Wickliffe, OH, June 27, 2005 - Since its introduction in January 2004,ABB has sold IndustrialIT System 800xA to more than 1,000 customers in awide variety of process industries all over the globe. "System 800xA has had tremendous acceptance worldwide since itsintroduction last year," said Bob Hausler, vice president Industrial ITSystems marketing, ABB Inc. "Customers in a diverse range of industrieshave used System 800xA to extend their automation system reach andcapability to make their operations more efficient and profitable. Ithelps customers solve their most important productivity challenges byproviding them with system scope and functionality that is unprecedented inthis industry."
System 800xA provides new and existing ABB customers with a betterway to achieve measurable productivity and profitability improvements. Itextends the scope of traditional control systems to include all automationfunctions in a single operations and engineering environment so thatplants/mills can run smarter and better at substantial cost savings. Customers such as Georgia Pacific, Bechtel National Inc., PEMEX,Boise Paper, LKAB Group, Glaxo SmithKline, Olin Corp., Tussa Hydro Power,RNS-NIS Oil Refinery (Serbia), Collahuasi (Chile), Stora Enso (Portugal),and many others are among those adopting System 800xA to achieveproductivity improvements.
"System 800xA continues to gain traction in the marketplace, bothwith new customers and with ABB's installed base," said Larry O'Brien,Research Director for Process Industries, ARC. "It delivers advancedfunctionality and a high level of integration that address the primarydrivers behind today's automation implementations: increased productivityand yield, reduced lifecycle costs, safeguarding investments, andenvironmental and safety management." Many ABB customers have added System 800xA functionality to theirexisting ABB systems. With System 800xA, customers have the ability toextend the automation reach of their present system to enjoy new levels ofproductivity.
It provides the flexibility to implement the functions thesecustomers require today and the agility to add others as needs evolve,while utilizing their existing automation system as a foundation forcontinuous productivity improvement.
Customers from a wide variety ofindustries have extended their current ABB system to include System 800xAcore functional areas such as Asset Optimization, Production Management,Safety, Information Management, Control, Operations, Engineering and othersto get the productivity results they need now, with the ability to continueto evolve their systems at a pace that suits their long-term needs.Here are a few examples of recent System 800xA projects: Earlier this year, ABB won a $27 million order from LKAB Group ofSweden to supply automation and electrical equipment for the expansion ofits iron ore pellet production facilities. ABB will supply complete electrification systems and Industrial ITExtended Automation System 800xA to the new production facilities, as wellas the switchgear expansion.
In addition, ABB will modernize processcontrol systems for the existing concentrator, where ore is separated intovaluable iron concentrates and rejected material, or tailings. LKAB, the only iron ore exporter within the European Union, decidedin late 2004 to invest in a new pelletizing plant, concentrator expansionand rail loading and unloading station near its mine at Malmberget innorthern Sweden. The company selected ABB to equip the new plant and toexpand the site's existing 145kV switchgear capabilities. System 800xA with AC 800M HI High Integrity controllers was chosenfor integrated process control and safety for the Shah Deniz field, a majorgas project that is part of the massive Caspian Sea pipeline development.The field includes an offshore platform, onshore terminal and pipeline.
TheShah Deniz condensate field lies in the Caspian Sea, about 100km south ofBaku in water depths ranging from 50m to 500m; from there a pipeline isbeing constructed to supply gas to Turkey. ABB is supplying, installing and commissioning an integrated processcontrol and safety system for the new onshore gas terminal and offshoreplatform and the associated South Caucasus Pipeline (SCP). The integratedsafety system consists of a fire and gas sub-system covering process andnon-process areas and a separate emergency shutdown sub-system for theprocess area. This will provide process control, emergency shutdown andfire and gas protection across all platforms.
A key advantage of the overall system design is that the operator inthe common control room can see any information relating to either theoffshore platform or onshore terminal. For this to be successful, everypart of the installation needs to be consistent. This has been achieved bywriting common functional design specifications for process control, fireand gas, shutdown, graphics, operator interfaces and type circuits with astandard hardware build. System 800xA High Integrity, with its unique "samebut separate" architecture, makes this consistency and integrationpossible. ABB was recently awarded a project to provide the automation andinstrumentation suite for RNS-NIS Refinery in Novi Sad, Serbia.
This is thefirst automation system in Serbia to use Profibus and the first System800xA Extended Automation implementation in the country. ABB worked closelywith the client to understand all the project requirements and won thecontract in a competitive bid. ABB was chosen because of it comprehensivescope of supply and ability to deliver the solutions, support and servicesneeded for this project. The composite solution for the refinery includes System 800xAExtended Automation with AC 800M controllers; Profibus for process controlcommunication and HART for other control and I/O communications; as well asfield instrumentation including pressure and temperature transmitters, massflow meters, level transmitters, control valves and process analyzers.
System 800xA extends the scope of traditional control systems toinclude all automation functions in a single operations and engineeringenvironment so that plants/mills can run smarter and better at substantialcost savings. Its reach extends well beyond the realm of essential processcontrol to production management, safety, smart instrumentation, smartdrives and motor control, information management, asset optimization,simulation and documentation. System 800xA's unique engineeringenvironment manages one set of consistent data, for single-point entry,single-point change, and re-use across the plant. System 800xA ExtendedAutomation has been chosen by Control Engineering magazine to receive anEditors' Choice Award as one of the best products introduced in 2004.
Industrial IT System 800xA is part of ABB's award winning suite ofintegrated Industrial IT solutions; these solutions address the challengesthat automation customers face in today's global marketplace. ABB'scomprehensive Industrial IT portfolio of products is focused on deliveringproductivity and profits to automation customers. ABB's product strategy isfor evolution through enhancement to protect customer investment.
ABB ( www.abb.com ) is a leader in power and automation technologiesthat enable utility and industry customers to improve performance whilelowering environmental impact. The ABB Group of companies operates inaround 100 countries and employs about 102,000 people.