In 2015 Eurotherm celebrated 50 years of its activities. VSP cooperation with Eurotherm has been going on for over two decades — the time span worth of respect.

Eurotherm Vision is to be the preferred supplier of machine automation products, applications, systems and services for customers in specialist industries.

Eurotherm mission is to solve customers’ problems with pioneering products, bespoke systems, industry and regulatory expertise.

According to one of the Eurotherm managers: “The unique difference is that we strive to understand what our customers are dealing with and adapt ourselves to solve their process problems”. Such an approach is consistent and in line with the current VSP practice on Eurotherm business.

VSP and Eurotherm cooperation started with the first projects on automation in two different industries in the middle of the 90’s: in metallurgy — a project on refurbishment and automation of the control system for a blast furnace of the «Tulachermet» metalworks, and in the power sector — a control and monitoring system for energy supply for a number of utility plants at Omsk Oil Refinery; a monitoring and control system for heat supply at «UralAsbest».

As of today, «Tulachermet» is one of the leading enterprises in Russian metals industry, the largest exporter of commercial cast iron in the country. Metal plants and machine building companies in Western Europe, America and Asia are consumers of «Tulachermet» products.

By mid 90’s metal industry enterprises faced a rather grave situation: physical wear and tear of fixed assets became quite acute. The same period was marked by a strategic approach to technical upgrade and modernization of equipment in the main processes. Process automation and refurbishment of equipment became a priority.

A presentation seminar of Eurotherm (TCS)
at Magnitogorsk Metal Works,
October 1992.

Meters for electrical parameters, controllers, recorders
gained interest of automation specialists.

In 1974 four independent companies Eurotherm, Chessell, TCS and SSD which already enjoyed international reputation were brought under a single international holding company, Eurotherm International. In 2014, Eurotherm became part of Schneider Electric as a specialised business line of the group.

Work done in metallurgy and power sector has been further developed by cooperation of VSP and Eurotherm. As of today an extensive installed base of Eurotherm equipment and realized solutions could be found both in black and nonferrous metallurgy in a wide spectrum of process applications, covering continuous control and vertically integrated products.

Eurotherm products users and VSP customers in the metallurgy sector include, among others: Tulachermet, VNIIMetMash, VSMPO-AVISMA Corporation, KAZ SUAL, Vsevoljsky plant of aluminium alloys, Institute for metallurgy and material science by A.A.Baykov, TAGMET and others.

The development of thermal treatment processes in 80-90’s in its turn necessitated advanced solutions in automation.

The VSMPO-AVISMA example perfectly demonstrates a quality level of Eurotherm solutions and capabilities of VSP and Eurotherm cooperation in the Russian market. Thyristors, controllers, paperless recorders — Eurotherm equipment supplied by VSP during some recent years for process control at VSMPO-AVISMA.

Modern Eurotherm power controllers / thyristors can work in various modes. Instruments can directly control the necessary load by automatically distributing or cutting down power consumption.

The PLM (Predictive Load Management) function realized in the EPower controller allowing to predict electrical load — one of the most required tasks in energy power supply —provides for efficient power distribution depending on the needs as well as for significant cut down in energy costs.

Technological processes in metallurgy and metal heat treatment must comply with requirements of various standards and international audit requirements which allow to use the final product in such sectors as automobile or aerospace.

Nadcap program and standards as well as AMS2750 specifications for heat treatment are built into technical specification facilitating to a great degree Eurotherm products to be used in critical applications.

A VSP employee and Eurotherm representative
at VSMPO-AVISMA in 2016.

«Energy efficiency market in Russia is at its initial development stage. We hope that together with Schneider Electric company, a recognized world leader in the area of development and implementation of energy resource saving technologies, we will be able to make the appropriate technologies available for companies all over the country»,

Kirill Dmitriev, General Director, Russian Direct Investment
Fund (RDIF).

(May 2018, RDIF and the leading French company Schneider Electric signed an agreement on joint investments in the area of energy saving technologies.)

Energy saving and energy efficiency are relevant issues for other industries as well, including glass factories too.

George Turnbull, the TCS founder (became part of Eurotherm), recalled his first visit in 1974 to one of the largest glass manufacturers in the UK, to see first-hand the problems they were encountering in the manufacture of ophthalmic glass. It was understood very well that the process required extremely high precision temperature control for long periods of time.

A microprocessor technology at the time combined with Eurotherm expertise on temperature control allowed to bring system architecture to the Eurotherm product range for the very first time. The S6000 series controllers made it possible for the company to become a vendor for various glass manufacturers, covering international markets as well.

VSP has been working with Pilkington Glass in Russia for over 10 year on Eurotherm business, not only supplying equipment, but in the first place rendering comprehensive customer support, information support on the latest developments of the partner-manufacturer too.

In 2008 together with the colleagues from Eurotherm we carried out specialists’ training at the Pilkington site in the Moscow region dedicated to work practice with Eurotherm equipment — controllers, indicators and recorders.

State-of-the-art industrial paperless Eurotherm recorders are the most advanced in the market, easy to use and versatile data logging units, providing for reliable, flexible and easy start and user friendly operation. Moreover, data logging for a certain period of time may be required by some industries and science regulations. Standards compliance and process optimization requirements, as well as strict keeping with international norms and regulations are specific to pharmaceuticals, metallurgy, automobile and aerospace industries.

 VSP employee at VSMPO-AVISMA.

Just for the last few years VSP has been working on a number of technical tasks and supplied Eurotherm equipment for projects implementation to such enterprises as VSMPO-AVISMA, RUSAL, Pharmstandard-Medtekhnika, NPO Petrovaks Pharm, Vetbiokhim, EAST-PHARM and others.

Eurotherm with its 50 years of experience in designing the main elements of automation systems provides for compliance with high quality standards, and at the same time is permanently investing into new engineering developments, innovative products setting a technical level as a guidance for the whole market.

Maintaining a long term partnership with the Eurotherm company, VSP specialists take training courses at the manufacturer’s site, and are in close contact with colleagues in the company.

In November 2016 our representatives took part in a two-days meeting of the Eurotherm partners in Germany. We were pleased once again to have professional skills of our personnel confirmed and to get the letter of authority from our partner-manufacturer, which validity was further extended.

VSP specialists use their knowledge and experience when working with customers resorting to various ways of interaction and cooperation: specialized seminars for partners and customers, presentations, exhibitions and other events. The Eurotherm company does a lot of projects in Russia, including cooperation with international engineering companies. A possibility to discuss current issues with customers at the exhibition venue as well as prospective projects is a traditional opportunity presented by such an interaction.

Representatives of VSP and Eurotherm at the exhibition
in Moscow.

In 2017 VSP and the partner-manufacturer Eurotherm for the first time took part in the key industry exhibition Heat Treatment in Moscow, dedicated to technologies and solutions for heat treatment. We were happy with the results of our work at the exhibition. The company held a number of meetings with partners and new customers — visitors were presented with Eurotherm solutions aiming at efficiency improvement of modern process control systems, as well as new Eurotherm solutions in software design covering Eurotherm Online Services (EOS).

In September 2019 VSP and the partner-manufacturer Eurotherm jointly participated in the work of the exhibition presenting advanced developments for process control, covering not only precision equipment — controllers, power regulators and recorders — but some new Eurotherm solutions: single loop controller series EPС2000 and EPC3000.

Advanced control algorythms, strategies of data logging and control, providing for added value of production processes, higher quality, lower level of waste, and user data protection — all of these are realized in various product ranges with the aim of cutting down engineering time and providing for a straightforward and user friendly product operation.

Stephen France, Global Indirect Sales Leader
at the Heat Treatment-2019 exhibition in Moscow.

Decades of expetise in the field of process automation are supported by continuous research activities. Technical solutions are being improved complying with current challenges in various industries.

As of today, production companies with new technologies implemented enjoy competitive advantage. Eurotherm by Schneider Electric is consistently working in this direction.

VSP representatives with colleagues at the Eurotherm site
in Germany.
Cooperation goes on…