In case you didn’t notice: DCS and automation upgrade examples

The April issue of AppliedAutomation focuses on DCS modernization, automation methods used in a distillery, and updating hardware and software for an automated mobile warehouse.

By Jack Smith April 13, 2017

This issue of AppliedAutomation has plenty of stories. In the cover story, the author emphasizes that DCS modernization can be a lever for enterprise improvement. As an example, the author mentions a large chemical plant that recently analyzed excessive energy consumption and low repeatability of on-spec product quality and opted for a modernization project, which produced measurable results.

The second article talks about how automation methods used in a distillery were adapted for use in the fermentation process at a brew house. Currently, the brewery automation system only controls the temperature of the tanks, but could be expanded to include pump and motor controls, steam flow control, and much more to automate processes that are currently done manually.

Should the supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) host computer be removed from the shop floor and moved into the data center? The third story in this issue is a case study that focuses on a medium-sized organization that considered this issue.

The fourth article covers a company that needed to update the existing hardware and software for the automated mobile warehouses it produces. The company reached out to a well-known system integrator to develop electrical control system drawings, develop the programmable logic controller (PLC) ladder logic program, and test the system.

A software developer was selected by a large power generation equipment company to install its application platform in the company’s facility for real-time and historical analysis of manufacturing productivity. In this case study, the challenge was to improve utilization, productivity, and cost efficiency of the milling machines on the shop floor with the CNC controller. The fifth article in this issue explains how that was accomplished.

This article appears in the Applied Automation supplement for Control Engineering 
and Plant Engineering

– See other articles from the supplement below.


Author Bio: Content manager, CFE Media