Automation System Rockwell Automation Revamp Gives BASF Rapid Implementation and Lower Maintenance Costs

BASF commissioned Rockwell Automation to modernize an automation system in a loading bay used for polymer dispersions at the company’s Ludwigshafen Verbund site in Germany. With only eight months to plan the new system and just three days for commissioning, the project required an extraordinarily structured approach and an intensive test phase. The result is a system with high levels of flexibility and availability as well as easier maintenance.

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The need to upgrade the automation system became clear after BASF reviewed the time for which the existing system was likely to remain economic. The plant had operated for twelve years without a hitch. During that time BASF regularly modernized the automation system, which had more than 3600 I/O points. The company wanted to be assured of the plant’s future until at least 2018, yet a review showed that certain critical components were nearing the end of their lives or would no longer be supported in a few years’ time.

To ensure that the automation system would remain state-of-the-art right up to 2018, BASF began a migration project under the leadership of Ulrich Frübis, Senior Engineering & Maintenance Manager, Dispersions for Adhesives & Constructions.

Among the companies who tendered for the work was Rockwell Automation, which put forward a solution based on its PlantPAx process automation system. The complete system included Allen-Bradley ControlLogix PACs, a 100 Mbit/s Ethernet network for the PCs with two redundant Stratix 8000 switches, and a FactoryTalk View client-server system with a redundant server. The support agreement included a spare parts contract with defined costs, plus round-the-clock phone support and service availability.

Rockwell Automation’s concept won over everyone concerned, even though since the company was not one of BASF’s standard suppliers, BASF’s specialist automation centre had to verify and approve the project.

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