Extronics wireless network chosen by Evonik Degussa Seal Sands
Extronics’ wireless network chosen by Evonik Degussa Seal Sands to improve efficiency. Intrinsically safe and explosion proof wireless network offers cost effective and scalable solution.
Congleton, UK, 16 July 2008: Extronics, a leading supplier and manufacturer of intrinsically safe and explosion proof electrical and electronic equipment, announces that its wireless network for hazardous environments has been chosen by Evonik Degussa Seal Sands to improve overall efficiency in its Seal Sands, UK based plant. Evonik Degussa Seal Sands required a robust and cost effective measure to calculate the Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE) of their critical plant equipment in "real time". By installing Extronics' intrinsically safe WLAN Evonik Degussa Seal Sands has extended quick, efficient assessment of OEE into the extreme environments and zone 1 hazardous areas found in its plant.
As part of their continuous improvement initiative Evonik Degussa Seal Sands has developed a software package to measure and improve the OEE of critical equipment. OEE is the framework for measuring how effectively a process is producing product in the time it is planned to run, by breaking it down into three constituent components (availability, performance and quality). OEE helps measure and highlight areas with the greatest potential for Improvement, and provides a standardised method of monitoring progress. The software developed in-house at Evonik Degussa Seal Sands by Paul Shields (IT Manager) allows process operators in the production plants to log faults and other critical information relating to the production equipment by doing this the operator obtains instant feedback on how his equipment is performing and can then take action to improve for the future. Extronics was tasked to provide an economical and scaleable system for the plant operatives to input the OEE data in many locations on the reactor floors of four production buildings.
Initially Evonik Degussa Seal Sands wanted to install several fixed LAN ethernet connection points. However the cost of installing this type of LAN infrastructure in a zone 1 hazardous area and the future scalability made little commercial sense. Extronics recommended its Meru powered iWAP101 802.11a/b/g WLAN Access Points which are centrally managed and controlled using a single channel architecture, thereby providing the most robust and stable WLAN for heavy metal environments. With a WLAN installed portable PC terminals and PDA's with barcode scanners or RFID readers can be used to gather data or active WiFi RFID tags can be used to track assets and people. It also allows for future applications without further infrastructure costs.
"In a multi-purpose, multi-product batch plant such as ours, being able to measure and improve the overall effectiveness of our equipment is vital", said Chris Steel, Continuous Improvement Manager at Evonik Degussa Seal Sands. "However, rather than just spending time measuring our OEE we are now able to involve our people and concentrate our efforts on improving specific areas identified by the analysis tool, thanks to Extronics' equipment."
About Extronics
Extronics supplies and manufactures a wide
range of intrinsically safe and explosion proof products to
companies in the process industries who need to mobilise and track
their workforce within hazardous
facilities. Its unrivalled understanding
and experience of equipping potentially explosive environments, and
its focus on wireless networks and devices, enables companies to
receive automated and efficient access to process information
throughout their facility at any time.
About Meru Networks
Meru Networks is the global leader in
wireless infrastructure solutions that enable the All-Wireless
Enterprise. Its industry-leading innovations deliver pervasive,
wireless service fidelity for business-critical applications to
major Fortune 500 enterprises, universities, healthcare
organizations and local, state and federal government agencies.
Meru's award-winning Air Traffic Control technology brings the
benefits of the cellular world to the wireless LAN environment, and
its WLAN System is the only solution on the market that delivers
predictable bandwidth and over-the-air Quality of Service with the
reliability, scalability, and security necessary to deliver
converged voice and data services over a single WLAN
infrastructure. Founded in 2002, Meru is based in Sunnyvale,
California. For more information on Meru Networks and its products,
visit http://www.merunetworks.com/
About Evonik Industries
Evonik Industries is the creative industrial
group from Germany which operates in three business areas:
Chemicals, Energy and Real Estate. Evonik is a global leader in
specialty chemicals, an expert in power generation from hard coal
and renewable energies, and one of the largest private residential
real estate companies in Germany. Our strengths are creativity,
specialization, continuous self-renewal, and reliability. Evonik is
active in over 100 countries around the world. In its fiscal year
2006 more than 43,000 employees generated sales of about Euro 14.8
billion.
For more information about Extronics, please visit: www.extronics.com
Marketing Contact
Alison Newcombe
alisonn@extronics.com
+ 44 (0)1260 292651
Sales contact
Paul Lazor
paul@extronics.com
+ 44 (0)1260 292651
