Biogas Project Review: Technical and Commercial Pitfalls

Why Many Biogas Projects Underperform and How Early Reviews Can Prevent Failure?

Biogas projects are often promoted as an ideal solution for renewable energy, waste management, and sustainability goals. In theory, converting organic waste into energy sounds straightforward and environmentally attractive. In practice, however, many biogas projects underperform, struggle financially, or fail to reach stable operation.

Based on experience reviewing energy and industrial projects, biogas developments frequently suffer not from a lack of technology, but from weak early-stage engineering, unrealistic assumptions, and insufficient independent review.

This article discusses the most common technical and commercial pitfalls in biogas projects and explains how structured project reviews can significantly improve project outcomes.

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The Nature of Biogas Projects

Unlike conventional power or gas projects, biogas facilities are feedstock-driven systems. Their performance depends not only on equipment and technology, but also on:

• Feedstock quantity and consistency
• Biological process stability
• Operational discipline
• Long-term waste supply arrangements

This inherent complexity makes biogas projects particularly vulnerable to early-stage misjudgments.

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Common Technical Pitfalls in Biogas Projects

1. Over-Optimistic Feedstock Assumptions

One of the most frequent issues identified during biogas project reviews is overestimation of feedstock availability and quality.

Typical problems include:

• Assuming full availability of organic waste year-round
• Ignoring seasonal variations
• Underestimating contamination and pre-treatment requirements

In reality, feedstock supply is often inconsistent. Without conservative assumptions, digesters may operate below capacity, directly reducing biogas yield and revenue.

An effective project review challenges feedstock assumptions using realistic operational scenarios, not best-case projections.

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2. Inappropriate Digestion Technology Selection

Biogas technologies are not one-size-fits-all. Common mistakes include:

• Selecting digesters based on vendor marketing rather than feedstock characteristics
• Overly complex process configurations
• Insufficient consideration of operational simplicity

Projects that prioritize theoretical efficiency over operability and maintainability often face unstable digestion, higher downtime, and increased operating costs.

Independent reviews help align technology selection with feedstock variability, operator capability, and local conditions.

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3. Underestimating Utilities and Supporting Systems

Biogas plants require more than digesters and gas engines. Reviews frequently identify missing or underestimated systems such as:

• Feedstock handling and storage
• Digestate dewatering and disposal
• Gas cleaning and conditioning
• Utilities (power, water, heat, control systems)

When these systems are inadequately defined during feasibility or FEED stages, projects encounter scope creep, cost overruns, and operational constraints during execution.

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4. Insufficient Redundancy and Reliability Planning

Many biogas projects are designed with minimal redundancy to reduce CAPEX. While this may improve paper economics, it often compromises:

• Plant availability
• Maintenance flexibility
• Long-term reliability

A project review evaluates whether redundancy levels are appropriate for the intended operational philosophy and revenue model.

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Commercial and Financial Pitfalls

5. CAPEX Underestimation

Biogas project CAPEX is often underestimated due to:

• Incomplete scope definition
• Ignoring civil works and infrastructure
• Underestimating imported equipment and logistics

Independent reviews benchmark cost estimates against similar projects and assess whether contingencies are adequate for project risk.

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6. Unrealistic OPEX Assumptions

Operational costs are frequently underestimated, especially for:

• Skilled labor and supervision
• Maintenance of biological and mechanical systems
• Consumables and chemicals
• Digestate handling

Underestimated OPEX erodes project margins and can quickly turn a “bankable” project into a financial burden.

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7. Weak Revenue and Market Assumptions

Revenue projections in biogas projects often rely on:

• Optimistic energy prices
• Assumed incentives or subsidies
• Uncertain offtake agreements

A robust project review examines the sensitivity of project economics to changes in energy pricing, policy, and operational performance.

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Biogas vs. Biomethane: Strategic Misalignment

Many projects attempt to jump directly into biomethane upgrading without first stabilizing biogas production. While biomethane offers higher potential value, it also introduces:

• Higher CAPEX
• Stricter gas quality requirements
• Increased operational complexity

Project reviews often recommend a phased development approach, starting with CHP and progressing to upgrading only after operational stability is proven.

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The Importance of Early-Stage Project Reviews

The most valuable biogas project reviews occur during:

• Concept development
• Feasibility Study (FS)
• Pre-FEED or FEED

At these stages:

• Design flexibility is high
• Capital exposure is limited
• Risk mitigation is cost-effective

Late-stage corrections, after EPC commitment or commissioning, are significantly more expensive and disruptive.

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How Independent Reviews Improve Biogas Project Outcomes

Independent biogas project reviews help stakeholders:

• Identify unrealistic assumptions
• Align technology with feedstock reality
• Improve cost and schedule confidence
• Reduce operational and execution risk
• Support informed investment decisions

For investors, lenders, and project owners, this independent perspective often provides greater value than optimistic projections.

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Who Should Consider a Biogas Project Review?

Biogas project reviews are particularly relevant for:

• Project developers and owners
• Investors and financial institutions
• EPC contractors entering bioenergy projects
• Industrial operators exploring waste-to-energy solutions

Any organization investing in bioenergy should recognize that biological systems require engineering discipline and conservative planning.

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Final Thoughts

Biogas projects can deliver strong environmental and economic benefits—but only when developed with realistic assumptions, disciplined engineering, and independent oversight.

Most biogas project failures are not technological failures. They are project development failures that could have been identified and mitigated early.

Independent project reviews bridge the gap between sustainability ambition and operational reality, helping biogas projects move from concept to reliable performance.

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How This Applies to Your Biogas Project

This type of analysis is typically performed during:

• Biogas feasibility studies (FS)
• Bioenergy FEED reviews
• Independent project assessments for investors and owners

If you are planning or evaluating a biogas or bioenergy project, an early-stage independent review can significantly improve technical robustness and commercial confidence.

📩 Email: afakar@gmail.com

📱 WhatsApp: +62 813-6864-3249

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🔍 About the Author

Published by Project, Industry & Engineering Review Hub, providing independent project reviews, engineering consulting, and industry analysis for energy, industrial, and bioenergy projects worldwide.

Environmental Degradation in Mountain and River Regions: A Global Overview

Environmental degradation in mountains and river systems poses significant threats to ecosystems, water security, and local livelihoods. Around the world, mountain areas experience land degradation and glacial retreat, while river systems suffer from pollution, sediment overload, and ecosystem collapse. This article explores global trends, case studies, data-driven insights, and key implications for education and business.

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1. Global Trends in Mountain Ecosystem Degradation

Mountain ecosystems are vital “water towers” that feed billions downstream—but are under severe pressure:

• Between 2015–2019, 1.6% of global mountain land was degraded, particularly in alpine zones (2.29%), Central/Southern Asia (2.22%), and Eastern/Southeastern Asia (2.17%) UNESCOUNSD.
• As of 2020, 57% of mountain areas were under intense degradation pressure due to deforestation, infrastructure development, and land-use change UNESCO.
• Near-surface permafrost is projected to shrink by 66–99% by 2100, threatening stability and glacier-fed hydrology UNESCO.

In Central Asia, for example, the Tien Shan, Pamir, Altai, and Karakorum ranges have lost ~30% of glacial mass over 40 years; river flow of major rivers like Amu Darya and Syr Darya is expected to decrease by 10–15% in the coming decade UNESCO+5CABAR.asia+5Earth.Org+5. These changes jeopardize agricultural and hydropower-dependent communities.

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2. Riverine Damage: Pollution, Sediments, and Biodiversity Loss

River Pollution & Plastic

• The Ganges in India receives ~1 billion gallons of raw sewage and industrial effluent every day, severely affecting water quality and health The Guardian+6Science+6New York Post+6Conserve Energy Future+1Gitnux+1.
• Global riverine plastic emissions exceed 1 million metric tons/year, with Indonesia, the Philippines, India, China, and Malaysia among the worst offenders Science+1ScienceDirect+1. Rivers in Indonesia alone account for 56,000 MT annually reaching oceans.

Heavy Metals in Sediment

A meta‑analysis from Asia and Europe shows sediment contamination with Cr, Ni, Cd, Cu, Pb, Zn, Mn across Taiwan, China, India, Bangladesh, Turkey, Nigeria, and Pakistan—raising ecological risks arXiv+6ScienceDirect+6Science+6.

Major River Disasters

• The Oder River (Poland-Germany) in summer 2022 experienced massive fish kills—over 100 tonnes removed—due to toxic algal blooms likely triggered by industrial saline wastewater discharge Wikipedia.
• Zambia’s Kafue River Basin is heavily polluted: some 93,000 tons of industrial waste discharge annually from mines and factories, compromising water quality and human use Worst Polluted+1Reuters+1.

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3. Case Studies: Regional Impacts and Mountain–River Interactions

Ok Tedi Disaster (Papua New Guinea)

A catastrophic example of riverine damage: from 1984 to 2013, up to 2 billion tonnes of untreated waste from mining flowed into the Ok Tedi and Fly Rivers. At least 1,588 sq km of forest affected; downstream sediment sludge devastated ecosystems and local economies along some 1000 km of the river system. Clean-up will take an estimated 300 years Wikipedia.

Appalachian Mountaintop Removal (USA)

Coal mining in Appalachia removed over 500 mountain tops and deforested >1 million acres, destroying 12,000 miles of streams. Resulting stream salinity and metal contamination have caused toxic effects in aquatic fauna and birds Wikipedia.

Colombia (Andes Emerald Region)

In Muzo, Colombia, emerald mining (both formal and informal) has caused 29% deforestation and 22% explosive-related land disturbance, contaminating rivers such as Río Minero and Ítoco with sediment and chemical residues The Guardian.

Himalayan Glacial Retreat and Risk

• The Chorabari Glacier near Kedarnath (India) is retreating ~7 m per year; area shrank from 6.1 km² in 2009 to 5.91 km² in 2019. This triggers flood risk and downstream water scarcity timesofindia.indiatimes.com.
• The Himalayan snowpack feeding major rivers (Ganges, Mekong, Indus, Yangtze, Salween) is at a 23‑year low—some basins have snow reserves 50% below average, threatening fresh water for ~2 billion people New York Post.

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4. Impacts on Ecosystem Services and Human Welfare

Water Security & Agriculture

• Mountain-fed rivers supply up to two-thirds of global irrigated agriculture.
• Reduced runoff and sediment flux (expected to more than double by 2050 in High Mountain Asia) jeopardize hydropower capacity and food security Science.

Biodiversity Loss

• Mountain biodiversity hotspots (25 of 34 global hotspots) suffer habitat degradation.
• Lakes in Siberia and Kazakhstan, even in protected areas, exhibit 4–26 microplastic particles per liter—indicating pervasive pollution even in remote regions UNESCOmdpi.com.

Economic Costs

• Wetlands—including mountain-fed river floodplains—are disappearing at ~22% loss since 1970, risking up to $39 trillion in global losses by 2050 Reuters.
• Upper Atoyac River basin (Mexico) faces annual pollution costs of up to $16 million across agriculture, health, and tourism sectors arXiv.

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5. Drivers Behind the Damage

• Climate change: warming reduces glaciers and permafrost stability; extremes increase sediment flux and flood risk in mountain regions ScienceCABAR.asiaUNESCO.
• Industrial and mining operations: tailings, waste, deforestation, and river discharge threaten water quality and habitat.
• Agricultural expansion and overgrazing: especially in Central Asia and Tajikistan, causing erosion and landslides on mountain slopes Wikipedia.
• Urban and infrastructure development: tourism, hydropower dams, and construction in fragile mountain towns like Joshimath (India) cause subsidence and destabilization AP News.
• Waste mismanagement: plastics, toxic effluent, and sewage contaminate river systems even in remote areas.

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6. Business and Educational Implications

For Businesses:

• Due diligence: companies must assess mountain‑river ecosystem risks to avoid brand damage and legal liability.
• Sustainable practices: resource extraction should avoid river discharge, apply sediment control, and respect watershed health.
• ESG monitoring: robust data collection (e.g. remote sensing, sediment analysis) supports transparency and credibility.

For Education:

• Curricula: share global case studies to illustrate ecosystem interdependencies.
• Interdisciplinary learning: combine hydrology, climate science, engineering, and environmental law.
• Student-driven research: encourage monitoring of local mountain-river systems and awareness of pollution data.

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7. Pathways to Restoration and Resilience

Nature-Based Solutions

• Riparian buffer restoration, agroforestry on slopes (e.g., Pamir Mountains reforestation in Afghanistan).
• Wetland conservation to manage floods and improve water quality, protecting communities downstream UNESCO.

Technological & Policy Responses

• Satellite and drone monitoring for glaciers, erosion, and sediment flow.
• River clean-up and pollution control (e.g., Citarum clean-ups in Indonesia).
• Policy enforcement: bans on uncontrolled tailings discharge, plastic-reducing legislation, mining regulations.

Community Engagement & Justice

• FPIC (Free, Prior, Informed Consent) in mountain and river communities (e.g., Colombian emerald regions, PNG’s remote areas).
• Local restoration efforts: empower community-based forest and watershed rehabilitation.

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8. Conclusion

Mountain and river ecosystems—though geographically distinct—are deeply interconnected. Degradation in highland zones translates into water pollution, sediment disruption, and increased disaster risk downstream. From the melting glaciers of the Himalayas to river tailings in Papua New Guinea, and toxic effluent in Zambia and Indonesia, the evidence is clear: interventions are urgently needed.

For both educational and business audiences, the imperative is to build sustainability-based strategies: invest in data-driven environmental monitoring, support restoration projects, enforce environmental safeguards, and engage local communities. Only then can we protect the planet’s vital mountain and river systems—for today's populations and future generations.

Integrating pneumatic controls for greater sustainability, productivity

 

Pneumatic controls can lead to energy efficiency, cost savings and improved overall equipment effectiveness.

Learning Objectives

• Understand how pneumatics can improve energy efficiency and overall equipment effectiveness (OEE).
• Learn how technology advances can help pneumatics improve a plant’s automation and efficiency.
• Learn how pneumatics how can reduce a facility’s overall costs and improve profitability.

Pneumatics insights

• Pneumatics is an effective and cost-competitive technology for plant automation and is applied from very simple to highly complex control solutions, directly impacting overall equipment effectiveness (OEE) of a machine or production line when sized and designed properly.
• Today’s pneumatics can address primary industry concerns, including sustainability, the labor shortage and competitive markets, by providing valuable insights and monitoring.
• Pneumatic controls address plant concerns by offering energy-efficient solutions, OEE improvement, predictive maintenance and cost savings in the field, as well as in the design phase of machines.

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Today’s plants are being held to ever-greater standards while using fewer resources and less skilled labor. To help them reach net-zero targets and produce more in greater varieties using the staff they have, many organizations are incorporating the latest control technologies, including pneumatics.

Applied from very simple to highly complex control systems, pneumatic technologies remain popular, effective and cost-competitive automation solutions. And with good reason. The pneumatic controls a machine or production line uses can directly impact overall equipment effectiveness (OEE), sustainability and costs.

The latest pneumatic technologies are designed to support the future of automation — and its innovations and challenges — from the component level up. As more facilities digitally transform, many pneumatic technologies can help provide seamless integration to higher-level control systems via the use of Fieldbus technology, embedded sensors and electronics.

In this way, they can help provide valuable insights and real-time monitoring, so the right team members receive the right information about important factors from energy use to performance levels at the right time.

To achieve the full promise pneumatics offers, it’s critical to understand the technologies available, as well as how to size and design them for maximum sustainability, productivity and cost-savings.

Figure 1: Pneumatics is an effective, fundamental and cost-competitive technology for plant automation. Courtesy: Emerson

Pneumatics save energy

As more organizations set corporate sustainability targets, plants are pressed to identify waste and optimize energy use. Due to the high-energy intensity of compressed air, many factories are implementing programs to reduce compressed air consumption. By helping operators minimize or prevent leakage and improve inefficient processes, pneumatic pressure sensors, flow meters and control solutions are playing an increasing role in these initiatives, as well as supporting the implementation of energy management systems according to ISO 50001 via adequate monitoring.

Pneumatic controls and advanced smart sensors can provide both direct and indirect information about the energy consumption of a system. If combined intelligently with industrial hardware and software for higher analytics, the overall solution can help detect leaks in their early stages and balance pneumatic devices to help reduce energy use.

This level of insight also can empower staff with key performance indicators (KPIs) and trends to make data-driven decisions that can improve energy savings, reach sustainability initiatives and reduce pneumatics maintenance intensity and air audits.

For example, there are fully assembled compressed air monitoring cabinets that include smart airflow sensors, edge hardware and connected software. The integrated solution collects and analyzes the constant inflow of data from the sensor via OPC UA and allows deeper understanding of consumption trends and possible leakage, as well as offering insight on carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions impact. Plants can directly connect multiple smart airflow sensors to the cabinet and scale as needed. Pre-engineered and preconfigured, these cabinets make it possible for plants to install and deploy the monitoring solution to start visualizing and benchmarking compressed air consumption for a machine or production line.

In addition to the visibility and control provided by real-time pneumatic monitoring and insights, the design of pneumatic controls can help save energy. Some pneumatic control solutions are designed to allow air recycling in actuator movements, saving compressed air in each return stroke of pneumatic cylinders.

Where possible, placing pneumatic control valves in proximity of the actuators or pneumatic cylinders can further reduce compressed air. Adding pressure regulating valves to reduce pressure to the necessary levels in many applications can help save compressed air, too.

Figure 2: The latest pneumatic solutions can help plants save energy, improve OEE and reduce costs in the field as well as in the design phase of machines. Courtesy: Emerson

Improve a facility’s OEE through data access

Today’s factories face a combination of production challenges, including unplanned machine downtime, high scrap rates, unstable product quality and machine performance issues, as well as labor and skill set shortage. Pneumatics can play an important role in driving higher productivity by addressing many of these factors. It all starts with access to pneumatic data.

To maximize plant efficiency using the equipment, labor power and skill set that an organization has, it’s important that teams receive analytics and actionable insights about the pneumatic systems in machines and lines. This real-time information can help personnel across skill levels identify component health, reasons for scrap rate, product quality levels and more.

By adding smart airflow sensors to a pneumatic system or incorporating smart pneumatic devices that include embedded sensors, plants can gather and access key process and application data. Using an industrial PC, edge device or in the cloud, software can then perform analytics on gathered data points.

Operators can access resulting analytics and insights via a dashboard, gaining better visibility of and control over performance. For instance, they can adjust and optimize machine variables as needed, reducing cycle time while maximizing machine uptime, improving OEE.

The right personnel can receive this information right when it’s needed, regardless of skill and experience level. Operators can establish thresholds on key parameters, such as cylinder speed, position feedback and pressure level, and the analytics software can send alert messages when the pneumatic system operates outside of those limits.

Once received, the right personnel can take the appropriate action, preventing possible failure and minimizing unplanned downtime. In this way, taking the right action at the right time over and over again can improve overall efficiency and productivity.

As most edge gateways are prepared to work with OPC UA or message queuing telemetry transport (MQTT), accessing data from a pneumatic system in these industry-accepted formats is key. Pneumatic controls and sensors that connect via Ethernet, providing OPC UA or MQTT communication to an edge gateway for analytics, can be integral to achieve an organization’s desired plant/machine monitoring solutions.

However, implementing IO-Link is becoming a widely accepted standard. IO-Link-ready sensors and devices can be an advantage in the design and rollout of industrial internet of things (IIoT) solutions in factories due to their easy commissioning and reliable communication. IO-Link Masters allow data exchange between IO-Link-capable transmitters, sensors or devices in an automation system and are fundamental for bringing this information to the control network architecture or to the edge for further analytics.

When pneumatic valve systems are installed within a machine or located somewhere out of reach, commissioning and performing diagnostics can be inconvenient and time-consuming. A pneumatic valve system with Fieldbus technology and auto recovery module (ARM) makes it easy for technicians to perform pneumatic valve system commissioning and diagnostics from a Wi-Fi-enabled mobile phone, tablet or laptop, regardless of where the valve system is mounted. This helps manufacturers reduce production downtime, simplifies valve system commissioning and creates a path for using diagnostics for analytics.

At the component design level, proportional valves are a great example of pneumatic controls that can impact plant efficiency. Precise control of liquids and gasses makes it possible for plants to optimize machinery and processes. This can increase efficiency with production throughput as well as reduce raw material use and energy consumption.

It’s important to look for proportional valve technology that can quickly adjust output pressure or flow in relation to variable operating conditions. This technology also can provide greater flexibility of system design and operation.

Figure 3: The AVENTICS Series 615 Sentronic TWIN from Emerson is a compact, 3-way proportional pressure control valve that accurately adjusts pressure to control air and inert gas media via ATC software. Courtesy: Emerson

Reduce overall costs with pneumatics

The benefits of pneumatic monitoring are clear. By helping to minimize waste and increase productivity, pneumatics naturally helps plants reduce costs. Yet, pneumatic technologies can provide significant cost-savings in other ways.

There are well-known advantages of pneumatic technologies, like lower installation and maintenance costs. Pneumatic controls are relatively easy to maintain, and worn parts can be replaced using prepackaged spare kits. Pneumatic components have high reliability and are easy to install, lowering commission time as well. The lower capital expenditure of pneumatic systems is often an important factor for choosing this technology over others in many automation applications.

There also are less obvious ways pneumatics can help plants reduce costs, such as during the specification and machine design process. Pneumatic systems, if properly designed and sized, present reliable lasting solutions lowering machine downtime, hence providing overall cost savings. Online tools can make it easy to size actuators and valves and confirm the results of manual calculations. Additional original equipment manufacturer (OEM) tools, like cylinder finders, allow for selecting an optimal actuator series for the given parameters. Online energy consumption applications help to review the energy impact of specific configurations or selections.

More machine designers also are maximizing the advantages of pneumatic and electric technologies and incorporating hybrid solutions. In hybrid systems, electric actuators are coupled with pneumatic cylinders. By adding pneumatic cylinders with the proper pneumatic control to maintain force balance, machine manufacturers are able to size for smaller electric actuators. These hybrid solutions capture all the benefits of each technology and can present significant cost-saving opportunities.

Figure 4: Pre-engineered in preconfigured, the Emerson Compressed Air Manager includes proven AVENTICS AF2 airflow sensors, PACSystems edge gateway and advanced software and makes it easy for plants to start monitoring pneumatic systems. Courtesy: Emerson

Moving automation forward today — and tomorrow

The advantages of pneumatics are well known; however, new innovations are making this highly reliable, cost-competitive technology even better. The latest pneumatic solutions can help plants save energy, improve OEE and reduce costs in the field as well as in the design phase of machines. By integrating advanced pneumatic control solutions with real-time monitoring and analytics, plants can reach sustainability goals, empower their workforce and continue to remain competitive today and into the future.

Written by:

Franco Stephan

Source

When, how to consider low-code development for industrial applications

 

Intuitive, low-code development systems can enable the creation and customization of basic tools and dashboards to a broader set of employee skill sets, reducing the cost and time to deploy.

Learning Objectives

• Learn how low-code development allows employees that are not developers to participate in creating or customizing software.
• Accelerate development timelines for developers through low-code architectures.
• Understand how faster development and deployment saves costs and time.

 Low-code development insights

• Low-code development empowers industrial organizations to rapidly build and deploy applications, reducing downtime, enhancing flexibility and enabling seamless scaling through reusable, preconfigured components.
• By leveraging “dockerized” applications running on-premise, businesses can achieve near real-time data processing, minimize reliance on specialized developers and adapt quickly to evolving operational demands.

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In a competitive landscape, industrial organizations face constant pressure to enhance efficiency, reduce downtime and adapt to evolving business demands. The need for process agility to meet shifting customer requirements is also increasing.

Traditional software development approaches often struggle to keep pace with these requirements due to high costs, long development cycles and the need for specialized skills. Low-code applications, however, offer a compelling alternative.

By leveraging a low-code development environment with “dockerized” applications deployed and executed on-premise, industrial organizations can unlock significant cost and time savings. Dockerization — also known as containerization in coding parlance — is the process of packaging software, including its dependencies, into a standard, self-sufficient container. A Docker container is a lightweight, portable and executable package that includes everything needed to run an application, such as code, runtime, system tools, libraries and settings.

Low-code development allows users to create applications with minimal coding, allowing industrial facilities to speed and simplify the development process.

How low-code development reduces downtime, enables flexibility

Traditional software development in industrial environments often requires extensive time and resources, making it difficult to adapt to changing business needs. Low-code development platforms introduce a new level of flexibility by allowing organizations to deploy multiple instances of applications across several devices.

Additionally, these applications can forward data to the cloud when necessary, while maintaining critical functions on-premise. With features such as drag-and-drop functionality, an intuitive visual user interface and model-driven development, low-code platforms empower professional developers as well as nontechnical users to build and customize applications efficiently.

Figure 1: Customization using menu-based or drag-and-drop components means more team members can enact customizations at need. Courtesy: Siemens

This democratization of software development enables departments outside of information technology to participate in application development, ensuring faster adaptation to operational changes without relying solely on specialized developers.

One significant issue with deploying custom software to improve operations or dynamically change processes is the associated downtime. Every minute of unplanned downtime can result in substantial financial losses. Low-code applications address this issue by enabling custom applications to be created and deployed quickly and scaled dynamically.

Normal operational downtime is also reduced if low-code development applications are created for data collection and predictive maintenance at the shop floor level with real-time dashboarding and local data integration, allowing operators and decision-makers to monitor equipment status and production metrics instantaneously. This proactive approach to maintenance and monitoring significantly reduces unplanned downtime, improving operational efficiency.

Agile scaling with low-code development

Industrial settings often require custom software solutions to meet changing customer demands or evolving production goals. Expensive consultants and long lead times have plagued custom software development for industrial applications for years. Low-code applications offer a solution by enabling quick deployment and modification of applications.

Figure 2: Low-code development enables agility in automation development. Courtesy: Siemens

With preconfigured modules, templates, connectors and reusable elements, low-code applications allow organizations to develop solutions with greater efficiency. This means businesses can fast-track development cycles and deploy applications while ensuring production processes can be switched seamlessly when required.

The ability to extend application features and deploy multiple dockerized copies quickly enables businesses to scale their operations without incurring excessive costs. This scalability is a crucial benefit of low-code applications in industrial environments. Low-code applications ensure consistent quality across multiple deployments by relying on easily customizable, reusable components that have been pre-tested for performance and security.

Furthermore, these applications support continuous delivery, allowing organizations to implement improvements and updates with minimal disruption. This scalability not only reduces software development costs but also enhances long-term operational efficiency.

Skill gaps addressed by low-code development

One of the biggest challenges facing industrial human resources departments today is the shortage of skilled developers. Low-code development platforms make application development accessible to a broader range of employees with intuitive visual interfaces and model-driven development. Individuals with limited coding experience can contribute to application creation and customization and experienced developers can rapidly prototype and deploy solutions.

Figure 3: Visualized elements replace walls of code, enabling quick understanding of process changes. Courtesy: Siemens

By empowering existing talent to build and deliver applications faster, low-code platforms reduce the reliance on outsourced developers or consultants. This allows employees to customize solutions that meet their departments’ specific needs and look to internal or external development resources for only the most complex needs. This not only accelerates development timelines but also fosters better collaboration and decision-making among cross-functional teams.

The adoption of low-code applications in industrial settings is a game-changer for organizations seeking to reduce costs, minimize downtime, enhance flexibility and scale their operations efficiently. By leveraging dockerized applications that operate on-premise, businesses can eliminate cloud latency and achieve near real-time data processing, leading to improved operational performance.

Low-code platforms enable rapid application development, allowing industrial organizations to switch processes faster, adapt to changing demands and empower their workforce with accessible development tools.

With preconfigured, reusable components, these applications offer long-term cost savings while maintaining high performance and security standards. As the industrial sector continues to evolve, the ability to deploy and modify applications is increasingly essential. Low-code development provides a strategic competitive advantage, ensuring that businesses remain agile and competitive in an ever-changing landscape.

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