Siemens at Achema Pulse – Realising digital transformation in process industries
Published on : Tuesday 15-06-2021
IIoT Data-based algorithms increase operational efficiency of plants; process optimisation and modularisation as the key to success.
June 14, 2021 – At the "Achema Pulse" live digital event, Siemens will be demonstrating how the combination of the real and the digital worlds empowers industrial companies to act in a versatile and sustainable manner. Companies in the process industry are facing urgent and rapidly changing challenges. The Covid-19 pandemic in particular has transformed demand patterns and global supply chains virtually overnight. At the same time, industry-specific regulations and standards are creating new framework conditions for production. Digitalisation and automation are the levers for mastering these changes. Industrial IoT solutions can exploit the resulting data to secure a competitive advantage since the intelligent analysis, understanding and utilisation of the data allows companies to adapt their processes faster to changing requirements. The Siemens Digital Enterprise portfolio makes this possible by combining the real world with the digital world, thus enabling solutions for simulation, virtual processes, remote access and connectivity as well as presenting service offerings for digital transformation. Thanks to the corresponding industry-specific know-how, individual sector requirements can be taken into account.
"Achema Pulse is a great opportunity to providing impulses to our costomers and gaining insights on how we can implement the digital transformation together. There will be a special emphasis on the pharmaceutical and chemical industries, and we look forward to sharing our expertise in these areas," says Eckard Eberle, CEO of Siemens Process Automation.
For companies in the pharmaceutical industry, winning the race against time is now more important than ever. Siemens is helping pharmaceutical companies accelerate their production setups with the help of digitalisation and automation. One example is the Mainz-based biotechnology company BioNTech SE which has converted an existing facility in Marburg for the production of the Covid-19 vaccine in record time with assistance from Siemens. Through collaboration with Siemens and the team of experts on site in Marburg, the project timeline for converting the existing facility for the production of mRNA-vaccine was cut from around one year down to five months, whereby the implementation of key parts of the new Manufacturing Execution System (MES) was reduced to two and half months.
In the chemical industry, the biggest challenges lie in the fact that plants must run reliably and safely. The "Siemens Digital Worker" is a concept that allows operating personnel to digitise and automate work in the field using state-of-the-art technologies such as augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR). This approach supports the user in the digitisation of workflows in process plants and in paperless processing, promoting remote access thanks to electronic documentation, access information and guidance by intelligent devices.
As a specific offering for the chemical and oil & gas industries, Siemens offers not only the explosion-proof motors of the Simotics XP series, but also motors of the Simotics SD series for environments without explosion hazard in the Chemstar version. They are equipped with pre-configured chemical-specific options. Both motor series, available with options, operate reliably and energy-efficiently even under extreme conditions and offer all relevant certificates.
To meet the demands of short innovation cycles and adaptations to new product portfolios, systems must be quick and easy to expand. The prerequisite for this are standardised, cross-vendor interfaces for the efficient configuration, communication and integration of modular plants. An interface of this type is defined in the MTP (Module Type Package). This protocol defines the information technology aspect of process models or plant sections in such a way that they can easily be integrated into a comprehensive automation solution, for example the Simatic PCS neo web-based process control system. The modules are assembled to form an overall process, facilitating their monitoring and control. At Achema Pulse, the example of the cooperation between Siemens and Merck will demonstrate how a modular production plant based on MTP minimises engineering effort and permits fast and versatile process adaptations.
"As part of the digital transformation, new trends are emerging in the process industry, which we are driving with our solutions and innovations," explains Eberle. "We regard 5G as one of the most important technologies in the industrial IoT context. It means we can transfer data quickly and reliably over powerful communication networks to exactly where it is needed. This makes production plants more flexible, autonomous and efficient." Scalance MUM856-1 is the first industrial 5G router from Siemens.
With its wireless connectivity, the robust Sitrans MS200 Multisensor forms the hardware basis for the collection of vibration and temperature data in mechanical system components. Via a Bluetooth connection, the data is sent to the Sitrans CC220 industrial gateway where it is encrypted before being transmitted from there to the cloud. Sitrans SCM IQ has an anomaly detection feature which is based on machine learning. It constantly monitors and analyses all sensor values and swiftly detects any deviations from the intended operating state. Via the app, anomalies in plant behaviour can be documented for immediate distribution to alert a predefined group of users. The Sitrans SCM IQ system comprises multisensors, gateway and app, and can be used in all industrial plants with mechanical or rotating system components. Scheduled to be available from summer 2021, it allows previously unused data from field devices to be used for the pre-emptive identification and prevention of imminent device failures in advance, thus reducing maintenance costs and avoiding unplanned downtimes.
Sustainability as a guiding principle
As Eberle emphasizes: "Our offer not only meets the requirements of our customers, it also constitutes a contribution to sustainability." Accordingly, Achema Pulse will also be offering sessions on the topics of chemical recycling and sustainability.