Invensys unveils Products, Partnership

Jan. 13, 2007

Invensys Process Systems (www.invensys.com/ps), a Foxboro, Mass., provider of process automation products, announced several new products at its User Conference Dec. 4-5 in Dallas.

The company has enhanced its InFusion enterprise control system product with Invensys Avantis’ (www.avantis.net) Avantis.CM. This technology provides InFusion with the ability to collect real-time information from more plant sources, including third-party applications. InFusion Condition Manager also contains tools for analyzing and contextualizing the data, and applies an expert rule set that triggers and then manages appropriate operations, engineering or maintenance actions.

Invensys also said it has signed a sales and marketing agreement with Cutler Technology Corp., a San Antonio, Texas, developer of advanced process control (APC) applications. Under this agreement, Invensys Process Systems becomes a global re-seller and a certified implementer for CTC’s patented Adaptive Dynamic Matrix Controller (ADMC) technology.

With nearly 300 advanced control, simulation and process optimization solutions consultants around the world, Invensys is now the largest authorized CTC re-seller and certified implementer. CTC’s ADMC will play an important role in Invensys’ asset performance management strategy by helping refineries, petrochemical plants and other complex process plants in production-constrained environments to use untapped capacity. Connoisseur multivariable predictive controller from SimSci-Esscor, another Invensys company, will remain Invensys’ preferred APC solution for central station and industrial power plants.

The Avantis unit of Invensys Process Systems announced a new business system integration module for the Avantis.PRO enterprise asset management (EAM) software application. The new module, developed in conjunction with Microsoft Corp., Redmond, Wash., will provide standard integration between Avantis.PRO R4.1 and Microsoft Dynamics AX Release 4.0 and Microsoft Dynamics GP Professional 9.0 business management applications.Avantis also announced enhancements to its Avantis.DSS Web-based decision support solution. New capabilities vs. its current offering include:

Wider selection of parameters and functions that provide increased detail for analysis of progress

More options for creating personal key performance indicators (KPIs)

Deeper drill-through capabilities for cost analysis

Increased capabilities for developing trending insight.

The foundation Avantis.DSS software structure has three primary components: data extraction, aggregation and visualization.

Dave Wiedenfeld, group project leader, IT, of CF Industries’ Louisiana facility, said, “We installed Avantis .DSS in November 2005, and it paid for itself almost immediately. We consider Avantis.DSS to truly be a breakthrough product that turns raw data into business intelligence to improve our performance.” CF Industries is a major North American manufacturer of nitrogen and phosphate fertilizer products.