Keep an eye on your aging automation system

摘要

Improving process control and managing information are essential challenges facing the cement manufacturing industry as it strives to produce consistent, high-quality cement and meet increasingly strict environmental regulations at the dawn of the new millenium.To meet these challenges, cement plants increasingly will require integrated process control systems that can raise factory efficiency and productivity, thereby making them more profitable. In particular, plants must manage vital process data and generate business information to meet management objectives. Investments in automation and control technology will pay dividends and help plant operators meet stringent quality and consistency requirements. The challenge of revamping automation systems is furthercompounded by the fact that the average useful life of process control technology is becoming ever shorter. Today, it has a life span ranging from three to five years. With cement plants having an average operating life of 25 years and more, each plantmust expect to complete revamp its automation systems every five years, either by upgrading or replacing it, if management and the operators want it to remain state of the art.