The ISA S88 standard: A roadmap for automation — A powerful management tool

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Overview:
This paper explains the purpose and benefits of ISA's S88 standard and its role as both an engineering guideline and an often overlooked management tool. Because detailed description of the standard's underlying technology frequently obscures the intrinsic value of the standard itself, this paper is not intended to be a tutorial on S88 technology. Rather, the intent is to help the reader understand what S88 is and where it is useful or, perhaps, essential. The focus is on how it can be used to reduce cost and improve the way a manufacturing process operates. Why S88 is important is emphasized along with how it can serve as a common language for better communication about automation opportunities and manufacturing requirements. It includes ways this modular and internally consistent standard can help reduce engineering cost and serve as a management tool, ways it can be used to help control capital expenditure, enable more precise definition of operational requirements, identify what should and should not be automated and aid in definition of optimum levels of automation.