GE expands process control role in petrochemicals General Electric is aiming for a bigger share of the petrochemical process control market. Its hopes are riding on three new lines of equipment and on greatly expanded on-site construction services. The new equipment includes a GE-MAC 7000 series of instruments, GE-FAC 100 and GE-FAC 1000 control systems, and GE-PAC 3010 process computer. Préfabrication of components in the factory and integrated packages, including the control buildings, will permit delivery of total control systems ready to work. The key factor, however, will probably be low prices. GE claims that catalog prices for the new equipment lines will be 30% below prices for current equipment. Howard D. Kurt, GE vice president and general manager of the process measurement and control division, says that the main thrust of the new marketing effort will be replacement of pneumatic control systems now enjoying about half the total control market in petrochemicals. The size of the total control market is about $1 billion in the U.S. and another $1 billion overseas, Mr. Kurt estimates. Deciding. If gasoline is deleaded as expected, the potential refinery market alone might be as large as $120 million. That gasoline makers face problems of refinery conversion occasioned by deleading of gasoline was a big factor in speeding GE's entry into petrochemical process control. Past
successes with process control for steelmaking and cement production leave no doubt among GE's planners that they can handle the new markets. The low prices of the new equipment are the result of simplified design and préfabrication, both of which permit factory calibration of instruments and greater standardization of the control programs. The new equipment is also now available with the more universal 4- to 20-milliamp. instrument signals, 24-volt, d.c. operation, and the intrinsic safety features that the conversion represents. These features are also expected to reduce the time lag between equipment orders and on-site operation by three to six months. GE has also entered into manufacturing agreements with Japanese and Italian firms for Far Eastern and European markets. Eventually, according to Mr. Kurt, foreign markets will require plant control systems which are duplicates of the most advanced U.S. technology. In international operations, the advantages are obvious, in Mr. Kurt's view. In the past, petrochemical plant designers have often preferred pneumatic control systems because of greater reliability and safety. GE believes that its new equipment is superior in reliability and safety to either pneumatic or the older electronic systems. Lower prices, however, will probably be the biggest attraction.
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