Shanghai SECCO selects Honeywell technologies for operator training

Honeywell Process Solutions (HPS) has announced that Shanghai SECCO Petrochemical Company Limited (SECCO) will upgrade its operator training simulator (OTS) system to the Honeywell Connected Plant UniSim Competency Suite. The comprehensive suite includes solutions to better train the industrial workforce for safe, incident-free and efficient start-ups and operations.

SECCO plans to use part of the suite known as Honeywell Connected Plant UniSim Operations, which is a cloud-deployed learning solution that enables convenient access to simulation-based operator training. It connects operators across the plant through the cloud, centralises management and deployment of simulation-based learning, and reduces lifecycle maintenance costs. Built on Honeywell’s UniSim lifecycle simulation modelling platform, the UniSim Operations process simulation models can be effectively applied to process design, process engineering and process optimisation activities.

“SECCO is the first installed base for UniSim Operations training simulation in China,” said Chen Yan, vice president and general manager of Honeywell Process Solutions, Greater China. “I am impressed by SECCO’s continuous investment in adopting new technologies that connect plant and people, and by the returns these investments have shown.

“Honeywell will continue to facilitate China’s manufacturing transformation by supporting China’s leading enterprises with our best-in-class technologies and expertise.”

UniSim Operations provides an interactive, real-time plant simulation as the foundation for a comprehensive training program to improve operators’ knowledge and skills. The solution accelerates knowledge transfer by consolidating an entire lifetime of experience into a concise field and console operator-training curriculum. Operators can safely execute and experience critical production scenarios of routine and abnormal situations in a visual environment. Studies show that practice and experience can result in up to 75% improvement in operation knowledge retention compared to other learning methods.

“It is essential to have plant operators appropriately trained with skills and capabilities to safely handle a plant and swiftly take the necessary action to meet different process situations,” said Chen Juxing, deputy production director of SECCO. “Using Honeywell’s legacy Operator Training Simulator over the past decade enabled continuous production for SECCO. We expect this upgrade to UniSim cloud-based technologies at 10 of our process units to allow us to step up our pace in the era of smart manufacturing and become a pioneer in embracing the Industrial Internet of Things.”

Honeywell has been collaborating with SECCO since 2006. Over the past decade, SECCO has implemented Honeywell Advanced Process Control and real-time optimisation from ethylene crackers to downstream chemical units, alarm management system for safety operations, as well as OTS. These connected technologies improve operational performance, safety and reliability.