Letter of Transmittal

Singaporean industrial sectors, like the industrial sectors of any other country require uninterrupted flow and distribution of electricity, but such requirement has put pressure on the overall industrial electricity consumption of the country, often triggering the risk of energy depletion and rise in the cost of maintenance of power distribution on the part of majority of Singapore’s industries in different sectors. Any disturbance in continuous flow of electricity can cause down-run of vital processes and operations within any industry and this can entail huge expenditure and loss. Hence, there is a need of investing more in the process of intelligent management of electrical systems in Singaporean industries, facilitating cost reduction for the companies effectively.

Abstract

Over the past decade, Singapore has witnesses exponential growth in the industrial sectors. This has not only contributed largely to the economic growth of the country, drawing the attention of domestic and foreign investors alike, but has also affected the overall energy consumption of the industrial zones of the country (Energy Market Authority, 2021; Raman and Peng, 2021). To sustain their growth and development, industrial plants have continued to exert pressure on the processes of advanced automation but such pressure has remained mostly focused on components and aspects other than on the process of enhancing the processes of automating effective distribution of electricity through creation of effective electricity distribution networks. Singaporean industrial sectors, like the industrial sectors of any other country require uninterrupted flow and distribution of electricity, but such requirement has put pressure on the overall industrial electricity consumption of the country, often triggering the risk of energy depletion and rise in the cost of maintenance of power distribution on the part of majority of Singapore’s industries in different sectors. Any disturbance in continuous flow of electricity can cause down-run of vital processes and operations within any industry and this can entail huge expenditure and loss.

Hence, there is a need of investing more in the process of intelligent management of electrical systems in Singaporean industries, facilitating cost reduction for the companies effectively(Sun and Anwar, 2015). Hence, considering the need of conducting research in the field of intelligent management of electrical systems in industries through establishing effective and advanced automated electrical distribution processes for reducing the cost and expenditure for companies operating in Singapore, the research focuses on gathering more evidence to support the claim that intelligent management of electrical systems in industries is actually a cost reduction strategy for companies.

Justification for the Research

Even though research studies in the past have focused on the aspects of automating different business processes and operations to improve the financial conditions and productivity of different companies in different sectors globally, the number of research studies, focusing on the need of intelligent management of electrical systems and electricity distribution through advanced automation across industries for the purpose of reducing the cost of energy and the overall expenditure of the companies, has not been substantial (Rama, 2020). Even though past efforts in the field of electrical and electronic engineering to highlight the necessity to enhance process automations across industries, there is a gap of knowledge on the need of intelligent management of electrical systems and distribution through automation across industries to ensure energy sustainability and reduction in the costs incurred by ineffective electricity distribution management and electricity supply disruptions. Hence, more research has to be conducted in the concerned area to address two specific problems, namely, helping Singaporean companies overcome the challenges of power disruption causing down-run (resulting in incurrence of loss and increase in the cost of production) and helping the overall industrial sector of Singapore to emerge as more energy efficient and profitable sector that has the potential to perform businesses sustainably without contributing more to energy depletion exhaustively(Cirrincione et al., 2009). In summary there is a better need of understanding how intelligent management of electrical distribution systems across industries in Singapore can eventually make it easier for companies to reduce their cost of energy consumption and distribution, thereby increasing their profitability through prevention of down-run caused by electricity supply disruption. Moreover, there is a need of better understanding how intelligent management of electrical systems and distribution in industries can impact positively on the energy ecology of the country. More specifically, the following research questions need to be addressed:

• How implementing an intelligent management of electrical systems and distributions in industries can help companies reduce costs in different contexts?
• How intelligent management and distribution of electricity through enhanced automation can help Singaporean companies to alleviate their negative impact on the overall energy ecology of the country?

Research Objectives

The long-term goal of the research is to contribute to the proliferation of knowledge on how intelligent management of electrical systems through enhanced automation in electricity distribution across the industry can help companies in reducing their cost of production and energy consumption(De Paola et al., 2014). The primary and related objectives of the research are:

• To gather evidence on how intelligent management of electrical systems and distribution through enhanced automation can emerge as a cost reduction strategy for companies in Singaporean industries.
• To analyse how intelligent management of electrical systems can help companies to overcome challenges of ineffective and unequal electricity distribution and resulting cost incurrence.
• To gather evidence and analyse how establishment of advanced automation processes for facilitating intelligent management of electrical systems in industries can eventually help companies alleviate the degree of their negative impact on the energy ecology of the country, thereby making it possible for the companies to become more environmentally sustainable(Abokyi, Appiah-Konadu, Sikayena and Oteng-Abayie, 2018).

Preliminary Literature Review

A preliminary review has shown that past studies have remained more focused on ascertaining the significance and importance of implementing processes of automation for leveraging operations and processes of companies related to communication, information technology, and production, but the number of past studies focusing on intelligent management of electrical systems and distribution of electricity through enhanced automation has not been substantially great. But the preliminary review of literature has found that in the past some specific studies have emphasised the importance of intelligent management of electrical systems to leverage the production capacities and cost-reduction abilities of companies (Yang et al., 2021). In this respect, Cirrincione et al. (2009) have pointed out that even though energy management is a complicated process, especially in the context of industrial management, it is imperative for companies to remain sustainable and prevent increase in the cost of energy consumption through choosing among a set of sources capable of intelligently managing electricity consumption and distribution for setting loads effectively, minimising losses and costs. The researchers have pointed out that enhanced automation of electricity distribution systems through intelligent management of electrical systems in industry can enhance the efficiency of companies to manage the heterogenous sources and loads of electricity triggered by reaction of the system in real-time to avoid power outage – a disruption that can cost dearly to any company, incurring more expenditure in the production process (Cirrincione et al., 2009). De Paola et al. (2014) have also pointed out that reduction in energy consumption through intelligent management of electrical systems can provide economic advantages and long-term environmental sustainability. The researchers have postulated that improving and enhancing the architectural components of electricity distribution through intelligent innovation implementation like establishing advanced sensory infrastructure, data processing, energy-saving enactment engine, enhanced user interaction and interface subsystems, and planned modification of the energy consumption environment can all contribute to the intelligent management of electrical systems and electricity distribution in industries that ensure cost-reduction and environmental sustainability (De Paola et al., 2014).

Methodology

The research will implement a qualitative research design, entailing the systematic literature review methodology for data collection and analysis. The research will identify, select, and critically appraised past and current research studies to answer the clearly formulated research questions for obtaining evidence to support the postulation that implementation of an intelligent management of electrical systems and distributions in Singaporean industries can help companies in reducing costs and to alleviate the negative impacts of company operations on the overall energy ecology of the country (Dewey and Drahota, 2016; Tranfield, Denyer and Smart, 2003). The criteria of inclusion and exclusion of research studies and other credible sources will be clearly defined before embarking on the process of data obtainment and data analysis (Gough, Oliver and Thomas, 2012; Munn et al., 2018). In this respect, the systematic review will only include scholarly and credible sources that are more than 15 years old for ensuring the currency of discussion and topic exploration. The systematic review of literature as the research and data collection and analysis methodology will be used in a way that ensures transparency, clarity, integration, focus, equality, accessibility, and coverage, making the research outcomes replicable and informative in the context of informing future practices (Pittway, 2008).

Recommendation

It is recommended that to intelligently manage the electrical systems for ensuring intelligence and enhanced automated distribution of electricity in industries strong control techniques should be developed and implemented. In this respect, Dounis (2019) has pointed out that as energy systems like electrical systems (meant for effective distribution of electricity in industries) are complex and multi-layered, there is a need for integrating the heterogenous entities, including energy sources, energy storage, micro-grids, grid networks, etc., for enhancing the electricity distribution system in a way that prevents disruptions like power outage that have the potential to increase the cost of production for companies, thereby, increasing the overall cost of business operations. Dounis (2019) and Hu (2021) have proposed that intelligent management of electrical systems and distribution processes should be established in such a way that entails different class of control techniques that have the capacity to effectively integrate and implement artificial intelligence techniques and neural network control, apart from integrating Bayesian control, fuzzy logic control, evolutionary computation, machine learning, etc., for ensuring intelligent management of energy flow and distribution, making sure that the overall intelligent management of the electrical systems is a potential means for alleviating the overall cost of production and energy consumption for the company.