"Having a Process Knowledge System gives us capabilities that we didn't have with our older system. Experion’s integrated applications will allow us to drive business benefits in a competitive marketplace."

—Bill Lessig, Plant Manager

Honeywell Specialty Materials in Geismar, Louisiana, the world’s largest supplier of hydrofluoric acid, was experiencing problems with a 1990s legacy control system. The problems had resulted in several days of unscheduled lost production due to three separate DCS failures. A more reliable system was needed. Honeywell’s Experion® Process Knowledge System (PKS) was chosen for its ability to quickly replace aging technology and its potential to add advanced functionality into the future.

Benefits to the business include:

• Honeywell provided users with an Experion system that allows them to boost process efficiency.
• Experion provides a basis to improve the plant’s asset, people, and business effectiveness.
• Experion’s high availability will help reduce unscheduled production losses.
• The ailing PROVOX system was replaced in 24 hours with minimal plant production impact.
• Honeywell’s migration strategy eliminated the need for field wiring changes, saving time and money.

The plant was experiencing ongoing problems with its aging PROVOX system. Servicing the system was an issue as the system’s obsolescence created a shortage of spare parts. Even to continue normal operations, spare parts had to be borrowed from a local supplier.

Additionally, the customer believed a redundant system would improve uptime. Honeywell Specialty Materials considered maintaining the existing PROVOX SRX controllers and upgrading the process control system with Delta V. However, longevity and obsolescence issues were still a concern with this strategy. Honeywell proposed replacing the existing system with an Experion system that included state-of-the-art functionality and Honeywell’s proven continuous evolution strategy.

“The teamwork displayed by the Honeywell Process Solutions group and our local team made the Experion installation a very successful project, and allowed our facility to start up slightly ahead of schedule.”

—Ron Snell, Operations Manager

The existing system was replaced with Experion. Honeywell provided a migration solution that minimized downtime, while delivering the project safely, quickly, and on budget.

Honeywell Specialty Materials chose Experion because:

• The Experion migration would use the existing wiring resulting in significant cost savings.
• Experion’s use of fully redundant Fault Tolerant Ethernet (FTE) would enhance the system availability and plant uptime.
• Geismar’s sister sites have had success with Experion.
• The plant was able to simply port their existing APC applications to Experion.
• Installing Experion would be simple and straightforward, and installation would be completed by Honeywell Specialty Materials using local instrument and electrical subcontractors.
• Experion’s ability to use existing HART protocol devices while leveraging all PKS features.

Experion is a next-generation process automation system that unifies people with process, business, and asset management to help process manufacturers increase profitability and productivity. Experion integrates disparate data across your facility, making the most of your resources and people, and feeds it all into a unified automation system so you can achieve an operation that's more proactive, efficient, and responsive. It’s a coordinated effort of better connecting your assets, optimizing your process, involving your people, and increasing your business agility.