“With the support of Honeywell, we have successfully migrated our Rockwell ProcessLogix control system to Experion. We now have greater access to real-time information and analysis tools to make faster and more effective decisions.” 

Stacey Miller, Applications Engineer, USA Yeast

USA Yeast had an outdated control system that limited its ability to improve process operations. The company decided to migrate its Rockwell ProcessLogix control system to Honeywell’s Experion® Process Knowledge System (PKS). As a result, the company has experienced the following benefits:

• No need for new graphics, rewriting any control code, or removing any wiring or I/O
• Improved access to plant information
• Improved operator effectiveness
• Resolved Fieldbus issues
• Flawless recognition of transmitters
• Detailed migration path for business growth
• Peace of mind with technical support

USA Yeast was looking to improve process operations and overcome some of the problems with its Rockwell ProcessLogix control system. The main issue was that the ProcessLogix system was having a problem communicating with the newer Rosemount temperature transmitters. The Fieldbus Interface Module would not recognize the newer DDE files. There was no clear migration path for the Rockwell control system technology to overcome these problems.

“We felt that we were at a dead end and needed a system that could grow with us and provide a clear migration path,” said Stacey Miller, Applications Engineer, USA Yeast.

USA Yeast turned to Honeywell’s control system experts to analyze the configuration of the existing system in order to find a solution. Honeywell presented a proposal detailing the hardware, software and processes that would be required to perform the migration successfully. In addition, the most critical elements were identified to mitigate risk.

USA Yeast operates 24 hours a day, seven days a week so the cutover had to be completed quickly and over a weekend when shutting down the system was least critical to production. 

To perform the migration, Honeywell supplied redundant servers, controller expansion hardware, Experion software and engineering services. 
 
Issues that had to be resolved during the migration project include:

• Moving the CL5555 processors and DeviceNet cards that were paired with a C200 processor in three different racks to their own racks. 
• Editing all exchange blocks for the new ASA path required by the move above. 
• Editing the CL5555 programming for the new ASA path for the messaging to the field PLCs.
• Flashing all the cards in the system with the Honeywell firmware.

The final migration cutover was performed over a weekend to limit process downtime. This required very detailed planning and long workdays to squeeze four days worth of work into two. USA Yeast worked a continuous 24 hours performing the long process of reloading all the Fieldbus points and reactivating the 350 SCMs. This allowed testing to begin on the second day and the company resumed truck loading operations.  
 
The success of this project can be attributed to detailed planning, careful execution and building the right team. Identifying all the project requirements, risks and customer expectations early in the discovery phase is also vital to  positive performance.

Concluded Miller, “We are very happy with the overall migration and unbeatable performance we see with the Experion system. We see a clear growth path for our business and now have a product that will enable us to do so in a seamless way.”