Schneider Electric, has added a new enterprise-wide IIoT plant performance and control optimisation software to its PES and Foxboro Evo process automation systems and Foxboro I/A Series distributed control system. Leveraging Expertune PlantTriage technology, EcoStruxure Control Advisor, a native smart decision-support tool, provides plant personnel actionable real-time operating data and predictive analytics capabilities so they can monitor and adjust every control loop across multiple plants and global sites 24/7. According to a Schneider press release, the software empowers them to optimise the real-time efficiency of the process throughout the plant lifecycle and to contribute directly to improved business performance.
“Strengthening the efficiency of the process in real time has a tremendous, positive impact on the entirety of the operation and business, and it puts customers on the path toward controlling other critical business variables, like safety, reliability and even profitability, in real time sooner,” said Grant Le Sueur, senior director, control and safety software, Process Automation, Schneider Electric. “Control Advisor continuously monitors plant performance and identifies potential issues in real time, before they occur. The information it provides empowers the workforce to be more actively involved and responsible for the success of the business.”
Because it is more tightly integrated with the company’s PES, Foxboro Evo and I/A Series process automation and control systems, Control Advisor gives users better opportunities to improve business performance. An easy-to-use tool that works natively across a broad spectrum of industrial applications without substantial capital investments, it extracts more value from existing investments by bringing plant operations closer to set point, minimising out-of-spec production and identifying predictive maintenance indicators. Improving the performance of each control loop not only restores stability to the operation, it can drive up to a two per cent increase in energy savings and up to a 10 percent increase in production capacity. In addition to its ability to drive energy savings and production efficiencies, it is proven to enhance safety, optimise maintenance, lower operating costs, increase product quality and reduce emissions, among many other things.