(ARC Advisory Group) The Automation Expenditures for Discrete Industries market rebounded in 2010 after recovering from a deep global downturn in 2009. 2010 started out with sluggish order activity, which later escalated, resulting in a recovery in 2010 that was more robust than expected earlier in the year. Emerging economies, including the BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India, and China) countries, drove growth for the Automation Expenditure for Discrete Industries market in 2010, according to a new ARC Advisory Group study.

The second largest economy in the world, China, continues to be a growth driver for the overall automation business. Current activities reflect that China and India are still investing in automation. “Domestic demand will remain strong in emerging and developing economies. Consequently, the global automation systems market for discrete industries will experience moderate growth during the five year forecast period,” according to Senior Analyst Himanshu Shah, the principal author of ARC’s “Automation Expenditures for Discrete Industries Worldwide Outlook”.

Houston, Texas — January 5, 2012 — KBR (NYSE: KBR) today announced that it was awarded a contract by Matix Fertilizers and Chemicals, Ltd., to perform a dynamic simulation study for the complete steam system at its grassroots Panagarh Fertilizer Complex in West Bengal, India. KBR will also deliver an Operator Training Simulator (OTS) for the Ammonia Plant system to validate the plant’s controls and safety logic design and provide initial and on-going training to operators.

For the dynamic simulation study, KBR will develop a detailed model of the Panagarh Fertilizer Complex Steam system, perform agreed cases and scenarios, and provide a final study report inclusive of all results and recommendations. This simulation will enable Matix to validate the design of critical plant systems such as auxillary boilers, letdown valves, and controls, and validate operating procedures such as start ups, turn downs, and the handling of process upsets. KBR will also deliver an OTS system for one of the largest capacity ammonia units at Matix to ensure a safe, fast, efficient start up. The OTS system will ensure best energy consumption in the ammonia process unit and supports continued profitable and sustained ammonia plant operations.

“Matix expects to provide complete training to its Ammonia operation team through OTS and appreciates efforts being made by KBR,” said PR Dhariwal, MD, Matix Group.

A Report by ARC Advisory Group: Driven by India’s economic growth, the demand for a wide range of industrial goods, such as automotive, consumer durables, food and beverage, drugs and pharmaceuticals, and others, is on the increase.  The mismatch between supply and demand provides the impetus for greenfield projects to come up alongside projects associated with plant upgrades and expansions.  This provides the right framework for the growth of the automation market, which in turn spurs the expansion of the system integrators’ (SI) business.

Manufacturing companies in India are increasingly turning to system integrators to implement automation projects and seamlessly integrate disparate systems.  System integrators technically bridge the gap between end users and automation suppliers.  Often, a good automation system implementation involves integration of subsystems from various suppliers, and SIs work as implementation partners.  From an end user perspective, real-time performance management, which involves collaboration among automation systems and enterprise solutions, is important.  Therefore, end users turn to SIs, having the necessary skill-set, to integrate various technology solutions.  Resulting from these developments, India has emerged as the home of good SI firms.

To read the full article please click 'System Integrators and Automation Suppliers Can Work Synergistically in India'

Technip has been awarded by Uzbekistan GTL LLC(1) an extension of the existing reimbursable services contract, for the front-end engineering design of a gas-to-liquids(2) (GTL) plant, located 40 kilometers south of Qarshi in Uzbekistan.

This plant will be based on Sasol’s world leading GTL technology and will have a capacity of 1.4 million metric tons per year, a similar capacity of the Oryx GTL facility in Qatar implemented by Technip, with following product slate: GTL diesel, kerosene, naphtha and liquid petroleum gas.

This award follows the successful execution by Technip of the first phase contract related to the detailed feasibility study. The front-end engineering activities will be executed by Technip’s operating center in Rome, Italy, with the support of the Group’s center in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.