"How can a company preserve the know-how that is in the minds of its engineers?" asked Dorothea Schwarz from Evonik Industries in her presentation at the Digital Plant Congress 2012, addressing a trending topic and a major challenge in the process industry.



In view of demographic change, the current shortage of engineers and the constant further development of existing plants, data and knowledge management is becoming increasingly important for planners and operators: this means standardizing processes on the one hand and securing, networking and digitally mapping data, knowledge and expertise within the company on the other. How this undertaking can be realized with digital plant tools was a key topic of the specialist congress. Under the motto "Status quo and perspectives of digital plants", 170 participants, 25 speakers and 20 exhibitors met to exchange experiences and ideas between planners, operators and software providers in the process industry. At the two-day conference, solutions from leading companies were presented and current requirements for IT and engineering tools in automation and process technology were discussed.



Forward-looking ideas such as mobile interaction thanks to useful apps were also presented: Existing plants are subject to constant change processes due to market changes and further developments, which should be incorporated into the digital model in a timely manner. With the small application programs, adjustments to the plant will in future be incorporated into the model on site and in just a few steps - reducing the deviation between reality and the model to a minimum. "The digital plant is a challenge, but also a necessity," said Anke Geipel-Kern, Managing Editor of "Process" and moderator of the Digital Plant Congress 2012, emphasizing the importance of digital plants in the process industry.



Konstruktionspraxis is the leading specialist medium for developers and designers in mechanical, apparatus and vehicle construction, electrical engineering and other metal and plastics processing industries. www.konstruktionspraxis.de offers multimedia and interactive specialist and product information as well as news. Process covers the market of the chemical, pharmaceutical and other process engineering industries with up-to-date business and application-oriented technical information. The German-language Process, the English/Chinese editions Process worldwide, Process India and Process China, the industry title PharmaTEC and the online portals www.process.de and www.process-worldwide.com inform technical specialists and managers in the process industry worldwide. The parent company Vogel Business Media is one of the leading German providers of specialist information with over 100 trade journals, over 100 web portals, over 100 business events and numerous mobile offerings and international activities. The company is headquartered in Würzburg.