Field Instrumentation Selection and Total Cost of Ownership

The ongoing maintenance of your field instruments can be a significant and often unaccounted cost of operation.

Within a plant, field instrumentation and actuators are the sensors of the process and the point at which the process automation system detects, measures, and responds to process conditions, including pressure, temperature, flow, and level. Process manufacturing plants of any size and complexity typically need thousands of field instruments, valves, actuators, and other devices. While critical to plant operations, field instrumentation is often purchased ad-hoc and based on the lowest initial cost. This paper describes the importance of considering the total cost of ownership across their lifecycle, from initial purchase through their useful life.