ASUS ultrabooks are reliable partners in the Petrochemical Industry

    Overview

    Besides producing the fuels that power our world, the petrochemical industry is also behind myriad compounds and plastics, without which our modern world would have been inconceivable.

    This industry has also been a beneficiary of the Information Age, relying on computers at every point to realise greater efficiencies and safety, from resource extraction to distillation and production of the various organic compounds and by-products.

    At a polyethylene plant in Heilongjiang, computers used were mostly replaced with ASUSPRO BU400 ultrabooks to evaluate its suitability for the particular conditions and requirements of a petrochemical plant.

    Challenges

    In a petrochemical plant, computers aren’t just used in the office, they are also needed for field data processing, i.e., in the midst of production facilities such as compressors, hydrogen desulfurization purifiers, cleaning systems, and nitrogen furnaces.

    For plant safety officers, they need to carry a laptop in the plant for equipment testing, as well as to monitor the processes. Says Ho, a safety officer, “We use the laptop for data collection in the plant, and this data is referenced against production data parameters. If we find anomalies, the production has to be adjusted accordingly or huge economic losses can result. Because the ASUSPRO BU400 is so thin, light and easy to carry, it can fully adapt to our working environment, we can take a computer wherever we need it.”

    Plant workers tasked with overseeing production have also found the BU400 to be indispensable. Using the BU400, they generate flow charts of the activities of the various operational groups in the plant and monitor the various processes. Says Ho, in the oversight group, “With the ASUS ultrabook’s wide, anti-glare screen, we can easily monitor the overall production status of all the plant systems. The ultrabook is stable, and the shockproof hard drive keeps the plant’s configuration data safe.”

    In any petrochemical plant, the physical conditions would be very trying for a laptop computer: a laptop is susceptible to drops, knocks, dust, rain and spills. These hazards are exacerbated by the conditions in Heilongjiang itself. Says Ho, "Heilongjiang in northeast China has very cold winter temperatures. This is a great test for the durability of the computer."

    Outcome

    Since the widespread adoption of the ASUS BU400 ultrabook by the various teams at the petrochemical plant, supported by wireless connection throughout the plant that has greatly facilitated data transmission and monitoring, the efficiency of the petrochemical plant has been maintained at optimal level. Being equipped with laptops that work teams can rely on has not only improved plant performance in the area of productivity, but in safety as well: with teams able to reliably monitor the plant processes at all times, there has been no major catalyst spill since the introduction of the ASUSPRO BU400.

    The Product

    ASUS BU400 is a powerful ultrabook with award-winning design, rigorously tested for long term durability and reliability against such commonplace hazards as drops and spills, surpassing even MIL-STD 810G mmilitary standard for ruggedness. To protect vital data, the hard drive is toughened with anti-shock features, while TPM functionality keeps sensitive information from unauthorised access.

    The ASUSPRO BU400 weighs just 1.64kg with proprietary True-comfort keyboard and precision touchpad, and features the latest third-generation Intel Core processors and dedicated Nvidia graphics.