• Reusable Components: Prebuilt modules reduce redundancy and coding effort.

• Drag-and-Drop Interfaces: Intuitive design environments for building UIs and workflows.

• Visual Modeling: Logical flows and data structures can be mapped visually, reducing complexity.

• Built-in Integrations: Seamless connectivity with ERP, MES, IoT platforms, and cloud services.

• Speed: LCNC enables the rapid development and deployment of custom applications—ideal for real-time decision-making, quick fixes on the shop floor, or launching pilot projects without months of lead time.

• Agility: Industrial operations frequently face shifting compliance requirements, production demands, or supply chain disruptions. LCNC platforms allow businesses to pivot fast by modifying workflows or interfaces without overhauling entire systems.

• Cost-Efficiency: By reducing the need for large development teams and minimizing time spent on custom coding, LCNC significantly lowers development overhead and helps clear IT backlogs.

• Shortage of Skilled Developers: With a growing gap in available software engineers, LCNC platforms empower OT engineers, process experts, and citizen developers to create their own tools—bridging the talent gap and decentralizing innovation.

• Integration: Modern LCNC platforms offer built-in connectors for seamless integration with existing MES, ERP, SCADA, and IIoT systems—ensuring that new applications enhance, rather than disrupt, the digital ecosystem.

• Rapid Prototyping for New Machines or Production LinesLCNC tools allow quick app creation to test and validate new production workflows or machine interfaces. These apps can also integrate with digital twins to simulate and refine processes before full implementation.

• Streamlining Maintenance and Service WorkflowsIndustrial teams can build tailored mobile apps for field technicians to manage maintenance logs, access remote diagnostics, and report issues in real-time—vital for smart factory efficiency.

• Compliance and Quality Tracking DashboardsOrganizations can create intuitive dashboards to track compliance with ISO, GMP, and OSHA standards. Role-based access ensures that only the right personnel manage or view critical quality data.

• Legacy System ExtensionInstead of replacing outdated systems, LCNC platforms enable modern UI layers and API-driven integrations that enhance functionality—without the cost and risk of full system rebuilds.

Together, these benefits make LCNC a game-changer for scalable, agile industrial innovation.

• AI/ML Integration: LCNC platforms will increasingly leverage artificial intelligence and machine learning to auto-generate smarter, context-aware applications.

• Stronger Industrial Connectors: Support for protocols like OPC UA, MQTT, and Modbus will improve, enabling seamless integration with shop floor systems and IIoT devices.

• Hybrid Development Models: Expect a rise in environments that blend LCNC with traditional coding—offering flexibility for both citizen developers and professional engineers.

• Unified IT-OT Platforms: LCNC will play a key role in IT-OT convergence, allowing cross-functional teams to build, deploy, and manage solutions from a single platform.

• Mainstream Citizen Developer Programs: Enterprises are formalizing LCNC adoption with structured training and governance, making citizen development a core part of digital transformation.

This evolution positions LCNC as a long-term strategic enabler.

By combining software engineering rigor with domain‑specific knowledge and cutting‑edge integration services, we position industrial firms to succeed with low‑code transformation.

Looking to simplify software delivery across your industrial operations? Explore our software engineering services.

In this insightful discussion, Mr. Majunath Rao, Director, Utthunga, and Dr. Shankar, Co-founder & Director, GyanData Pvt. Ltd. sat down to unpack how engineering can create scalable, sustainable impact across industries. Here’s a seamless Q&A-style recap that dives deep into challenges, practical solutions, and industry use cases.

The common perception that “energy” refers only to electrical energy is inaccurate. In reality, electrical energy accounts for just 8% of the total energy usage. It’s important to distinguish between the different contributors that make up electrical energy.

Beyond electricity, there are various forms of energy such as thermal energy, hydraulic (water) energy, and internal energy. Each of these plays a significant role in the broader energy system, especially in industries like oil and gas, petrochemicals, and chemicals.

The oil and gas sector is highly mature in terms of energy management. These industries not only generate energy but are also accountable for how it is consumed. They are experienced in collecting data and optimizing energy use efficiently.

In contrast, the petrochemical sector represents a medium level of investment in energy conservation and management practices. The chemical industry, however, faces greater challenges. It is highly fragmented, consisting of many small sectors, which makes implementing uniform energy practices more difficult.

To address this, Utthunga is developing a simplified and accessible energy management approach tailored for the chemical sector, helping them manage energy more effectively with minimal complexity.

It’s important to note that we do not physically shift energy from one place to another. Utthunga’s primary goal is to decarbonize energy systems, which means replacing fossil fuel-based energy with renewable and alternative energy sources. This is essential because, regardless of the form energy takes, the carbon footprint remains unless the source changes.

Energy management should be approached systematically. While many claim to manage energy, in practice, their efforts often stop at basic measures like installing LED bulbs. Our approach goes much deeper — we focus on comprehensive energy conservation across all energy types.

Utthunga’s core strategy begins with an energy audit, which we divide into four distinct phases to ensure thorough and actionable insights.

1. Data Collection: Gathering relevant data about energy use in the plant or facility.

2. Baselining and Benchmarking: Analyzing equipment efficiency, often comparing older assets like 30–40-year-old compressors with current industry standards.

3. Finding Opportunities: Using simulations and scientific methods, we identify where energy can be saved—whether by tweaking processes or optimizing utilities.

4. Implementation Roadmap and ROI Analysis: Building a clear plan showing investments needed, expected savings, and return on investment (ROI), which is crucial for decision-making.

During a visit to a petrochemical plant, Utthunga discovered that the plant was incurring a monthly energy loss of ₹1.78 crore. This revelation served as a major eye-opener for the management.

They promptly reached out to us for support, and we carried out a comprehensive energy audit. One of our key findings was that their largest thermic heater was operating at just 18% of its actual capacity. While the company believed the heater’s efficiency to be 88%, our assessment revealed it was only 55%.

In addition, we noticed that chillers and water monitoring systems were poorly managed, contributing to further inefficiencies.

Over a two-week audit period, Utthunga developed and delivered a solution with a return on investment (ROI) within 12 months. Our intervention included process optimization, such as reducing batch reaction times by 10% to 15%, resulting in significant performance gains.

Utthunga also benchmarked their equipment against industry standards. Some of their machines were decades old, creating a substantial performance gap when compared to modern industry best practices.

Everything Begins with Plant Design

The foundation of sustainability in any industrial setup lies in its plant design. This is where the seeds of long-term efficiency and sustainability are sown. It’s not about building a large facility and then operating it at a reduced scale — rather, designing a plant that is fit-for-purpose is what truly matters.

Design Stage: The Ideal Moment for Sustainability Planning

Maximum sustainability value can be achieved during the design phase. Unfortunately, many companies wait until after construction to conduct an energy or sustainability audit — by then, significant investments have already been made, and the opportunity to embed sustainable practices from the start is lost.

This critical planning falls under basic engineering, which then transitions into detailed engineering and construction. This stage demands maximum attention, as any oversight here can lead to long-term inefficiencies and missed sustainability goals across the plant’s lifecycle.

Operations: The Heart of Sustainability

Once the plant is operational, the operations phase plays a massive role — contributing nearly 60% to 70% of a facility’s overall sustainability. This includes factors such as:

• Energy use
• Waste recovery
• Environmental impact

Operational inefficiencies such as poorly configured control valves, ineffective process logic, unnecessary shutdowns, and frequent startups all add up, negatively affecting both performance and sustainability.

Maintenance: A Key Driver for Sustainable Plant Life

Maintenance practices are equally vital. Today, with the rise of predictive and prescriptive maintenance, we can anticipate equipment failures and arrange necessary logistics in

advance, significantly reducing unplanned downtime and increasing operational efficiency.

The Digital Edge in Sustainable Engineering

With the advent of digitization, the scope and effectiveness of sustainable engineering have grown exponentially. Digital tools and data analytics now enable better decision-making, smarter maintenance strategies, and optimized resource use throughout a plant’s lifecycle.

Dr. Shankar, Co-founder & Director, GyanData Pvt. Ltd.

Process Design Changes Offer the Highest Gains

One of the most impactful ways to improve energy efficiency is through changes in process design. This may involve rerouting pipelines, adding a few heat exchangers, or making other system-level adjustments. While these modifications do require some investment, the payback period is typically between 6 months and 1 year. The energy savings, especially in thermal energy consumption, can be significant — ranging from 10% to 30%.

Shifting Focus: Thermal and Electrical Energy Utilization

Over the past 5 to 10 years, the industry’s focus has expanded beyond just thermal energy to include a more integrated view of both thermal and electrical energy usage. The challenge now is: how can we optimize combined energy consumption within a process?

In chemical processes, approximately 80% of energy consumption is thermal, while the remaining 20% is electrical. This presents an opportunity: if a portion of thermal energy usage can be shifted to electrical energy — in a cost-effective way — we can replicate the energy transition seen in the automotive industry, where internal combustion engines are being replaced by battery-powered electric vehicles.

Partial Shift Toward Electrification

While it’s not feasible to fully shift a chemical process from thermal to electrical energy, a partial transition is possible. If the electrical energy is sourced from renewables, this shift becomes not only technically viable but also sustainable and economical.

Evolving Tools: Modified Pinch Technology

To support this integrated approach, Pinch Technology — traditionally used for optimizing thermal energy — is now being adapted to also consider electrical energy. This evolution allows for more comprehensive energy integration strategies, enabling industries to maximize efficiency across both thermal and electrical domains.

Example:

A power plant boiler where hot flue gas exits containing leftover heat. Instead of wasting it, we transfer this heat to two places: the air used for combustion and the water fed into the steam tubes. You have two choices:

• Heat the air first, then the water, or
• Heat the water first, then the air.

It’s due to thermodynamics—heat transfer depends on temperature differences between streams, not just flow. So, if you heat the water first when the flue gas is hottest, you get more heat recovery. This subtle change in configuration can significantly reduce thermal energy consumption.

This approach is broadly applicable to any plant where heat recovery matters. By reviewing existing heat exchanger setups, plants can often identify simple configuration changes that yield significant energy savings. Tools like pinch technology help formalize this analysis, identifying where savings are possible, estimating costs, and calculating payback times.

Distillation columns separate components with small boiling point differences (e.g., 10–30°C). They require lots of thermal energy supplied at the bottom (reboiler) and cooling at the top. Because of the narrow temperature difference, these columns use a lot of energy.

Example:

In vapor recompression technology, the vapor leaving the top is compressed to raise its temperature, then used to supply heat at the bottom. This heat integration reduces the external heat needed.

Yes, but this is a trade-off—sacrificing some electrical energy to save a larger amount of thermal energy. Given the increasing availability of renewable electricity, this approach improves both cost-effectiveness and sustainability.

Vapor recompression technology is used in over 20 distillation processes involving close boiling mixtures, such as:

• Splitting C2 (ethylene/ethane) and C3 (propylene/propane) streams in refining and petrochemicals
• Methanol-water separation
• Benzene-toluene separation

Using pinch analysis and simulation tools, engineers estimate energy savings, electrical power needs, investment costs (like compressors), and calculate payback periods, often around 6 months, ensuring decisions are financially sound.

These include processes involving low temperatures and high pressures, such as:

• Energy liquefaction
• Air separation
• Liquid air energy storage

These processes can realize significant cost and carbon savings today by integrating electrical technologies.

The industry shouldn’t wait for 100% renewable electricity. It can start by:

• Optimizing thermal systems through pinch analysis
• Selectively shifting from thermal to electrical energy use
• Implementing technologies like vapor recompression

These steps reduce costs, cut emissions, and position companies well for a renewable-powered future.

For a deeper dive, watch the full webinar here

Feel free to share your questions or connect with us on LinkedIn!

Cyberattacks targeting OT environments have surged sharply. Recent data shows that 73% of organizations reported intrusions affecting OT systems in 2024, up from 49% just a year before. What’s more concerning is the rise of AI-enhanced attacks—threats that leverage automation and machine learning to carry out operations faster and on a larger scale. These AI-powered attacks now cut the time needed to deploy sophisticated ransomware from hours down to mere minutes.

Traditional cybersecurity strategies are struggling to keep up, especially given the unique challenges OT environments face—outdated equipment, limited patching options, and the need to avoid operational downtime at all costs. Against this backdrop, AI-driven threat detection has become a crucial pillar of modern OT security.

• Reduced Alert Fatigue: AI filters out false alarms and focuses attention on genuine threats. For example, Siemens Energy reported a 40% drop in false alerts after deploying AI-based detection.

• Faster Threat Detection: In mature environments, AI has cut average breach detection times from over 200 days to under 40, giving teams a crucial time advantage.

• Augmented Human Expertise: Automating routine investigations and triage lets security staff focus on strategic tasks. Some manufacturing clients have seen a 25% reduction in incident management time after introducing AI tools.

Across industries like manufacturing, energy, utilities, and logistics, organizations are quietly but steadily adopting AI-driven OT security solutions. Drawing from both our client work and wider industry observations, here’s how AI is being used effectively to secure OT environments in critical sectors:

• At a major European logistics hub, an AI system correlates data from OT equipment—such as crane controllers and fuel systems—with IT security signals. This enables the security team to significantly reduce investigation times and proactively block credential misuse attempts before they escalate into operational disruptions.

• A large utility provider in the Middle East uses passive network monitoring powered by AI to safeguard legacy SCADA systems that cannot be patched. We’ve supported a similar client in deploying this approach, achieving near real-time threat detection across hundreds of substations while keeping systems online.

• In North America, one manufacturer’s AI-driven analytics flagged an unusual pattern in robotic arm movements—not as a mechanical error, but a possible cyber manipulation. Several of our manufacturing clients have since adopted similar AI capabilities to deepen their visibility and response.

• Organizations operating under European NIS2 and GCC’s NCA and NDMO frameworks are increasingly turning to AI not only to enhance security but also to meet regulatory expectations and lower cyber insurance costs.

But putting AI to work in OT isn’t just about adopting new technology. It’s about knowing where it fits, how it behaves around legacy systems, and what risks actually matter on the plant floor or control room.

That’s where Utthunga’s cybersecurity solutions make a real difference. Working with leading industrial clients, we deliver AI-powered threat detection capabilities built specifically for complex OT environments. From passive monitoring of legacy systems to intelligent threat correlation across IT and OT, our cybersecurity solutions are helping organizations stay a step ahead of threats while keeping operations secure and resilient.