April Series: Digital Transformation, Artificial Intelligence & The Future of Energy and Utilities

The Energy and Utilities Sectors stand to substantially benefit from the implementation of digital technologies. Many companies within these sectors have taken the leap to adopt technologies to streamline operations. Artificial Intelligence and the automation of benefit delivery is the key to the future of the Energy and Utilities Sectors. AI’s ability to address the similar massive scale and complex analysis of exceptionally large volumes of data in real time to reduce infrastructure strain will ultimately have a very strong impact on the entire value chain.

Over the past few weeks, within the United States, the national grid and its emphasis on being the future of the energy grid and renewables have become a hot topic. The average age of power plants in the US is approximately 30 years old the deterioration of these plants has the potential to do serious damage by putting people out of power – this is where AI steps in to stop the problem.

Increased asset reliability, outage prevention, preventative maintenance and improved customer experience are just few of the ways AI can aid the energy sector. This month, we will be conducting a deep dive into how Maestro AI can address the energy sector’s needs more specifically.

Source: i-Scoop

The trends in the application of Artificial Intelligence in Utilities will also be in discussion this month as they share many similarities to those of Energy. Based on the predictions in the above graphic, it is clear Utilities companies are turning to digital to enhance their bottom line as it is predicted that by just 2023, utilities will have digitally connected 75% of their assets.

With the implementation of Maestro AI, companies within the Utilities and Energy space will be able to capture unprecedented speed to value and bottom line improvement with ease. Subscribe to follow along this month for the April Series: Artificial Intelligence & The Future of Energy and Utilities to learn more about AI’s application in this space and our take on some of the hottest topics in 2021.

To learn more about what Maestro AI and Elutions can do for your corporation, contact us.


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Impacts: Covid-19 & Water Utilities

The COVID-19 pandemic’s lasting impact continues to strain utilities across the globe, but the Water and Sanitation Sector has had to face unique challenges. Frequent and proper handwashing is the most basic frontline defense against the spread of COVID-19, yet a quarter of the world’s population lacks access to reliable water supplies. According to the…

Texas Interconnection, Renewable Energy Sources & Artificial Intelligence

The highly publicized and politicized Texas Winter Storm power outages sparked outrage across the United States and abroad. Many people from the public and private sector were quick to point fingers at utility providers while focusing a lions’ share of the blame on wind power. However, the blame placed on wind power was misinformed and…

Artificial Intelligence, F&B Quality, Safety and COVID-19

The COVID-19 pandemic initiated a drastic change in consumer confidence and purchasing habits while redefining the approach to how select businesses approach their supply and demand for goods & services. The food and beverage, manufacturing and industrial processing industries continue to experience, respond to and rebound from these unexpected changes all while navigating a yet…

February Series: The AI Enabled Food & Bev Revolution

The global food and beverage (F&B) manufacturing industry is a behemoth, valued at 6111.1 billion dollars as of 2020 and expected to grow at a CAGR of 7% for 2021 to reach an estimated value of $7527.5 billion in 2023. Even though COVID-19 created some pretty significant supply chain issues for the F&B market it still grew in an incredibly trying year. The industry is essential to our way of life and digital technologies are essential to the survival and growth of the industry.

Artificial Intelligence has the potential to unlock complete value chain transformation for F&B manufacturers. Mckinsey reports that, “50% of [F&B manufacturing] companies that embrace AI over the next 5-7 years have the potential to double their cash flow.”

The team at Elutions says, why wait that long?


F&B Manufacturers have never been in a better position then they are now to begin rapidly digitizing their operations with AI to reduce time to market, implement automation in feedstock to increase speed and reduce yield, to reduce resource consumption and achieve Net-Zero goals and so much more. In February 2021 Solve the Unsolvable will be exploring the applications of Artificial Intelligence in the Food and Beverage Manufacturing sector.

How can AI deliver on its promises within F&B? How can AI help corporations achieve their Net-Zero goals with increased speed? How can AI combat COVID-19 in the F&B Manufacturing sector and maintain food safety goals?


Stay tuned to this month’s series to have all of these questions and more answered.

Maestro AI is proven to deliver transformational benefit for the F&B manufacturing industry across the entire value chain at unprecedented speed to value. To learn more about Maestro AI and Elutions, contact us.

Click subscribe below to be kept up to date and notified of our upcoming articles, including the next piece in the Februrary Series- Food, Beverage and Artificial Intelligence.


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Crystal Ball 2021: The Digital Leapfrog

The term “leapfrog” may evoke childhood memories of playing on the playground where the idea of leaping over your friends like a frog leaping towards its destination made more sense than conventionally walking there. But in the context of technological advancement, you may be asking yourself, “what does leapfrogging actually have to do with digital transformation or Artificial Intelligence?”

Enter our second AI prediction for 2021:

Comprehensive Artificial Intelligence platforms, such as Elutions‘ Maestro, will act as a digital leapfrog to bypass outdated systems, investments in new infrastructure and out-navigating your competitors.

Holistic 
Al 
Digital 
Leapfrog 
Solving Unsolvable 
Business Challenges 
Combat Covid-19 
Disruptions
Crystal Ball Predictions 2021: This Article Emphasizes The Digital Leapfrog

The concept of leapfrogging is not new, in fact it has been used in industrial organization and economic growth for many years. However, the concept of using new technologies, such as AI, to leapfrog various stages of technical infrastructure or development is quite revolutionary. The digital leapfrog makes the notion of gradual upgrades/ development obsolete and introduces the ability to disrupt the developmental stages with one huge leap past steps that may have otherwise taken years and significant financial investment to implement. The idea that growth must follow a linear pattern can be tossed aside with just one leap, if only a corporation is ready to make the jump.

Digital Leapfrogging has not been widely reported upon, written about or discussed by the consultancies and large tech companies of the world, for strategic reasons on their part. A simple google search will not produce much on the topic, but why?

The leading corporations of the world have made a fortune off of convincing businesses to follow the antiquated path of upgrading their “technological stack” or selling them on the notion that they need to purchase/ implement additional technology, such as data lakes, prior to adopting Artificial Intelligence. This approach has been utilized for many years as a tactic to get as much business from a single client as possible. This sales model has had a widespread impact on industrial purchasing and is ingrained in such a way that the digital leapfrog might seem impossible as it disrupts this entire process. Rest assured, the digital leapfrog is not only possible, taking the leap vastly increases a business’ speed to value.

The digital leapfrog presents the opportunity to use existing systems to “leap” past the competition, without additional cost, and into the future with Maestro Artificial Intelligence.

Our prediction is that, due to the uncertain times we are living in and the need not only for stability but also for exponential growth, the time of linear progression & upgrading the technological stack is long gone. Not only is it extremely costly to continuously invest in a tech stack, in most cases it is entirely unnecessary or made redundant when the end goal is an Artificial Intelligence implementation. In this day and age, many businesses are in desperate need of speed to value, something that only a digital leapfrog can provide.

Many industries are poised to benefit from Artificial Intelligence as a leapfrog, including Healthcare, Education, Telecom and Banking but those with the opportunity to use AI as a transformational leapfrog are Industrial & Chemical Manufacturing, Utilities and Oil & Gas corporations. Many manufacturers, utilities and O&G corporations run large, and sometimes international estates, with a multitude of plants or sites that may all have disparate systems, or existing infrastructure/ assets that varies in age, lifecycle and capability, the perfect environment for Maestro AI as a leapfrog.

It may all seem too good to be true, this is revolutionary and can be difficult to accept due to established procurement and purchasing habits that have been plaguing businesses for years, but it is possible with the right partner. Most leaders and organizations want breakthroughs but many of the large tech corporations are not willing to provide true innovation. The team at Elutions specializes in breakthroughs, using Maestro AI not only to leapfrog internal technological development with its ability to connect previously disparate assets, infrastructure and systems, but also to leapfrog past the competition with unrivaled speed to value.

In 2021 we will see a rapid increase of AI adoption as a digital leapfrog. Let 2021 be a year of digital transformation with Elutions as your partner. To learn more about specific case studies of Maestro Artificial Intelligence applied, please contact us.

Click subscribe below to be kept up to date and notified of our upcoming articles, including the next piece in the December Series- A Look Into the Crystal Ball: AI in 2021.


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Crystal Ball 2021: A Push Towards Holistic Artificial Intelligence

According to the International Data Corporation (IDC), a premier global market research company, “Artificial Intelligence and machine learning are top of mind for most organizations today, and IDC expects that AI will be the disrupting influence changing entire industries over the next decade.” Given the important role that Artificial Intelligence will play in digital disruption in the coming decade, it’s important to define what AI really is.

There are many buzzwords in the AI space leading to confusion in the marketplace and a deep misunderstanding of what AI is and what it is capable of achieving. AI is not one thing, it’s a generalized term for software or a platform that can imitate human intelligence and can be applied in a virtually limitless number of ways. Buzzwords like, neural networks, deep learning, natural language processing and machine learning can all roll up into the tight little bow of Artificial Intelligence and they are the building blocks which an AI platform uses to “learn” for itself.

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AI can be applied in many different ways. We see AI being applied in our everyday lives if we have a smartphone that uses facial recognition to unlock, an Amazon Alexa to tell us the news and through social media, take TikTok’s notoriously smart algorithms that make the platform so addictive. AI is all around us, even commercially, though the commercial space has been slower to adopt AI technologies.

The commercial space has predominantly taken a more ‘piecemeal’ approach to adopting digital technologies, yet to fully capture the benefits of true artificial intelligence due to the use of discreet solutions, like advanced analytics or automation only to target a piece of their full process. There are many use cases of automation on manufacturing lines or chatbots in the customer services department but what about a holistic end-end approach?

Enter the first AI prediction for 2021

Holistic, end-end Artificial Intelligence, like Elutions’ Maestro, will replace the currently isolated approach to adoption of discreet digital technologies.

Crystal Ball Predictions 2021: This Article Emphasizes Holistic AI

Leaving behind solutions, touted as AI, that only addresses one piece of the process, like predictive maintenance, and adopting true AI that is self-learning, self-adapting and applied in an end-end approach to drive and even automate actionable intelligence across the entire value chain is the way of the future. The piecemeal approach may have worked in the past but with the new normal we are living in businesses need to begin thinking about their processes as if they were living, breathing beings.

Let’s think about it this way, if an overweight patient goes to the doctor and they are experiencing knee pain, a pain killer or a cortisol shot might address the pain right away and in the short term, but what about addressing the root cause? The doctor can see the full picture and knows that for sustained change, the patient will have to lose weight to rid themselves of their knee pain.

Now, let’s apply this analogy to a manufacturing plant, the plant is the patient and Holistic Artificial Intelligence is the doctor. A discreet solution, one that perhaps only addresses maintenance, is only able to impact one specific point in the manufacturing process, this solution can only prescribe a painkiller. However, an end-end solution is capable not only of detecting the root cause of a maintenance issue, but also addressing the pain point, it’s chain effect on the process, prescribing and in the case of Maestro, automatically implementing a holistic solution.

A great approach for businesses to best take advantage of AI, whether they are a University, Manufacturer or an Oil and Gas corporation is to focus on outcomes and addressing pain points. Businesses must focus deeply on their individual challenges and use Artificial Intelligence to address them as a whole. For example, many manufacturers experience asset downtime and plant failure as a major site challenge, a challenge that can be addressed and significantly reduced, if not eliminated entirely, with a holistic end-end AI approach.

In 2021 we will see a rapid increase of AI adoption to address a host of challenges across the entire value chain. Let 2021 be a year of digital transformation with Elutions as your partner. To learn more about specific case studies of Maestro Artificial Intelligence applied, please contact us.

Click subscribe below to be kept up to date and notified of our upcoming articles, including the next piece in the December Series- A Look Into the Crystal Ball: AI in 2021.


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Digital Transformation, Artificial Intelligence and the Chemical Industry

In the previous articles in this series, we discussed the importance of the Chemical Industry to the global economy and how that industry is poised to benefit tremendously from digitization. Digitization is a vast concept, it encompasses everything from advanced analytics and process controls through to Artificial Intelligence and full automation. Although many experts agree that digitization is critical for the future of the industry, what exactly that means in a business application remains to be seen.

STEPS TO BRING 
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Source: Pinpools

Industrial digital transformation represents a host of possibilities, whether it’s a reference to digital technologies applied in various levels of the process, to the entire process or even to the entire estate. For the purpose of this article, at a process level, Chemical Manufacturing and Artificial Intelligence will be the main focus of digitization in chemicals. Transformational benefits such as increased margins, reduced downtime, sustainable business practices, and more are all achievable in chemical manufacturing through the application of Maestro Artificial Intelligence.

For many corporations it may be tempting to apply digital technologies such as Artificial Intelligence, at a plant level or in an ad hoc basis and while benefits can certainly be achieved this way, in order to be truly transformative, from our years of experience, estate wide application is a necessity. Estate wide application allows for a full picture of the process rather than a point in time, isolated view of the equipment. The estate wide view gives way to a true understanding of how upstream and downstream processes impact the entirety of production.

The adoption of Artificial Intelligence across the entire estate is pivotal to the growth strategy of industrial chemical manufacturing and to their ability to combat digital-led disruption in end markets.


Long term consequences from the adoption of digital in other industries is being predicted to cause a large ripple effect in chemicals. The ripple effects can be positive or negative, take the following example: Digital technologies applied to the automotive value chain will have tremendous impact on the demand for production of chemical coatings as the dawn of driverless cars is set to increase safety on the roads and decrease the needs for chemical coatings. While a world filled with driverless cars may seem like a distant future, Chemical Manufacturers that produce these coatings need to begin planning for this disruption by applying digital now in order to survive in the future.

We have all learned many lessons about the uncertainty of the future, especially due to the impacts of the global COVID-19 pandemic, which manufacturers have suffered extensively from. Where have manufacturers turned in order to correct the course? Digitization. An internal research study revealed that the largest drivers for digitization in the chemicals industry are workforce, changes in utilities/ energy costs, COVID-19 related changes, growth strategy and global industry pressures.

Source: Internal Research

Financial incentive alone, derived from increased production, decreased downtime etc., is a significant reason to go digital. Additional benefits relating to sustainability such as reduced energy consumption and hazardous waste are also key drivers. Reduced research and development cycles are another fantastic benefit that comes from digitization.

The above drivers are the “why” that is causing Chemical Manufacturers to adopt digital technologies at increased rates. But how can they drive benefit, adopt solutions quickly and do it all at scale? 

The most important decision in adopting Artificial Intelligence and digitizing is choosing the partner that will transform business operations.


A true partner, like Elutions, will work with the business to establish clear targets, quantify the benefit, develop a governance plan, create a bespoke solution for targeted needs, prioritize speed to benefit and above all remain committed to future growth and surpassing designated targets and goals. Digitization in chemical manufacturing is not a “one size fits all.” Businesses deserve a partner that understands that and is experienced in working together to create the perfect fit.

To learn more about specific case studies of Maestro Artificial Intelligence applied, please contact us.


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Artificial Intelligence and the Chemical Industry’s Rebound from COVID-19

It should come as no surprise that the Chemical Manufacturing Industry, like all industries, has experienced quite a shake up this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Global supply chain disruption, erratic spikes and lulls in demand, operational constraints and the nature of on-site jobs are just a few of many obstacles that the Chemicals industry faced as a result of the pandemic.

Let’s consider some chemical industry statistics that frame the impacts of these constraints on the global economy…


According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics from data in September 2020, Chemical Manufacturing companies employ roughly 838,000 people in the United States alone, of that 838k roughly 524,000 are production and nonsupervisory employees.

The below figures are according to statista.com: 

In 2019, the Chemical Industry represented a total worldwide revenue of roughly 3.94 trillion U.S. dollars, with China controlling a 35.8% share of the revenue.

The leading Global Manufacturer of Chemicals, based on a revenue of approximately 65.3 billion U.S. dollars, was German chemical company, BASF. They were also the leaders in the category of global employment with approximately 118,280 employees.

In the United Kingdom the chemical and pharmaceuticals industry represent the second largest industry and a significantly important part of the national economy.


Based on this small sample of statistics alone, it is very clear to see that the Chemical Manufacturing Industry represents a significant part of our global economy. The good news is that as we learn more about the virus and find creative strategies to combat it, including artificial intelligence applied in various ways, we are already starting to see the Global Chemical Production rebounding from some pretty significant losses.


Percent change in chemical production due to COVID-19 worldwide 
between January 2020 and August 2020, by region 
GIObal 
Africa & 
Middle 
East 
Chile 
Latin 
America 
Mexico 
North 
America 
India 
China 
Asia. 
Pacific 
Former 
Soviet 
union 
Belgium 
Italy 
France 
Europe 
January 
2020 to 
Februa ry 
-2.1% 
0.1% 
2.3% 
-0.4% 
-0.1% 
-6.4% 
-3.7% 
-0.9% 
0.5% 
February 
2020 to 
March 
-3.3% 
0.2% 
-2.5% 
-1.1% 
-7.2% 
-8.3% 
-5.4% 
2% 
-0.8% 
-2.1% 
0.2% 
March 
2020 to 
April 
0.1% 
-8% 
-3.4% 
-2.9% 
-2.6% 
-15.9% 
1% 
-0.4% 
-0.1% 
-5% 
-4.2% 
-2.3% 
April 
2020 to 
May 
-0.5% 
-0.9% 
-10.2% 
-4.9% 
-6.5% 
-2.3% 
-13.7% 
4.8% 
1% 
-3.3% 
-3.9% 
-3.1% 
May 
2020 to 
June 
2020 
1.6% 
-1.2% 
-6.7% 
-3.2% 
-1.9% 
1.1% 
6.5% 
3.3% 
3.7% 
0.9% 
0.2% 
June 
2020 to L 
July 
1.7% 
0.3% 
-1.9% 
0.5% 
-1.1% 
1% 
17.6% 
2.1% 
1.7% 
1.9% 
2.8% 
5% 
3.2% 
3% 
July 2020 
August • 
2020 
2.7% 
2.9% 
4% 
0.9% 
10.3% 
3.3% 
2.9% 
1.3% 
2.6% 
4.9% 
1.7% 
3.6%
Source: Statista

Global production is rebounding slowly, but surely, with a 2.7% uptick in production from July of 2020 to August of 2020 with the most significant increase coming from India after a pretty difficult downturn due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The rebound in this industry is pivotal to the health of our global economy, as illustrated by the statistics above which represent how important chemical manufacturing is.

What steps have the Chemical Manufacturers taken in order to begin rebounding quickly and contributing to our global economy?


Many Chemical Manufacturers have turned to Artificial Intelligence and Digitization in order to combat challenges presented by COVID-19 whether they are applying these technologies to part of their process or to their entire estate.

Let’s take the international race to find a vaccine as an example. Many corporations have worked together to use Artificial Intelligence to rapidly increase the ability to find a treatment. Dan Drapeau, Head of Technology at Blue Fountain Media, has posited that Artificial Intelligence, when applied in the capacity of finding a vaccine, has become “a necessity right now, because we’re in the middle of a global pandemic, and it’s vital for us to figure out a solution or vaccine therapy as soon as possible.

Mefuparib 
PARPI 
SARS-cov-2 
Toremifene 
Viral RNA 
NSP14 
RNA-dependent 
RNA polymerase 
Dexamethasone 
NR3C1 
Remdesivir 
AAKI 
Melatonin 
MTNRIA 
Baricitinib
Source: The Lancet
AI algorithms can be used for drug repurposing, which is a rapid and cost-effective way to discover new therapy options for emerging diseases.

Artificial Intelligence is a massive disruptor in the vaccination process in regards to reduction of time consumed by molecular analysis and how the molecules should be used in chemical binding to target the disease. In short, humans can’t possibly conduct analysis on the billions of different molecules as it would take far too much time that our global population just doesn’t have. AI has been able to automate this process for the pharmaceutical industry to increase capacity, help predict which drugs would most likely be successful and also decrease the amount of financial resources spent on clinical trials that might ultimately fail.

But Artificial Intelligence’s reach in the chemical industry only begins here and, as a result of the pandemic, it truly has become a necessity for corporations to survive and even thrive in the current environment.

Chemical manufacturers, as well as other industries, all over the world are partnering with Elutions in order harness the power of Maestro’s Artificial intelligence to combat the disruption that COVID-19 has created. Maestro, when applied to the chemical manufacturing process at an estate-wide level, has the ability to transform operations.

To learn more about Digitization and Maestro Artificial Intelligence, stay tuned for Friday’s (Oct. 23) article on Digitization and Quantifying the Impacts of Artificial Intelligence. Also, please read previous articles regarding our work using Artificial Intelligence to combat COVID-19.


Up Next for NCW: Digitization and Chemical Manufacturing


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National Chemistry Week Celebration!

Each year in the United States, since the late 1980s, the American Chemical Society (ACS) has designated a week, National Chemistry Week (NCW), to celebrate and promote to the public the positive changes in the Chemical Industry. This year’s NCW theme is “Sticking with Chemistry” with a focus on Glues and Adhesives, something that touches all of our lives, almost daily and especially the lives of children. While the ACS predominantly focuses on educating elementary and secondary school children, we would like to share our thought leadership with businesses around the globe.

As a company with several partnerships within the Chemical Industry, including a membership in the Chemicals Industry Association in the United Kingdom, Elutions is excited to share the positive changes we, and Artificial Intelligence in general, have made through Chemical Themed articles celebrating this year’s National Chemistry Week from October 18th through October 24th.

Please check out our upcoming articles on Monday 10/19, Wednesday 10/21, and Friday 10/23 about the positive changes being made, specifically in the Chemical Manufacturing Industry, through Artificial Intelligence and our AI platform, Maestro.

To learn more about Maestro, please contact us.


Up Next for NCW: Digitization and Chemical Manufacturing


Stay up-to-date on this series and all of our industry disrupting insights!

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