Over the past few years there has been an increase for packaging manufacturing all over the globe; many of us now order food to be delivered that comes in a special container to keep it warm (or cold). We order all sorts of things from Amazon, Lazada, Alibaba, or Otto; but it all comes in a special package to help it arrive safely in one piece, and the list goes on and on and continues to grow in popularity everyday.

But where does all that packaging come from to get us our goods in great condition without them looking like they were dragged through the mud?

This is where Packaging manufacturers come into the light; they create all the awesome packaging to be sure we get our orders in perfect condition; no matter what it is, or how far it traveled to get to us. These are the companies that make other companies shine since there is few other disappointments as receiving damaged goods as the end user/buyer.

Operational data can be very messy and often times lives in many different places: internal systems, spreadsheets, email messages, handwritten notes, even mental notes, and more. You need a way to manage all this information so it's available to you and your authorized users at any time for any reason.

By pooling all your operations data together into a cloud-based platform and utilizing cloud applications, you can simplify and cut down on the number of systems you need to support your operations. We've all heard the saying 'sometimes more is less' right? It totally proves true when it comes to your operational data; simplify where it's all combined and stored to get the most from it all.

Thankfully, technology is evolving in giant leaps and bounds today. It's a great time to be alive and witness the new advancements every day. But with all the change it can also leave some producers and operations wondering when the right time is to replace the old with the new really is; given that some tech is only 'new' for a week or two, and then will be quickly outdated by something bigger, better, faster, smarter and will have more shelf life.

When producers invest in new technologies for their business, they can expect more profits, more production, and more sustainability but deciding when to purchase tech, and which tech to invest into that won't be outdated in a year (or these days a week), makes it more of a challenge to get right. And then of course, it comes down to what to upgrade, and as with everything in life; it comes down to 'how to leverage all that new tech'. Will the 'how' be so complicated it will eat away your team's time or quickly add value that contributes to fast gains?

Maybe you’ve declared your intention to digitally transform your production. That’s great. It’s a growing trend and it will really boost efficiency. But the jury is still out on whether to do it in-house or to let us do it for you.

I have a question that may clarify that decision for you:

What are you good at?

You’re good at evaluating leases, considering how to economically produce a field and to get that oil and gas to market. If you were to jump into the field of developing a cloud based platform, what would that look like in terms of hiring, training and implementing?

“DeltaV SaaS SCADA is light years ahead of the competition!” This statement has become a common theme at meetings with our customers. Producers urgently require the deployment of a proven digital strategy; however, implementation has historically lagged for weeks, months or even years when working with other vendors.

These producers typically receive conflicting information on exactly what is involved in the deployment, what is needed from them, the timing of it all, and what their technology partner is truly capable of bringing to the table to help with it all. We changed all of that.

Do-it-yourself field automation sounds great until you realize all the mind-bending decisions involved. I think of this when I go to a favorite restaurant; a fast-casual place where you line up in front of a massive menu board loaded with salads, sandwiches, soups, potatoes, sides of all sorts, and pretty much any other causal type of food you could possibly want or crave, but I have to say their menu is pretty huge.

It’s obvious whenever the person in front of me is a first-timer. Eyes wide, hands shaking, and lips moving without a sound. I can't help but wonder if they're okay or getting ready to have a meltdown from menu overload. Only because I felt that way on my first couple of visits.

After you absorb all that content it's easy to see the big picture and navigating their giant menu is meant to be more of an opportunity to get pretty much anything you may want, not the overwhelming first-timer experience I often witness.

If you ask around for a single term that describes getting the right production data, most engineers in oil and gas would hesitate to say “simple” or “straightforward.” Here at DeltaV SaaS SCADA, data is our thing; we live it and breathe it – heck, some of us even dream about it - you can’t control when innovation may strike! Our customers continue to benefit from solutions that are streamlined and straightforward thanks to our software development and engineering people.

After all, the value of production data could not be simpler: optimizing production leads to increased profitability. That said, here are my top 5 tips to help increase your oil and gas production:

The basic formula for increasing oil well production is pretty clear to me: the more the pump runs, the more oil it pumps. The real issue is how to reduce downtime, so that it runs more, and pumps more.

What wasn't clear to me is why on earth about 100,000 pumpjacks in the US alone are not monitored, other than by someone driving all the way out to the well site every couple of days. With that method, a pump may have been down, or even worse leaking for a day or so before it’s noticed by anyone. That’s several hours of production time that can never be recovered.

It's difficult to believe, but many pumpers are still collecting their data in a tally book, a reading sheet, or wrestling with a laptop in their truck on a remote—and hot (or freezing cold)—well site. Often times those pages get lost, aren't readable, and even have transposed numbers. Ahh yes, and the coffee stains, or illegible handwriting. Then chalk up the time it takes to decipher those numbers and input into your computer system.

Now all that data can be easily entered and stored on a device your pumpers already have, and cling to like it was their oxygen supply; their smart phone.