– Accolade for Digital Smelter & Wi-Fi 6 Project conferred by IDC Future Enterprise Awards
New Delhi: Vedanta Aluminium, India’s largest producer of aluminium and value-added products, has won ‘Best in Future of Digital Infrastructure’ Award at the IDC Digital Transformation (DX) Summit India and Future Enterprise Awards 2021. The prestigious IDC Future Enterprise Awards celebrate the tech-enabled resilience of enterprises, as they navigate through the challenges and disruptions of the digital economy in an ever-changing world. Vedanta Aluminium has bagged this coveted award in the ‘Best in Future of Digital Infrastructure’ category for its Digital Smelter and Wi-Fi 6 projects, deployed in smelter and power operations respectively.
Vedanta is India’s first – and the world’s third – aluminium smelter to deploy digital-twin based Digital Smelter technology at its Jharsuguda plant, which is the world’s largest single-location aluminium smelter. It uses digital twin technology with predictive & prescriptive analytics, which allows for remote monitoring and control of potline operations, enhances energy efficiency, reduces raw material consumption, and arrests wastage of material through remote advisory system. It processes historical information and real-time data to generate alerts and insights which are effectively used by the operation and maintenance teams. It also uses machine learning algorithms to provide multiple outcomes such as pot health-related alerts, virtual-sensor based recommendations etc.
The company has also implemented the high-efficiency Wi-Fi 6 network, which is at par with futuristic 5G technology, for seamless, energy efficient, secure, and high-speed connectivity, and lower latency across its power plant network. It has centralized monitoring and managing system which eliminates the traditional maintenance effort and cost.
Speaking about the company’s digital transformation endeavours, Mr. Rahul Sharma, CEO – Aluminium Business, Vedanta Ltd., said, “We strive to make our operations future-ready by integrating best-in-class digital solutions, building in efficiencies to optimize costs and raw material consumption in our quest to become the world’s leading producer of the ‘green metal’ aluminium. Vedanta Aluminium has implemented intelligent automation and digitalization at its the plants in a manner that is secure, available, accessible, replicable, and scalable, to produce high-quality aluminium, fueling India’s self-reliance and contributing to its socio-economic prosperity.”
Few other key innovations and technology augmentations deployed at Vedanta Aluminium Business include:
- Deployment of first-in-industry Deep Learning algorithms and other cutting-edge technologies for Advanced Asset Performance Management at its power plants.
- Next-gen operational Data Lake and Manufacturing Execution System (MES) implemented to ensure visibility of all critical plant operations and allow for decision making remotely, while employees maintain social distancing and yet fulfil their activities on the plant floor.
- Digital Logistics Control Towers have been developed for coal, alumina, and bauxite, which use classical Machine Learning and OR (Operations Research) based mathematical modelling to reduce commodity costs, pilferages, and process ineffectiveness from mines through plants to ports.
- Deployment of advanced predictive solutions for quality control of finished goods, which will improve material quality and volume.
- A Centralized Surveillance Management system oversees Vedanta Aluminium’s security operations using Image Analytics, Drones, and real-time alerts through Video Management System (VMS).
- Improving Health, Safety and Environment performance by using Image Analytics and centralized real-time fire systems monitoring for better control and governance.
- Vedanta Aluminium’s complex and diverse procurement of commodities, materials and services are fully automated through the e-procurement platform, unlocking substantial efficiencies with faster O2C cycle and business realizations.
- Usage of real-time Thermal Vision Analytics in multiple plant sites for identification of hot spots in Information and Communication Technology (ICT), which helps in improving asset reliability and reducing safety hazards.
Vedanta Aluminium Business, a division of Vedanta Limited, is India’s largest manufacturer of aluminium, producing half of India’s aluminium i.e., 1.96 million tonnes in FY21. It is a leader in value-added aluminium products that find critical applications in core industries. With its world-class aluminium smelters, alumina refinery and power plants in India, the company fulfils its mission of spurring emerging applications of aluminium as the ‘Metal of the Future’ for a greener tomorrow.
