APACS process control system

APACS+ Integrated Automation Solutions

Siemens Energy & Automation, Inc., helps manufacturers around the world in the chemical, pharmaceutical, biopharmaceutical,oil & gas, refining, power, pulp & paper, and other industries to propel their businesses to new levels of success.

The cornerstone to this success is the APACS+ process automation system, which offers a unique blend of strengths that breaks through the compromises and constraints common to the other systems on the market.

These strengths include:

• Seamlessly integrated continuous control, batch control, and safety shutdown via a single set of tools that altogether eliminates the traditional engineering effort
• Commitment to reliability as evidenced by unprecedented system redundancy options and adherence to industry standards
• Proven installations and expertise around the world
• Truly open environment that reflects the company's unique business philosophy
• Flexible design and service options that cost-effectively adapt to a variety of application needs
• System architecture that is scalable from small to large without any discontinuity in hardware and software
• Tradition of innovation that fostered the first unified DCS/PLC and the first process automation system to provide a common environment for configuration, testing, documentation, troubleshooting, and training

Together, these strengths define the uniqueness of the APACS+ process automation system.

Providing an Open Environment

For Siemens, openness is fundamental to the business philosophy. Providing real user choice-in everything from operator interface software to system integration services-drives the company's development. For project implementation, that means you can tap Siemens own engineering services department or combine it with certified third-party integrators and your own staff.

More importantly, because openness is the driving force,Siemens developed APACS+ to allow users to do much more than simply exchange data between dissimilar systems. APACS+ provides you the freedom to use the best products in their respective class, regardless of the manufacturer. It achieves this flexibility via extensive use of industry standards, including the IEC 61 131-3 standard for programmable controllers, OLE for Process Control (OPC), SQL database management, Ethernet networks, Dynamic Data Exchange (DDE), and ActiveX®.

Integrated control and safety

In order to completely eliminate the need for custom integration between the control and safety systems, the QUADLOG® safety PLC(tm) was designed to communicate seamlessly with APACS+ and to share the same engineering tools. Users of APACS+ and QUADLOG enjoy a common control environment, use a single operator interface with no extra effort required, and easy data exchange between the systems, all while still safely isolating the safety system from the process control system.

APACS+ standard system functions deliver:

• Seamless integration with Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems, such as SAP®
• Tools for creation of custom function blocks containing third-party applications for use directly in the system's configuration software
• Utilization of the advantages of field bus technology in distributed systems with PROFIBUS
• Open access to the controller via Application Programmer's Interface (API) toolkit for third-party software suppliers
• Seamless communication with intelligent field devices through support of PROFIBUS and HART® protocols
• Reduced integration costs for existing equipment via direct communication with popular PLCs and DCSs using OPC
• Full read/write access for plant management systems and high-level applications (optimization packages, historians, etc.) via an open database
• Integration of standard PC applications through OPC and DDE servers
• Integration of standard workstation database applications through a SQL interface