TechHub: GE Starts ‘Digital Insiders’ Platform, Shell’s Cracker Plant Takes Shape, and more

GE Digital Launches ‘Digital Insiders’ To Add Fun (and Prizes) to Professional Development

GrayMatter partner GE Digital is gamifying a new professional networking and collaboration platform dubbed “Digital Insiders,” and like any good online game, GE Digital elite customers can earn points and receive prizes for participating.

The site is only for current customers of GE Digital and its partners. Once you sign up, you can take an orientation, answer survey questions, pose questions to experts from GE Digital, read industry reports and share links to thought leadership pieces you’ve published on social media.

GE Digital

Each task is a “challenge.” Every completed challenge earns you points. Earn enough points and you can choose rewards including GE Digital swag such as a hoodie, polo shirt or thermal bottle or gadgets like a set of Apple Airpods, Amazon Echo Dot or a drone.

A customer success meeting and professional services are among the major rewards available. That includes a meeting with GE Digital’s chief customer success officer, Chad Naeger, or a two- to four-hour consultation with a digital transformation consulting team from GE Digital.

The platform lets you see how you’re performing on a leaderboard and it keeps you posted about the latest insights posts by other Digital Insiders. As you earn points you can unlock new levels with more options. The levels are insider, influencer, trusted advisor and VIP.

So, if you are a current customer of GE Digital or one of its partners you can apply to sign up today.

Squeeze In Some Continuing Education Before 2018 Ends

GrayMatter has two opportunities – that’s right, two – for you to expand your knowledge base in December.

The first is 2 p.m. (EST) Dec. 11 when GrayMatter Cyber Practice Lead Scott Christensen will host a webinar to help you prepare to conduct a cybersecurity risk and resiliency audit. Some of you might be contending with government regulations that require you to conduct a cyber audit in 2019. Others might simply be setting it as a goal for next year.

Either way, Scott can help you get started.

If you need a reminder about the urgency of making sure your operational technology is protected from powerful cyber threats backed by state actors, check out the latest from the New York Times, which details a renewed, stealthier effort by Chinese intelligence agencies to infiltrate U.S. companies.

“The new operatives have intensified their focus on America’s commercial and industrial prowess, and on technologies that the Chinese believe can give them a military advantage,” the Times reported. 

Sign up here.

At 2 p.m. (EST) on Dec. 13, Scott Duhaime from GE Digital will detail why it’s important to upgrade to GE Digital iFIX 6.0. Duhaime will cover:

• Reducing risk by using supported software
• Leveraging the latest secure-by-design technologies to minimize the threat of cyber attacks
• Modernizing to increase productivity with efficient HMI/high performance HMI standards

This is the first in a series of GrayMatter webinars that will introduce iFIX 6.0’s new secure-by-design features for high performance operators.

Register now.

Why Is Shell Building a Multi-Billion-Dollar Ethane Cracker Plant in Western Pennsylvania?

Answer: Customer Service

During a speech Tuesday, Shell Production Unit Manager O. Chris Jackson told attendees of the first-ever TriState Infrastructure Council (PA, OH & WV) Summit that Shell wants to be the No. 1 polyethylene producer of choice.

Jackson said Shell’s planned petrochemical plant in Beaver County, Pa., is strategically located because it is within a 700-mile radius of 70 percent of its customers. It can also take advantage of the ethane in the natural gas liquids extracted from the region’s Marcellus shale formation.

“We really want our customers to have an unrivaled experience,” Jackson said. “When they work with Shell, we want them to feel… that regardless of their size, they come first.”

He said Shell wants to be able to fulfill orders within days of receiving an order rather than make customers wait what sometimes takes 4-5 weeks from locations in the Gulf Coast.

Delays mean costly downtime for customers.

“Not only can this region support this type of operation, but this type of operation can flourish in this region,” Jackson said. “We can make ourselves not just a producer, but we can make ourselves a producer of choice. We want to be the first thought that comes to mind.”

To get a sense of how massive the multi-billion-dollar plant is, check out this recent aerial pictorial from the Pittsburgh Business Times.