Articles and News

While 2009 and 2010 look to be challenging years, the opportunity to drive growth in services remains substantial and will continue to drive growth in the overall DCS market well into the next decade.

The initial batch of 16 National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)-recognized interoperability standards will help ensure that software and hardware components from different vendors will work together.

Invensys Process Systems integrated Pepperl+Fuchs intrinsically safe I/O interface product lines with I/A Series DCSes.

PlantPAx process automation system manages more than 100 batch and continuous process phases. System includes HMI software, instrumentation and wireless equipment.

Shire Human Genetic Therapies will use Experion Process Knowledge System (PKS), Experion Batch Manager, wireless network and Uniformance Process Historian Database.

By Carl Hosier, Honeywell Process Solutions Many manufacturing facilities have taken to integrating plant subsystems with their DCS to maximize productivity and improve overall efficiency. Applying this same concept to power generation could help electricity and steam generators streamline production in a way that makes sense to both their pocketbooks and the regulators.

IPS will upgrade control processors, gateways, local area networks and network security with its Foxboro I/A Series distributed control system Version 8, including mesh architecture.

The DCS market in Latin America will grow at an annual rate of close to 10% through 2012, reaching a total size of almost $1.5 billion.

Managed by the United States Department of Energy (DOE), the PDCF facility will convert weapons grade plutonium and uranium into fuel rods to be used for electrical power generation.

ARC expects there to be continued growth in the India DCS market through 2012, with overall growth of just under 15.2%.

IPS will provide distributed control systems (DCS) and automation solutions to power plants located in Banten, Jawa Barat, Jawa Tengah and Jawa Timur.

Siemens will supply a DCS in a project to improve the processes used to convert non-food-based biofuel feedstocks into liquid bio-fuel intermediates.

IPS will upgrade the site from an existing Metso DCS Max1+ to Foxboro I/A Series, InFusion control system, Fieldbus Foundation, four operator stations, Historian and a Hart station.

Honeywell will expand the plant’s existing DCS, add a UniSim operator training simulator, and improve plant security.

ARC reports that the total worldwide market for DCS remained strong in 2007 despite global economic uncertainty, increasing by almost by 13% between 2006 and 2007, with total revenues of $15 billion.

Invensys will supply $20 million worth of InFusion, I/A Series DCS, instrumentation, batch management software, and APC software to Kraton, a producer of styrenic block copolymers.

The market for process manufacturing and automation remains strong. Nowhere is this more evident than the global DCS market, which grew by almost 13% between 2006 and 2007.

The project involved an on-line evolution from a 1988 control system to an 800xA DCS while maintaining the plant's existing process control philosophy.

The wizard builder creates connection wizards for communication between process controllers (DCSes and PLCs) and PC based software.

The South African DCS market earned revenues of USD 121.4 million in 2006 and F&S estimates this to reach USD 292.4 million in 2013.