New control room creates optimum working conditions

As one of the largest biotechnology centers in Europe and an innovative competence center for life sciences in the greater Munich area, the Penzberg plant of the pharmaceuticals and diagnostics group Roche has recorded steady growth in recent years. The energy supply system and its control center were of course not unaffected by this. This was reason enough to set up a completely new control center for optimal control of the entire plant supply in addition to the necessary expansion of the plant park. A perfect requirement for the control room specialists of JST – Jungmann Systemtechnik^®.

Monitoring the 120 or so power generation plants and networks, controlling the entire power supply network and, in addition, processing fault reports from all the plant’s operations with almost 6,000 employees – the tasks of energy supply at Roche in Penzberg are many and varied. However, the previous premises had reached their limits with the current demands on technology and ergonomics. For this reason, a new control center was integrated into a new building required for further energy plants.

Environment enables highly concentrated work

Günter Latzko, plant manager for energy supply, puts it in a nutshell: “The workplaces of the shift workers no longer met the current standards for the design of control rooms”. His wish: An environment that makes “highly concentrated work” possible and meets the increased requirements. To achieve these goals, the Roche managers have brought on board the experts from JST.

Specialists convince with comprehensive planning

After initial contacts during ko:mon congress and a joint workshop, in which the employees of the control room were also involved, it soon became clear: The Jungmann team is the ideal partner for the upcoming tasks. As part of an extensive planning package including lighting design with circadian lighting and a complete visualization of the future control room with realistic 3D images, the control room specialists were able to convince in a tendering process.

MultiConsoling^® makes operation child's play

The technical highlights of the new control room today include a proactive large screen wall with a total of eight 46 inch Displays, which are optimized for 24/7 operation. The adjacent meeting room, which was equipped with the Allmedia conference table system from JST, also features a 70-inch wall display, which, like the large screen wall in the control room, is controlled via JST-MultiConsoling^®. A technology with which it is possible to display any sources (computers, cameras, etc.) in real time on workstation monitors, on individual large-screen displays or as BigPicture across several large-screen displays. Only one mouse and keyboard are needed per workstation to operate everything in real time.

Alarms are processed quickly and directly

Another special feature: so-called JST CommandPads^® are embedded in the desks of the control room, which are controlled via the JST CommandBox. In the event of faults, the buttons light up in color and the operator responsible can acknowledge the incoming alarm directly.

"This looks just like the starship Enterprise"

But besides all the technical innovations that Jungmann Systemtechnik has realized in Penzberg, the visual appearance of the new control room also played a not insignificant role for plant manager Günter Latzko and his team. “We wanted to maintain a uniform design and avoid visual breaks at all costs.” Today, the ergonomic Stratos operator desks and the entire surrounding furniture form a harmonious picture that inspires even groups of visitors to make enthusiastic statements such as “that looks like the one on the Starship Enterprise”.

With professional work to optimal conditions

For Günter Latzko, one thing is certain: ” Ideal working conditions have been created here. Spatial confinement and noise pollution are a thing of the past.” The plant manager evaluates the work of Jungmann Systemtechnik as “very professional” and is pleased that the new control room “is really very well received internally and externally.”

Project report Roche Diagnostics GmbH