Total partners with TCS to establish digital innovation centre
Paris-headquartered global oil & gas giant Total has decided to build a presence in India through the establishment of a digital innovation centre in Pune, which it will develop in partnership with Tata Consultancy Services (TCS). The new centre will focus on leveraging the latest in technology to improve the refining process.
With mammoth revenue levels exceeding $170 billion, Total is positioned among the seven ‘supermajor’ oil companies across the world – a consortium of firms that is also known as Big Oil. The firm’s operations incorporate every aspect of oil production, from exploration to international marketing and trading.
The firm delves into thermal power generation using natural gas and petroleum, in addition to the drilling, generation, refining, and transportation of petroleum, crude oil, and natural gas. Using its extensive base of resources, the firm also engages in large-scale chemical manufacturing.
In India, Total has been active since 1993, and has expanded its operations regularly to incorporate marketing & services, gas & power, new energies, and refining & chemicals. The firm is now looking to specifically bolster its refining capabilities in the country, through the establishment of a digital innovation centre.
The key objective of the centre is to explore the role of digital disruption in the refinery process, which explains why the firm has selected TCS as its partner in undertaking the partnership, given the latter’s position as the largest digital services firm in the country, and the global recognition of its quality therein.
The new centre will be grounded firmly in the Industry 4.0 paradigm, entailing the incorporation of data analytics, Internet of Things, automation, artificial intelligence, and agile techniques to make three dimensional improvements to the refinery process – namely industrial efficiency, energy efficiency, and cost effectiveness. Improvements will be made to every stage of the refining process, starting from production units and moving through the supply chain all the way to petroleum product markets across the world.
To help with each stage of the process, TCS will adopt its entrepreneurship-in-residence model of operation, which allows its clients to continue with the daily running of an organisation, while TCS focuses on the innovative aspect of things. TCS will use a structured co-innovation approach to offer support, nestled within its Business 4.0 cooperation framework.
“For a large industrial group like Total, it is essential to always stay ahead of these topics. After having integrated digital solutions within the Group, we now want to invent those of tomorrow by combining Total's know-how with the agility of TCS,” said Marie-Noëlle Semeria, Senior Vice President and Group Chief Technology Officer at Total.
Bernard Pinatel, President of Refining & Chemicals at Total added, “With the digital innovation center, we are positioning ourselves as a pioneer working to develop a smart, connected refinery that will allow us to improve our industrial competitiveness. We want to invent the Refinery 4.0.”
Meanwhile, TCS’ President of Energy, Resources and the EPC Business, Debashish Ghosh said, “The energy and resources sector is one of TCS’ fastest growing business units. We are delighted to sign this strategic digital innovation partnership with Total for which we will leverage our Business 4.0 framework, with a focus on agile, intelligent automation, internet of things, analytics, and cloud-based solutions.”
