Steel Company Enlists Freedom KM Switch to Streamline Process Control System Monitoring

Challenge

In a manufacturing company control room, operators often have to quickly switch between several computer systems. Switching time needs to be fast and efficient to monitor and control processes in real-time while also maintaining manufacturing process safety.

A company in the steel processing industry faced this challenge. The steel company needed a solution for its control rooms to monitor its process control systems. For redundancy reasons, each facility was controlled by several system computers, which delivered a multitude of images and information to the operator. To control the systems, the operator often had to change the console when accessing another system. The operation was not effective and the response times were slow.

Solution

The company chose Freedom as the optimal solution for the control rooms at their sites. Today, the computers are connected to the Freedom KM Switch and the operators control all systems using only one keyboard and one mouse. The operator's desk is tidy providing a clearly visible overview of all system monitors. To switch to another system, the operator now simply drags his mouse pointer to the monitor in question. The system change works without any delay in the background. Operators have much improved situational awareness and the company benefits from faster and error-free response times.

At most sites, the computers were located directly at the workstation, while others had a technical room with remote access. Since the Freedom works seamlessly with KVM extenders, remote access is possible and the solution meets all their requirements.

Freedom II 4-Port Switch and LED Monitor Identification Kit

Switching ports by simply moving the mouse

Results

The customer was happy with the Freedom KM Switch solution provided by Black Box. They were impressed with the quick and seamless switching that Freedom offers. As a result, operators at the desktop can conveniently access the computers in the control rooms with just one mouse and keyboard, and also access the computers remotely from a technical room via KVM extenders. Monitoring process control systems for the steel company is now an efficient and error-free task for the operators, delivering unmatched process control speed, response, and safety in real-time.

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