BASF's current initiatives focus on advanced digital and autonomous production. At the heart of this new approach lies data-driven, robust, and flexible process control. BASF was open to evaluate if SIMATIC PCS neo could be a fit for the entire company and intended to test it in a pilot project first. The capabilities of PCS neo should be investigated under real conditions to put all technical and economic aspects to the test. BASF chose its biotech laboratory as an ideal candidate to conduct a pilot testing.

The lab was controlled by a PCS7 system (2.000 measuring points (~ 3.000 IO))  and was supposed to undergo an update to avoid an entire re-engineering. The readiness and migratability of PCS neo hence were two of the main factors meeting this requirement. The exsting IO infrastructure including a SIMATIC ET200 M, communication processors and Bürkert valve islands were kept. The communication to BASF's lab system was realized via a CN4100 and an OPC UA interface.

- Reduced upgrade effort compared to PCS 7  
- Multi-engineering functionality in SIMATIC PCS neo 
- global teams across locations can contribute to the same project 
- Easy access to engineering and visualization applications from any PC
- User rights management - Easy integration of different types of hardware modules
- Fast installation and frictionless upgrade to next version 
- Upgrading to PCS neo, BASF also took the chance to invest in an OT security concept (Automation Back Firewall, perimeter network, system hardening, whitelisting, etc.)  
- Remote Services & SIMATIC PCS neo Maintenance - Decentral operation via Touchpanels