Articles and News

"Design Patterns for Flexible Manufacturing," by Dennis Brandl, documents effective rules that should be used when applying the ISA-88 standard to both batch manufacturing (called the S88 design pattern) and continuous and discrete manufacturing problems (called the NS88 design pattern for non-stop production).

Organon, one of the largest manufacturers of Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (APIs) worldwide, has installed PAS-X MES software in their new API-powder processing production facility in Oss, The Netherlands. Organon uses PAS-X for recipe management, weighing and dispensing, shop floor management, electronic batch recording, and warehouse management.

Invensys will supply a mesh network-based Foxboro I/A Series distributed control system (DCS) to Plasco Energy Group for use in Plasco's Plasma Gasification Process (PGP). The DCS will provide process and facility control in the Plasco PGP, a non-incineration thermal decomposition process, which breaks down municipal solid waste (MSW) into simple components such as hydrogen, nitrogen, and carbon monoxide.

The Distributed Control System (DCS) market experienced the strongest growth in a decade between 2004 and 2005, increasing at a rate of close to 9%. This strong growth is expected to continue through 2010, with the global market increasing at an average annual rate of almost 7%, according to the new ARC Advisory Group study, “Distributed Control System (DCS) Worldwide Outlook”

A three-step migration program from Rockwell Automation helps manufacturers replace aging DCS systems with the Logix Control Platform. Phase one involves replacing legacy HMI consoles with FactoryTalk; in phase two, the legacy process controllers are replaced with Logix controllers; phase three involves removing the legacy I/O infrastructure and replacing it with the Logix 1756-based I/O platform.

Honeywell has been awarded a $2.5 million contract from TonenGeneral Sekiyu to oversee the Wakayama Control House Consolidation Project – which will combine the oil refinery’s existing process control operations into one central location. Honeywell will also monitor three other subcontractors performing DCS relocation, civil, structural, electrical and instrumentation work.

The Magni Group, a manufacturer of protective coating systems for metal products, has chosen the DEACOM Integrated Accounting and Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) Software System to standardize all business processes, including quality control, batch formulation, and production scheduling.

Invensys will upgrade existing Foxboro distributed control systems (DCSes) at Saudi Aramco's Shedgum and 'Uthmaniyah Gas Plants to the latest Mesh Control Network technology. Invensys Middle East will provide all engineering, procurement (hardware and software), and site services for the DCS upgrade project.

Invensys will provide Foxboro distributed control systems (DCSes) and Triconex safety systems and fire & gas systems for the Yemen LNG Company Ltd. plant being built at Balhaf, on Yemen's south coast. The new $2+ billion grassroots plant is the first LNG plant in Yemen, and the Foxboro implementation will be the first major DCS in Yemen.

ABB's 800xA Extended Automation system will provide control and monitoring of tanks and reactors, batch control plus control functions for automatic valves, stirrers and analog measurement signals for the process. The systems also include functions for the assembling and handling process, operational data management with functions for reporting and archiving.

Ciba Specialty Chemicals chose GE Fanuc's Proficy™ Plant Applications Batch Execution software, running on a Proficy HMI/SCADA - iFIX® platform, for two main pigment manufacturing processes at its Paisley, Scotland plant. Key factors in the decision were the recipe consistency, the flexibility and the ease-of-use offered by the software, part of the Proficy Production Management solution suite.

Thiele Technologies, a manufacturer of high-speed packaging equipment in Minneapolis, announced an agreement to acquire certain assets and the business of Streamfeeder, LLC of Minneapolis. Streamfeeder manufacturers material handling and packaging solutions for printing, converting and warehousing, including feeders, batch counters, accumulators, collators, bulk loaders, wrapping units and integrated systems.

Rockwell Automation is showcasing their overall system capabilities including batch tools, safety systems, advanced process control capabilities and migration solutions for legacy PLCs and DCS systems. In addition, Rockwell Automation is discussing its partnership with Endress+Hauser, one of the world’s leading suppliers of process instruments, and unveiling migration plans for legacy DCS systems.

Invensys Process Systems has been awarded a project by Petrofac Facilities Management to enable migration of the aging Emerson Fisher Provox system on the Kittiwake production platform in the central North Sea to a new Foxboro I/A Series process control system. This is the second process control project awarded to Invensys by Petrofac in recent years.

Taiwan Power Company (Taipower) will implement I/A Series distributed control systems (DCS) from Foxboro for a hydro power generation and pumped storage automation upgrade project. Located at the 1,088-megawatt Takuan Hydro Power Station in Nantau County in central Taiwan, the new implementation will utilize the Foxboro high-speed mesh control network backbone to maximize system availability and reliability.

Keynote speakers for the 2006 European conference at the Elewijt Center in Mechelen, Belgium on 13-15 November include Martin Zeller, who will deliver a detailed evaluation of batch data analysis on Tuesday, 14 November; and Lou Pillai and Dennis Brandl, who will address information model framework for manufacturing science on Wednesday, 15 November.

PlantData Technologies announced it has completed more than 50 SCADA, EMS, and DCS Security assessments in the past five years. A division of Verano, Inc., the leading provider of security and SCADA solutions for mission-critical industries, PlantData continues its commitment to serving energy, utility, transmission and distribution, transportation and other critical infrastructure industries.

ISA's SP88 Batch Control standards development committee has formed a working group to update the first two standards in the widely used ISA-88 series. The update project will focus primarily on ANSI/ISA-88.01, Batch Control Part 1: Models and Terminology, but will also consider revisions to ANSI/ISA88.00.02, Batch Control Part 2: Data Structures and Guidelines for Languages.

Through this global alliance, Siemens has earned the distinction of being the only DuPont process control supplier selected in all three categories: distributed control systems (DCS), programmable logic controllers (PLC) and PLC based process control systems. Additionally, the alliance expands DuPont's acceptance of Siemens SIMATIC PCS 7 and other process control products.