Controlled benefits
14 Sep 2010
Saint-Gobain Glass has developed a global engineering approach to encompass all equipment and functions required for flat-glass manufacturing
Different drivers for the adoption of NEW control and automation systems were reported by two companies at the recent Yokogawa User Conference in Amsterdam.
Saint Gobain Glass (SGG) has developed a highly integrated process automation strategy in support of an expansion programme that has seen its production base expand into emerging countries, including China, Brazil, India, Romania and Poland.
The approach stems from a major distributed control system/programmable logic controller (DCS/PLC) assessment back in 2002 on 26 production lines, which at the time operated 14 different control systems. The set-up presented issues of robustness and reliability, with two plants experiencing frequent system failures, according to David Godinaud, head of global engineering at the glass-making company.
A DCS project at the time typically involved request for quotation (RQF) preparation times of four months and tendering of four to eight months, with a 12-month execution taking total duration up to two years, he added.
The lack of standardisation also led to huge cost variability, and little synergy between factories. Godinaud said: “Every project started from scratch, with little or no scope to introduce improvements. Cost was too high, project duration too long and there was no means of improvement.”
To address these issues, SGG developed a global engineering approach encompassing all equipment and functions required for flat-glass manufacturing (except process and civil work) based on the following competences:
- Process control and automation
- Utilities
- Mechanical manufacturing
- Information technology
- Instrumentation
This approach included a highly standardised certification for its control and automation systems; working with systems from two suppliers, before moving to an exclusive supply arrangement with Yokogawa and adopting its CSF2000 system.
Godinaud said discovering what is required - in terms of the factory, process, methods, and the ways and the format in which you use the specification - represents 50-80% of a DCS project model. “There are 18,000 potential problems involved and maybe more,” he added.
Saint-Gobain Glass has been able to significantly reduce its expenditure after utilising Yokogawa’s CSF2000 system
Commenting on the project execution benefits of having a sole, experienced automation partner, Godinaud said: “The more you know, the more efficient you are. The more efficient you are, the shorter engineering execution you get.
“Exclusivity is not the solution to all the problems of the world but there are some unique features of the DCS that needs focus on what is valuable. The reason we have succeeded with Yokogawa is that from the first project we started to show our people the success.”
Costs have been reduced by around 50%, including a halving of DCS engineering durations to average around three months and an 80% reduction in staff workload for DCS project execution.
An industry bribery scandal - outside of the company - was among the factors for Merck Sorono selecting a new automation vendor for the expansion of the Merck Serono Biotech Center (MSBC) pharmaceuticals production site in Corsier-sur-Vevey, Switzerland, a company official said.
The project includes two new lines with 120,000 litres of bioreactor capacity, backed by state-of-the-art wastewater treatment, tank farm, infrastructure and logistic facilities.
Work is on track for completion by the end of 2010, although full production is not due to start at the MSBC until 2012. The project is now in the final phase of commissioning and qualification, where process automation represents an essential success factor.
Broader tendering process
Andre Overmeyer, project director at Merck Serono, said the unspecified scandal had prompted the company to open its tendering process to a broader range of new suppliers, about two-and-a-half years ago.
According to Overmeyer, Merck Sorono made its choice - Yokogawa’s Centum VP - from the experience of other companies working with Yokogawa and the vendor’s competence in the execution of such projects.
However, he admitted that the decision was a brave one given the scale of the project and the nature of the new biotech manufacturing facilities. There was also resistance from within Merck Sorono, particularly from those well used to working with existing Emerson and Siemens control systems.Patrick Raleigh reports on the take-up of new control and automation systems at two major European process companies
Overmeyer said that Merck Sorono staff are now convinced that it was the right decision to have use a new automation partner for the MSBC. The approach, he added, has involved building on long-term relationships with engineering partners in automation and process engineering areas.
’Co-operation, integration and sharing responsibilities, and effective integration of client and supplier engineering teams, are key to achieving transparency on progress, cost tracking, risks and issues,’ he concluded.
Merck Serono project
At its peak 60 engineers were in the Yokogawa team working with a Merck Serono automation team of 10 engineers, 35 operators in the field and and four process system teams. The installation included:
3 Centum VP projects
2,300 Foundation Fieldbus devices
116 Foundation Fieldbus cards (348 FF segments)
6,500 valves (Festo remote I/O, via Profibus)
233 Profibus segments
240 MCCs (Motor Control Centres via Profibus)
200 devices (4-20 mA, connected to Festo I/O)
40 Operator stations & 13 laboratory clients
6 Engineering work stations
101 Field control stations (85 single, 16 redundant)
60 recipes,the largest recipe having 800 parameters
250 unit procedures with 420 master phases
2,500 copies of phases rolled out to process systems
