EcoStruxure Foxboro DCS Drives Operational Profitability Improvements

News coming out of this week’s Schneider Electric 2017 Foxboro User Group event (Aug. 22-24, Foxboro, MA), included details on improved capabilities of the EcoStruxure Foxboro DCS, the company’s flagship distributed control system. This Internet-of-Things (IoT)-enabled, open and interoperable system architecture and platform is said to enable scalable design and operation of connected systems with best-in-class cybersecurity built in at every layer.

Historically, distributed control systems have been limited to controlling the efficiency and safety of the process, without being able to measure and control other critical operating variables—especially profitability—in real time. The EcoStruxure Foxboro DCS, which marks the evolution of the Foxboro Evo control system, changes that.

With patented, customizable real-time accounting (RTA) models built in, the EcoStruxure Foxboro DCS not only allows the industrial workforce to evaluate the real-time financial performance of an industrial operation directly at the equipment asset level, it also empowers them to more easily identify the impact their actions and decisions have on the profitability of the operations they control. The RTA models can be manipulated and adapted to suit a variety of industrial operations across multiple segments, enabling a wide range of customers to reap far more value from their existing systems.

According to Peter Martin, vice president of Innovation and Marketing for Schneider Electric’s Process Automation business, for the most part, by the time managers receive monthly updates from whatever enterprise resource planning systems they’re using, the information is no longer relevant to operational business decisions they need to make, or should have made. “The EcoStruxure Foxboro DCS,” he continued, “breaks the mold because our RTA models help control value asset to asset, all the way up the enterprise. By aligning process control with the hierarchy of the plant, we can provide far more visibility into the financial performance of every plant asset and asset set. That allows plant personnel to understand the impact their decisions have on the business and business leaders to understand the impact their decisions have on the operation, in real time.”

Along with the RTA models, the continuously current EcoStruxure Foxboro DCS features high-capacity, high-availability control processors; more powerful, fit-for-purpose I/O; intuitive, role-based engineering tools; and enterprise-wide analytical tools and capabilities. Its hardened cybersecure design and secure integration with the company’s Triconex safety systems protect a facility’s critical assets and allow for continuous production. Automated, enterprise-wide, real-time condition monitoring and predictive maintenance capabilities not only minimize unplanned shutdowns and maximize uptime, they’re said to be capable of lowering maintenance costs by 30% or more.

EcoStruxure Foxboro DCS works in tandem with EcoStruxure Profit Advisor, Schneider Electric’s new software solution that applies the company’s RTA models to help the industrial workforce diagnose and analyze the profitability of processes throughout the plant. Whereas EcoStruxure Profit Advisor connects to any process historian to mine both historical and real-time data, the EcoStruxure Foxboro DCS takes the next step by building the algorithms into the process controllers themselves, thereby extending real-time accounting capabilities to every point in the process.

For more information about Schneider Electric’s EcoStruxure Foxboro DCS and other process automation systems and solutions, CLICK HERE.