Digital Transformation in Polymer Production

Webinar: Digital Transformation in Polymer Production

During the Digital Transformation in Polymer Production webinar, Fluence Analytics Co-founder & President, Alex Reed, joined the South Texas Section of AIChE to provide an introduction to the polymer industry, an overview of autonomous polymer operations, and some examples of technologies enabling digital transformation in polymer production, including ACOMP. Alex highlights the main differences between commodity and specialty polymers while describing the current status of the polymer industry, and he makes the case for continuous process analytics and real-time optimization during polymer production, which can lead to improved product quality. It is important to note that optimal product quality is often a differentiator and the main competitive advantage to sustain and even grow a business unit’s revenue.

The webinar also discusses the importance of autonomous operations, including maximizing efficiency, data-driven feedback control, and a hyper connected supply chain. For a company to begin the transition to autonomous operations, it must generate and record all the necessary parameters and data points to achieve data-driven control. Next, the company must have assets modern enough to allow for automated control, a plan to use the recorded data to optimize polymer production, and, finally, a subsequent plan to utilize all of these recorded insights to enable autonomous control. The webinar explores each step of the autonomous operations path, offering context to each phase of the journey and vital questions every company must answer prior to embarking upon a comprehensive digital transformation plan for a polymer production facility.