Consider the importance control systems play in manufacturing. How each individual system contributes in some small or large way to the overall success of the plant by means of efficiency, uptime, and driving down costs. The better performance the less cost for electricity, maintenance, and downtime. Control systems are like the brain to the human body. Without one nothing moves, nothing turns or flows, everything stands still, it’s dead. And let’s not forget, a smart one… works smarter. Almost every industrial process machinery sold today runs on some form of software control system, some are just better.
Let’s consider an air compressor for our example. This critical piece of industrial machinery drives all sorts of equipment and applications necessary for manufacturing production. An air compressor is a pump after all which is just like the heart that pumps blood through our veins. When the compressed air system fails everything comes to a screeching halt, just like we would if our heart stopped. It then takes some unknown amount of time to bring back online but by now the damage is done. With the right tools in place casualties like this could have been avoided. So, here’s the first key feature, acquire a robust and reliable (long-lifecycle / proven brand) control system. The compressed air system is too big to fail, just like your heart, and that should be understood with vital importance.
A second key feature of robust and reliable control system is in its capacity for performance. A smarter, adaptable, well-designed software package yields better performance. What’s that mean? Better performance? It means the machine is only as good as what the software is telling it to do. Besides good hardware, your best investment will be into the software with consideration given to the company’s technical experience and support. Better performance means more efficiency and less waste. It means preventing failures by coordinating with its counterparts and having designed plans for all kinds of scenarios. In a conventional system when a compressor failure, you might not be fast enough to bring another compressor online but with an intelligent control system a backup compressor can be brought online automatically, almost as if it never happened. A smart system means overall better performance.
Data and freedom. Probably the most undervalued key benefit but when you need it you really wish you had it. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, Data is knowledge and knowledge is power. Data allows for detailed oversight with a certain level of brevity. It allows us to keep an eye on things and make corrective decisions. It drives optimization and mitigate disasters. But what do I mean when I say “freedom”? The freedom for you to hold the keys to your control system, to your data and your ability to troubleshoot that data. Freedom to buy and choose part upgrades from multiple sources. The third key benefit I will share with you is to ensure that your control system collects, organizes, and represents the technical data as necessary to properly monitor the system with the freedom to manage all of it’s aspects should the moment arise.
With decades of experience, we have been building these key features right into our products. We work to identify opportunities that increase efficiency, reliability, and plan for the road ahead. We understand that no two plants are the same and to be effective we must account for the nuances of the plant operation. Our focus is on transforming the compressed air system infrastructure into trusted and reliable asset. Compressed air is an essential utility, we know how valuable it is and understand the attention it deserves.