Rockwell Automation Revamp Gives BASF Rapid Implementation and Lower Maintenance Costs

Related Vendors

TURCK GmbH

Glatt Ingenieurtechnik GmbH

Italvacuum, Srl

Rockwell Automation GmbH

When the loading facility was first set up in 1996, BASF decided to use decentralized automation based on Allen-Bradley PLC-5 controllers operating via ControlNet. Alongside the PLCs, the loading facility was also connected to the production area, which uses control systems from a number of different suppliers. From the start, therefore, the requirements for the automation technology used in the loading bay have included a high level of flexibility. For the upgrade project, BASF also placed a premium on easier maintenance.

Rockwell Automation’s new PlantPAx system proved ideal for this job. PlantPAx is a flexible and fully integrated solution that is scalable over a wide range of application sizes. Taking information from field devices, PlantPAx combines powerful functionality at the control and supervisory level with excellent upward communications to high-level business integration systems.

Yet even with this power available to them, the Rockwell Automation engineers faced a big challenge to implement the new system in only eight months. According to BASF, the number one factor in their subsequent success was their structured approach to the project.

Perfect preparation

The Rockwell Automation team structured the BASF project in a way that built on the expertise they had already gained in the pharmaceutical industry.

“I was a little sceptical at first, because the loading facility is such a critical point in the production process and because Rockwell Automation isn’t a BASF standard supplier,” admits Frübis. But, he says, he was impressed by Rockwell Automation’s methodical approach to project execution, modeled on accepted Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP).

(ID:23879440)