Press Coverage

82 Spring 2019 novel approaches. As the sheer vastness of information has become too much for traditional databases to handle, new storage and processing means have emerged. Only through innovation could Big Data blossom. Storing data in-memory At the heart of Big Data, which is both a concept and a technology, lies a fundamental change in where the collected data is stored and how it is accessed. Instead of being put away in tabular databases, the information is shifted to in-memory data pools, such as HANA by SAP. In there, individual data bits can be located, processed and synchronised in real time. Among other benefi ts, this allows for fl exible usage, confi gurable dashboards, scalable expansion and quick reportings. Operations that took several days in the past can now be performed within minutes or even on the fl y. In the context of a tank farm, this has real consequences. Once the elicitation and evaluation of Big Data have settled at the core of the downstream industry, the storage and trade of oil products will undergo a renaissance – heaving transparency, knowledge and collaboration to new heights. Ultimately, this development will culminate in the establishment of the 'transparent' tank terminal. In this reached-for environment, all relevant information will be readily available at any time. By drawing all data from the cloud and feeding it into dashboards, tank terminal operators will be able to analyse and cross-reference their key numbers whenever and wherever they want. At a glance, they will not only know how much product they have stored in which tank, but also how much the product is worth and to whom they could sell it at what margin. The fusion of logistics data from the terminal management system with fi nancial information from sales is only one contribution Big Data can make to give tank storage operators a whole new perspective on their business. Minimising loss For someone managing a tank farm, no thought is more menacing than the idea of losing product – be it through leakage, theft or false accounting. This is another fi eld in which Big Data can provide remedy. Traditionally, inventory is taken physically with the aid of measuring rods or fl oat balls. While this gives reliable information about the actual value, it does not say much about the target value. For maximum accuracy and transparency, the fi gures gained by physical measurement need to be cross-referenced with data obtained by accounting. In doing so, deviations become visible immediately. This gives tank storage operators the chance to react swiftly and effectively to out-of-the-ordinary occurrences. In an industry where time is money, spotting any derivation from the usual routine as early as possible can be a door-opener, a business-booster or – most importantly – a life-saver. In a pre-digitalisation tank farm, it might take weeks before losses get noticed. In a fully automated plant, however, the respective dashboard would indicate a difference between the real value and the target value as soon as the two fi gures diverged. A controller would then double-check the connected data and fl ag the loss straight away. Figure 1. In the age of the IoT, almost every component of a tank farm has a voice. Figure 2. To make the most of their collected data, tank farms must use it smartly. Figure 3. Implico's terminal management system OpenTAS TMS in use.

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