Engineering in the Cloud: ExxonMobil and Its Digital Reality Ecosystem

Summary

Nick Peterson is the 3D product owner for ExxonMobil. He is responsible for scaling and sustaining digital twins across ExxonMobil sites. At the recent ARC Industry Forum in Orlando, he laid out the company’s vision for a Digital Reality Ecosystem (DRE).

The DRE is standards-based, open, secure and interoperable data platform “with a future state to encourage digital consumption and many use cases,” said Peter Reynolds in his article, Guidance for an Open Digital Twin Ecosystem. ExxonMobil is using DRE in its effort “to separate data and software, achieve interoperable file formats and build a 3D central storage repository with partners. The vision will be a variety of consumption tools provided by portals to information for use cases such as maintenance planning, turnaround planning and engineering design,” he explained. 

In his presentation, Peterson described two mature use cases: virtual assembly and additive manufacturing.

Additive manufacturing involves creating three-dimensional objects by building up layers of material, such as plastic or metal. Virtual assembly involves virtually designing and combining equipment or components to reduce rework and save time and money on turnarounds. This involves scanning the area where the equipment or component will be placed and giving the data to an engineering company for detailed design. A fabricator then creates the equipment or component that is virtually fitted before it gets to the site.

ExxonMobil has a team dedicated to both virtual assembly and additive manufacturing that is teaching users at their sites how to perform quality assurance and quality control on the relevant data. For additive manufacturing, the process involves scanning parts—such as an impeller on a pump—to within 1,000th of an inch and putting them into a digital inventory so they can be 3D printed on demand.

“Data is key to Exxon's digital reality ecosystem,” said Reynolds. “They are working on getting data standards and contextualization correct, linking data from systems like SAP and reliability systems. On the 2D side, they are looking at industry standards like DEXPI to create sustainable models for P&IDs, inspection isometrics and other drawings. They aim to be interoperable with any software they choose to use.

“On the 3D side, they need to be able to deliver different ways for users to visualize information, such as reality capture scans, 3D engineering CAD models and panoramic pictures. This requires working with an ecosystem of suppliers and vendors to deliver the entire solution.”