South West water extends its contract with Schneider Electric

South West Water provides an essential service to the population and business of the South West of England through the delivery of reliable, efficient drinking and waste water services. In order to do this, the company must continually invest in the maintenance of its plant and infrastructure while working hard to improve quality and reliability. The key in achieving this is partnering with an energy management specialist that can provide both the technology and expertise required to meet such targets.

In 2009 South West Water chose to partner with global energy management specialist Schneider Electric. South West Water awarded the company with a framework contract to supply Programmable Logic Controllers (PLCs) which could offer the migration and performance capabilities that were required to control modern, complex processes. As a direct result of the high level of service that Schneider Electric provided, the contract has now been extended over an additional four years.

The modernisation of the legacy control systems at South West Water's facilities has provided many benefits. The opportunity was taken to analyse the way in which the processes operated and therefore the way they were being controlled and managed. Improvements were then able to be incorporated which has led to both process and performance optimisation, for greater control through a move towards predict and prevent rather than fail and fix as well as providing much greater visibility. The latest generation of controllers has also allowed South West Water to standardise on one automation platform providing savings in both costs and time through optimised procurement, spares and training.

Nigel Garnett, key account manager at Schneider Electric, comments: We are pleased to have been given the opportunity to continue working alongside South West Water, as we have built a strong working relationship with the company since we won the initial contract in 2009. As a result of both team's hard work, we have been able to realise real savings across the facilities.

Schneider Electric's Modicon range of PLCs provides powerful processing capability and allows information to be gathered from across the entire network through industry standard communications. The information is then collated centrally, helping the company to make better informed business decisions and effectively manage the water network, which in turn benefits their customers.

Robin Lennox, from South West Water, adds: The technical support and expertise along with the addition of the new generation PLCs into our system has given us improved insight into our network, which has been of great benefit to the business.

We look forward to continuing to work with Schneider Electric over the next four years.

LINK:	http://www.schneider-electric.co.uk/sites/uk/en/company/news/news-view...
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