Emerson's PlantWeb architecture used by Vinavil to cut project costs by 15% and reduce maintenance costs

Emerson's AMS™ Suite predictive maintenance software enables reduction of maintenance costs and eases compliance with quality certification.

Vinavil, the Italian adhesives manufacturer, reports 15 percent savings in project costs, streamlined maintenance activities, improved quality certification compliance and greater plant availability following the installation of PlantWeb digital plant architecture from Emerson Process Management. A 30 percent reduction in cabling costs and a 50 percent reduction in start-up and commissioning times contributed to the overall project savings. In addition, maintenance and quality reporting savings have already been realized through use of AMS™ Suite software that is part of the PlantWeb solution.

Italian adhesives manufacturer Vinavil chose PlantWeb architecture to automate their Villadossola plant.   FOUNDATION fieldbus wiring for valves and transmitters contributed to 30% savings in cabling costs.   Editors: For high-resolution images, click here.

Following the decision to automate their Villadossola manufacturing plant, an extensive review of the various solutions available was undertaken. The review looked at the hardware systems and also at the added value that the software programs offered, particularly in relation to their asset management capabilities. Vinavil felt that Emerson was one of the few suppliers able to fully satisfy their various and complex requirements.

The ability of the PlantWeb solution to communicate using different open communications protocols was a key benefit to Vinavil, who chose to adopt FOUNDATION fieldbus for control applications and ProfiBus DP communications for on/off valves, sensors and motor control centers. The PlantWeb solution networks the DeltaV™ digital automation system and integrated modular software — including AMS Suite: Intelligent Device Manager software — with intelligent field devices, including Rosemount^® pressure, flow, level and temperature instruments; Fisher^® control valves with FIELDVUE^® digital valve controllers; Micro Motion^® Coriolis meters; and Rosemount analyzers. The combination of performance monitoring and predictive maintenance enabled by PlantWeb helps avoid shutdowns, deliver improved reliability and increase quality.

PlantWeb helped Vinavil improve system availability and flexibility through the simplification of management and maintenance of field instrumentation by using the AMS Device Manager software. With this software, Vinavil's personnel can be alerted when a device fails and they can remotely interrogate it to determine the reason for the failure. The software's audit trail functionality, which registers all the activities related to the field devices, has simplified the record keeping required as part of Vinavil's environmental certification. In addition to these asset management benefits, the auto-tuning capabilities of the DeltaV system have led to reductions in the time taken to tune a loop as well as ensuring greater product consistency.

OPC technology, an open protocol used to share data between different software solutions, has been used to provide a link between two plant areas, enabling the sharing of CIP (clean in place) and tank farm management facilities.

Vinavil is currently evaluating additions to their software, such as the AMS ValveLink^® SNAP-ON™ application that enables the diagnosis and monitoring of control valve condition. Also being evaluated are additional OPC links to allow data to be imported from the R&D department, as well as DeltaV WebServer to import data from an additional system installed in Vinavil's factory at Suez in Egypt, to monitor and control the operation of that plant.

Quality • Throughput • Availability • Operations & Maintanence • Safety, Health & Environmental • Utilities • Waste/Rework