With Internet of Things (IoT) and artificial intelligence (AI) becoming trending technologies for large manufacturing and industrial sectors to meet the growing needs, Shell, a global petroleum and lubricants major, looks to redefine the services and products offerings digitally. The company is digitising its customer interface with new next-generation services for B2B sectors. The portfolio gives customers a comprehensive set of technologically advanced solutions to optimise performance across industry-wide value chains.
The newly launched portfolio consolidates Shell’s lineup of solutions, including LubeAnalyst, LubeAdvisor, LubeChat, LubeCoach, MachineMax, LubeMaster, LubeMatch, Lube Management Programme and LubeExpert are technology advanced and allow customers to optimise the machinery with less downtime.
“As far as lubricant digitisation is concerned – with India’s transition to Industry 4.0 – we have been working to integrate millions of data points by using AI and IoT to analyse the data, optimise the efficiency of machinery and automate the recommendations for our customers. Another area is improving our back end support with the help of wearable devices for the inspection of machinery. From customer interface perspective, we are looking at end-to-end value chain including track-and-trace mechanism and creation of applications. These digital initiatives will help in monitoring productivity, maintenance support, and real-time automation enabled digital services,” says Praveen Nagpal, Chief Technology Officer, Shell Lubricants India.
Today, there are discussions on the value that lubricants can bring to customers. For instance, one of its customers wants to transform from car service provider to mobility solution provider. Thereby such changes drive the lubricant provider to look at solutions and products that meet the customer’s needs with wider options.
“As part of our roadmap for technology, customers sit at the centre and there are certain technologies which we are using at the pilot stage in India and other markets and we will start getting the feedback and enhance the experience with advanced technologies,” adds Nagpal.
The ‘Lube Management Programme’ is one of the many of its B2B offerings; the others include services such as monitoring oil condition and providing predictive maintenance of equipment, lube advisory services by Shell’s experts.