Inspection, testing, verification and certification multinational Bureau Veritas chief digital officer Thomas Daubigny is leading the company’s digital transformation strategy, which aims to improve the efficiency of the company, provide new tools to conduct its work and reform its operating model and extend its test services to the digital world.

This three-pronged approach is part of its 2020 strategic plan to become more market- orientated and responsive. Digital transformation is one of the levers it aims to use to achieve this.

Information and communication technologies afford the company a more efficient way of managing and supporting its field operatives, inspectors and experts, if these systems meet or exceed the requirements to support its high-level certification standards.

Further, using these technologies can support remote inspections and, if the integrity of the system can be ensured, even enable companies to send the inspection records to Bureau Veritas to acquire or update their certifications. Similarly, remote inspection technologies, such as drones and live video feeds, will also help to reduce the risks inspectors face in the field, for example, working at height, and reduce the time to carry out routine inspections.

Daubigny, a systems engineer with more than 20 years’ experience in the information technology industry, is spearheading the development of an effective platform to serve more small and large clients across the world more quickly and tap into the mass market.

“We are calling this model our Conformity 4.0 platform, which refers directly to the Industry 4.0 change that is affecting our traditional client base and opening potential new markets for us.

“The aim with the platform approach is to enable more easy and self-service client requests for inspection, testing, verification and/or certification. The results will also be available to the client online, with integrated guides and step-by-step processes to meeting certification requirements.”

The company is also investigating the use of continuous monitoring and data analytics systems to allow for targeted inspections and sampling based on the changes in data.

“The way we and the industry collect data has changed; image recognition, sensors and analytics provide rich data for experts and enable detailed and continuous assessment and management of equipment and systems.”

Bureau Veritas is testing how suitable equipment monitoring systems can serve as reliable tests for certification purposes such as using oil analysis systems instead of more conventional laboratory analyses.

However, he emphasises that the Bureau Veritas laboratories will focus on the more technical, unusual and nonroutine aspects of their highly technical work, thereby improving their impact and efficiency.

The company has partnered with industrial companies Dassault Systèmes and Bentley to use digital three-dimensional models and the modelling of equipment and systems to improve manufacturing accuracy and inspections. These models can also serve as guides for field inspectors and repair and maintenance workers, as well as to manage workflows related to specific projects or operations.

“Inspecting, testing, verifying and certifying increasingly complex and integrated mechanical and electronic systems, such as modern cars, freight ships (on which the company was founded in 1828) and data centres, are necessary to ensure that they meet the same rigorous standards that ensure health, safety and performance.

“We must ensure that we are able to provide the same or higher surety and confidence for those processes and products that we certify as safe and effective.”