An ExxonMobil Corp. (Spring, Tex.; www.exxonmobil.com) adhesive-resin finishing facility in Baton Rouge, La. has become the first commercial process-manufacturing facility to be controlled by an open, standards-based process automation system. This is a departure from the closed, proprietary systems currently used at most industrial manufacturing sites.
Speaking at the ARC Forum event in February (www.arcweb.com), ExxonMobil process control engineer Dave DeBari, a leader of the project, reported stable and continuous operations at the site with no issues, and successful automation system modifications that are similar to those normally carried out with closed systems in the past.
The open process automation (OPA)-based industrial-control architecture is intended to reduce costs and spur faster innovation by enabling interoperability among various types of hardware and software. Having an open, standards-based process-automation architecture allows a “plug-and-play” model to become reality in the industrial manufacturing space, DeBari points out. With an OPA-based automation system, processors can quickly install upgrades and deploy new technologies from a host of different process automation vendors, ExxonMobil says.
Source: ExxonMobil
ExxonMobil estimates the OPA system will cost 20% less over its lifespan compared to traditional industrial control systems, and will allow plants to quickly implement new applications that optimize process performance and maximize efficiency and product quality. In addition, the OPA-based system incorporates state-of-the-art cybersecurity protections, and its flexibility allows rapid future updates.
ExxonMobil aims to deploy this new automation technology at more sites around the world. “We hope to encourage OPA’s adoption across other manufacturing industries — such as food and beverages, metals and mining, automotive and pharmaceuticals,” the company says.
The successful startup of the OPA-based control system for the ExxonMobil Baton Rouge site is the culmination of more than 10 years of effort toward applying open, standards-based control-system architecture to an industrial control system. The work has included research and prototyping, as well as extensive test-bed development. It also involved close collaboration with the Open Process Automation Forum, the information-sharing arm of The Open Group (San Francisco, Calif.; www.opengroup.org), a global consortium of more than 100 companies promoting vendor-neutral technologies like OPA.