Dow Chemical Receives HART Plant of the Year Award
March 13, 2014
Dow Chemical engineers are using HART technology as part of a reliability improvement program to monitor critical control valves.
The Dow Chemical Co.’s specialty chemicals plant in Deer Park, Texas, received the HART Communication Foundation’s 2013 HART Plant of the Year Award. The award showcases end users who have demonstrated ingenuity in the application of HART Communication for real-time operational improvements.
Dow Chemical engineers are using HART technology as part of a reliability improvement program to monitor critical control valves connected to asset management software for diagnostics, failure analysis, and preventative/predictive condition-based maintenance. Using the intelligent-device information significantly reduced costs and improved plant operations as it enabled the transition from reactive to proactive maintenance, according to the HART Communication Foundation.
“HART technology has helped reduce production downtime related to control valve failures,” says Shadrach Stephens, Dow Chemical I/E maintenance group leader. “Through our reliability program the plant has realized a 66 percent improvement in downtime reduction over a three-year period. Along with performing valve overhauls, we use the HART signal to monitor real-time valve conditions, which has helped with identifying problems before they could cause unplanned events. Combined with several improvement initiatives, this reliability effort has yielded significant financial savings including millions of dollars in EBIT.”
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