The HART® Communication Foundation has recognizd the Evonik Degussa Specialty Chemicals Co. in Shanghai, China, with the HART Innovative Achievement Award. This award is presented to recognize exceptional achievement, ingenuity and innovation in using the Power of HART Communication in real-time applications to improve operations and maintenance and to realize greater benefits from intelligent instrumentation and automation system investments. Following research on the use of HART in all phases of the plant life-cycle, engineers at Evonik decided to utilize HART Communication throughout their new methacrylates production complex, including design, construction, device configuration, loop check, operations, maintenance and troubleshooting. The complex has more than 2000 HART-enabled instruments and valves installed from multiple global manufacturers. According to Luc Sterck, Project Manager Instrumentation, Evonik Engineering-Automation and Process Management, benefits realized through the real-time use of HART Communication include: easy configuration of field instruments from the control room; easy calibration management of instruments; online diagnostics and status monitoring of devices; automated documentation of calibration and configuration data into the asset management database; fewer people needed for maintenance; and easy checking/adjusting of device parameters for better control loop tuning.