Akzo Nobel selects Foxboro to provide batch automation system



The plant, which will be owned and operated by Diosynth (diosynth.com), a part of Akzo Nobel's pharmaceutical group, will produce ingredients for new drugs, using fermentation and cell culturing technology. Production is scheduled to begin in 2002.

The installation of the system will utilize Foxboro's I/A series batch suite and will run on a Foxboro I/A series automation platform. Developers at Foxboro claim that a variety of plant automation subsystems will be integrated into the system to provide a common global process database, plant Historian and reporting structure.

In addition, process input/output (I/O) devices will utilize profitbus technology in an attempt to reduce initial costs and facilitate remote calibration of intelligent field instrumentation to minimize the costs associated with ongoing maintenance and FDA compliance.