Case Study: Salalah Methanol Company achieves 10x alarm reduction and improved operator effectiveness with Honeywell’s Alarm Management Software

Honeywell’s Alarm Management Software Radically Reduces Alarm Loads at SMC to Safeguard Performance

Salalah Methanol Company (SMC), a wholly owned subsidiary of Oman Oil Company operating a large methanol plant in Salalah, faced alarm overload that threatened operator effectiveness despite strong production and safety performance. Honeywell was engaged to address almost 300 alarms per hour across operations and utilities using its alarm management capabilities, including Honeywell’s Alarm Management Software / Alarm Configuration Manager and integration with Experion® PKS.

Honeywell implemented a system‑independent alarm management solution—Documentation and Enforcement, Metrics and Reporting, override management, and UA/OPC integration—rationalized 60 bad actors and configured mode‑based alarms for 20 pieces of equipment in the master alarm database. The work, completed on time and on budget, cut total alarms from more than 100,000 to under 10,000 and reduced average process alarm rates from 48 to 8 every 10 minutes (utilities 8 to 2), enabling operators to focus on priority alarms and operate more robustly.

Salalah Methanol Company

Masoud Al Maashani

Maintenance Manager