Manufacturing Automation

Manufacturing Automation

Chevron has six refineries in the United States and two international refineries which are in Canada and CapeTowne, South Africa. The domestic refineries are located in Hawaii, Utah, Mississippi, and two in California. Chevron's manufactures fuels and other products which is distributed and sold three brands; Chevron, Texaco and Caltex. (Chevron, 2013)

Chevron's top priority is to maintain overall operations in a reliable and safe manner which includes protecting the environment, workers and the people. (Chevron, 2013) Chevron has implemented many processes and implemented many systems that will help operate in a efficient and safe manner.

Process Automation Systems

Process controls systems, also referred to as automation systems are an essential part in oil refineries. These automation systems usually aid in everyday and daily operations utilizing the network to establish communications between sensors, alarm systems, pipes, and actuators. Process automation leverages technology, engineering, and software design to help the refineries operate in a more efficient and safe manner. If there was not a reliable process automation system in place, refinery operators would have to physically monitor performance and outputs and use their judgment to make a determination of the which settings is the best to sustain refinery production. The automation process system is not just a software application that is developed. It involves placing sensors in thousands of locations around the crucial areas of the production pipes in the refinery. These sensors collect data on temperature, pressures, flows and other crucial data. This information is generally collected and stored and analyzed by an application. The analysis includes trend analysis and evaluating changes in values and thresholds that may be indication of an upcoming problem. This information is all displayed in a room called a control room, where all this data is displayed across multiple screens.

Advantages of Automation

It is quite apparent that automating system has many benefits. There is no question that automation allows plant operations to have increased productivity and production because it does in fact aid in the increase of the speed of production. (Automation World, 2011) It also aid in the removal of bottlenecks which assists with eliminating dead time. These systems can substantially improves your product quality because it would help enable the quality over the entire production process starting with the raw materials that the whole production process begins with. In addition, when there is uniformity in a product or service, it earns and maintains customer loyalty. The most obvious advantage of automation is always reduction in costs. It is evident that post implementation of automation, manufacturing