Rockwell helps achieve process automation growth

Rockwell Automation has announced its roadmap for process automation that includes bringing together its end-to-end suite with a new name - Rockwell Automation Plantpax systems and solutions.

'This roadmap represents a culmination of the investments we've made to extend and enhance our process technologies, systems, solutions and services,' said Steve Eisenbrown, senior vice president, automation and software, Rockwell Automation.

'The Plantpax portfolio unifies our core capabilities and technologies with those of our partners, under a common systems and solutions umbrella.' The Plantpax process automation system, a key component of the portfolio, has built strong interest for a range of applications across consumer and resource-based industries.

The Plantpax system further strengthens the company's system engineering environment.

This environment will offer process and batch control users a new library of re-usable control objects with tools to simplify its deployment.

The recently released advanced process control (APC) functions to enhance the performance of slow-response process loops are also included.

A future release will include the ability to populate the Plantpax system with modules from multiple plant design and engineering tools.

Control strategies and accompanying visualisation are configured using modular and re-usable objects, simplifying design, commissioning and maintenance.

The Plantpax system also delivers an evolving alarm platform that allows operators to manage native alerts, as well as those associated with third-party controlled equipment, in accordance with current industry standards.

The system extends the scope of process optimisation to include fuzzy logic, basic and advanced process loop tuning and at the high-end, model predictive control (MPC) suite from the acquisition of Pavilion Technologies.

The MPC suite has added a dimension to the company's process optimisation portfolio, helping manufacturers achieve efficient economic performance from production assets.

The MPC offering from Pavilion Technologies, while an integral element of the Plantpax system, will continue to function as a standalone supervisory application with DCS and PLCs from other suppliers.

Rockwell Automation provides solutions from basic sequencing to the most complex and demanding batch applications.

The Plantpax system uses core batch and sequencing technologies, which over the years have been adopted by other control system suppliers.

The system adheres to ISA-88 standards and presents a scalable batch control capability that includes a controller-based state machine for local sequencing applications to more comprehensive server-based batch control with material tracking and electronic batch records.

Rockwell Automation offers a broad coverage of safety integrity levels (SIL) and fault-tolerance requirements.

ICS Triplex is integrated with the Plantpax system to help deliver the safety solutions worldwide.

As an integral element of the Plantpax system, expansion of the company's asset management suite includes new data delivery capabilities, tools and procedures that track assets and their performance.

Version management of control assets, calibration management of process instrumentation and valuable diagnostics for Hart and process fieldbus devices are included in the offering.

A subsequent release will add enhancements to the company's device configuration philosophy.

The Plantpax system allows plant-wide process data management through its historian capability.

The historian offering - based on the PI System from OSIsoft - is integrated with the Rockwell Automation Factorytalk integrated production and performance software suite.

Further, the new Factorytalk Vantagepoint enterprise manufacturing intelligence and reporting software helps enable aggregation, analysis and display of plant information.

In addition to these key focus areas, Rockwell Automation will demonstrate an update on its alliance with Endress and Hauser in support of pre-tested interoperability between instrumentation and control.

This includes preferred integration documents illustrating the control advantages and diagnostics for asset management provided by the joint solution.

Furthermore, the two companies will work together to reduce project life-cycle costs such as engineering integration, commissioning and startup.

The Plantpax system roadmap was set through close collaboration with the company's process automation customers.

Rockwell Automation maintains a process customer advisory board that cuts across a broad set of industries and provides input that drives product development decisions.

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