PlantPAx continues to build out new capabilities

Just as travelers on long and possibly uncertain trips must bring provisions and carefully plan their route forward, automation system providers must do the same for their solutions to perform effectively and evolve seamlessly as the years go by. And in the world of distributed control systems (DCS), one of the best examples of a successful—and ongoing—production journey is Rockwell Automation’s PlantPAx, with a record of performance and continuous improvement since it debuted in 2009.

“We’ve been innovating with PlantPAx for the past 15 years, and those innovations are accelerating with the release of PlantPAx, Version 5.3, and beyond,” said Arvind Rao, industry solutions vice president, Rockwell Automation, during his keynote address at the Process Solutions Users Group (PSUG) Summit held this week at Automation Fair in Anaheim, Calif. “PlantPAx is familiar as a DCS, but it continues to add new capabilities on top, such as using artificial intelligence (AI) at the edge in our Logix AI and Guardian AI solutions to diagnose power anomalies in motors and compressors.”   

Kris Dornan, commercial marketing manager at Rockwell, added, “Rockwell is a unique differentiator in the process control and automation space because it provides explicit systems like PlantPAx that have constantly evolved to meet users’ needs. For instance, Version 5.3 adds analytics, provisioning and management functions, which came after Version 5.0 added device libraries for process and power.”

Pasting together production pictures

Rao reported that most process industry end users collect and store huge amounts of data, but often stop short of analyzing it further—like so many half-filled photo albums. To break this logjam and gain some benefits, Rockwell has enabled its FactoryTalk Mosaix software to integrate and aggregate data from more sources, aggregate that information, and add context to make that data more relevant and useful.

“This allows users to monitor and optimize batch quality, for example, and determine what systems are running well and which need adjustments,” explained Rao. “FactoryTalk Mosaix also has built-in scalability, and works well with ControlLogix PLCs and FactoryTalk Optix software, so users can start small and go bigger as needed. Users also don’t have to develop custom solutions and can instead use FactoryTalk Mosaix with PlantPAx to achieve IT-style simplicity.”

Rao added that other core innovations developed and launched over the past 18 months—and are now fully available to PlantPAx users—include:

• Deploying FactoryTalk Optix software to add context to stored data, and bring it into PlantPAx;
• Integrating ControlLogix PLCs, new Logix SIS controllers and edge computing functions, so users can add preconfigured or custom applications;
• Introducing FLEXHA 5015 software-configurable I/O modules; and,
• Adding provisioning and management playbooks. 

Red Hat enables PlantPAx provisioning

Despite the already wide and always growing scope of its solutions, Rao concedes that Rockwell isn’t too proud to seek assistance from third parties, especially if doing so will help its customers.  

“Rockwell believes in the power of the ecosystem, but we can’t solve all issues. Consequently, we need partners like Red Hat and its Ansible automation provisioning and management platform, which we’re integrating with Rockwell’s own provisioning and management platform to enable PlantPAx,” said Rao. “This can shorten the task of updating PlantPAx installations from multiple days to just a few hours. Users can connect to current software versions in the cloud or deploy templates with the click of a button.”

Users can log into Rockwell and Red Hat’s combined solution, view pending jobs and workflows, select and identify an applicable process, click to launch their application of the software, and the system will carry out the update. Rao reported his colleagues recently updated 12 PlantPAx servers by using the provisioning and management software, and it only took 4.5 hours. Rockwell and Red Hat’s combined provisioning and management product will be available in Spring 2025.

“Our partnership combines two powerhouses in increasing value to users,” said Kelly Switt, senior director of Red Hat’s global Industrial Edge division. “Our platform is the de facto standard in application provisioning and management, and we’ve spent the past two years with Rockwell preparing for the full system deployment of our combined solution next year. It will change how users set up and run their facilities, and how they perform operations and cybersecurity updates.”

“We’re also working with Stratix on integrating some network automation and configuration functions, which will let us move some public-cloud capabilities into the automation space,” Switt added. “The next step is open platforms, so we’re also partnering with Rockwell on open infrastructures like our Open Shift software that can scalably and repeatedly drive future growth.”  

Beyond its other attributes, PlantPAx also provides remote operations centers, open and secure connectivity, and ISA/IEC 62443 cybersecurity, according to Scotty Bromfield, process business manager and PlantPAx team leader at Rockwell. Likewise, Version 5.0’s process libraries were joined by easily scalable equipment modules that can reduce engineering time and cooperate with production standards like ISA’s S88 batch standard, PackML and NAMUR’s protocols, which can ease interactions with wide swaths of applications and equipment.

Three new products growing out of the Version 5.3 and Version 5.0 releases include:

• PlantPAx Analytics, which can add more context to data, provide KPI-specific reporting, and even use generative AI to let users speak directly with it in the future. 
• Logix SIS, a modern, high-availability logic solver for process safety that can serve in SIL 2 or up to SIL 3 settings. It’s fully embedded with built-in diagnostics, common user experience, complementary to PlantPAx, and works with standard or safety I/O.
• FactoryTalk Optix for PlantPAx, which arrives next year, will feature accordions that group similar statuses and items together and style sheets for customization. 

“The key focus for these features is how well they align with PlantPAx’s original principles,” added Bromfield. “We’re still working to streamline the DCS lifecycle and expand capabilities to turn Rockwell’s portfolio into an even more seamless system.”