LyondellBasell Keeps Business Running with Remote Assistance and Digitalization

Operations at LyondellBasell are high-stakes and precisely calibrated—everything must run like clockwork. It creates materials that are the building blocks for a wide variety of products—from laundry detergent to automotive parts to components for various renewable energy technologies. 

LyondellBasell has implemented many products from Microsoft’s suite of enterprise tools to keep facilities running smoothly, reduce downtime, improve efficiency, and more.

When COVID-19 hit, LyondellBasell’s security team had to figure out how to complete its work remotely. The team used to visit facilities to perform site security assessments, but travel restrictions limited travel to sites across the globe. 

The team now uses Microsoft HoloLens mixed reality headsets with Microsoft Dynamics 365 Remote Assist to conduct site assessments remotely. 

“Our first experience using HoloLens with Dynamics 365 Remote Assist and Teams for a site security assessment was phenomenal,” says Gerard Raja, senior manager, operational platforms at LyondellBasell. “We sent the HoloLens device to a site in the United Kingdom and a number of remote experts joined a Teams call to guide a colleague at the site through the assessment.”

By doing the assessments remotely, LyondellBasell has saved on travel, is following COVID-19 safety protocols, and the remote site assessments allow more people to collaborate in real time.

VR remote assistance isn’t the only digitalization efforts LyondellBasell has undertaken. By integrating other Microsoft tools, it is using data to increase efficiency and reduce facility downtime. Plus, the open infrastructure allows anyone at the organization to look for data-based opportunities for improvement. 

LyondellBasell is embracing an overall transformation, having employees across the global business use Microsoft 365 to support new, efficient, and digitally driven ways of working. “Microsoft 365 brings information closer to the decision-makers to make better decisions,” said CIO Kathy VanLandingham.

Digital tools helped the company adapt to COVID-19. Its facilities needed to continue operating, and the company had to adapt to a rapidly shifting supply chain. “Overnight, we suddenly encountered tremendous supply chain risk and huge procurement flexibility,” says Anup Sharma, senior vice president, global business services. “Within a month, we moved our global business services team to a make-to-order business model as opposed to produce-and-sell.”

Digital tools are also helping LyondellBasell optimize energy use, communicate in real time around the world, make data-driven decisions, adapt to rapidly changing environments, gain efficiencies, empower employes, and make better decisions all around.

It might be using Microsoft, but LyondellBasell’s digital transformation efforts are neither micro nor soft.