Yokogawa celebrates 50 years of CENTUM with next-gen release

Hot on the heels of celebrating the 50th anniversary of the world’s first distributed control system launched on 19 June 1975, Yokogawa Electric Corporation has announced the unveiling of its 10th generation Release 7 concept and the launch of Release 7.01 of the CENTUM VP integrated production control system, a core product in the OpreX Control and Safety System range.

Yokogawa says it has based its development of CENTUM VP Release 7 on the concept of enabling autonomous operations, aiming to help its customers attain sustainability by improving energy efficiency, accelerating decarbonisation, and providing a safe and secure working environment. The company says that while maintaining the reliability, stability, continuity, robust security, and engineering and service network that have been hallmarks of the CENTUM series since its inception, it aims to drive innovations for the future in the following three areas:

1. Expanded scope of control and monitoring

By securely aggregating a wide range of data scattered throughout the plant, the status of the entire plant can be monitored, and the scope of automated operation can be expanded, enabling safer and more secure operations.

2. Predictive monitoring through process condition monitoring

By extracting and identifying process-specific events related to operations and predicting deviations from expected values, operators can anticipate changes and take action, helping to achieve more stable operations and improve energy efficiency.

3. Reduction of operator workload

By presenting future scenarios that leverage operator knowledge and know-how, it supports the operator in making accurate decisions. In addition, autonomous control AI can take over from operators to achieve long-term stable operation. This reduces operator workload and mental stress.

To achieve autonomous operations, it is essential to leverage AI while ensuring safety and security. Release 7.01 helps to establish the necessary foundation for this goal through:

• Enhanced security: Adopting industry security benchmarks to strengthen the cybersecurity of the components that make up control systems and enhance the overall security level of the system.
• Expansion of control and monitoring scope: Integrating OPC Unified Architecture (OPC UA) connectivity, the range of plant equipment and devices that can be controlled and monitored by CENTUM is expanded.
• Enhanced engineering capabilities for large-scale projects: A feature has been added that allows the merging and testing of multiple engineering databases, enabling high-quality and efficient engineering, contributing to the rapid start-up of new plants and restart of upgraded plants.
   

“In this VUCA* era, the conditions required for manufacturing sites and management are becoming ever more complex,” said Mitsuhiro Yamamoto, Vice President, Executive Officer, and head of the Systems Business Division at Yokogawa Electric. “By realising stable operations and expanding the scope of autonomy, CENTUM VP Release 7 will help our customers achieve a more sustainable society and sustainable business growth.”

Since its launch in 1975, more than 30,000 CENTUM systems have been deployed in more than 100 countries around the world, supporting a wide range of industries such as oil refining, petrochemicals, specialty chemicals, textiles, steel, pharmaceuticals, food, water, electric power and gas.

^{* An acronym that stands for volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity.}

Image credit: Yokogawa Electric Corporation