Frugal plant upgrades lead to connecting multiple controllers to the same HMI, allowing for the addition of new functionality and solving obsolescence problems without busting the budget.
　　Jim Robertson wears two hats. As head of engineering at the Lanxess chemicals plant near Charleston, SC, he is responsible for the day-to-day maintenance at the facility. He also oversees capital expenditures for process improvements to the plant that was originally opened in 1978.
　　While most manufacturers

separate engineering and capital work responsibilities, the Lanxess plant has achieved great success by combining these two job functions under one group. Over the years, Robertson and his team have used this uncommon approach to upgrade the plant’s batch control processes carefully in phases, avoiding downtime, and maximizing efficiency.
　　The company manufactures high-quality chemicals, synthetic rubber and plastics. Its portfolio includes basic and fine chemicals, color pigments, plasticswww.cechina.cn, synthetic rubberCONTROL ENGINEERING China版权所有, rubber chemicals, leather, material protection products, and water treatment products.

　　Older HMI components began to show their age控制工程网版权所有, requiring costly and inconvenient repairs. This was a key driver as the company evaluated a system upgrade. Source: Siemens
　　In the early 1980s, the Bushy ParkCONTROL ENGINEERING China版权所有, Goose Creek plant was controlled entirely with Fisher (now Emerson) Provox distributed control systems. This strategy was unchanged until 1999 when Robertson replaced a filter in the Vulkanox antidegradant chemicals production area that was controlled by a 20-year-old Provox DCS. Robertson’s choices were to keep the existing system and re-configure it for the new filter, upgrade to a newer version of Provoxwww.cechina.cn, or upgrade to another system platform.
　　After comprehensive market and batch application comparisons, Robertson chose the Moore Apacs+ system. A key factor in Robertson’s decision was his goal to move to a solution that adhered to S88 batch management concepts. He envision