Situation 

Chemical company Hexion produces thermosetting resins that can be found in all kinds of end products, such as cars, wind turbines, electronics, aeroplanes and buildings. The site in Rotterdam-Pernis is one of the world’s largest production sites with 300 permanent employees, five continuous plants and its own on-site Research & Development Lab.
The factories have been in operation for several decades and are constantly being renewed. One of the innovations Hexion recently wanted to implement was the replacement of the control system (DCS) and security system (IPS) of one of their plants.

Globally, the company prefers to work with one operating system; and the Emerson system was chosen. Replacing the system is not an easy job. Naturally, safety comes first and all processes must run as planned. Numerous instruments are connected to the control and security system, which ensures the desired control and protection of the process. Ensuring that, both during and after the replacement of the control system, all processes work exactly as planned and as before requires a great deal of effort. That is why Hexion was looking for a party that could manage this replacement. At the same time Hexion wanted to upgrade the control rooms including the workstations, to give their operators a modern, comfortable and state of the art workplace.

Solution

Hexion sought cooperation with KH Engineering for this project. A complete overview was made of all the connections of the control system in SPI (SmartPlant Instrumentation) from INtools. This resulted in a connection database with all connections, from which all drawings and relevant information can be generated to create overviews and thus know exactly how the new control systems should be connected. After that, an E&I contractor was selected, along with a number of smaller contractors, to carry out this assignment. KH Engineering, supported by Hexion maintenance, Hexion operations and the Hexion project team, provided the entire construction management for both projects. In addition, KH Engineering, together with Hexion, provided a plan that ensured a smooth transition from the old to the new control system, without malfunctions, of the running plants.

At the same time, within eight weeks the control room of the same factory was converted to a modern version with a different layout, a new climate system, new monitors, touch screens for the process control, adjustable operator desks and other office furniture and a state-of-the-art interior (in cooperation with Brand Control Rooms), including biodynamic lighting. It was decided that the part of the control room conversion would take place during the turnaround and that the factory would start up again from the new control room, according to the wishes of our customer.