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CASE STUDY

FRAC-CHEM

From chemical supplier to managed services provider

FRAC-CHEM 1

Louisiana-based oilfield chemical manufacturer & wholesale chemical supplier

FRAC-CHEM is a Lafayette, Louisiana-based oilfield chemical manufacturer & wholesale chemical supplier offering standard and custom-formulated chemicals. Rapid response and dedication to providing the highest quality service sets FRAC-CHEM apart from their competition; not just as a chemical supplier, but as a service company that supplies chemicals.

Industry

Oil & Gas

Challenge

Develop IoT prototype to monitor for quality, consistency, usage optimization and failure/risk assessment

Services & Tech

AWS IoT, Amazon DynamoDB, Amazon Simple Storage Service (S3), and AWS CloudFormation

Strengthening your position in the market

FRAC-CHEM wanted to strengthen their position in the market by evolving from a liquid chemical supplier to a fully-managed services solution. By switching to a new ‘dry chemical’ hydration system, FRAC-CHEM was able to differentiate themselves from other liquid-chemical suppliers as a fully-managed services provider. In addition to the cost savings of shipping dry powder over liquid chemicals, the new system allowed for real-time data monitoring for each hydration unit so clients could visualize, monitor, and provide guidance to teams in the field allowing for real-time adjustments on factors such as:

  • The quality of water going into the machine
  • Optimal usage of the machine for maximum lifetime usage
  • The quality of chemicals being outputted
  • 1st & 3rd party data or factors such as weather, geography, & soil
  • Likelihood of failure of the machine

Custom IoT Prototype

Onica worked closely with FRAC-CHEM to build a custom IoT prototype, including hardware, firmware, software, and cloud infrastructure.

The solution:

  • Hardware retrieves the data over the existing hydration unit serial port and transmits information to the cloud over that
  • Automatically selects Wi-Fi, cell, or satellite, guaranteeing the most reliable and cost-effective connectivity option for a given deployment location
  • Utilizes key AWS services, including AWS IoT, Amazon DynamoDB, Amazon S3, and AWS CloudFormation
  • Developed the device software stack to transmit all data received from the serial port to the AWS IoT service
  • Developed cloud-side applications to parse and store data in AWS
  • Developed a web-based dashboard to visualize the collected data
  • Installed and integrated the custom solution onsite for FRAC-CHEM
FRAC-CHEM 2

Improve quality and control costs

The finished IoT prototype was successfully installed on a hydration unit, which was then shipped to a working customer site — where it has been collecting and transmitting data since it arrived. Long term, the data and analytics gathered via this solution will:

  • Improve quality and control costs for FRAC-CHEM and FRAC-CHEM’s customers
  • Enable real-time billing, allowing FRAC-CHEM to more quickly invoice and collect
  • Enhance FRAC-CHEM’s “managed service” positioning to provide data-driven services to clients, optimizing operations while managing cost

WHY US

Why Onica

Onica is one of the largest and fastest-growing Amazon Web Services (AWS) Premier Consulting Partners in the world, helping companies enable, operate, and innovate in the cloud. From migration strategy to operational excellence and immersive transformation, Onica is a full spectrum AWS integrator. Learn more at www.onica.com.