The following figure came courtesy of Larry O’Brien at Automation Research Corporation and demonstrates how an investment in automation and control systems during the capital phase of a project can have a disproportionate impact (at least 5 times greater) on the profitability of a facility during its operating life.

Economic and Technical Considerations for Deployment of Wireless in Capital Projects

Engineers at Emerson Process Management recently studied and compared the costs of installing wireless and wired networks at a large hydrotreater facility. In addition to determining if wireless is a good value, the study asked: How should wireless instrumentation technology be used in capital projects? How does it affect it the cost of those projects? What other applications and process improvements open up when implementing wireless?