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Cost reduction- Reducing operational expenditure:

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The package contributes in two ways to effect operations c= ost reduction.

a. Capturing process knowledge= to reduce operational expenditure: One of the intended cost benefits of increased automation is the resultant ability to reduce manpower. An often overlook= ed loss that is difficult to value is the loss of process knowledge and experience that this cost “savings” generates. The software d= esign helps to minimize this loss by providing a means to capture and document process knowledge. This knowledge is contained within the customized user’s guide and within the readily retrievable Access, MSDE2000 or= SQL database. Since the beginning of development and implementation of FALCONEER at FMC, the number of process/production support personnel decreased by about 50%, in part due to advanced automation and in part due to cost reduction initiatives, and with that all the combined knowledge (operators, process= /mfg/control engineers & maintenance engineers) of the process. The plant remains = well controlled with higher productivity due to the increased automation while capturing the otherwise lost process knowledge and information.

b. Cost reduction due to reduced pla= nt down time: The package provides an opportunity cost to improve reliability/reduce downtime: In one of the installations, for a 14-month period during which information was provided, the total unscheduled downtime at the plant for= the monitored process was over 500 Hours. It was estimated t= hat the unscheduled downtime issues that may have been potentially predicted = by this process monitoring & alerting software accounted for about half the total downtime. Therefore, the potential cost savings by early detection of the sensor failures, equipment failures and/or control issues and preventing or eliminating the unscheduled downtime (by coordinating t= he required maintenance with scheduled outages) is estimated to be <= span style=3D'font-family:Verdana;mso-bidi-font-family:Arial'>several hundred thousand dollars. This value also does not include the co= st of the waste material associated with start-up or general process operati= on, which was estimated to be tens of thousands of dollars,= nor does it include process inefficiencies (energy, raw material usage, etc.) from non-optimal process control associated with startup or general proce= ss operation. By predicting just 15%-20% of the causes with en= ough time for the operators, engineers, or maintenance workers to take correct= ive action, would realize a PAYBACK of 1 to 2 years using this software tool investment. The payback would be even better if the plant had been at capacity production levels or a higher percentage of diagnostics were correctly acted upon in a timely fashion.

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