If you have any doubts about the future of sustainability, consider this: the fastest growing career in the US in 2022 is wind turbine service technician. The third fastest is solar photovoltaic installer. (The second fastest, if you are curious, is nurse practitioner, thanks in large part to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.) For entrepreneurs looking to catch a wave, sustainability offers plenty of opportunities.
Eugenie is a pioneer in the field of sustainability technology that has been helping the industrial sector to improve reliability and efficiency since 2018. The company’s strength is leveraging AI to help its customers understand and benefit from data derived from their operations.
“We are at a pivotal moment where human activities have resulted in the worst climate scenario in the history of the last 2,000 years. Sustainability technology is here to empower industries to reduce their carbon footprint while also meeting their financial and operational goals,” explains Dr. Soudip Chowdhury, CEO of Eugenie. “Tech like that provided by Eugenie makes use of cutting-edge, smart solutions that learn from historic data-based patterns, and take automated actions to improve business operations and energy usage.”
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Leveraging AI to empower sustainability
Waste is the enemy of sustainability. Whether it is resources generated in the production process, energy wasted in inefficiencies, or time wasted due to unscheduled downtimes, sustainability demands that companies get the best out of their machines and their processes.
Eugenie’s sustainability tech reduces waste at all levels through the use of Ai, or artificial intelligence. It allows components to be connected, processes to be tracked in real-time, and performance to be diagnosed and optimized.
“We give insights based on data and present it in a really user-friendly way, which enables decision makers to take the right actions at the right time,” explains Dr. Soudip. “We describe it as Explainable AI. It is a framework that guides operational professionals, reducing their stress and improving their performance by generating actionable insights.”
Another key to Eugenie’s effectiveness lies in its ability to help any organization, regardless of how efficient, to uncover new ways to improve its sustainability. In essence, Eugenie’s powerful machine learning algorithms discover opportunities for optimization, as well as solving known inefficiencies.
“Obviously, reducing the carbon footprint is the primary concern of sustainability, but cost reductions are another important improvement that sustainability tech can bring to companies,” says Dr. Soudip. “Machines that are not performing efficiently and reliably are being either underused or overused. In either case, the quality of output is affected, which acts as a huge factor in terms of increased costs. Reducing operating expenses is a significant aspect of sustainability efforts.”
Promoting sustainability by reducing complexity
Sustainability issues can be complex. Sustainability tech wins when it manages complexities in a way that empowers users and streamlines their engagement.
“When you talk about AI, people invariably assume that it’s something very complex and time consuming to deploy. They assume it will require them to have a team of experts that can deal with such solutions,” Dr. Soudip explains, “but the tech that Eugenie brings to our clients is machine agnostic. This means it will work on existing systems, whether they are legacy or new systems, and it is built on a flexible architecture. It can usually be deployed in as few as seven days. In one week’s time, without the need to learn confusing new systems, customers can start getting insights that can improve efficiencies and costs.”
In addition to providing fast feedback on sustainability, systems like those provided by Eugenie — ones that are driven by AI and machine learning — allow companies to understand what is happening in the present. They can then use that understanding to fine-tune their processes for better future performance.
“Our system allows us to analyze huge amounts of data to come up with insights that are made available in user-friendly, operator-friendly language,” Dr. Soudip says. “When problems arise, our Explainable AI guides the operator to the best solution, explaining what the system recommends and how operators responded in prior situations. Now, operators have a tool that goes beyond standard operating procedures; they have an AI-empowered database of experiences that can guide them.”
Becoming a successful sustainability entrepreneur
In its evolution from a startup to a globally-recognized sustainability company, Eugenie has found that having a big vision is not enough. You must inspire your team, as well as your clients and customers, to act on that vision.
“Execution is more important than the idea itself,” explains Dr. Soudip. “The team is the most important differentiator between a successful and an unsuccessful venture. Having a large purpose helps to unite the team to put their heart and soul into their work, which empowers them to achieve the unachievable.”
Getting customers to engage in the mission requires an innovative approach that not only improves the environment, but also optimizes the customer’s efficiency and profitability.
“The biggest mistake industrial companies are making today is perceiving technology only as a profit-making medium and indulging in short-term thinking,” Dr. Soudip says. “Entrepreneurs venturing into this area have a huge responsibility to educate the businesses in their field about sustainable technology. Acting as an ally to operational and reliability professionals, while also reducing carbon emissions, requires an innovative approach and domain awareness. With the current technological advancements and availability of robust solutions like Eugenie, it is possible to make a viable and smooth transition to sustainability.”
