The presentation of Centum VP, the integrated process and production control system, was a lofty occasion: Yokogawa unveiled its latest innovation on the 32nd floor of the Amsterdam Rembrandt Tower. Expectations in the system are similarly elevated: “Centum VP will become our flagship platform for the VigilantPlant Operational Excellence initiative”, says Satoru Kurosu, Senior Vice President of Yokogawa’s Industrial Automation Business Headquarters.
VigilantPlant is Yokogawa’s automation concept for safe, reliable and profitable plant operations. It aims to enable an ongoing state of operational excellence, where plant personnel are watchful and attentive, well-informed and ready to take actions that optimise plant and business performance. This initiative eliminates unplanned downtime, improves asset utilisation and allows businesses to adapt to shifting market conditions quickly and efficiently. Based on this concept, Yokogawa launched Safety Excellence solutions in 2005, Asset Excellence solutions in 2006 and Production Excellence solutions in 2007. The launch of Centum VP takes the VigilantPlant initiative to a new level, integrating the three Excellence solutions into one Operational Excellence platform.
Centum VP is the 8th generation of the Centum series and the successor to Centum CS 1000 and Centum CS 3000. While assuring clear backward compatibility and consistency with previous Centum systems, Centum VP redefines the role of a distributed control system, commonly known as a DCS. Going beyond the traditional DCS function of controlling and monitoring a plant, Centum VP integrates plant information management, asset management and operational support functions to achieve a unified operating environment. Centum VP provides a foundation for operational excellence by delivering information in context and allowing easy role-based access to all key information.
Kurosu: “Centum VP is designed to empower real-time decision makers at all levels of a plant’s operations. A significant improvement in information efficiency enables our customers to enhance both plant safety and business agility.”
Plant operations require several functional components such as production control and monitoring, plant information management, asset management and operational support. These functions are usually handled by a variety of products from different suppliers. As a result, the plant is operated by a patchwork of disparate systems, leaving gaps and barriers that constrain smooth and integrated operations.
By contrast, Yokogawa’s Centum VP establishes a single plant database that serves all of these key functions in real time, laying the foundation for a unified operating environment. This unified architecture improves information efficiency and enhances the safety and agility of plant operations.
Real-time plant database
Centum VP’s plant database enables seamless, single-source integration of advanced applications that manage plant information, stabilise processes and improve operational efficiency. Quick and flexible deployment of these applications helps users improve the safety, availability and profitability of a plant on an ongoing basis. This additionally simplifies change management, thereby minimising the life-cycle ownership costs.
Centum VP utilises Yokogawa’s Pair & Spare reliability technology that leaves no single point of failure and maintains an industry-leading seven 9s (99.99999%) system availability. In addition, Centum VP is fully backward compatible with the Centum CS 1000/CS 3000 systems and secures a smooth and flexible migration path to all previous Centum series DCSs. It allows customers to retain existing systems while expanding their plant or facility with a new DCS. Without forfeiting consistency or continuity, Yokogawa continues to deliver innovative solutions based on the latest technologies, protecting customers’ assets and investments. The first release of Centum VP features an intuitive human machine interface (HMI). The new screens are ergonomically designed and arranged to reduce operator fatigue and discomfort. The HMI is also optimised to facilitate easy access to the right information. Another key philosophy behind it is the visualisation of operational know-how and the consideration of information users’ mental models, enabling everyone to work smarter. This unified and intuitive HMI is essential to harness the power of the integrated production control system. It ensures that information users receive prioritised, actionable information rather than being flooded with data.
Hall 7, Booth C47
cpp 426
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