Nickel producer implements Rockwell’s control solution to enhance the quality of ore calcination through kilns

Legacy system was too slow – causing frequent electrical trips due to product temperature being too high, which was compromising product quality. Legacy system was not user-friendly and was difficult to maintain leading to uptime issues.

Rockwell Automation’s FactoryTalk® Analytics™ PavilionX™ platform, a model predictive control solution that controls the plant in real time. The platform offers an intelligence layer that sits on top of automation systems and continuously assesses current and predicted operational data.

Improved performance, using autonomous and real-time data, and comparing this to desired results. Model Predictive Control sets new control targets in the control system to reduce process variability, improve performance, and boost efficiency. Reduced errors, including a 6% reduction in product temperature error, and a significant reduction in temperature profile variability. Improved uptime, which increased from 70% to substantially higher levels with the new Rockwell software.

• Improved performance, using autonomous and real-time data, and comparing this to desired results. Model Predictive Control sets new control targets in the control system to reduce process variability, improve performance, and boost efficiency.
• Reduced errors, including a 6% reduction in product temperature error, and a significant reduction in temperature profile variability.
• Improved uptime, which increased from 70% to substantially higher levels with the new Rockwell software.