Product category:
Asset Management and maintenance planning
News Release from: SPECIAL REPORT by the Editor | Subject: 7 July 05
Edited by the Processingtalk Editorial
Team on 07 July 2005
Fieldbus and its benefits
The conclusions of the ARC study are worth reviewing: "The value proposition of fieldbus has changed from the initial perceptions of the marketplace...."
Continuing the theme of last week, Fieldbus and its benefits, it is worth re-reading the ARC study (http://www.processingtalk.com/news/ajw/ajw104.html) "The value proposition of fieldbus has changed from the initial perceptions of the marketplace Benefits such as reduced wiring and installation costs are apparent, but often mask the long-term benefits of fieldbus and device networks
This article was originally published on Processingtalk on 3 Aug 2004 at 8.00am (UK)
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According to ARC research, the greatest benefits of fieldbus and device networks are realised in the areas of maintenance and operations, long after a plant has been commissioned.
In other words, fieldbus itself is often not the cost-saver, but merely an enabler to a new level of asset management effectiveness that can significantly reduce operating costs and help manufacturers achieve operational excellence.
Many of the benefits of fieldbus are still being discovered as users gain more experience with these technologies in real world plant settings.
Further reading
Read-out Forum at IRCHEM in Cork
Andrew Bond, Editor of the Industrial Automation Insider, recently chaired the Read-out Forum at IRCHEM in Cork: his summary of the event is entitled: "Vendors circle the wagons as users turn nasty"
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Earlier this year Pro-Talk held two seminars helping explain to industrial companies how to develop their internet presence, aimed at marketing managers from industrial and scientific manufacturers
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In typical process industries such as oil and gas or bulk chemicals, fieldbuses can contribute significantly to the achievement of operational excellence by enabling the sharing of critical information about the condition of devices.
A fieldbus simplifies the gathering of data for Plant Asset Management (PAM) systems that watch over devices, tracking their 'health', and even detecting problems before they occur - a process known as predictive or proactive maintenance".
The article from Siemens in our Top Ten this week expands on this, but highlights the problem still faced: "Part of the problem lies within the solution.
Many fieldbus devices are complex systems within their own right and as such come with a wide array of parameters and operational/fault data.
This data can in some cases run into the hundreds of data points, which is an intimidating array".
And then continues: "Once the foundations are laid and the learning process begins, early benefits can be obtained.
Simple operational data will become as key to the maintenance strategy as the fault data.
Number of strokes of an actuator, energy consumption, battery capacity, remote device calibration and testing, simulation, not to mention the importance of greater access to packaged plant devices".
Just as plants have enabled engineering access to the HART information by adding a multiplexer, and an Engineering PC alongside the 'dumb' DCS control system, to interrogate this source of plant condition data, we now have separate Fieldbus interrogation systems added in retrospect, whatever the plant control system.
This applies to Profibus and Foundation Fieldbus equally, with in some cases Fieldbus areas of control being interfaced with non Fieldbus-based control systems as well (http://www.processingtalk.com/news/eme/eme171.html).
If this is the true area where plant benefits are to be achieved with Fieldbus, the 'Fieldbus wars' between the systems now emerging will be decided by who can provide the simplest presentation of total plant monitoring data - or maybe by the system choice of a subcontract service activity that monitors the data remotely.
Tui Industries took the next step, as reported last week, supplying the condition monitoring and reporting system complete, in their ozWatch package (http://www.processingtalk.com/news/tui/tui100.html).
So a new subcontract service industry may develop, reporting on condition monitoring data to plant managers, by external experts, accessing and interpreting the plant data from a base in Australia, a service centre in India, or anywhere, to advise what maintenance work is needed! Further alternative views and reports on asset management are presented in the Top Ten below, or in our Asset Management or condition monitoring equipment categories on the website, http://www.processingtalk.com/indexes/categorybrowsebg.html or http://www.processingtalk.com/indexes/categorybrowseam.html.
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