Survey reveals attitudes to instrumentation

Asurvey by ABB into the use of process instrumentation has produced a snapshot of how process instrumentation users employ their instruments, as well as their thoughts on the use of intelligent instruments and their attitudes to upgrading and investing in control systems.

The survey of 43 companies found that the largest proportion of plant control systems are up to 10 years old, with 46.5% of system falling into to this category. Another substantial proportion, 39.5%, is between 11 and 20 years old, with only small minorities being older than this.

Survey respondents were also asked about what percentage of their process instrumentation was intelligent, i.e. based on protocols such as HART, Fieldbus and Profibus.

Just over 51% of respondents said that between 10 and 20% of their instrumentation has this type of intelligence, while three equal sized groups of 16.3% chose the option of 21-40%, 41-60% and 60%+.

Some 56.8% of companies answering said that they used this intelligence, while 43.2% do not. Of those that do use it, over 77% employ it to aid instrument maintenance.