Advant MOD300 migration to System 800xA at DOMO chemical plant in Germany

ABB migrates state-of-the-art control technology into one centralized control room at the DOMO Nylon & Intermediates production site in Leuna, Germany

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DOMO Caproleuna GmbH has evolved their control system to ABB’s flagship System 800xA on one of their production lines. This is only the first step towards a completely centralized control room and with cutting edge process control technology. The high performance HMI and the innovative Extended Operator Workplace by ABB will ensure efficiency and quality at the site.

Innovation at a traditional location

DOMO Chemicals is globally active as a Polyamide-6 manufacturer. The site in Leuna is one of the world’s largest caproclactam production facilities with a production capacity of 170,000 tons per year and currently employs a staff of 530.

The line for Hydroxylammonium sulfate* (HAS) production has been controlled by System 800xA from the central control room at the DOMO site in Leuna since August 2016. ABB supplied the complete hardware and software for migrating the existing Unix-based Advant MOD300 control system. Consequently, the approximately 2,000 process signals from the production line are now processed and visualized by the 800xA control system. The process is operated from two state-of-the-art Extended Operator Workplaces (EOW). Once the migration is complete (scheduled till end of 2020), around 11,000 signals from the production lines will be automated by the ABB control system using eleven EOWs in a unique and ergonomic control room environment.

 “The new system has been met with great enthusiasm at our company,” reports DOMO project manager Phillip Thal. The DOMO project team and the specialists from ABB have been working closely together for nearly two years. Especially when the individual graphic objects were being designed, the DOMO team contributed with their practical experience at the site. The visualization of individual valves or measurement points, etc. are reminiscent of the corresponding symbols in the user interface of the old system. This provides users with a certain feeling of security. The visualization interface of System 800xA follows a new concept of High Performance HMI that increases situation awareness for fast process handling.

*Hydroxylammonium sulfate is used in the production of anti-skinning agents, pharmaceuticals, rubber, textiles, plastics and detergents.


Main facts

Industry Chemical product manufacturing
Customer DOMO Chemicals
Country Germany
Solutions Migration to System 800xA
(from Advant MOD 300)
Control Room Design
Extended Operator Workplaces (EOW)
High Performance Graphics
Alarm Management

Once the migration is complete, around 11,000 signals from the production lines will be automated by the ABB control system using eleven EOWs in a unique and ergonomic control room environment

New user interface for top efficiency

The High Performance HMI on the large overview screens of the EOW exudes calm – in normal operation, the lines and other system elements hardly stand out from the  background, the measurement values appear in dark-blue on the low-contrast screen. The High Performance HMI calls for strong colors and contrast only if the system is not behaving as planned. In such cases, the corresponding elements light up in orange or red. The advantage is clear: any critical situation can be detected immediately and very distinctly.

Current research reveals that losses worth 20 billion US dollars are generated in the processing industry yearly. Of that total, 80% can be avoided and 40% ($6.4bn) result from human operating errors. This is because the process plants and control systems are becoming increasingly complex. Production flexibility is key to performance and the market is trending towards using larger process areas with less people to do the job. Here, the High Performance HMI provides the solution. The new user interface lets you detect difficult abnormal situations immediately and master them with information accessed through one click navigation which speeds up decision-making and corrective actions. Following the wishes of DOMO, the EOWs have been equipped with additional keyboards. This way, in critical situations, up to three system operators can optionally influence the process and production.

The new user interface lets you detect difficult abnormal situations immediately and master them with information accessed through one click navigation which speeds up decision-making and corrective actions.

Faster and more effective trouble shooting

System 800xA in the Leuna plant includes a comprehensive alarm management module. The system registers all process data at closely timed intervals. This leads to an improved overview of what has happened in the process in addition to what is happening right now. Without a properly configured alarm system, even the most skillful operator may run into difficulties. The alarm analysis function of 800xA optimizes the alarm system, monitors its performance, and continuously calculates metrics. Trouble shooting becomes faster and more effective through enhanced collaboration with other key functions. Irregularities in the process can thus be detected and remedied, and workflows for key actions can be automated.

The new system requires know-how. To this end, the DOMO project team around Mr. Thal attended special courses for System 800xA at the ABB University in Frankfurt and Ladenburg, Germany. ABB specialists have already trained 55 process operators on the new EOWs and the System 800xA. The process operators from Leuna quickly adapted to the new technology. “The High Performance HMI color concept and EOW operating stations have been very well received,” reports DOMO project manager Thal. He highlights one more detail of the Windows user interface: tabbed navigation. System 800xA user interface with tabbed navigation offers quick and easy access to relevant information, thus improves the situation awareness and responsiveness to alarms and events: “We all know how to browse through tabs from surfing the web. This makes the work even more intuitive.”

The HAS production line is the first to be controlled by ABB’s System 800xA in the central control room at the DOMO site in Leuna. Yet this is only the beginning. By 2020, all caprolactam production systems will be controlled by the new system in the completely new designed control room.

Demo video: How can System 800xA improve operator effectiveness?
Richard Ratter, Head of Marketing at DOMO Caproleuna GmbH
“For us as a progressive company, it is essential to always be on the cutting edge of technology. State-of-the-art technical standards ensure top quality of our products.”

Learn more

System 800xA
How to enhance control room operator capacities: human factors and ergonomics
Enabling control rooms consolidation with common HMI
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