FEATURED ARTICLE

Stranded Data: Wireless is the Key

New wireless devices are emerging that can gather and report back on information that was previously stuck out in the field—promising savings for manufacturers.

Trapped! Stranded! Held hostage! All are terms that have been used to describe data that likely exists in many places in your plant or factory today—data that, if made accessible on a continuous, real-time or near-real-time basis, could potentially help you save money in a variety of ways. Now, the emergence of new industrial wireless networking technologies promises some cost-effective ways to free that locked-up data.

One case in point comes with last year's release of the WirelessHart standard for use in process measurement and control applications. The first WirelessHart-compliant products are expected this fall. And while the focus of attention may be on new sensors and instruments with built-in WirelessHart capabilities, another major opportunity will involve retrofits of existing field devices using so-called WirelessHart adapters

These gizmos will attach to any installed Hart instrument to enable access to the diagnostic data that is available on a separate digital channel in every Hart device, in addition to the 4-20 milliamp (mA) analog Hart signal. Most legacy distributed control systems (DCS) are not equipped to understand this digital data, depriving their users of a source of valuable information for improving plant operation... Read more

Sending Plant Data to the Enterprise System

Plants are sifting through tons of plant data to get meaningful information to enterprise resource planning systems.

LyondellBasell—an $18 billion chemical company based in the Netherlands—was having difficulty managing raw materials in plants across the globe. The company was facing rising prices in raw materials as well as increased costs in energy to produce its petrochemical products. The business executives needed accurate data from multiple plants in order to make effective decisions on buying and shipping the raw materials—or feedstock—to the right plant at the right time.

"We need accurate and timely feedback loops and operational models for dozens or hundreds of people working in diverse locations," says Eric Silva, vice president of information technology at LyondellBasell. "Employees have used tools to address these challenges, but these tools did not work as harmoniously as they should..." Read more

Manufacturing On the Move

Mobile wireless devices, systems and software are changing the way the manufacturing world works, promising more work in less time, and offering new ways to do old things—and more importantly, new ways to do new things.

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