- May 21, 2007
- Schneider Electric
LAKE FOREST, CALIFORNIA, USA - May 21, 2007 - The SimSci-Esscor unit of Invensys Process Systems has introduced a new engineering tool that brings the power of advanced plant and process simulation and modeling to desktops everywhere without programming. The new SIM4ME Portal constructs a simple, bidirectional communication link between the steady-state simulator, SimSci-Esscor PRO/II, and Microsoft Excel. The SIM4ME Portal enables developers to create a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet that is PRO/IIR aware, allowing users to execute a PRO/II simulation from within an Excel application. Application developers simply drag desired variables from a Windows-style menu, and drop them onto an Excel spreadsheet. The variables are color coded to allow easy identification of the status of the variables."Simulation is one of the most effective and efficient tools in engineering, but to the novice simulation user, the amount of work required to be able to benefit from an accurate and rigorous model can be overwhelming. The new SIM4ME Portal changes all that. Now individuals with no specialized simulation training or experience can capitalize on an existing simulation model and interact with that model from an Excel interface created by an expert user. The SIM4ME Portal effectively extends the use of simulation software to anyone that can use Excel." said Tobias Scheele, Vice President and General Manager of the SimSci-Esscor unit of Invensys Process Systems."SIM4ME Portal has an excellent potential to highlight and manipulate key input and output design parameters, saving time for our process engineers," said a portal user from ABB Lummus Global, a major international engineering company and one of the first companies to implement the product.This easy to use, easy to access tool maximizes return on investment in process models created by simulation experts by extending use of those simulations to an entirely new set of users. The following examples, based on customer-tested applications, illustrate how companies can take advantage of this new functionality:
"What-if" scenarios: R&D specialists, for example, can run "what-if" cases to evaluate changing feed or process conditions Asset management: Maintenance personnel can use simulations to analyze equipment operations and predict future performance, for example, monitoring equipment health to prioritize and schedule maintenance Operations analysis: Operators and engineers can evaluate process alternatives to resolve problems; optimize performance, or evaluate environmental impact of operating changes Custom calculations: Engineers can calculate line or equipment sizing and costing based on a very accurate projection of the actual operationThe SIM4ME Portal is designed as a module so that all SimSci-Esscor simulation and modeling products will be able to communicate with Microsoft Excel. SIM4ME Portal integration with SimSci-Esscor PRO/II 8.1 software is available immediately, with integration to PIPEPHASE multiphase fluid flow simulation software targeted for the end of this year. "The SIM4ME Portal has a clear development path to integrate more of SimSci-Esscor's simulation software products in addition to enhancing the product's base functionality. I believe that the SIM4ME Portal has unlimited potential and will truly enhance our users' experience with our simulation software products." added Joseph McMullen, the SIM4ME Portal Product Manager at Invensys.The SIM4ME Portal promotes cost-effective engineering by preserving and leveraging plant model equity and facilitating improved inter-program communications. The SIM4ME Portal's bi-directional data communication capabilities with Excel make it additionally valuable because it simplifies communications with other in-house and third-party software applications that can be integrated into complex modeling simulation and optimization applications.About InvensysInvensys is the world leader in industrial asset performance management, a strategy designed to help today's industrial enterprises to effectively balance the availability and utilization of their production assets to match changing business requirements. In addition to its rapidly expanding Global Solutions and Performance Management services groups, Invensys' automation businesses includes industry-leading brands such as Foxboro, Triconex, SimSci-Esscor, Wonderware, and Avantis, whose products are installed in more than 100,000 plants across the world. These range from small hybrid and batch plants to the world's largest upstream projects, refineries, gas plants, petrochemicals plants, power plants, and pulp and paper mills.
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