Hansjörg Benez interviews Ralf Form, Board Member of ABB Germany responsible for the Automation Products Division (Instrumentation and Control).
Topical subjects of automation in the process industry are currently information technology, Internet, supply chain and suchlike. The impression could be gained that field units and automation in the field have become less important in general. How do you see this?
You are correct as regards the topicality. Today, the accent is on information technology and Internet, among other things. These are of great significance, precisely for automation and especially for field units. I would like to illustrate this with IndustrialIT. ABB has grouped its activities in the automation technology and information technology area under the term IndustrialIT. We offer customers the appropriate products and services for this. IndustrialIT signifies the automation of a process in such a manner that the process information from the field to the data collection point is reciprocally upgraded by the operational knowledge of the entire company. The aim is to make it possible, from all this information, to arrive at optimal, profit-maximising decisions in realtime.
FieldIT at ABB unites all the field units, the great majority of which feature a microprocessor and carry out comprehensive calculations. Thus, for example, in the TZID position controller or in the Contrac actuator, there are parameters which indicate when the maintenance of the valve has to be carried out. Field units feature several hundred parameters; in the 2000T multivariable pressure transducer, for instance, there are more than a thousand, many of which also provide information about the process.
All this information from the field units that is directly linked with the process is the basic information for the optimal layout of a plant or of a company of the process industry. To come back to your question: field units are nowadays admittedly not the centre of interest but they have likewise continued to develop and are now to be counted among the high-tech products.
What is the importance of instrumentation for the overall business of process automation?
As I just remarked: all this information from the field units, directly linked with the process, is the basic information for the optimal layout of a plant or of a company of the process industry.
Instrumentation with its many tasks in automation technology forms one of the principal cornerstones in the field area. It is indispensable for the planning of a plant in practically every area of industry. For a supplier of automation equipment, instrumentation is of great importance. At ABB as a leading worldwide supplier, this is also clearly reflected by the substantial proportion of our business in this product area.
Every year, we invest considerable resources in research and development, manufacture and quality questions to consolidate and extend our leading position in the area of instrumentation. We set out not just to go along with trends but to put our mark on them - and this in close collaboration with users, ie our customers.
What are the demands of the market as regards field instrumentation in the broadest sense? Where is there still a special need for action?
The observance of standards is mandatory and the integrated engineering of field units in systems is a must. Standards must be observed not only for mechanical connections but also for communication protocols. This is why ABB offers its products with Hart as well as the worldwide IEC-standardised communication protocols, Profibus and Foundation Fieldbus. The integration of the unit information in systems is carried out by device type managers (DTM) via the standardised, nonproprietary field device tool (FDT) interface.
The software component in field units is very much on the increase. Examples of this are the function blocks in field units or DTMs for the simplified, graphic-oriented operation of field units. We must make users aware of the advantage they have from these and also make it clear to them, on the other hand, that such functions also have their price.
The 'fieldbus war', ie the contest between competing fieldbus solutions, lasted for many years. From the viewpoint of field unit manufacturers, is it still an issue and, if so, how are they reacting to it?
At the present time, the fieldbus war has moved more to the system level, ie Ethernet. For the process industry, Profibus and Foundation Fieldbus are the worldwide standards. In Europe, the emphasis is on Profibus, while in the USA it is on Foundation Fieldbus. ABB, with its worldwide activities in automation technology, offers products for both standards.
The engineering of field instrumentation in the complete system, especially in heterogeneously arranged systems, is one of the problem areas. What improvements are to be expected and when?
With the field device tool specification, an umbrella standard has been created for the engineering of field instrumentation in the complete system. Many other manufacturers are showing FDT products for the first time at Interkama 2001. ABB has been offering products such as the device type manager for all field units with this standard for a fairly long time We have successfully used this standard for large systems which are already in operation. The nonproprietary FDT interface in the system and the operation of the units via DTM is demanded by users in their inquiries. Every manufacturer who can only offer proprietary solutions has a problem - which will increase as time goes by.
Business subjects are closely associated with the subject of engineering - especially with field units. What further developments do you see here?
At ABB, e-business is of very great importance - it is part of the world-wide group strategy. e-business should help to make us more customer-oriented in our work and allow us to provide information on an individual basis. Our product and service information, which includes instrumentation, can already be retrieved in bundled form for the branch in question. This enables us to present the appropriate product portfolio together with all the topical, segment-related information such as certificates, approvals, etc. Easy-to-use programs for the dimensioning and configuration of field units will in future enable the user to select and also order the appropriate product for his application.
We also offer our customers the Premium Pages, as they are termed. They are personalised and allow a simple exchange of information and a complete product management between customer and ABB via the Internet. One aspect of this, for instance, is to make ABB more transparent and to supply the customer with all the information he needs. In this way, he can check out the actual order or delivery status from the time an order is placed up to the production stage. Then there is the wide field of the service activities where e-commerce is leading to a significant improvement.
Maintenance and upkeep is an important task for field units. How do you see the current development of this aspect in the available hardware and software range?
Information on predictable maintenance is integrated with almost all ABB field units. Mention as examples has already been made of the Contrac electrical actuator and the 2000T multivariable pressure transducer. But the TZID position controller, the broad range of ABB flowmeters and even the temperature transducers of the TH and TF series now offer maintenance information. This information can be read from the units via DTM with the ABB management tool Smart Vision, for example. The automation system also features a series of other software products such as maintenance triggers which compress and process information.
Can innovations be expected in the actual field units, ie with measurement processes and in measurement technology? If yes, what innovations and where?
What is new at Interkama 2001 in the field unit sector for the process industry?
Smart Vision 4.1 is the management tool that now supports the FDT standard and all communication standards - Hart, Profibus and Foundation fieldbus - in a single tool. And there are also many new DTMs for the individual field units. At Düsseldorf, the accent will be not only on new physical techniques but also on the optimisation and further development of existing techniques.
For ABB, asset optimisation is a major point of interest at Interkama 2001. The biggest challenge facing companies at the present time is the provision of information at the right time at the right place in the right form for the right persons. IndustrialIT, the new, integrated ABB strategy is aimed precisely at this. IndustrialIT, with the aid of asset optimisation, sets out to generate additional advantages for the customer, through linking the automation islands, up to now more or less self-sufficient, of a complete value-added chain. Asset optimisation follows an overall entrepreneurial strategy and helps to achieve a lasting increase in the value creation, performance or effectiveness of a plant or production site. I can only advise all those interested in automation technology to go to the Interkama. You will be glad you did, I can promise that!
Interkama
(011) 486 2775
ABB Automation
(011) 236 7000
Ralf Form, Dipl.-Ing, 43, Board Member of ABB (Germany) with responsibility since 1 July 2001 for Automation Products and especially for Instrumentation + Control. Prior to this he was the German Divisional Manager for the Instrumentation + Control Division and responsible for the two companies ABB Automation Products and ABB Messtechnik.
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