Formosa Plastics Wins with Open, Scalable Intel® Architecture

As commerce becomes increasingly global, manufacturers face evermore competitive pressures and threats. Every penny of extra cost must be cut and every ounce of efficiency must be extracted from a plant in order to remain competitive.

To that end, one of NEXCOM’s customers examined its smartly tuned network of 300 plus factories and plants and asked the question: Where can we save? Their answer surprised everyone: a distributed control system (DCS) with Intel Inside®. The DCS is widely used around the world for process automation applications. However, for smooth operations, long-term maintenance, and minimum disruptions of obsolescence, an Intel® processor-based DCS solution was selected with the aim of cutting total cost of ownership (TCO) and boosting operational efficiency.

NEXCOM, an Associate member of the Intel® Internet of Things Solutions Alliance, explains that its customer, Formosa Plastics Corp (FPC), called on its substantial manufacturing prowess to discern the inefficiencies in its proprietary DCS system, and address its uncertain product cycle and high-inventory risks. Once identified, FPC began an overhaul of its DCS strategy, which involved development of a custom solution built on non-custom Intel processor-based parts. FPC expects to realize substantial TCO reductions as a result, along with a significant boost to both operational and maintenance efficiency when all new systems are fully deployed.