TECHNOLOGY
“ YOU ' RE LIFTING THE COMPETENCE OF THE STAFF TO A HIGHER LEVEL . THE SOFTWARE DOES ALL THOSE MUNDANE THINGS LOWER DOWN ”
MIKE BROOKS GLOBAL DIRECTOR ASSET PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT , ASPEN TECHNOLOGY
“ I didn ' t do so well in my first year ,” Brooks admits . “ I partied too much and those kinds of things . They asked me to take a year out , and I went to Bradford instead . After four years there , I ended up coming fifth out of 200 . So it was quite a turnaround for me .”
Manufacturing and AI software at AspenTech AspenTech has been around since 1981 , when it started creating digital twins , a piece of software designed to emulate real processes .
“ We do all aspects of manufacturing operations now , from the design part to operations and maintenance ,” said Brooks . “ It ' s been primarily in process industries , but , more recently , we got into other industries such as metals and mining . We ' ve done some transportation . We ' ve actually broadened the portfolio of what AspenTech did and now can do .”
According to Brooks , new companies are more tech-savvy and they ' re no longer welcoming older practices .
“ They want you to learn on the job . They watch the videos to see how it ' s done . Those are the types of kids we ' ve got – but another serious aspect is that we see huge retirement in our industry and that ' s problematic for us .”
While many manufacturers reach the age of retirement naturally , some are retiring early as the workload involves so much technology , employees can ’ t keep up with it . AspenTech were aware of this , so they made their software easier for employees with lower skills to use and advised those people to return the learning .
“ We ' re trying to put the expert on the inside , not having them on the outside ,” said Brooks .
Another thing that has confused – and even frightened – some employees in manufacturing is the use of advanced
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