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| | Arkema Migrates to Rockwell Automation Process Automation System |
| | Customer: | | Arkema
Mobile, Alabama |
| | Country: | | United States |
| | Industry: | | Chemical |
| | Services: | | Migration Solutions |
| | Products: | | Condition Monitoring, Process Solutions |
| Companies collaborate to address safety concerns and save on downtime costs
Solutions
Process Automation System
- PlantPAx process automation system helps meet long-term control system needs and minimizes production risks
Batch Management
- FactoryTalk® Batch recipe management software provides batch quality and helps reduce manual adjustments while adhering to S88-compliancy
Services and Support
- Engineering with technical knowledge and extensive support capabilities provided a well-defined and strategic technology migration path
Results
Reduced Downtime
- Zero downtime experienced since migration completion, yielding a yearly savings of more than $500,000
Improved Installation Time
- 50 percent reduction in batch programming time
- Minimal downtime during the system switch-over
Improved Product Quality and Reduced Risk
- Data monitoring helps provide consistent product quality and lower safety risks in a hazardous environment
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The PlantPAx platform is based on the Rockwell Automation Integrated Architecture™ system – delivering a unified process and discrete solution. |
Background
Many businesses have been hit hard by the current state of the economy – none as much as the housing market. In a market that does not allow an easy sale of a house, people are staying in their current homes longer than previously expected. Therefore, it is imperative that homes are built with supreme quality products that will last well after those 30-year mortgages are paid. That means the elements used to build houses must remain strong year after year, rain or shine.
As an industrial chemical producer, Arkema’s products are responsible for adding strength and life to many of the materials used to build our homes. In its Axis, Ala. facility, the company specializes in developing additives, commonly referred to as impact modifiers, used to produce housing materials such as vinyl siding, window profiles and PVC pipes.
To create impact modifiers, Arkema engineers start with a reactor and add a variety of chemicals to form a batch. The batch is turned into a liquid latex material and put into a spray dryer as part of a continuous process. During this stage of development, the latex is dried into a powder and then sent out to end users.
The batch development process averages eight hours per cycle with a completed batch time of 12.5 hours. Arkema produces 35,000 pounds in that time frame at its Axis facility – totaling about 85 million pounds annually of 15 different impact modifiers.
Challenge
Within this production process, Arkema was running half of its plant on a 28-year-old legacy distributed control system (DCS) and the other half on a 15-year-old version of the same system. Not only were replacement parts a challenge to find, but obtaining talent to repair any breakdowns was nearly impossible. Adding to the situation, the company’s I/O hardware was almost 30 years old.
Whenever a standard process update or recipe change needed to be added to the system, the plant would have to shut down for 10 hours, not including failure episodes. This situation was occurring almost once a month, costing the company approximately $42,000 each time.
“Our existing DCS was unable to accommodate control changes, and finding resources for maintenance and repair was getting more difficult each day,” said John Bryant, engineering and maintenance manager, Arkema. “But more importantly, safety concerns were starting to crop up.”
The plant experienced a few potentially critical incidents stemming from aging I/O hardware and control systems that were overburdened. As the current system lacked condition-monitoring capabilities, plant personnel were not alerted to problems until it was too late. Consequently, Arkema decided to replace its existing control system to achieve the critical safety-monitoring capabilities the company needed.
Working with Precision Engineering, a system integrator, and Rockwell Automation, Arkema created a migration plan that would provide the necessary diagnostics, as well as accommodate all the company’s priorities, such as the ability to interface with the current DCS, until the migration was complete. Other requirements for the new process automation system included consistent batch quality, S88-compliance, use of the existing I/O footprint and, of course, minimal downtime during the system switch-over.
“If we chose to do nothing, it would have only been a matter of time before our plant was non-operational,” said Bryant. “We knew that we had to invest in a new process automation system that allowed us to move our business to the next level and meet additional market demands.”
Solutions
Arkema began working towards replacing the legacy control systems at the facility and modernizing the architecture to increase profitability and safety. The company wanted a fully integrated system that would provide complex batch and recipe capabilities, solving the quality and consistency issues that had proven to be problematic with the legacy DCS. Because of the complexity of the old system, it was important that the new installation be user-friendly as well.
The company secured bids from Rockwell Automation and other automation suppliers for migrating the system, which included controller, human-machine interface (HMI) and I/O hardware replacements. After reviewing the options, the company decided to replace its 28-year-old DCS platform with the Rockwell Automation PlantPAx process automation system. The PlantPAx platform is based on the Rockwell Automation Integrated Architecture™ system – delivering a unified process and discrete solution. For Arkema, the process automation platform incorporated control technology, HMI software for visualization into each application, batch management software to control recipes, and communications interface applications to link the systems together and provide insight for third-party access.
The new process control system centers itself on the Allen-Bradley® ControlLogix® programmable automation controller (PAC) from Rockwell Automation. Unlike conventional controllers, ControlLogix PACs provide multidisciplined control leveraging development tools, network protocol and service-oriented architecture, making it a fully integrated, scalable control platform that can be used throughout Arkema’s plant and IT enterprise.
To help improve batch-to-batch consistency and reduce manual adjustments, the system incorporates FactoryTalk® Batch recipe management software. FactoryTalk Batch software has the ability to build signature templates and enforce command verification policies, which improves productivity, and the company’s security and regulatory compliance efforts. This software is much simpler to use than the prior system at Arkema and allows batch recipes to be programmed into the machinery and automatically follow the instructions exactly. As a result, the improved functionality makes a dramatic difference in the quality of product, as well as overall productivity.
Integrated into the PlantPAx system, communications interface applications allow users to get required data from the factory floor. This allows Arkema engineers and Precision Engineering technicians to gather production data from other applications and optimize communications with the controller. A Rockwell Automation Encompass Partner, Salem Automation, also played a key integration role with its ABNet software interface module. This device allows the new control system at Arkema to interface via EtherNet/IP with the remaining DCS.
The Rockwell Automation technical support team provided training for the line workers and engineers, helping them become acclimated to the new system and teaching them how to leverage the new automation features. Included with the technical support, Rockwell Automation led Arkema through its well-defined and strategic technology migration path.
The facility’s new process automation system has experienced zero downtime since completion date, yielding annual savings of over $500,000 for Arkema.
Results
The team finished phase one (replacing the control system, HMI and I/O) of the migration well within the six-month window necessary. In spec and on-time, the facility’s new process automation system has experienced zero downtime since completion date, yielding annual savings of over $500,000 for Arkema. Also, the team expected to be at 100 percent production within three to four weeks of installation, but instead reached full optimum production during week one.
Batch creation time also has been cut in half with the PlantPAx system. Rockwell Automation engineering tools allowed recipe and batch management to move from a control engineering task to the production engineering team. This makes procedures a lot quicker if the team wants to add a new product to the line. Now, the production engineer can complete all the batch changes and new product additions without having to alert the control engineer. If small recipe errors are found, they can be fixed immediately for the next batch.
Consistency in batch making also has improved. With the new system, the production engineer is able to modify procedures and load recipes at the same time while keeping everything synched. It has forced a large amount of consistency in both the control recipe and procedure. Arkema can constantly try new grades and pilots, and make changes in a moment’s notice to the batch. In fact, two new products have been added to the Arkema product portfolio since the new system has been installed. This would have been nearly impossible with the old system.
With the batch programming done outside the controller, operator ease-of-use has improved as well. Changes are much easier and safer than the previous system would allow. Additionally, the ISA S88-compliant platform has batch control elements, like temperature and pressure, accessible for viewing by all operators to provide consistent and safer production.
The next phase of the migration will involve the facility’s waste treatment area. Exactly like phase one, the area is currently run on a legacy DCS and will migrate to the PlantPAx process automation system.
Download: 
CHEVP-AP001A-EN-E |
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