Kuraray Embraces Control Room Human Factors and Operator Situation Awareness

Kuraray has been manufacturing and marketing ethylene vinyl-alcohol copolymers (EVOH) under the name EVAL™ since 1972 and remains the world leader in EVOH production and market development.

EVAL™ helps food producers and distributors make packaging more efficient and avoids waste while conserving energy and resources, as well as reducing the total amount of packaging materials needed. EVAL™’s barrier properties excel against the permeation of gases and give more performance per thickness than any conventional polymer. This allows the use of less product while at the same time exceeding the performance of other materials.

Because it shuts out oxygen, protecting anything wrapped in it from deterioration, it is suitable as a packaging material for a broad range of foods. Demand is also expanding in other fields such as the automotive industry in the production of plastic gasoline tanks, as it prevents leakage and contributes to the reduction of vehicle weight. In the field of construction, EVAL™ pipes are used as a substitute for metal pipes in-floor heating systems. EVAL™’s effective and efficient characteristics make it useful in many industries.

Jared Witte, production manager says:

“The overall experience working with UCDS has been impressive. UCDS was referred by a plant manager who had knowledge of their expertise at other chemical and petrochemical facilities. Our plastics manufacturing site was in need of a control room update modeled on industry best practice. We partnered with UCDS to implement an impressive industry leading control room upgrade. The upgrade involved replacement of operator consoles, evaluation of operator loading, development of graphics hierarchy, migration of graphics to best practice grayscale with analog objects, implementation of an advanced KVM system, and building upgrades to local codes.”

“I learned that UCDS has operations expertise that is unmatched in the industry. The operators are excited to experience the investment in their control room and managers and business leaders are grateful to see improved results. We would absolutely recommend UCDS to everyone looking to improve operator performance, upgrade their displays, or build a new control room. UCDS has delivered industry best practices in the subjects of control room design, human interface design, and alarm management including alarm rationalization. Their dedication to their client’s needs is evident in the product of their work and satisfaction of their customers.”

Jared Witte
Production Manager
Kuraray