Dow Chemical selects Siemens DCS as worldwide lab standard

London - Dow Chemical Co. has adopted Siemens' Simatic PCS 7 distributed control system (DCS) as the new standard for its laboratory process control applications worldwide. The announcement, said Siemens, follows the completion of several test projects using the PCS 7 Box system at Dow R&D sites in Midland, Michigan; Freeport, Texas: and Terneuzen, Netherlands.

The decision, however, does not signal a move away from ABB's 800xA DCS for general process control, which has been supplied to Dow Chemical under a soon-to-expire 10-year agreement, insisted a Dow Chemical spokeswoman. "Dow is not replacing ABB with Siemens equipment for their general process control needs. The Siemens PCS7 system is being implemented solely to address some specific needs within R&D Lab Automation," she stated in a written statement to Process Engineering On-line.

According to Clark Dressen, Dow Chemical's senior R&D leader, the company's lab automation team selected the PCS 7 system because of its balance between flexibility, functionality, supportability and cost-effective scalability for small reactor systems.

"We were impressed not only with the robust and reliable hardware, detailed diagnostics, and powerful programming tools, but also by the excellent technical support. As part of the transition, Siemens is also helping us develop enhanced libraries and tools and document best practices to help researchers increase their productivity," said Dressen, commenting in a Siemens press statement.

"We look forward to working with Dow to upgrade its existing R&D systems. The PCS 7 Box system is an ideal fit for Dow¹s global R&D network," added Andreas Aufenanger, general manager, Process Automation Systems at Siemens Energy & Automation Inc.