At two brand new facilities, gigantic oil tanks with a combined capacity of four million cubic metres are being constructed, together with associated plant including heat exchangers and pumping stations. The sites are operated by pipework networks incorporating four hundred and sixty-nine explosionproof Rotork valve actuators with Pakscan digital control systems.

These apparently random statistics are all connected with a giant oil storage project in Central China created as part of a key national energy programme to provide crude oil reserves for national and commercial consumption.

Rotork China worked closely with several valvemakers to supply the IQ intelligent electric actuators for valve control at both sites. The majority are IQ multi-turn units, many equipped with IB series bevel gearboxes manufactured by Rotork Gears. The balance comprises IQT quarter-turn and IQML linear modulating actuators. Virtually all the actuators are controlled and monitored by six Rotork Pakscan P3 two-wire digital networks, which are specifically designed for the safe, reliable and efficient operation of valve actuators in the spacious environments associated with tank farm installations.

KBR (NYSE: KBR) announced today that it was awarded a License and Process Design Package contract for a new Olefins Recovery Unit in Yulin city, Shanxi Province, China.

The client owns an existing commercial plant of coal-to-olefins which was put into production in 2011 and is the first and largest coal-to-olefin project in the world using coal as the feedstock to produce polyethylene and polypropylene by coal gasification to methanol, then methanol to olefin (MTO), and then olefin polymerization. MTO opens up a new approach to the implementation of the energy substitution strategy and the founding of coal to the olefin industry.

This is the second MTO plant for the client with the capacity of 600 KTA of olefins (ethylene plus propylene). It is planned to be put into production in 2014.

“KBR has over 60 years experience of olefins producing and olefins recovery and we are pleased to continue the success with this new methanol to olefins project,” said John Derbyshire, president, KBR Technology. “This project will enable us to expand upon our past experience with our ACO™ and SUPERFLEX™ technology, which have the same Fluidized Catalytic Cracking process as MTO.”

Kepware Technologies, the leader in advanced automation for communications, announced today that it is teaming with ZPI, Inc. to drive industrial automation and improve the quality of business data delivered to the company's manufacturing customers. By leveraging Kepware as their OPC server provider, ZPI is meeting increased demand for reliable, operation-related metrics and achieving lean six sigma and continuous improvement initiatives. To learn the full details, download the ZPI case study at http://www.kepware.com/casestudy/kepware-and-zpi-quest-data-perfection/.

Based in Ontario, Canada, ZPI provides enterprise manufacturing diagnostics software to help customers accelerate production while improving top-line performance and reducing waste. "With the economy struggling, manufacturers must focus on total quality management and six sigma initiatives," said Paul Mancini, Vice President of Marketing and Innovation at ZPI. "The truth is, it's just not possible without the right diagnostic tools in place. This places a premium on highly accurate, real-time, business-critical data."

ZPI frequently found that their manufacturing customers were leveraging a competitive industrial automation and control system that dropped connections and produced inaccurate data reads. These issues stemmed from poor network design and occurred when new data overtaxed the overall network configuration. As the flawed data reports continued to impact the manufacturing improvement processes, ZPI turned to Kepware and their award-winning KEPServerEX® offering.

KEPServerEX is specifically engineered to connect a wide variety of industrial automation devices and applications, from plant control systems to enterprise information systems. The flexible and scalable software can efficiently manage, monitor, and control diverse automation devices and software applications. Kepware also provides a highly effective interface, offering plant-level data, bottleneck analysis, and immediate problem identification.

In typical installations, ZPI creates a Kepware channel for each individual production asset, thus providing insulation from communications failures that may occur in other channels. When combined with the auto-demotion functionality, this feature results in near-perfect data.

"Right away, we noticed improvements in the quality and usability of data we were receiving. Because Kepware provides a rich suite of drivers, you can connect to almost any device at any time. This lessens support requirements, lowers total project costs, and ultimately improves reliability of performance metrics," noted Mancini.

The Drives & Motion Division of Yaskawa America Inc. (YAI) is pleased to announce that it has acquired the business and operations of Wermac Electric Ltd. in Calgary, AB, Canada.

Wermac is a 25-year partner with Yaskawa and has been an innovator and leader in applying Variable Speed Drives and Electrical Controls in the Oil & Gas industry. Wermac has grown in size and reputation over the years by providing unique software and packaging solutions centered on Yaskawa Drives as well as knowledgeable and quick on-site service exceeding the demands of the Oil & Gas industry.

The acquisition of Wermac continues Yaskawa’s growth in key vertical markets. The Oil & Gas market in particular presents extreme requirements for quality, packaging, and special software, in which both Yaskawa and Wermac have excelled.

Mike Knapek, President and COO of Yaskawa America, Motion and Drives Division stated, “After 25 years of very successful partnership with Wermac, the time was right to take that partnership to its logical conclusion and become one company. This will allow for better service for our joint customers with greater resources located locally.”

The new division will be known as Yaskawa Wermac and will be located at the former Wermac Electric facility in Calgary, AB. Yaskawa Wermac is now a division of Yaskawa Motoman Canada, which is a subsidiary of Yaskawa America, Inc. All key personnel have been retained to continue providing the key service and products that Wermac is noted for.

“We are excited to be joining a global company with an elite reputation for technology and innovation,” said Jim MacKinnon, president of Wermac. “The existing management team, sales team, and production team will make a noticeable contribution to Yaskawa’ s growth and our line of industry solutions, while expanding Yaskawa’ s current offerings in the energy industry.” Mr. MacKinnon will take on the role of Director of Oilfield Operations for Yaskawa Wermac.