Control.com - Nerds in Control

Hi All,

I just want to know how reliable Foxboro DCS is when compared to ABB, Yokogawa, Emerson and Honeywell.

Honeywell would be the best bet in my humble opinion. We installed a ABB 800xa system and also have the Honeywell experion installed. there has been several teeting problems with the ABB system, changes can not be done without doing downloads and we have tripped the plant several times when doing downloads. Honeywell experion has had no such issues. as for Yokogawa, Foxboro and Emerson I have no exposure to these systems.

I really wish people would actually use their real names when making comments like this. Otherwise they should be totally discounted, unless you can check a source it should be regarded as baseless speculation.

So please don't reply to these kinds of requests anonymously.

Chris Jennings
E/I Engineer
Australian Paper - Maryvale Mill

Not that the information would be any less or more valuable, as none of the list members are really going to take the time to trace the source and the information - at best these are mere subjective opinions - take it or leave it!

Ps - my 2c - I really cut my DCS teeth on Yokogawa systems - so no guess as to which horse I'd back.

Clyde September
C/I Engineer
South Africa

i also suggest u to use yokogawa DCS.

Hello anon~

Did you try ABB 800xA's LEG (Load Evaluate Go).
Please check that out and then you would take your words back.

Of all the DCS yokogawa DCS is the best. i have experienced nil failures for about 4 years. ABB DCS (ADVANT) gives erratic and inexplicable performances.

R.RAMESH

Each brand has its pros and cons.

Almost in 90% that I encountered problems at customers sites, It came down to user/procedure faults. If a system is installed and maintained as prescripted, almost no problems will occur.

So I won't give advise of what to use. It may come down on the money in your pocket. That will certainly make the difference.

Also please leave all the negative info behind. It's blurring your vision.

Marcel

Put it simply, teaching rocket science to a 4 year old would be easier than working with the Foxboro DCS. We are experiencing huge amounts of problems, faults and breakdowns due to it with next to no support. I personally wouldn't touch it with a 10 mile pole.

B.Oshyer
Control Systems Technical Officer
Australia

I worked for 10 years on a Foxboro I/A series DCS before moving to another site with a Honeywell TDC/Experion system. One key difference I immediately notice is what I can do in one system against what the other. The Foxboro system is truly open, this is a double edged sword, i.e. you can do just about anything. Is this system, a boon for the automation specialist, because you can build, code, configure anything at all... The only limit is your imagination. Like I said, to an automation specialist, if you want to drive plant performance with unique control schemes then this is it. Uniquely as well, the PID loop in Foxboro is one of the best I've seen, probably to do with the fact that the control guru, Shinskey advises Foxboro. The other side of the sword (sometimes the sharper side) is that this open system allows endless configuration, which if not documented properly becomes a maintenance nightmare. Additionally, configuring the system requires you to be (at least for the Unix based system) in an environment where a simple command can wipe out a lot. With Honeywell, pretty much everything is done for you, and there is nothing much you are allowed to do, it's almost idiot proof because the thinking for a problem would have probably been done much earlier and pre-configured into the system. For the automation specialist, this is great stuff (less work for common issues) and occasionally bad, becuase not everything would have been configured and unique configurations are difficult. Overall, depending on your perspective, Honeywell might be the one for you as it does not require a lot of effort to configure new stuff.

Regardless of which system is used any trips on download will almost 100% of the time be attributed to the implementation of the Application Logic, and this is not exactly platform dependent... Otherwise I'm sure we'd all have some great stories.

ABB 800xA has a feature called Load-Evaluate-Go, which I believe is unique in the market, which allows the user to view any and all changed variables prior to downloading to a controller. This will aid the 'application programmers' in checking their work prior to download.

Lets be real about this, guys. Like girlfriends and cars, we always have a soft spot for our firsts. Look closer and you may just have your eyes opened!

Hi,

May I suggest to you YOKOGAWA DCS? I think it's more reliable DCS that ever a man made.

I would like to suggest System 800xA from ABB. The most reliable system on the market atm.