There are multiple plants within the Kansas City complex, each encompassing a combination of basic process control, safety instrumented systems (SIS), and other islands of automation. One plant alone performs checks on 1160 interlock actions annually in the control system—from 696 sensors and 831 actors. Previously, this was a labor-intensive process consuming significant time, energy, and lost production! Bayer’s operating procedures and work practices required extensive manual documentation and upkeep, often contributing to inefficiencies and human errors. There had to be a better way. That’s when Bayer turned to Experitec and Vantage Point, with the goals of:
- Reducing test time without compromising safety
- Adopting a repeatable, reliable solution
- Automating records
- Digitizing the validation process, wherever possible
