The World Control Tour scores in Brazil
System 800xA v6 brings the World Control Tour to Sao Paulo to talk new features and IEC61850 integration
The World Control Tour stopped in São Paulo, Brazil on April 16th in conjunction with the global launch of System 800xA v6. São Paulo was the first event exclusively dedicated to the World Control Tour, as the team presented at Hannover Fair a week prior. The Abu Dhabi event recently concluded, the tour now heads to Sweden, Italy, China, Singapore, Canada and the US.
We welcomed more than 60 customers from all types of industry segments, such as: Oil & Gas, Pulp & Paper, Mining, Chemical, Metals, etc, as well as engineering companies and integrators from Brazil, Chile and Argentina—A true representation of 800xA’s ability to adapt to any application.
ABB Brazil’s Country Manager, Rafael Paniagua, opened the event describing our history in Brazil, our footprint, the local businesses and services we provide, and the future. Ricardo Hirschbruch, Process Automation Division Manager, then highlighted System 800xA’s large installed base in Brazil. Did you know that Brazil is home to approximately 180 800xA systems running with an average of 10,000 tags?
After the crowd marveled at Tobias Becker’s control videos, the customer keynote address was presented by Mr. Ronaldo Magalhães, Petrobrás General Manager for refineries. System 800xA runs nine out of twelve Petrobrás refineries. He described the strong partnership, challenges and achievements made during more than 18 years of collaboration between Petrobrás and ABB. Collaboration is a theme you may already have spotted in these blogs. It’s what 800xA is built on. It’s no accident that all facets of the product reflect this.
Next, Fernando Tani’s presentation covered 800xA’s Power of Integration. This is 800xA’s approach to working with customers using the same system for process control as electrification via IEC61850, a tactic that is becoming increasingly more common in South America. Mr. José Diniz from VALE, presented the S11D project, bringing The Power of Integration to life. S11D is the biggest open pit mine in Brazil, it runs with System 800xA. He exclaimed to the crowd the benefits of having a single DCS for process and electrification. He talked about how many thousands of engineering hours they were saving as well as the 110.000 km of control cables that were no longer needed!
We ended the day by presenting our loyal customers with Brazuca balls, the official balls to be used in the 2014 World Cup, as well as Brazilian fútbol jerseys. You’ll be surprised to know that even the Chilean customers loved them! Brazil’s slogan for the World Cup this summer is “Juntos num só ritmo,” which means “All in one rhythm.” Its similarity to “It’s all about control” is unintentional but wonderful all the same. We were happy to host the World Control Tour and the 800xA team. You can join the tour too! Register to attend an event or follow along with these blogs, on Twitter, and online.