January 28, 2020

2020 priorities – A preview

The autonomous progress affects Optilift priorities for 2020.

The joint collaborative work between Optilift and Aker BP to establish a fully functionable autonomous crane control system progressed «ahead of schedule» during 2019, says Optilift CTO Torbjørn Engedal.

– I think we were able to finally harvest the fruits of our systematic autonomous work dating back to around 2012. We have always believed in what we are trying to accomplish. Now, autonomous crane operations are closer than ever before, he says.

– Maybe Tesla helps

Engedal mentions how the general digital development in society may have helped the recent autonomous development, as he feels it has “gained further industry acceptance”.

– The general development over the last two years has been interesting. The industry is a lot more accepting towards autonomous operations today, I think. The rapid digital developments today, and the work we see from players such as Tesla and their self-driving cars, are probably all making it easier to accept our work.

– People now see how autonomy works on a daily basis, and the oil and gas industry is probably starting to realize that autonomous operations can be real, safe and trustworthy.

New priorities

The fully autonomous crane control system was twice successfully demonstrated in public in 2019, both during sessions at the Aker BP Headquarters in Oslo and Stavanger.

– The work we did last year put us ahead of schedule. Up until recently our guiding was to have the autonomous crane system up for full tests by 2022. It looks like we can press way ahead of such a timeline.

The autonomous progress affects the company priorities for 2020.

– Naturally, the autonomous crane control system will be given a lot of attention in 2020. On the other hand, we also have other extremely important projects coming up, he reveals, and mentions the full commercial launch of Digital Logistics and international expansion as the main Optilift 2020 projects.

– Digital Logistics @ ASCO Base Tananger

ASCO Base Tananger was last year granted financial support from the Norwegian Coastal Administration to help implement a digital workflow to their daily operations.

A major part of their digitalization process is to use Optilift Digital Logistics sensor-hardware in the ASCO logistical environment, where the goal is to reduce shipment- and transportation costs through digital streamlined planning and tracking of the ASCO CCU movement.

– Digital Logistics from Optilift will help us gain new and improved quality on logistical information, Innovation And Digitalization Manager at ASCO Christopher Hoftun says.

– Our ASCO cooperation and project is extremely important for Optilift and our further Digital Logistics development, as it will become an important benchmark for our future work on the modules. We will prioritize further development of both the ASCO cooperation and the Digital Logistics technology in 2020, says Engedal.

Bolstered international presence

Optilift is set to explore possibilities of a further international expansion, with a main focus to bolster their most traditional products such as The Motion Reporter.

– Our Lifting Support products are well suited for other international markets, and naturally we need to explore what further global possibilities there are for us today. These activities will be an ongoing focus for us throughout 2020, he states.