Honeywell and Virthualis to Jointly Develop Innovative 3-D Simulation Solution for Safety Engineering and Operator Training
Share:
Solution Addresses Industry Need To Ensure Safe, Reliable and Efficient Plant Operations
MILAN, Italy - Honeywell (NYSE:HON) today announced that it has signed a memorandum of understanding with Virthualis s.r.l., an engineering and research firm focused on improving decision making in the design and implementation of safety, to develop a 3-D simulation solution to improve operator training and plant safety.
Under the agreement, Virthualis' 3-D visualization technology, called MindSafe® - including modules for safety management, accident analysis and risk assessment - will be linked to Honeywell's existing UniSim® simulation tool, providing a holistic virtual environment that can be used to efficiently design, analyze, and verify plant operations, as well as to prepare operations teams for safe, reliable and efficient operations. The solution will be available for testing in the demo room during the Honeywell Users' Group, Europe, Middle East & Africa Conference, Oct. 25-27 in Baveno, Italy or in the Virthualis permanent demo room in the Solvay Information Services in Milan (to arrange for a demo, email demo@virthualis.com).
The skills shortage in the process industries creates an acute need for professionals who can ensure safe, reliable and efficient operations in a process environment. This offering is well-timed to address the need.
"We see many of our clients struggling to recruit operations staff with the right mix of skills, so we are pleased to be in a position to deliver a strong engineering and training solution that can bridge the competency gap," said Elgonda La Grange, global consulting services director, Honeywell Process Solutions. "The fusion of Honeywell and Virthualis technologies enhances our existing simulation business with additional expertise and a 3-D learning environment to quickly evaluate and train operators to respond to critical plant conditions."
"Honeywell is the ideal partner because our offerings are complementary, and we share the same passion for process safety, reliability and efficiency," said Simone Colombo, president, Virthualis. "Together we are delivering a solution that can support the lifecycle of a plant, from design through to decommissioning, by empowering engineers to design and implement, and operators to learn and test their skills to control the process safely, prevent accidents and manage emergencies in a realistic environment."
Honeywell International (www.honeywell.com) is a Fortune 100 diversified technology and manufacturing leader, serving customers worldwide with aerospace products and services; control technologies for buildings, homes and industry; automotive products; turbochargers; and specialty materials. Based in Morris Township, N.J., Honeywell's shares are traded on the New York, London, and Chicago Stock Exchanges. For more news and information on Honeywell, please visit www.honeywellnow.com. Honeywell Process Solutions is part of Honeywell's Automation and Control Solutions group, a global leader in providing product and service solutions that improve efficiency and profitability, support regulatory compliance, and maintain safe, comfortable environments in homes, buildings and industry. For more information about Process Solutions, access honeywellprocess.com.
About Virthualis
Virthualis is and engineering and research company focused on providing solutions for improving decision-making and safety in the process industry. Virthualis is the materialization of the innovation produced by the largest European project on industrial safety (virthualis.org) in its 5years of research. Virthualis' MindSafe solution is an integrated, fully immersive 3D engineering environment giving users the possibility to experience, as they would be in reality, nominal and critical plant conditions, thus enabling them to learn quickly how to make the right decisions to control safety, prevent accidents, manage emergencies, and improve maintenance. MindSafe enables plant and corporate managers to ground their decisions on realistic experiments and objective data, thus helping them to better manage changes and increase operation readiness. MindSafe can be conveniently used to collaborate with authorities and insurances. Virthualis is a pioneer in fusing cognitive, safety, process and information technology engineering. Virthualis is based in Milan, Italy. For more information please visit www.virthualis.com.
UniSim® is a registered trademark of Honeywell International Inc.
MindSafe® is a registered trademark of Virthualis s.r.l.
Contacts:
Brian Chapman
602-293-1257
brian.chapman@honeywell.com
