An artificial intelligence chatbot, robotic process automation bots, acoustic leak detection, and learning through gamification and virtual reality—all that and more was on display as Southern Company Gas employees came together to share ideas, see exhibits of new technologies and witness innovation in action.
Fueling the Future of Innovation Day was a companywide event sponsored by Southern Company Gas’ Fueling the Future of Innovation Council. Held at offices in Georgia, Illinois and Virginia, Innovation Day supports the FFIC’s objective of fostering a culture of innovation throughout Southern Company Gas by empowering employees to redefine what it means to be innovative.
The council evolved from the Southern Company Gas Innovation Council, an internal group developed in August 2019 to support a culture of innovation and enable the utility to stay coordinated and strategic in its innovation efforts.
Innovation Day is one of the council’s major objectives. Response to the inaugural event was overwhelmingly positive, with hundreds of employees attending at its three locations. It will now be an ongoing event, said Emeka Igwilo, Southern Company Gas vice president of operations support and chief data officer.
“Innovation is key to how we continue to deliver clean, safe, reliable and affordable natural gas to our customers in four states,” Igwilo told American Gas. “Since we focused our efforts to encourage more innovative ideas and thoughts from employees, Southern Company Gas has demonstrated efforts to operationalize the use of different types of artificial intelligence in areas such as cross bore inspection. We are proud to include these innovations, as it demonstrates Southern Company Gas’ leadership in this technology within our industry.” —Eric Johnson
