Honeywell’s future of plant control
July 2014
IT in Manufacturing
Honeywell Process Solutions has announced the availability of the Experion Orion Console, an advanced display technology that brings the plant control room of the future to the present by meeting the changing needs of the increasingly mobile plant operator.
The console, which builds on Honeywell’s flagship Experion PKS control platform, features an improved ergonomic design and better displays to simplify control system management, reduce operator fatigue and improve situational awareness.
The Experion Orion Console’s design was based on operator input gleaned from numerous visits to plant control rooms around the world and across industries, in both newer and older plants. The design and capabilities are the result of behaviour observations, as well as insights collected in multiple phases at plants, including process start-ups and during periods of abnormal operations.
“The state of plant control today is like putting operators on a sleepless, 12 hour flight in economy class seating and then asking them to make a critical decision that impacts their company’s production and employee safety,” says Jason Urso, chief technology officer, Honeywell Process Solutions. “Operators need more than just process data to make a decision like that; they need an environment that helps keep them alert, allows them to move about more freely and presents information more intuitively. The Experion Orion Console was designed with all of those factors in mind.”
The console’s features include a flexible, ultra-high definition overview and detailed touchscreen displays that provide clear status assessments of process operations in a single glance for better and more-informed management. This flexibility also enables operators to customise these displays for context-specific process issues, and incorporates advanced alarm management and pan and zoom capabilities. This enables operators to respond to changing conditions and prevent situations that could lead to plant incidents and emergencies.
Aside from the actual information, however, the improved display also reduces operator fatigue by allowing personnel to move about the control room more freely than before. When paired with wireless-enabled mobile technologies, the system also allows operators to view the same displays on hand-held devices in other areas of the plant.
“Plants must be designed and built according to a company’s specific production needs, but the control rooms themselves should be built around the operators’ needs,” explains Urso. “If you meet the operators’ needs, they can manage the plant more effectively and at optimum levels, which ultimately impacts plant safety, reliability and efficiency more than anything else.”
For more information contact Boni Magudulela, Honeywell Southern Africa, +27 (0)11 695 8000, [email protected], www.honeywell.com
Further reading:
Unlocking mining efficiency with advanced processing control
IT in Manufacturing
ABB’s Advanced Process Control system, powered by its Expert Optimizer platform, is emerging as a key enabler of smarter, more efficient mining operations.
Read more...
Open control technology reduces energy consumption and carbon footprint.
Beckhoff Automation
IT in Manufacturing
The Swedish company Airwatergreen AB is breaking new ground in the dehumidification of air in industrial buildings and warehouses. PC-based control from Beckhoff regulates the innovative process.
Read more...
Harnessing AI and satellite imagery to estimate water levels in dams
IT in Manufacturing
Farmers and water managers often struggle to accurately estimate and monitor the available water in dams. To address the challenge, International Water Management Institute researchers have worked with Digital Earth Africa to create an innovation that uses satellite images and AI to get timely and accurate dam volume measurements.
Read more...
Why industry should enter the world of operator training simulators
Schneider Electric South Africa
IT in Manufacturing
System-agnostic operator training simulator (OTS) software is a somewhat unsung hero of industry that trains plant operators in a virtual world that mirrors real-world operations. The benefits are multiple.
Read more...
Track busway for scalable data centre power delivery
IT in Manufacturing
The latest generation Legrand Data Centre Track Busway technology addresses the operational pressures facing today’s high-density, AI-intensive computing environments and is being well received by data centre facilities around the world.
Read more...
Poor heat management in data centre design
IT in Manufacturing
Designing a world-class data centre goes beyond simply keeping servers on during load shedding; it is about ensuring they run efficiently, reliably, and within the precise environmental conditions they were built and designed for.
Read more...
It’s time to fight AI with AI in the battle for cyber resilience
IT in Manufacturing
Cybercrime is evolving rapidly, and the nature of cyber threats has shifted dramatically. Attacks are now increasingly powered by AI, accelerating their speed, scale and sophistication. Cybersecurity needs to become part of business-critical strategy, powered by AI to match attackers’ speed with smarter, faster and more adaptive defences.
Read more...
Why AI sustainability must be a boardroom priority
IT in Manufacturing
As South African companies race to harness artificial intelligence for innovation and growth, few are asking the most critical question - the environmental cost.
Read more...
RS South Africa shines spotlight on MRO procurement
RS South Africa
IT in Manufacturing
RS South Africa has highlighted the growing pressures faced by procurement professionals responsible for maintenance, repair and operations supplies across the country’s vital economic sectors.
Read more...
Sustainable energy management
Siemens South Africa
IT in Manufacturing
Utilising its innovative ONE approach technology, Siemens provides complete transparency on resource consumption and offers data-driven optimisation recommendations for sustainable energy management.
Read more...
printer friendly version