ABB Enhances Automation Platform

Dec. 19, 2006

Swiss-based automation vendor ABB (www.abb.com) has released the newest version of its Industrial IT Extended Automation System 800xA.‑Major system enhancements include features designed to help customers add applications to running processes without requiring system downtime, and to integrate multiple 800xA systems in diverse geographic locations into one control room for visibility into and control of globally dispersed manufacturing operations.

Risk reduction
“As many of our customers must run their operations continuously, 24/7, to remain profitable and meet their targets, system downtime is not an option. These enhancements allow them to add programs, modify configurations, and implement software upgrades while production is running, and‑then simulate the impact these changes will have on running production before they are executed. This capability greatly reduces the risks commonly associated with system modifications and additions,” says Alicia Bauer, director of systems marketing, ABB Inc., in Wickliffe, Ohio.

“System 800xA also provides even more visibility and control throughout the entire manufacturing operation with enhanced multiple system integration, so that various manufacturing sites can be viewed and accessed from one place, bringing multiple sites into a single operations and engineering environment. With these enhancements, System 800xA sets the new standard for corporate-wide productivity and efficiency,” Bauer says.

System 800xA’s integration capability allows customers to combine data from traditionally disparate automation-related applications into a single integrated information view in real-time to facilitate business decisions and actions to maximize productivity, ABB says. It provides the capability to tailor information content and format to the user’s job function, facilitating faster navigation, assimilation and decision-making.

System 800xA is designed to significantly extend process control and enterprise visibility well beyond the realm of essential process control to include production management, safety, smart instrumentation, smart drives and motor control, information management, asset optimization, simulation and documentation.‑System 800xA integrates these areas so that information can be viewed, accessed, and appropriately modified from its single operations environment so that plants/mills can run more efficiently and achieve substantial cost savings, ABB says. Its engineering environment manages one set of consistent data, for single-point entry, single-point change and re-use across the plant to help users extend and repeat their most successful engineering strategies and best practices.