ABB supplies $2 million control system to Australian Vinyls

Australian Vinyls selects System 800xA Extended Automation for their control system upgrade at the PVC resins plant in Laverton, Victoria.

Melbourne, Australia, February 26, 2007 – ABB, the leading power and automation technology group, today announced that it has won a $2 million (USD) order to upgrade the Control System at Australian Vinyls PVC resins plant located in Laverton, Victoria.

The project will evolve the existing control systems to ABB's IndustrialIT System 800xA with Batch Manager and MOD AC460 controllers. The ABB project team will be based at Notting Hill, Victoria and will commence detailed design engineering at the beginning of 2007. Installation and commissioning is scheduled to be underway by January 2008.

"This is a very satisfying and a significant win for us, as it was secured against extremely strong competition. In a head to head battle, ABB was able to demonstrate superior functionality with the industry leading System 800xA." said Michael Vandertuin, ABB Sales Manager, Southern Region, ABB Australia.

"ABB and several others were invited to present their solutions and capabilities. We selected the ABB System because of its ability to evolve rather than replace the existing system." said Nigel Cann, General Manager, Australian Vinyls.

Vandertuin adds: "We spent a lot of time developing a full understanding of Australian Vinyls production requirements and their overall business goals. We set ourselves the task of developing and presenting a complete upgrade solution that will give them the expansion capacity that they require, along with a totally integrated object based HMI utilizing the existing controller configuration - this means use what you have, to get what you want."

Australian Vinyls' evaluation process included visits to several ABB customer sites around the globe. These site visits demonstrated that ABB had many industry leading features, with a proven track record in achieving the required results.

ABB's System 800xA provides customers with a better way to achieve measurable productivity and profitability improvements. It extends the scope of traditional control systems to include all automation functions in a single operations and engineering environment so that plants can run smarter and better at substantial cost savings.

Since its introduction in January 2004, ABB has sold System 800xA Extended Automation to more than 2,580 customers in a wide variety of process industries all over the globe. Customers in a diverse range of industries have used System 800xA to extend their automation system reach and capability to make their operations more efficient and profitable.

About Australian Vinyls Corporation
Australian Vinyls Corporation Limited is Australia's only local manufacturer and supplier of vinyl (PVC) resin. It manufactures a range of PVC resin grades at its plant in Laverton, Victoria, which has a plant capacity of about 130,000 tonnes of PVC resin annually. The resin business supplies to a wide range of product applications including water, drainage and irrigation pipe, electric cable insulation, rigid and film packaging, garden hose, clothing and footwear, automotive components, floor coverings and furniture.

ABB is a leader in power and automation technologies that enable utility and industry customers to improve their performance while lowering environmental impact. The ABB Group of companies operates in around 100 countries and employs about 108,000 people.