the sensors connected to the machines and transfers it into The Soothsayer data lake. That collected data is then processed using machine-learning and presented in the customer’s customised dashboard. This prediction can then be used to alert plant owners of any problems that may occur months in advance, so plants are saved from having to shut down operations.

Having analytics be a significant part of their operations, The Soothsayer team sought out a trusted partner to aid them with the underlying machine-learning and AI within their technology. They turned to IBM, a world-class cloud solution provider that had the capabilities The Soothsayer team were looking for. IBM Cloud is an enterprise public cloud that is secure and experienced across multiple industries. They currently provide over 170 products and services on their cloud platform, including AI, ML and analytics. IBM cloud aids organisations worldwide to digitally transform through cloud technology through their software and services. Named a leader in the 2021 Gartner Magic Quadrant for Data Science and Machine Learning Platforms, IBM collaborates with many industry partners to help execute successful innovations. Combining IBM’s capabilities and The Soothsayer’s expertise and tools, they created a solid predictive maintenance and machine monitoring solution.  

As the technology and outcome of its predictions depend on the sensors built into things like gas turbine compressors, gas turbine generators, pumps, etc., The Soothsayer also provides a sensor installation team to help install sensors into its clients’ machines, as Patiphat calls it, “an end-to-end solution.” The dashboard requires customers to both click less and analyse less as results are presented readily for actions to be taken.

The Soothsayer isn’t simply software that assists in plant maintenance. Businesses can use this AI technology in planning, spare-part optimisation and other aspects of plant management. It works beyond the capabilities of a human to consolidate large amounts of data from various machines into an interpretable dashboard. This AI solution has been able to save the company’s customers an estimate of about THB 2,000 million since 2015 and prevented many unexpected shutdowns due to its early warnings. 

Predictive maintenance is a value-added to businesses within the oil and gas industry as it lowers the risk of unexpected machine malfunctions and costly downtimes. These benefits are what workers in traditional companies have to convince their higher-ups of when looking to employ a digital and modern solution, according to Patiphat. In the past, the path to digital adoption was a rough one, but in recent years, we have seen more companies agree to digital investments due to certain developments.

The Soothsayer is an expert in the oil and gas industry, having assisted many of its customers in various ways such as detecting temperature anomalies in an expander unit and predicting possible failures. Patiphat encourages the use of AI as he asserts that if owners of plants want to keep up with the competitive trends, they would have to learn to adapt to greater technological usage like The Soothsayer.

To learn more about this machine-based predictive learning and risk management solution, head on over to The Soothsayer’s website.