The companies who do that best are generally the ones who are most competitive, and will therefore end up with the greatest market share. On the other hand, each industry faces its own unique variations on this challenge, and success lies in overcoming them in the best possible way.
To tackle these issues, operators have to make the most of their suppliers’ R&D departments, and the good news is that significant advances have been achieved on many fronts. This means that when new equipment is being planned, and old equipment upgraded, the option is there to optimize production in a way that until recently would have been unthinkable.
Automation is at the core of ABB’s work, and over the past 30 years we have acquired the world’s largest base of installed advanced process control systems. These allow both the electrical system and the process control system to be controlled together in a single distributed control system that is able to integrate electrical, process, communication and safety systems. By doing so the Metals' operations can be planned, powered, maintained and documented in the most efficient and transparent way possible by a single team operating a common control system.