Sometimes, asset management systems give a company its first return on investment in a fieldbus implementation.   

The
Saudi Arabian Oil Co., in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, uses wireless fieldbus
technology to install and configure devices in its gas plants, oil
refineries, even wellheads.

When
the technology was installed, engineers expected to take a savings on
the implementation of the network, but the savings didn’t arrive. “We
thought we’d get back the costs with the ease of calibration and
maintenance, but the savings didn’t work out,” says Ralph Hartman,
engineering specialist in the Instrumentation and Processing Controls
Department at Saudi Aramco.  

So
the company decided to use an asset manager to gain payback on the
fieldbus network. “We think we’ll realize the savings by not having to
send people to the field to troubleshoot the instrument problems.” Hartman believes the company can reduce its trips to the field by 80 percent.
 

Hartman
also wants to use the asset management system to allow for mixed
instruments on the plant network. “One of the problems we’ve had is the
difficulty using a controller that is not married to the host system,”
says Hartman. “We want to be able to pick the best-in-class instruments
and have the host system read them equally.  We’re
hoping that EDDL (enhanced device description language) will allow us
to pick best-in-class valve positioners even if they are not married to
the host system.”

To see the main story this sidebar was taken from - "Getting the Most From Plant Assets" - please visit www.automationworld.com/view-2826