Process Industry Use Case:
Enhancing Operational Efficiency
In collaboration with process industry operators across sectors such as oil and gas, chemicals, and refining, OTee applies its Virtual PLC technology to unify control systems, eliminate vendor lock-in, and standardize operations across facilities.
The result: improved reliability, reduced maintenance costs, and scalable automation across complex industrial networks.
This article explains how OTee’s approach transforms process automation and what it means for building resilient, open, and future-ready industrial operations.
Vendor Lock-In and Complex Tooling
Companies in the process industry rely on a mix of legacy PLCs from different vendors, each requiring specialized local software tools for programming and maintenance. This complex ecosystem demands numerous licenses, leading to high costs and logistical challenges in ensuring compatibility and updates across the entire operation. Engineers often have to navigate through multiple software environments, increasing the risk of errors and operational downtime.
Inefficient Data Integration and Infrastructure
Existing setups often involve vendor-locked control systems with proprietary drivers and data infrastructure, making data integration with other systems difficult and costly. Such infrastructures limit a company’s ability to adapt to new technologies, and a failure in any system can disrupt the entire operation.
Lack of Standardized Control Logic
Different facilities and plants operate with non-standardized control logic, leading to inefficiencies in scaling operations and implementing new processes. The absence of a unified programming standard can make it difficult to deploy consistent automation logic across different sites, slowing down innovation and increasing operational complexity.
Absence of Modern IT Workflows
Without a centralized version control system, managing software updates and maintaining consistency across a fleet industrial controllers becomes a significant challenge. The lack of modern IT practices, such as automated fleet management and code verification processes, can lead to prolonged maintenance cycles and increased risk of downtime.
How OTee contributes
in solving the challenges:
Eliminating Vendor Lock-In with Virtual PLCs
OTee offers a virtual PLC deployment that can replace the need for proprietary hardware and software, allowing the company to break free from vendor lock-in. The virtual PLCs seamlessly utilize the I/O from existing ethernet-based systems, enabling a transition to an open-standard architecture that is both flexible and scalable.
Unified Data Infrastructure
With OTee’s platform, the company can utilize a robust, pub-sub infrastructure built on open standards. Then using OTee services like NATS, MQTT or OPC-UA, the architecture allows for seamless integration of data from various sources, both internal and external, into a single, cohesive system. The result is improved data accessibility, better decision-making, and enhanced operational efficiency.
Standardization and Compliance
OTee platform enables the company to standardize control logic across all facilities by adhering to the IEC 61131 international standard. This allows for consistent and rapid deployment of automation processes, reducing the time and effort required to scale operations across multiple sites. Code import and export functions in the system also ensures that you are not locked into OTee.
Reliable Data Handling and Fast Execution
OTee ensures that all virtual PLCs buffer their local data, which is then forwarded to an online message queue broker with advanced queuing capabilities. This setup virtually eliminates data loss during network disruptions. Additionally, the virtual PLCs operate in the sub-millisecond range, providing the real-time performance required for critical process control in operations.
Integration of Modern IT Workflows
OTee incorporates a centralized, Git-based version control system that streamlines software updates and ensures consistent deployment across all facilities. The platform also includes modern IT work processes such as version control, QA processes for code verification, and automated fleet management. These features significantly reduce maintenance time, improve system reliability, and enable more agile operations.
Key Benefits
Cost Savings
Maintain optimal conditions for aquatic species through real-time control based on any analytics source, ensuring environmental compliance and supporting sustainable practices.
1
Improved Uptime and Reliability
Enhance data integrity and minimize unexpected downtime, resulting in increased operational safety and more efficient production processes.
2
Operational Standardization
Streamline control logic across all facilities, enabling consistent and scalable automation processes that are easier to manage and update.
3
Scalability and Flexibility
Deploy and manage virtual PLCs across multiple sites, facilitating easy scaling of operations and adaptation to new industry demands.
4
Future-Ready Infrastructure
ransition to an open, vendor-neutral architecture that supports modern IT workflows and positions your company for future technological advancements. Centralize the company around technology instead of vendors.
5
Moving Forward
Complex systems, fragmented tools, and vendor dependencies have long defined automation. A Virtual PLC changes that foundation: it centralizes logic, keeps control independent of hardware, and creates space for scaling without lock-in.
The result is not only fewer barriers to progress, but also leaner operations, reducing hidden costs tied to duplicate systems, rigid upgrades, and maintenance overhead.
If you want to explore how this works in practice, you can try it directly. If you prefer a conversation first, we’re here to connect and walk through it together