BRISBANE, Australia, July 25, 2024 – ARKANCE, a leading provider of digital transformation solutions and a Platinum Autodesk partner, announces a strategic partnership with Covey Associates to enhance support and services for clients utilizing Autodesk Water Infrastructure software.

Hydraulic modeling, environmental impact analysis and regulatory compliance, are among the core water industry functions the partnership between ARKANCE and Covey Associates will enable.

The partnership brings Covey onboard to bolster ARKANCE’s support capabilities specifically tailored for Autodesk Water Infrastructure clients. With Covey’s specialized expertise in civil, structural, and environmental engineering, particularly in water infrastructure projects, ARKANCE aims to expand its knowledge base and skill set, providing enhanced technical assistance and consultancy services.

Customers will be provided specialized expertise by Covey Associates, bringing extensive experience in hydraulic modeling, environmental impact analysis, and regulatory compliance, enhancing ARKANCE’s ability to deliver tailored solutions for water infrastructure (e.g. water and sewer network analyses, flood modelling) projects.

Partnering with Covey, ARKANCE enhances support for Autodesk Water Infrastructure clients. Covey provides advanced technical assistance, training, and innovative solutions, ensuring accessible, efficient support and high-quality, sustainable project outcomes for water infrastructure projects. With more experts onboard, ARKANCE now offers expanded Water Infrastructure support and troubleshoot capabilities, making it more accessible to clients, providing increased capacity to aide customers promptly and effectively.

“By partnering with Covey, we are reinforcing our commitment to providing comprehensive support and innovative solutions for Autodesk Water Infrastructure clients,” said Raj Jayasundara, sales and customer success director at ARKANCE. “Covey’s expertise will significantly enrich our service offerings, empowering our clients to achieve greater efficiency, compliance, and sustainability in their water infrastructure projects.”

“We have utilized Autodesk’s Water Infrastructure package for several years, developing a high level of expertise in the use of the product offering, particularly in relation to assessing water and sewer network capacity,” said Dr Chris Walker, director at Covey. “With this partnership, we will be able to showcase and impart that knowledge on to ARKANCE’s client base, assisting a broad range of stakeholders.”

ARKANCE and Covey Associates are dedicated to driving excellence in digital engineering solutions, supporting clients in overcoming challenges and achieving their project goals with confidence.

About ARKANCE

A subsidiary of the French B2B services group MONNOYEUR, ARKANCE was founded in 2018 to become the leading digitalization partner for the construction and manufacturing sectors. Fuelled by its innovative ‘Partner to Build Smarter’ strategy, ARKANCE combines its own purpose-built Be.Smart software portfolio and expert professional services with solutions from a network of world-class technology partners. With over 1300 employees spread throughout 50 locations worldwide, ARKANCE is a recognized leader in digital transformation across the construction, manufacturing, and infrastructure sectors.

ARKANCE is a global leader in digital transformation solutions for the architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) industries. As a Platinum Autodesk partner, ARKANCE provides a full spectrum of services, from software implementation and customization to training and support, empowering clients to optimize their workflows and maximize productivity.

About Covey Associates

Covey Associates is a specialized, multi-disciplinary consultancy firm with expertise in civil, structural, environmental, and mechanical engineering. Covey also offers specialist consultancy services in the fields of landscape architecture, project planning, disputes and litigation, and bushfire management. With a key focus on water infrastructure projects, Covey delivers comprehensive design, analysis, and project management services, ensuring sustainable and compliant solutions for clients worldwide.

For more information, visit website.

HOUSTON, TX, July 25, 2024 – AVEVA, a global leader in industrial software driving digital transformation and sustainability, announced a strategic partnership with Meridian Energy Group Inc. (Meridian) to develop a digital twin for the first full-conversion refinery built in the US since 1976, and the first modern “greenfield” advanced technology refinery constructed in the US ever. This collaboration marks a significant milestone in advancing technological innovation and environmental stewardship in the refining industry.

Meridian has selected CONNECT, AVEVA’s industrial intelligence platform, and a series of EPC 4.0 solutions to create one unified, data-centric approach for the engineering and project execution of their new Davis Refinery. Meridian’s executive team, comprising decades of experience in plant engineering and operations, is the driving force to their adopting innovative technologies that overcome traditional project barriers and disparate systems. With AVEVA’s EPC 4.0 solutions, engineering data is no longer siloed, bringing real-time visibility across the engineering and design stage to procurement and construction, improving final handover and time to operational readiness.

“I am thrilled about our partnership with Meridian where we see a momentous opportunity to bring our time-tested software solutions to the table,” said Rob McGreevy, chief product officer at AVEVA. “This project aims to design one of the world’s most advanced and environmentally compliant refineries, and we’re committed to not only meeting industry standards but to support the refinery’s goal of achieving net-zero emissions.”

A cloud-hosted, data-centric strategy serves as a unified platform where all engineering disciplines and stakeholders converge. By seamlessly integrating diverse engineering tools, it provides an integrated viewpoint that enhances project efficiency and transparency from start to finish. This collaborative approach not only facilitates early risk identification and proactive mitigation, but also empowers stakeholders with progressive handover capabilities. This enables them to effectively navigate and prevent the typical CapEx pitfalls that traditional operating facilities often face, ultimately optimizing project outcomes and operational success.

Mark Fonda, Meridian’s chief technology officer, added that “AVEVA has provided an optimum framework to develop our strategic plan for transition of the refining industry to lower carbon intensity utilizing both renewable and traditional feedstocks. This project represents a quantum leap in technology implementation which is only made possible as a greenfield facility with a forward-thinking mindset.  Digital technology is the means by which all facets of the project are developed and implemented, creating a collaborative, synergistic environment for all disciplines throughout the entire lifespan of the project.”

Jay Nocker, Meridian’s VP Engineering Services, concluded “AVEVA’s digital data management tools will empower Meridian with the ability to work ahead of the typical ’30-60-90′ engineering information release curve. This enables an early start on set-up and vetting crucial Operations Technology (OT) systems with our strategic partners and take full advantage of the benefits of the unified information architecture and progressive digital asset handover.”

Meridian is disrupting the longstanding industry with plans to construct multiple smaller, more cost-effective, clean-tech refineries across the country that are permitted under state and local jurisdictional authority. This innovative approach aims to streamline regulatory processes and accelerate the development of more efficient and sustainable refining operations. Meridian is currently in the process of building the Davis Refinery in the Bakken oil field outside of Belfield, North Dakota, next to major trucking and rail corridors. This distributed business model is sleeker, faster and more efficient than the centralized mega-refinery model currently prevalent.

The Davis Refinery was permitted as a synthetic minor source by the North Dakota Department of Health – Air Quality (NDDEQ) after an extensive 18-month review in 2018.  That Permit to Construct (PTC) validated all the claims previously made by Meridian when the company undertook the challenge to “clean up” the refining industry.  In April of this year, Meridian announced an engineering breakthrough in the design and configuration of the Davis Refinery in which greenhouse gas emissions are fully offset by the co-processing of renewable biofeedstock.  This results in net-zero Scope 1 and Scope 2 carbon emissions for the facility, the world’s first for a crude oil refinery. Meridian is also planning to build additional refineries in Texas and Oklahoma.

About Meridian Energy Group Inc

Meridian’s mission is to provide long-term shareholder value through the development and operation of the cleanest, smartest and most profitable crude oil refineries in the world. The Davis Refinery represents the first of several next-generation refineries, as Meridian will be expanding with development, permitting, and financing its next series of projects in the Permian and in the Cushing, OK area. Meridian has several additional locations under consideration and has the potential to export its proprietary refinery technology and processes to currently operational refineries worldwide. Established in 2013, Meridian has offices in Belfield, North Dakota and Houston, Texas.

For more information, visit meridianenergygroupinc.com.

About AVEVA

AVEVA is a global leader in industrial software, sparking ingenuity to drive responsible use of the world’s resources. The company’s secure industrial cloud platform and applications enable businesses to harness the power of their information and improve collaboration with customers, suppliers, and partners.

Over 20,000 enterprises in over 100 countries rely on AVEVA to help them deliver life’s essentials: safe and reliable energy, food, medicines, infrastructure and more. By connecting people with trusted information and AI-enriched insights, AVEVA enables teams to engineer efficiently and optimize operations, driving growth and sustainability.

Named as one of the world’s most innovative companies, AVEVA supports customers with open solutions and the expertise of more than 6,500 employees, 5,000 partners and 5,700 certified developers. The company, which has operations around the globe, is headquartered in Cambridge, UK.

For more information, visit www.aveva.com.

BOSTON, MA, July 24, 2024 – Digital Twin Consortium (DTC) announced that members are developing and deploying Multi-agent GenAI Systems (MAGS) that are redefining the boundaries of how product design, services, and processes can be realized, born of efficiency and optimizations. Use cases include automotive, infrastructure, and manufacturing, where MAGS is utilized to drive significant productivity improvements, streamline operations, and maximize efficiency.

Digital twins are providing advanced levels of automation infused with GEN AI, not only integrating copilots but now utilizing MAGS to perform a multitude of tasks either operating independently, self-organizing, self-optimizing and orchestrated—with or without a traditional human in the loop for decision-making guided by human oversight that is free from conventional repetitive routine activities.

MAGS are composed of multiple interacting GenAI-based agents that perform various tasks, often in parallel. MAGS can now provide decentralized, autonomous, self-organizing, and self-optimizing capabilities. Through interaction with each other and their environment, agents can independently achieve individual or collective goals through reflection, memorization, and continuous improvement.

Infused with Gen AI, each agent can perceive its environment, including multiple modalities, make decisions, and independently act while coordinating and communicating with other agents that may or may not be orchestrated/managed. Some key attributes of a digital twin-based MAGS include interaction, coordination and control, reflection memorization, and execution.

“MAGS provide the next phase of the evolution of digital twin systems and continue to increase business values,” said Dan Isaacs, GM & CTO of Digital Twin Consortium. “Digital twin MAGS are evolving to address challenges such as increasing trusted autonomy and operating with trusted digital twins. Future applications, such as life-critical operations, will require significant testing across many different areas with extensive validation for trustworthiness.”

“XMPro’s work on Multi-Agent Generative Systems (MAGS) extends intelligent digital twin capabilities to include more complex decision-making processes.  Early implementations for an Infrastructure Water Utilities Management application have shown potential for enhancing process optimization in real-time,” said Pieter van Schalkwyk, CEO of XMPro. “As this technology evolves, we’re focusing on ensuring its alignment with established safety protocols and ethical guidelines to address the challenges of increased system autonomy.”

“Sev1Tech is leveraging the power of multi-agent generative AI within our advanced Digital Twin platform. This integration allows us to harness the full potential of the digital thread. This comprehensive data framework spans the entire lifecycle of a product,” said Greg Porter, Principal Solution Architect, Sev1Tech. “Our innovative approach is transforming various aspects of our manufacturing operations.”

“SODA has pioneered an advanced multi-agent system that revolutionizes the entire automotive development lifecycle. MAGS can autonomously implement improvements to build times, test efficiency, and resource allocation (at an early stage),” said Sergey Malygin, CEO of SODA. “The system learns from these optimizations, becoming increasingly efficient without human intervention. MAGS seamlessly integrates with Digital Twin technology and Software Defined Vehicle (SDV) approach, creating a dynamic, intelligent ecosystem for automotive innovation that spans from concept to certification and after-sales.”

About Digital Twin Consortium

Digital Twin Consortium is The Authority in Digital Twin. It coalesces industry, government, and academia to drive consistency in vocabulary, architecture, security, and interoperability of digital twin technology. It advances digital twin technology in many industries, from aerospace to natural resources.

For more information about Digital Twin Consortium, please visit www.digitaltwinconsortium.org.