ABB releases its white paper entitled “The DCS of tomorrow: ABB’s process automation system vision,” which outlines how process automation systems will evolve to support industries as they undergo digital transformation and shift to sustainable energy sources.
For more than a century, automation systems have been central to empowering industries that provide the basic building blocks of our everyday lives – energy, power, water, metals, minerals, chemicals, and transportation – to scale to the needs of a growing population. And for nearly 50 years, the DCS – a digital platform for automating and operating large plants – has been instrumental in enabling safe, efficient and reliable 24/7 operations for these process and energy industries.
ABB foresees 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.
- The DCS of the future will be embedded in a digitally-enabled environment that facilitates enterprise-wide secure connectivity and collaboration among people, systems and equipment.
- New business models will be feasible through readily downloadable application subscription services.
- Machine learning and artificial intelligence will speed issue resolution and promote remote, autonomous operations that keep people out of harm’s way and mitigate against human-induced error.
- 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.
“With the DCS of tomorrow, we will accelerate innovation while maintaining the reliability and continuity for which we are known,” said Peter Terwiesch, President, ABB Process Automation.