Saudi Aramco to Make Its MOM Software and Expertise Commercially Available

Saudi Aramco’s new digital application for manufacturing intelligence is designed to help solve the information gaps typically encountered in today’s Manufacturing Operations Management (MOM) technologies.  The goal was to create a largely off-the-shelf solution that would require minimal customization.  In addition to implementing this solution within its own plants, Saudi Aramco is in the process of making it commercially available to other companies.  

At the recent ARC Industry Forum in Orlando, Florida, Eyad A. Buhulaiga, Senior Projects Manager at Saudi Aramco, spoke about the company’s first digital plant integration of its new integrated manufacturing operations management system (imoms) technology at the company’s Jazan Refinery Complex (JRC) in Saudi Arabia.  He also said that Saudi Aramco is in the process of making the technology and services available to other companies.

Key takeaways include:

• Saudi Aramco developed imoms as an off-the-shelf solution for operational intelligence and advanced automated decision support within its own refineries.
• Initial implementations at the Jazan refinery project demonstrate that the solution can help streamline business processes and close automation gaps with minimal customization.
• The company is commercializing the technology and its associated expertise to share with other companies across a variety of industries. It is also pursuing patents for the technology.

MOM Software and Expertise Beyond Saudi Aramco

According to the company, in addition to rolling out the imoms technology across its own operations and to Saudi Aramco’s partners, the tool could be easily expanded and configured to support other companies’ operations. This includes companies in other industries. The operations and manufacturing intelligence technology includes a role-based graphical user interface that provides manufacturing intelligence dashboards and KPIs to enable other companies to implement the new software. 

Will this be a Game Changing Technology?

In addition to helping streamline Saudi Aramco’s own global operations, ARC believes that the imoms technology could be a game changer in the global manufacturing operations management technology and services market.  Saudi Aramco has significant and in-depth operations expertise, both upstream and downstream, and the technology reflects this.  Since the technology is currently based on Saudi Aramco business processes, the real test will be how the technology and services adapt to other companies in similar, as well as unrelated, industries.  ARC believes that the company will use the new technology within Saudi Aramco, encourage its many partners to use it, and expand into other industries.  There already is a lot of competition in this market from existing technology suppliers and integrators as well as from newer entrants. This effort would require additional investments in technology, implementation resources, data scientists, and sales, marketing, and services.  Nevertheless, the imoms offering could represent an excellent opportunity for the company to obtain incremental revenue from the highly profitable software market. It also aligns with Saudi Aramco’s overall strategy to diversify beyond its previous business model, which focused largely on extracting and selling hydrocarbons.

For additional information see ARC’s insight Digital Transformation and Manufacturing Operations Management at Saudi Aramco