Is Obsolete Equipment Putting Your Facility At Risk?

摘要

It is not uncommon to see well-used ovens and dryers - perhaps 40 or 50 years old, in some cases - in plants throughout the process industries. And, while the principles of heat transfer remain the same as when the systems were designed, little else has. Industrial controls, plant automation technologies and safety regulations have evolved to reflect the new realities of modern manufacturing. Think about it: perhaps 20-some years ago, the concepts of fuzzy logic and autotuning were state of the art. Now it is KPI-driven software optimization accessed via the cloud, with the process and plant engineering teams and the automation technologies service provider able to access data at a moment's notice. What does that mean for legacy equipment?