by Gary Mintchell | Mar 27, 2013 | Events
I am at the United Club in Orlando about to leave for home. So I don’t have time for any intelligent analysis right now from this installment of the ABB Automation and Power World conference.
They announced overall attendance of 4,800 people. Quite respectable. I was only able to get to a couple of sessions, but they were packed.
The company is still on a positive track. And for those of us who have been attending for the past 10 years or so, it is fascinating to reflect on the great growth in the company over that times. Not just revenues, but also numbers of employees and customers and even further the attitude. They were on the right track, but CEO Joe Hogan has brought a new level of energy to the entire company–the mark of a great leader.
I will be updating on the number of new products announced when I land in Chicago (yes, I get to connect a lot thanks to flying out of Dayton, Ohio).
There were also a number of conversations about services and cool things happening with software.
And a word about the future
Great to see a lot of great people and lay the foundation for my new Website–coming soon to a browser near you. Watch for the launch of The Manufacturing Connection as I refine my new business and the areas I’ll be covering–basically what I do now with some renewed emphases on areas not covered well by existing publications.
by Gary Mintchell | Mar 8, 2013 | Events, Operations Management, Technology
Congratulations to the HART Communication Foundation. While many more people could be making use of the technology that probably already exists in their plants, many are using this open technology to expedite calibration and diagnose problems within the plant’s instrumentation.
In 2013 the HART Communication Foundation and its member companies celebrate 20 years serving the process automation industry. To commemorate this milestone, the Foundation (HCF) is hosting special End User Events in Europe, North America and Asia throughout 2013. The first of these free educational events is being held on Tuesday, 9 April in conjunction with Hannover Messe 2013 (8-12 April, Hannover, Germany).
“This 20th Anniversary event, HART: Benefits Today and Into the Future, provides an opportunity for end users to learn more about the benefits and value of using the full capabilities of the HART Protocol, HART applications, products, and the future of this field-proven technology,” says Ron Helson, Foundation Executive Director. “We invite HART users attending Hannover Messe to add this special event to their show calendar.”
The HART Communication Foundation 20th Anniversary User Event will be held in the Field Communication Lounge (Hall 9, Stand D76) at Hannover Messe on Tuesday, 9 April, 16:30-20:30. The event will include the presentation HART: An End User Success Story by Mr. Michael Pelz, Head of Process Optimization and Automation, Clariant and a panel discussion with Mr. Pelz, Mr. Gábor Bereznai, Head of Automation, MOL, Mr. David Eisner, Chief Engineer & Senior Engineering Fellow, Honeywell, and Mr. Helson with moderator Mr. David Humphrey, ARC Advisory Group Research Director-Europe. Guests will also enjoy networking with HART experts and users and a reception with food, drinks and world-class entertainment.
The anniversary events are sponsored by Foundation member companies ABB, Azbil, Emerson Process Management, Endress+Hauser, Honeywell, MACTek, Microcyber, Pepperl+Fuchs, ProComSol, Siemens, Supcon, and Yokogawa. Details on all 20th Anniversary events are available at www.hartcomm.org.
There are two concurrent events that evening at Hannover. But I’m skilled at being in two places at once. I will be there. The report will be posted with Automation World, who is paying for my trip to Germany. Yes, I’m not with them full-time anymore. But I still do some work for them.
by Gary Mintchell | Mar 8, 2013 | Events
Traveling to meet with other industry practitioners is a valuable learning experience. There are the formal presentations, which are just fine. Sometimes the best experiences are just chatting with others in the hallway or at lunch or even the bar afterwards. This is where people share what works and what doesn’t. I’ve learned a lot in these experiences.
A month or so ago, ISA issued a press release that it has, indeed, decided to go forward with its “Automation Week” conference for this year. Several of us were quite surprised given the reception it got last year.
It turns out that the press release was both a little premature and incomplete. They probably wanted to announce the general chairman for the year and dates. Information is beginning to slowly come out. This year all pretense of an Expo is gone. It will be a conference only. And if you have something to share, you can visit this page for details about the call for papers (abstracts due April 2).
When focused groups within ISA plan conferences (Water/Wastewater and Marketing for example), the results have been good. When it sets its sights higher and broader, then results have been less than gratifying. I don’t know much about this year’s plans, but I hope the leaders begin to seriously think about targeting a demographic rather than being something for everyone.
Targeted events, marketed appropriately to the targeted audience with a relevant message will bring results. There are tons of talented and knowledgeable engineers and managers within ISA. We just need to get them active.
ISA Automation Week 2013 is planned for November 5-7 in Nashville, Tennessee. From what I’ve heard as part of a couple of ISA Committees, there are tracks planned that are references to ISA88, ISA95, and ISA106 – or to issues directly impacted by the work of the three committees. I’ve also heard that there is a safety track. I hope this isn’t too much, but many of you have experience and expertise to share. Not sure if I’ll be there in person, but keep me posted.
by Gary Mintchell | Feb 20, 2013 | Events, Operations Management
Shuzo Kaihori, President and CEO of Yokogawa, led the press conference at the ARC Forum on Feb. 11. Stirring memories of his predecessor’s stated goal of making the company the market leader in automationk, Kaihori noted that it is the global number two supplier of safety integrated systems. He did state that it is still the company’s goal to be the leading automation supplier. It’s just that the target date has slipped. Macro economic trends and internal reorganizations have delayed the plans, I believe.
Technology suppliers continue to develop energy management solutions. Yokogawa joins that trend by partnering with Soteica and its Visual MESA energy management and optimization solution services adding it to its portfolio of plantwide energy management solutions (EMS). Yokogawa has also acquired 44.3% ownership of Soteica Visual MESA to accelerate the joint development of EMS.
Visual MESA is capable of reducing annual energy costs by approximately 2% to 5%. There are approximately 3,400 plants worldwide with $40 million or more in utility costs each year.
“We are very excited about entering into this comprehensive partnership with Yokogawa as it will enable us to dramatically increase the exposure of Visual MESA, our industry leading solution for utilities optimization”, said Oscar Santollani, Soteica Visual MESA’s CEO. He added, “We have found in Yokogawa a partner with whom we share the same work ethics and engineering rigor. We look forward to a long and fruitful relationship.”
by Gary Mintchell | Feb 19, 2013 | Automation, Events, Safety
Invensys Operations Management packed its press conference time with safety news. In many ways, this is refreshing as well as a validation of bringing in Mike Caliel to take the reins. To be fair, the developments were probably in the pipeline for a while. But Caliel’s main challenge was to bring stability and focus to a fractured assemblage of divisions. That seems to be going well.
Software Tools
The Triconex Safety View solution is the said to be the world’s first software for effective alarm and bypass management certified by TÜV Rheinland to IEC61508 Systematic Capability 3 for use in applications up to Safety Integrity Level 3. Additionally, the company’s Triconex Trident and Triconex General Purpose safety instrumented systems now support OPC Universal Architecture for greater communications connectivity.
“Changing market dynamics and emerging technologies require a fundamental rethinking of how companies will manage their operations today and in the future,” said Gary Freburger, president of the company’s Systems business. “To address these new and ever-more complicated challenges, companies need to become more agile without jeopardizing plant safety. Our new Triconex products provide this agility by reducing risks when bypassing safety systems during startup and shutdown, as well as the risks associated with integrating safety systems across different vendor platforms. In addition, they provide a pathway for modernizing existing plant operations, one that links business processes with production processes; removes traditional barriers to collaboration; and empowers our customers’ most valuable resource – their people.”
Safety View improves situational awareness and broadens visibility into the risks that come with system startups, shutdowns and other critical process transitions that must be managed by plant personnel. It draws attention to changes in process conditions that require immediate attention, giving operators, maintenance engineers and shift personnel better visibility into the process so they can take actions that reduce risk, optimize total cost of ownership and increase overall asset performance. It is built on the company’s ArchestrA System Platform and Wonderware InTouch HMI software, which have been adapted specifically for use in safety applications.
OPC UA
Invensys has also embedded OPC UA communications in its Triconex Trident and Triconex General Purpose safety instrumented systems. OPC UA maximizes interoperability between systems and streamlines connectivity through open platform architecture and future-proof design. The new communications interface module contains an embedded OPC UA server that supports up to 10 concurrent clients, delivering high performance and secure, reliable communication of real-time data, alarms and historical events.
“The addition of OPC UA communications reinforces our commitment to providing secure, reliable and future-proof communications that seamlessly integrate our market-leading safety systems with various distributed control systems, programmable logic controllers, HMIs and other plant assets,” said Steve Elliott, director of Triconex product management for Invensys. “This freedom of choice allows clients to select the best of the best for their control and safety needs without compromising performance.”
OPC UA provides a single communications solution from the device level to the enterprise level, maintaining platform independence without sacrificing performance. It provides better interoperability (complete with certification); reliability by design; access via firewalls and across the internet; and reduced configuration time with built-in information and security models.
Controller
The Triconex General Purpose system is a SIL2-certified high availability, fail-safe and fault-tolerant controller. Redundancy, diagnostics, error checking and failure modes are all built into the system as standard. No knowledge or understanding of redundancy is required to make the system work. Users simply just wire up the inputs and outputs and then write the logic for the piece of equipment they need to control or protect. The Trident General Purpose system does the rest. And there is no single point of failure and very high mean time between failure rates.
The latest version also features OPC Universal Architecture communications connectivity, which maximizes interoperability between systems and streamlines connectivity through open platform architecture and future-proof design. The new communications interface module contains an embedded OPC UA server to provide a cohesive, secure and reliable cross-platform framework for real-time data, alarms and events. It also implements X.509 certificates for additional, enhanced security protection.
Key Capabilities:
• Control and safety in one package;
• Simple and easy to use, requiring less engineering than PLC’s;
• No need to program redundancy and fail-over functions;
• No need to program diagnostics or failure modes;
• No need for external diagnostics, such as watchdog timers;
• No need for calibration of analogue inputs;
• No need for testing of failover redundancy;
• Simple to maintain and fault find;
• Transparent Fault Tolerant Operation (triplication is seamless to users);
• Standard design delivers repeatable, maintainable and supportable solutions;
• Lowest overall lifecycle costs.
by Gary Mintchell | Feb 18, 2013 | Automation, Events, Operations Management
Schneider Electric used its time in the ARC Forum Press Conferences to announce PlantStruxure Process Expert System (PES), integrating the functionalities of Schneider Electric’s PlantStruxure collaborative architecture with StruxureWare Process Expert, a single software environment that integrates control applications, supervision and field devices to configure an entire control system.
PlantStruxure PES brings together programmable automation controllers (PAC) and Distributed Control Systems (DCS) to form an energy-aware process automation system that meets the demands of today’s production facilities while delivering on growing energy management requirements. The system combines energy and process data in one platform. PlantStruxure PES delivers data that drives timely and accurate decision-making to reduce energy consumption and increase process efficiency.
StruxureWare Process Expert, the software component of PES, leverages a single database to enable users to directly interface with a single process element, such as a pump, during runtime operations with a single click. The software also allows object libraries built for StruxureWare Process Expert to be easily modified, streamlined and customized for individual processes and users.
“PlantStruxure PES is a leading edge offer in the field of process automation systems that brings the best from the PLC/SCADA and DCS worlds and combines this with integrated Energy Management features to deliver superior value throughout the lifecycle of a plant,” said Mary Ramsey, Senior Vice President, U.S. Industry Business, Schneider Electric. “The tight integration of the system ensures efficiency from design engineering through operation, and engineers can develop the configuration faster and more accurately, and maintenance teams can diagnose and solve problems faster to reduce the downtime of a facility.”
Historically, choices have been limited to simple PACs or more complex DCS, with no customizable option for processes with different needs. The run-time services provided by PlantStruxure PES gives operators a complete picture of the production process, and enables single-screen configuration and diagnostic access traditionally found only in a DCS operator interface.
Schneider Electric’s PlantStruxure integrates both hardware and software components throughout the plant, delivering a complete process management solution. EcoStruxure connects five domains of business: Power, Datacenters, Process and Machines, Building Control and Physical Security – in an open and flexible technology architecture that delivers up to 30 percent savings in energy efficiency.
