Linde AG Places $1 Million Order for GE Fanuc's Corporatewide Monitoring Software

May 4, 2009

In an effort to standardize its operating practices, Linde AG has chosen GE Fanuc's Proficy Historian and Proficy Plant applications for use in the company's plants worldwide. The Proficy applications are part of GE Fanuc's Operations Management software

Josh Cable

The order, which also includes GE Fanuc's GlobalCare support services, is worth more than $1 million and will be deployed in 350 sites worldwide, according to Charlottesville, Va.-based GE Fanuc Intelligent Platforms, a joint venture between General Electric Co. and Fanuc Ltd. of Japan.

Linde AG, a Munich-based gases and engineering company with 52,000 employees in 100 countries, saw a need to implement a global historian infrastructure as the data foundation for standardizing its operating practices, production reporting and information flow across the enterprise. Already familiar with GE Fanuc's Proficy HMI/SCADA iFIX product, the company invited GE Fanuc Intelligent Platforms to participate in the bidding for the contract.

"Linde required a very large system -- 400,000 tags -- and had high expectations for performance and scalability," said Erik Udstuen, vice president of software for GE Fanuc Intelligent Platforms. "Pilot evaluations proved that our Proficy Historian performed very well and compared very favorably to the competition."

According to GE Fanuc, Proficy Historian provides a plant-data repository to collect, archive and distribute large volumes of real-time, plant-floor information quickly and easily. Several ROC (remote operation center) systems access data via Proficy HMI/SCADA iFIX on a terminal server basis to evaluate production data and to control processes.

The Linde Plant Information Management system features GE Fanuc's Proficy Plant Applications to process raw data and calculate and evaluate key performance indicators (KPIs) to act on current business data. The KPIs will deliver insights into the company's production performance information to improve the efficiency of the gas production and increase the quality of the processes, according to GE Fanuc.

"The GE Fanuc tools will ensure that our people have access to the critical plant performance data needed to operate our plants reliably and efficiently across the world," said Ralf Speth, head of operations for Linde AG. "The features and functions of the products will reduce costs for Linde in the future. And, as one of the largest companies in the world, it is a solid partner for us moving forward."

GE Fanuc also will install the Proficy Real-Time Information Portal to enable Linde management to retrieve production data and determine cost influences caused by certain production events. Novotek, a partner of GE Fanuc in Europe, supports the entire system with its Trendview and Alarm Analysis tool for data evaluation.

"This system will be key to Linde's efforts for increasing production and decreasing energy costs," Udstuen asserted. "The established equipment modeling and out-of-the-box reporting and analysis capabilities offered by Plant Applications would have required custom development with other industry solutions."

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About the Author

Josh Cable | Former Senior Editor

Former Senior Editor Josh Cable covered innovation issues -- including trends and best practices in R&D, process improvement and product development. He also reported on the best practices of the most successful companies and executives in the world of transportation manufacturing, which encompasses the aerospace, automotive, rail and shipbuilding sectors.

Josh also led the IndustryWeek Manufacturing Hall of Fame, IW’s annual tribute to the most influential executives and thought leaders in U.S. manufacturing history.

Before joining IndustryWeek, Josh was the editor-in-chief of Penton Media’s Government Product News and Government Procurement. He also was an award-winning beat reporter for several small newspapers in Northeast Ohio.

Josh received his BFA in creative writing from Bowling Green University, and continued his professional development through course-work at Ohio University and Cuyahoga Community College.

A lifelong resident of the Buckeye State, Josh currently lives in the Tremont neighborhood of Cleveland. When the weather cooperates, you’ll find him riding his bike to work, exercising his green thumb in the backyard or playing ultimate Frisbee.