Yokogawa opens the Open Process Automation (OPA) Test Bed Collaboration Center located six miles north of ExxonMobil’s Houston campus in The Woodlands, Texas. The opening follows the July 2019 announcement of Yokogawa’s selection as ExxonMobil’s OPA test bed system integrator. The technology center will house the test bed for evaluating candidate components and standards that will provide the basis for moving OPA technology into initial industrial field trials.
Today, end users in the energy and chemical industries must work with and integrate multiple proprietary systems in almost every process plant or facility, according to Yokogawa. These systems include manufacturing execution systems (MES), distributed control systems (DCS), human-machine interfaces (HMI), programmable logic controllers (PLC) and inputs/outputs (I/O). These multiple proprietary systems and their integration result in elevated capital costs on new projects and high total cost of ownership, especially in the operation and maintenance of such systems.
The Open Process Automation Forum (OPAF) is an international forum of end users, system integrators, suppliers, academia and standards organizations who are working together to develop the specifications for open process control systems. OPAF’s goal is to enable more open and modular systems that supports integration of best-in-class components. This architecture will provide both configuration and application portability across components from different suppliers, thereby reducing system capital cost and total cost of ownership.
Yokogawa is currently working on Stage 1 and 2 of the OPA test bed at the new center, which will result in an operational test bed ready for use by ExxonMobil and their collaboration partners in Stage 3.
For more information, visit: www.yokogawa.com
