Beijing, China, July 12, 2022 - Disruptive innovation is taking place in heavy industry today. For the first time since leading the Open Process Automation Forum (OPAF) in 2017, U.S.-based oil and gas producer ExxonMobil has joined forces with five global industry leaders to deploy open process automation solutions at one of its production plants.
Beijing, China, July 12, 2022 - Disruptive innovation is taking place in heavy industry today. For the first time since leading the Open Process Automation Forum (OPAF) in 2017, U.S.-based oil and gas producer ExxonMobil has joined forces with five global industry leaders to deploy open process automation solutions at one of its production plants.
The partnership between Schneider Electric and ExxonMobil is significant because, on the one hand, Schneider Electric provides solutions to infrastructure challenges in a variety of industries in field trials that are not dependent on manufacturers. On the other hand, this field trial symbolizes the importance of collaborative innovation for the next generation of automation, while also empowering all industrial sectors.
OPAF, a consortium of industry leaders including Koch Industries, Dow Chemical Company and Saudi Aramco, is working together to promote a process automation architecture based on open control standards and designed in a way that is not dependent on suppliers. Adhere to the "plug and play" concept to develop products that combine ease of use, security and interoperability.
In the past, most enterprises designed application programs for their own systems. Therefore, when the hardware is outdated, enterprises need to replace the hardware. At the same time, because most systems are bound to a supplier, they cannot detect the latest network threats, which brings a series of network information security challenges. Schneider Electric and other industry leaders are building open architectures for heavy process industries that address the problems posed by traditional models.
Continue to escort next-generation automation
Historically, when a crisis occurs, people work together based on common goals. The 2015 Paris Climate Agreement, for example, saw nearly 200 countries unite to reduce carbon emissions and ramp up climate action, working toward the goal of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius. Previously, ExxonMobil teamed up with industry leaders such as Schneider Electric, Intel, Dell, VMware and Yokogawa Electric to work together and collaborate on innovation to deploy an open process automation system for one of its non-critical production facilities.
Global industry leaders coming together to collaborate on innovation will bring limitless possibilities. Open process automation systems will provide end-users with a proven architecture and energy efficient operations. At the same time, for enterprises, the promotion of sustainable development goals and the improvement of corporate profitability are crucial. Open process automation will enable businesses to embrace digital transformation and drive both employee productivity and financial performance.
In this field trial, all enterprises provided components based on open Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) standards, enabling interoperability and stable operation between different components in different enterprises:
Exxonmobil - Project requirements and specifications;
Schneider Electric - Soft dpPAC runtime in the EcoStruxure™ Open Automation Platform compatible with any operating system simplifies the deployment and maintenance of control policies;
Yokogawa Electric - System integration and related technical support;
Intel - Intel Xeon processors for resource provisioning and information security;
Dell -- EMC Hyper-converged infrastructure and network switches;
VMware - Tools for management and virtualization.
Schneider Electric's open EcoStruxure Open Automation platform serves as the solution glue, enabling the successful implementation of joint solutions and opening a new chapter in open process automation.
