Chemical Equipment Update
An agri-chem business giant’s four-year programme to replace its process control systems delivered operational efficiencies and production flexibility – without business disruption.
Le programme de quatre ans créé par le géant commercial agrochimique pour remplacer ses systèmes de commande de processus a donné de hauts rendements opérationnels et une grande flexibilité de production – sans interruption des activités commerciales.
Das Vierjahresprogramm eines führenden Unternehmens im Bereich landwirtschaftliche Chemie zum Austausch seiner Steuerungssysteme verbesserte die betriebliche Effizienz und Produktionsflexibilität – ohne Unterbrechung der Geschäftsabläufe.
Control system migration without disruption
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Fig. 1. Syngenta’s Huddersfield Manufacturing Centre.
yngenta is one of the world’s leading agribusinesses specialising in crop protection and seeds. At the Huddersfield Manufacturing Centre (HMC), in the UK, its range of active
ingredients manufacturing operation is reliant on a number of complex process control systems to run the production on the site. Looking to replace legacy process control
systems can be a daunting task. But Syngenta, with the expertise of Siemens Industry Automation, has successfully completed a four year control system replacement programme at its Huddersfield Manufacturing Centre on time, on budget and, crucially, without disruption to its production targets.
Nearing obsolescence The issue facing the Huddersfield process control management was the realisation that four of the six main plant control systems were reaching a stage of obsolescence. They were dealing with increasing incidents when spares were in short supply; plant failure rates were on the rise and, indeed, the impending withdrawal of technical support for certain plant control systems to help the site operate was a major looming concern. This powerful combination of factors made the site management draw up plans for a long-term replacement programme for the existing HMC process control systems which would alleviate the legacy and future support issues once and for all. The team turned to Siemens Industry Automation as a solution partner which could offer both proven
project implementation expertise, as well as the PCS7 process control system solution that could support the site’s manufacturing needs for future decades. As a manufacturer, the critical point underpinning
any planned migration to a new control system is the necessity to do so without disrupting existing production schedules. Mick Pearson, Syngenta’s Process Control
Systems Manager at Huddersfield highlights this concern: “The replacement programme was an enormous challenge to the process control team on site at Huddersfield. It was deemed essential for the site’s continued operation, but nonetheless, it still presented a real planning challenge for everyone, particularly with the requirement that production had to continue without disruption following any changes. These are multi-stage batch chemical processes, some with continuous operation, and we could not afford for the new control system changes to interfere with our production operations.” At the planning stage, the Syngenta team worked
alongside Siemens to draw up the strategy which would support the phased approach to replacing the identified four systems over a defined time period. Ian Heathcock from Siemens Industry
Automation says there were a number of key factors to consider. “Along with the Syngenta management team, we had to ensure that at all stages we could minimise resistance to the planned changes and facilitate learnings so that we had complete buy- in to the plan from the people who ultimately would operate the new control systems – the plant operators themselves. We also had to ensure that the new technology specified was an evolution when compared to the old system, so a balance was achieved between utilising modern process control systems such as our PCS7 and ensuring the operators could see the benefits a new control system would bring in terms of operational efficiencies.”.
Phased replacement Timing was critical to the success of the phased replacement programme with switchover to the new control systems only able to take place during the annual shutdown period. These dates were not flexible and the result of missing a deadline for changeover was that the project would be delayed for another 12 months, putting back the entire project and placing HMC’s ongoing manufacturing processes at risk. The phased approach commenced with the
smallest sized control system of the four targeted for change. This saw the replacement of a 20 year old plant control computer at the site’s Fusilade plant.
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