For the past few years, Monsanto's Muscatine, Iowa, manufacturing facility has undergone a transformation in communication, in part through exploiting the capabilities of HART Communication in order to enhance reliability data and help the plant achieve a new level of productivity. The success Monsanto had incorporating instrument data into a comprehensive reliability strategy earned them the 2012 HART Plant of the Year Award.
The Muscatine facility spans 150 acres and employs more than 450 to operate and manage eight process units running 24/7, year round, to produce agricultural chemical products including Roundup herbicide and Acetanilide Select Chemistry products including Harness Xtra, Degree Xtra, and Warrant herbicides. Starting in 1997, the installation of HART Communication-compliant devices has helped enable the plant to switch from batch to continuous operation across processing units as well as in its waste treatment and utility process and formulations and packaging process.