Global site

ABB's website uses cookies. By staying here you are agreeing to our use of cookies. Learn more

Envisioning future process automation systems

Enabling innovation while preserving continuity

Share this page

For more than 40 years, ABB has built and maintains a leadership position in the Distributed Control System (DCS) market by preserving its customers’ capital investments while providing new capabilities. The control system of tomorrow will accelerate innovation on behalf of producers for decades to come.

This vision will make a world of difference for our customers, the producers of the goods that the world needs, as well as their customers, the people of the world. Read the paper to learn more.

Download

Enabling more sustainable production

Sustainability, electrification and digitalization are the mandates of greatest urgency for the process industries today. They must find ways to maintain efficient production of life’s necessities while reducing the impact of their operations on the environment. Such advances can only be realized by a thorough application of new and emerging digital technologies .

Competitive, agile and innovative plants

Productivity, efficiency, quality, safety, and cost remain fundamental performance metrics for the process industries while global competitiveness and profitability pressures are reshaping industry and their automation requirements. The control system of tomorrow must be able to scale and readily adapt to new technologies and changing market conditions while providing standard interfaces for third party connectivity. The generation joining the workforce will leverage the familiar benefits of digitalization without having to sacrifice the reliability, availability and security that current systems provide.

Users call for greater openness and flexibility

A confluence of user-driven initiatives towards openness, security, and interoperability are motivating change in automation system development. There is a need to significantly renew the technology. The control system of tomorrow will have a modular automation architecture that will evolve to address customer needs, becoming more open, interoperable and flexible, while maintaining the same high level of reliability, availability, safety and security to which users have grown accustomed.

Process Automation System Vision

ABB envisions that Process Automation Systems of the future will empower industries to compete in a fast-changing world by delivering adaptable and reliable, integrated, modular and secure automation solutions with flexible, simpler and faster project engineering execution and commissioning.

The vision will facilitate digital transformation and collaboration between people, systems and equipment through secure OT/IT integration, for autonomous operations and sustainable performance, thereby ensuring the safety of people and the environment.

Investments will be protected by allowing users to continuously and seamlessly evolve their existing DCS installed base to meet future needs.