Sibur launched AR consultants at client enterprises

2021: Launch of AR consultant at customer enterprises

On September 1, 2021, SIBUR began using the product "Remote AR Expert" of its own development to support customers. The product is a complex of augmented reality for communication with colleagues, experts and consultants from other cities or countries.

Using the augmented reality complex, employees of the SIBUR Technical Service remotely advise customers on the processing of products produced by the Holding. Service specialists send AR points to the client and help with the adjustment of the equipment instead of going by themselves.

The technology significantly reduces the financial and time costs of the company and its customers. AR-glasses are already used on a regular basis to service equipment from customers in Russia and the CIS, and will soon be replicated for China, Europe and Turkey.

Even before the pandemic began, SIBUR began to pilot AR consultation technology and gradually implement it for the Company's internal needs. During the period of strict quarantine restrictions, the Remote AR Expert allowed enterprises to work normally, carry out the necessary repair and commissioning work even faster than before the pandemic. After testing, the tool became available to all employees at SIBUR production sites, and it is most actively used in ZSN (ZapSibNeftekhim) and STG (SiburTyumen Gas).

Most often, SIBUR applies the augmented reality complex when:

• installation and commissioning works;
• equipment acceptance;
• monitoring of works performance;
• pre-design survey and audit.

For example, performing the standard task of commissioning the installed equipment using augmented reality, ZSN employees managed to:

• Reduce expert quarantine costs by 100%
• reduce the tariff rate of experts by 30%;
• reduce the commissioning period by 5 days;
• and as a result, save 4 million rubles for commissioning.

In June 2021, SIBUR made Remote AR Expert available to external customers. The introduction of the product to the market was due to significant economic effects from its use. So, with the help of remote consultations in the format of augmented reality, SIBUR saved in 2020 more than 20 million rubles on travel expenses, extra hours of work of consultants and equipment downtime.

At the hardware level, "Remote AR Expert" is a set of AR-glasses with a camera, internal display and connectivity to. Wi-Fi SIBUR specialists have developed software on the basis of, Android allowing to work with any AR-glasses. In addition, the executor can use the service from smartphone if the enterprise does not have its own instance of the AR headset.

The product is as simple as possible and does not require staff training. Video on AR glasses is recorded in HD 720p format and stored in encrypted form, while all the work of the AR platform is carried out in compliance with strict information security requirements. In addition, reporting and statistics on the sessions conducted are available in the platform.

UI AR glasses include all session information: system indicators (session time, battery power and communication quality), chat with experts "on the other side of the screen" and a set of stickers for quick reactions.

The session is held in the format of an audio call, but the expert can also send messages to a chat, help himself in communicating with the performer using the Pointer tool, take screenshots of the broadcast and display any documents from his computer to the performer on the screen.

2020: Development and application of videoconferencing service for employees

On July 10, 2020, SIBUR announced the development and launch of a video conferencing service for industrial employees and field engineers. It is not based on RTC and augmented reality (AR) technologies.

Videoconferencing sessions at work for employees or external experts from different geographies are no less significant than the usual online office meetings.

{{quote 'One online communication session through our AR platform helps save from several hundred thousand to a million rubles. This is a reduction in travel costs, hourly charging of expert consultations instead of paying for full-time work, prompt resumption of equipment, "says Igor Klimov, board member, general director of Tobolsk SIBUR enterprises. }}

AR glasses are attached to the helmet and equipped with a video camera and a microdisplay. According to the same principle, for example, the GoPro for extreme shooting and the pilot's helmet works. In this case, the devices are controlled by voice. At production sites, we use equipment designed for operation in a gas-hazardous environment, brand RealWear. For work in repair shops, it is possible to use dust-resistant devices in industrial design. Here we use Epson's equipment, "says Alexander Leus, head of Industry 4.0

The tool is based on the AR-platform developed by SIBUR specialists.

To develop the platform, we used 2 technologies - RTC (real time communication) and AR (augmented reality). Since we use a tool to communicate with external experts, any software is checked for safety. We have selected open source WEBRTC technology for our platform, which is also used to develop communication solutions from Google and Apple. Media content - pointer, notification stickers, chat and user association - was handled by G-Core Labs, "says Alexander Leus.

SIBUR specialists tested more than two dozen systems offered on the market. Finished products do not always meet the information security requirements of industrial enterprises and business processes operating in a closed industrial ecosystem.

In order to make a user-friendly solution, it is important to understand the context. We have him not limited to the idea of ​ ​ "calling the video." We solve specific problems: how to do so in order to accelerate communications between geographically distributed regions, to broadcast point expertise as quickly as possible, which can be located, for example, in Tomsk, to all our enterprises, to minimize travel costs, "says Leus.

A videoconferencing session with external experts is legally equivalent to a service rendered. Two-factor authentication has been developed for the security of data transmission: an expert receives a unique link to the session by email and an SMS message with an access code.

Before launching its own AR platform, SIBUR used a temporary solution from a partner for the Remote AR Expert tool, with the help of which more than 300 video communication sessions were held.

In July 2019, at the South Balyk Gas Processing Plant, using a remote consultation, the mechanics of the enterprise tuned the magnetic suspensions of the TK-901/1 compressor. Previously, the setup was carried out by the equipment manufacturer - the international company SKF, it was made in person. Remote configuration took 2 days, without the use of the AR platform, it would be necessary to wait several days for the arrival of specialists. The video communication session helped to quickly complete the task and significantly save on the cost of leaving and paying for the work of experts, "says Rishat Asfandiyarov, digital technology manager, SiburTyumen Gas.

In spring 2020, at the production of propane dehydrogenation in Tobolsk, Remote Expert AR was used to consult on the replacement of reactor screens. It was necessary to calibrate the device correctly and deal with the software. Online, together with the vendor, we managed to gain practical skills and knowledge in configuring and calibrating the device. The work was carried out faster, despite the absence of external experts at the enterprise, and cost us cheaper, "shares Ilmir Murzakaev, manager for a remote expert, SIBUR Tobolsk.

During the pandemic and quarantine restrictions, the demand for the tool increased many times.

{{quote 'External experts are not always available for operational assignment to our enterprises. Trips of foreign representatives in different cases take from one week to a whole month. During the period of quarantine restrictions and working hours, their presence at the enterprise was completely impossible. Just at this time, stopping repairs took place, as a rule, requiring the presence of vendors. With the help of the Remote AR Expert, we contacted three global cooling tower suppliers and conducted a survey of the huge cooling tower of the pyrolysis plant, which has a capacity of 72,500 m3/h, showed colleagues the whole picture online, "says Timur Zalimov, chief expert at the service of the Director of Technology Development, ZapSibNeftekhim. }}