Getting out from behind the desk/ control terminal requires aligned work

The above comment was made to me by an oil and gas company, and when I enquired to their expectation, it was clear that they wanted to empower "controllers" (operators) to be responsible for more. Enable decisions to be made faster while also gaining consistency across teams and shifts.

Transforming the traditional role of sitting in a control room behind a terminal, to a dynamic role, where the operator can get up and roam to investigate, make decisions and take actions in a timelier manner. This concept embraces all of the concepts this blog has raised over the last couple of months and shows the transition in the industrial sector to focusing operational empowerment.  

By unleashing the controller from their seat, they are free to investigate, see for themselves, and interact with others with experience to make informed decisions faster.

What is the reason why users have been locked to the desk/ control room, why has this transition not happened successfully before?

It is simple, the requirement to be monitoring the plant. A traditional control room is the central place alarms, notifications were traditionally piped.

So to free up the user, to leave the control room, the user needs to empowered with situational plant awareness, freed from monitoring, shifting to the experience of exception based notification. As the user roams the plant, the user is still responsible, and aware, and able to make decisions across the plant he is responsible for even if he not in view of that a particular piece of equipment. Driving the requirement for the mobile device the user carries to allow notification, drill thru access to information and ability to collaborate so the dependency to sit in the control room has lifted.

The second key part of the transformation/ enablement of a edge worker is that their work, tasks and associated materials can transfer with them. As the world moves to planned work, a user may start work task on a PC in the control room, but now move out to execute close action. As the user goes through the different steps, the associated material and actions are at his finders tips. The operational work can be generated , assigned and re directed from all terminal.s and devices.

So freeing up people is not just about providing mobile data taking the HMI Mobile. It requires the transformation to task based integrated operational environment where the "edge worker" is free to move.

System will notify him of situations, and he can take action, whilst also providing him with the opportunity to execute tasks. The information must free them to navigate with freedom, no matter the format, no matter where they start an activity, and have access to everything.   Why now? The technology is here with wireless plants, commodity devices to suite different applications/ roles, and the desire and culture to enable the flexible team, and design to enable exception based notification. The information, to knowledge systems are here to enable navigation through the required information while his situation changes. No longer are clients specific applications, they are role and situational based.

For all situations, freeing the anchors that hold people to the desk, and enable the reality of a flexible , empowered edge team.