Amersfoort, Netherlands – 18 November 2021
Yokogawa’s Y NOW 2021 – Achieving Autonomous Operations virtual event is now available on demand. Over two thousand industry leaders registered for this live event containing 52 sessions conducted by 74 global thought leaders who have successfully planned, managed and implemented digital transformations leading to autonomous operations. Speakers from Air Liquide, BASF, C3 AI, Evonik, Fluence Analytics, Frost & Sullivan, Microsoft, Raizen, Repsol, Saudi Aramco, Shell, Williams and many more companies made presentations.
The thought leaders tackled issues as diverse as improving manufacturing efficiency and contributing to the sustainability of the planet. The opening keynote by Yokogawa’s Director and Senior Vice President, Dr. Yu Dai, outlined the company’s vision for autonomous operations and smart manufacturing, and detailed Yokogawa’s sustainable development goals for the year 2050: achieving net-zero emissions, ensuring well-being and transitioning to a circular economy. According to Dr. Dai, “Yokogawa’s vision is to bring about a symbiosis between industry and society in which they function autonomously, yet in a coordinated manner.”
The on-demand sessions include such key topics as successfully navigating artificial intelligence projects and re-thinking cybersecurity in terms of a risk to manage rather than a problem to solve. According to Tom Finan of Willis Tower Watson, “Executives are quickly lost when confronted with cyber-technical terminology. They want to think in terms of business impact and know what is mission-critical. They do understand risk and can allocate resources to manage it.”
In the keynote session, “Platform for Shaping the Future of Advanced Manufacturing and Value Chains”, Francisco Betti, Head of Advanced Manufacturing & Production at the World Economic Forum, and Andreas Helget, President and CEO, Yokogawa Europe B.V., talked about the impact of the digital transformation on companies, society and the environment. Francisco Betti stated, “In the current context, which is still extremely volatile, because of the combination of COVID-19, climate change, geopolitical tensions, digital transformation […] companies need to go for digital advanced manufacturing to develop and be able to build resiliency. This will be needed across operations and value chains to respond to potential future crises and disruptions that we are likely going to be facing in this new or different world in which we are living. And that's mainly because new levels of agility, flexibility and adaptability are going to be needed for companies to navigate the new context.”
Citing a Yokogawa survey of 500 companies that showed the majority are planning to implement autonomous operations by the year 2030, Tom Fiske, Yokogawa’s Principal Technology Strategist, stated, “Industrial autonomy is inevitable and will penetrate all operations areas. Companies are saying that they need autonomy sooner rather than later.” Naveen Kashyap, Vice President of Digital Innovation and Services, added, “Bogged down by the limitations of existing systems, users cannot visualise the ideal, end-to-end state of the value chain. The organisation can overcome this ‘tech debt’ when people realise that technology is not the driver but rather an enabler of new business processes.”
All Y NOW 2021 sessions are now available on demand. For more information and to access the downloads, please visit www.ynowlive.com.
About Yokogawa
Yokogawa provides advanced solutions in the areas of measurement, control and information to customers across a broad range of industries, including energy, chemicals, materials, pharmaceuticals and food. Yokogawa addresses customer issues regarding the optimisation of production, assets and the supply chain with the effective application of digital technologies, enabling the transition to autonomous operations.
Founded in Tokyo in 1915, Yokogawa continues to work toward a sustainable society through its 17,500 employees in a global network of 119 companies spanning 61 countries.
For more information, visit www.yokogawa.com
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