Company Announcement - Yokogawa announces release of version R3.30 of its Plant Resource Manager (PRM®) software tool for the centralised management of large amounts of data from plant monitoring and control devices and manufacturing equipment. PRM R3.30 is an upgrade to R3.20 and includes an improved management function for HART®* and enhancements to the navigation function. With this new PRM version, Yokogawa aims to capture a larger share of the plant maintenance market.

*A field network communications protocol developed by the HART Communication Foundation. While the latest version of this protocol is HART7, HART5 and 6 are still in wide use.

Manufacturers are constantly looking for ways to improve maintenance efficiency by using software tools like PRM that can centrally manage large amounts of maintenance and other types of data from plant monitoring and control devices and manufacturing equipment. Maintenance personnel use such data to reduce plant downtime and enhance safety by proactively spotting and responding to device failures.

To optimise plant operations, it is essential not only to keep devices in good working order but also to have up-to-date information on device status and maintain records on all maintenance work that is performed. Such information is most useful if operators of control and safety instrumented systems can view it on screen at their human interface stations.

With such needs in mind, Yokogawa has developed new functions for its PRM tool that facilitate the collection of information from field devices for use in optimizing device maintenance and plant operations.

Enhancements

• Quick access to HART device status information

PRM can now obtain start-up, stop, failure, and other status information from Yokogawa HART7 compliant devices in almost real time via the N-IO (Network-IO) field input/output (IO) device that was developed for use with the latest version (R4.01) of the ProSafe®-RS safety instrumented system, which was released to the market in November 2015. For other companies' HART5, 6, and 7 compliant devices, PRM can collect information at 1 minute intervals. With PRM R3.20, data collection at intervals of 10 to 60 minutes was supported.

• Intuitive display of device information

Icons indicating the importance of individual devices are now displayed in the device status window of the navigation screen. If a problem occurs somewhere in the plant, operators can use this information and the self-diagnostic information displayed for the devices to make a quick, priority-based response.

• Targeted issuance of alarms

PRM has a maintenance alarm function that issues alarms for display at CENTUM® series integrated production control system HISs. Previously, alarms were issued to all HISs. With this latest version of PRM, it is now possible to specify which HIS should receive alarms from a specific device. Individual operators now only receive alarms from those devices that they are responsible for.

About Plant Resource Manager (PRM)
PRM is a software package that centrally manages large amounts of status and maintenance information from plant monitoring and control devices and manufacturing equipment. With PRM, users can monitor the status of their devices and perform online diagnosis via a network. In addition, PRM centrally manages maintenance information, including device ledgers, in a database, and supplies maintenance information for plant field devices and equipment to maintenance personnel.

About Yokogawa
Yokogawa's global network of 88 companies spans 56 countries. Founded in 1915, the US$3.5 billion company conducts cutting-edge research and innovation. Yokogawa is active in the Industrial Automation and Control (IA), Test and Measurement, and other businesses segments. The IA segment plays a vital role in a wide range of industries including Oil & Gas, Chemical, Food & Beverage, Iron & Steel, LNG Supply Chain, Petrochemical, Oil & Gas, Pharmaceutical, Power, Pulp & Paper, Refining, Renewable Energy and Water & Wastewater.

Yokogawa South Africa (Pty) Limited is an empowered South African company jointly owned by Identity Capital Partners (Pty) Ltd, a local black women-owned organisation, and Yokogawa Africa Holding BV, incorporated in the Netherlands. Yokogawa Africa Holding BV is ultimately owned by Yokogawa Electric Corporation, a Japanese company listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.

Yokogawa South Africa (Pty) Limited’s comprehensive solutions range from sensors (such as Pressure transmitters, Temperature, Flow meters, Level and Liquid & Gas Analysers) and network solution products, to control and safety systems. This includes the software for advanced control that optimises productivity; and services that minimise plant lifecycle costs. Yokogawa South Africa’s Service Training Department is accredited and proficient in theoretical and practical training for Instrumentation and Control systems from first principles. Our Internship Programme contributes to the continued technical skills improvement in South Africa.