Yokogawa Electric subsidiaries Yokogawa Solution Service and Yokagawa Digital will help promote digital operations at Cosmo Oil refineries. The companies are working together on a proof-of-concept test for robotic plant inspections and maintenance.
The project will test a quadruped walking robot at Cosmo Oil’s Yokkaichi Refinery, including a performance assessment in a temporarily closed plant facility at the refinery. They hope to identify challenges for on-site application and selecting verification points in preparation for the use of on-site robots. In the future, robot-driven factory inspection and maintenance will accelerate digitalization at refineries.
Additional workshops, which started at Chiba Refinery in November, will improve the efficiency of refinery operations. The future at the refineries may also include drones, in addition to robots and many digital tools, to realize refineries where human, robots and artificial intelligence (AI) work together at Cosmo Oil’s Chiba, Yokkaichi and Sakai refineries.
The Cosmo Energy Group said the latest slogan for its management plan, “Oil & New: Next Stage,” aims to strengthen its competitiveness through safe and stable operations and improved profitability in its oil-related businesses. The company sees digital transformation as the key driver for supporting other management pillars, such as human resource and green transformation, and Cosmo Energy Group plans to transform its conventional business model through the use of digital technology to strengthen its position in the oil market, by building utilization infrastructure, pursuing data-driven management, proactively collaborating with various partners, creating diverse organizations and fostering a global mindset.
Yokogawa Solution Service and Yokogawa Digital provide comprehensive consulting services, as well as system installation, operation and maintenance services for corporate planning, information systems and manufacturing divisions to help customers improve their operations. Established on July 1, 2022, Yokogawa Digital is stepping up its efforts to develop digital transformation solutions and technologies. In the process industries, which require a high level of safety and the complex control of temperature, pressure and flow, Yokogawa says it draws on its consultants with extensive domain knowledge and experience and leverages its simulation and other advanced digital tools to support the development of viable strategies and incorporate them into operations. In this way, Yokogawa says it will work together with Cosmo Oil to assist in the digitalization of operations at its refineries.
