APRNEWS - International oil company, Total of France, Tuesday announced a partnership agreement with Indian based Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) aimed at improving its refinery performance, by building an innovative center in the country.

According to a statement released by the oil giant, the partnership will initially focus on the use of disruptive technology to revamp the various phases of refining in order to increase its competitiveness. Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), a subsidiary of Tata Group is noted for its disruptive tendencies.

“With the digital innovation center, we are positioning ourselves as a pioneer working to develop a smart, connected refinery that will allow us to improve our industrial competitiveness. We want to invent the Refinery 4.0,” said Bernard Pinatel, president, refining & chemicals at Total.

Based on the TCS concept of “entrepreneurship-in-residence,” Total will work with TCS technology and domains experts. TCS will also bring to Total its network, its structured co-innovation approach and its unique Business 4.0 cooperation framework.

Debashish Ghosh, president of energy, resources and EPC business at TCS also expressed his excitement, saying that “the energy and resources sector is one of TCS’ fastest growing business units. We are delighted to sign this strategic digital innovation partnership with Total for which we will leverage our Business 4.0 framework, with a focus on agile, intelligent automation, internet of things, analytics and cloud-based solutions.”

The digital innovation center in India will build on the industrial digital technology initiatives already deployed at Total’s production sites, the statement noted.

With Bukola Odufade