by Gary Mintchell | Feb 10, 2015 | Automation, News, Operations Management, Workforce
The ARC Forum, held annually in Orlando, drew approximately 700 total attendees including perhaps 60 members of the media for the 19th iteration—Industry in Transition. Media members devote Monday afternoon each year to meeting with a parade of companies presenting new products and ideas.
First up this year in my writing agenda is an update to industrial process workforce training tools. I’m seeing increasing sophistication in companies combining ideas and technologies from computer gaming with simulation of process plants to train the current and future workforce—especially the new people who grew up with gaming technology.
Honeywell Process Solutions (HPS) managers announced its new UniSim Competency Suite, which improves operator competency and helps prepare them faster through realistic training experiences for console and field operators in the process industries.
Leveraging more than 30 years of experience in process simulation and operator training, Honeywell’s new suite of simulation software offers an integrated, robust training experience that will help industrial facilities address a growing shortage of trained operators.
“In the near future, many operators at industrial plants in developed countries will retire, while process industries in emerging economies will continue to face the challenge of critical skill shortages,” said Ali Raza, vice president and general manager for Honeywell Process Solutions’ Advanced Solutions business. “The expanded UniSim Competency Suite helps our customers train its workforce faster in a more realistic environment to drive safe, incident-free, efficient startups and ongoing operations.”
The UniSim Competency suite features proven simulation models as well as new technologies including:
- UniSim Operations: Operator Training Simulator (OTS), a dynamic plant simulation system that allows users to accelerate knowledge transfer by consolidating an entire lifetime of experience into a concise process training curriculum; features realistic process, control and safety systems modeling
- UniSim Curriculum: Customizable competency model that aligns and assists in improving critical requisite skills and behaviors; tracks operator progress; built from Abnormal Situation Management Consortium’s research into operator competency to help businesses define, deploy and manage a structured competency program
- UniSim Tutor: Knowledge capture and propagation tool; provides a repository for domain knowledge and experiences; teaches and evaluates “what if” reflexes and diagnostic abilities
- UniSim Field View: Interactive, navigable, panoramic view for realistic field operator training; uses actual facility photographs and extends UniSim Operations simulator training to include field operators
- UniSim 3D Connect: UniSim Operations simulator integration and connectivity to 3D virtual environment; provides credible and realistic experiences for field operator
“Industrial plant owners and operators around the world recognize how simulation technology can help them achieve a significant competitive advantage in today’s demanding global environment,” said John Roffel, Operator Competency product director for HPS. “This suite provides our customers with the confidence and tools needed for operator competency management.”
by Gary Mintchell | Feb 4, 2015 | Automation, Internet of Things, News, Operations Management, Software, Technology
Predictive technology in the asset performance arena seems to be the trend of the week. I wrote yesterday about a solution. Today brings another announcement. I think I’ll learn more about this one next week at the 2015 ARC Forum in Orlando. (By the way, if you’re there, please look me up.)
The headline for this article came from GE. I’ve heard of predictive maintenance (which many aspire to and few achieve) and condition-based maintenance (similar but, I guess, different). Here they combine the two. Check it out and let me know what you think.
GE’s Measurement & Control business and Meridium Inc. introduce Production Asset Reliability (PAR), an integrated Asset Performance Management (APM) offering for an all-in-one view of equipment health. Combining GE Measurement & Control’s System 1 condition monitoring and diagnostic applications with Meridium’s suite of enterprise performance management and asset strategy solutions, PAR provides a holistic and quantifiable view of operations, maintenance, availability and overall operating performance for production assets.
System 1, GE’s patented condition monitoring software, helps users quickly diagnose potential equipment and instrument health issues which can lead to equipment failure. Meridium’s applications provide structured processes and analytics to identify critical assets and failure modes, calculate equipment reliability and determine downtime impacts. The integrated PAR solution provides an end-to-end process that connects the machine diagnostics to the business context and execution to drive optimized maintenance practices and production loss management for all asset-intensive industries.
“Today’s measurement, monitoring and management systems are disconnected, and, as a result, organizations fail to leverage quality data for actionable insights,” said Art Eunson, general manager for Bently Nevada, GE Measurement & Control, a GE Oil & Gas division. “GE and Meridium’s integrated PAR offering empowers our customers with the ability to connect identification, evaluation and execution for greater asset optimization and productivity.”
Asset intensive organizations are challenged to maximize production, minimize costs, follow regulations and manage risk. To balance the demanding requirements, operators require a more cohesive system that assesses equipment performance and manages the resulting data. GE and Meridium provide this comprehensive solution for customers to effectively measure, monitor and manage each connected asset.
“With greater availability of big data and connected assets, there is an end-to-end picture of plant operations waiting to be tapped by organizations from the plant floor to the corporate office in order to stay competitive on a global scale,” said Bonz Hart, Meridium Founder and CEO. “PAR measures performance, quantifies risk and delivers analytics in real-time, providing customers with the insight needed to effect real change, improve efficiency and reduce maintenance costs.”
The Oil & Gas industry demand solutions that can grow with business demand and adapt rapidly to changing technical environments. That is why GE’s industrial solutions such as System 1 are standardizing on GE’s software platform for the Industrial Internet, Predix.
by Gary Mintchell | Dec 5, 2014 | Automation, Networking
I’m not a Modbus scanner expert, but this new industrial networks product came to me from a friend I trust. Looks interesting.
Precision Digital Corp., global supplier of digital panel meters and control instrumentation celebrating its 40th year in business, announced the Vantageview PD6730X Modbus Scanner. The PD6730X is a rugged, NEMA 4X/IP65 Modbus master, slave, or snooper (sniffer). The multi-purpose PD6730X is designed for accurate display of and quick access to information, locally or remotely, in wet or dirty environments.
It can accept up to 16 individually programmed process variables (PVs) from multiple devices; four math channels allow for calculations on multiple PVs. The SafeTouch through-window buttons allow operation without removing the cover. The pulse input accepts a wide range of flow transmitter signals, including mV input from a magnetic flowmeter, as well as high frequency signals. The PD6730X includes backlighting, two open collector outputs, and an analog output as standard.
“The versatile Vantageview PD6730X is loaded with features that plant operators can appreciate,” said Jeffrey Peters, President, Precision Digital. “It is simple to program using our free ScanView EX software, displays critical information about the process, and can be seen from wide angles and a distance. The PD6730X is designed for readability and ease of use, from large character and Feet & Inches displays to automatic rate conversions and data logging. Plus, it integrates easily into existing Modbus networks.”
The PD6730X Decimal Display models feature an upper display that is 0.7 inches high and shows five digits of information; the Feet & Inches models feature a level display that reads up to 399 feet, 11 and 15/16 inches and contains a 20-segment tank level indicator. The lower display for both models is 0.4 inches high, with seven alphanumeric characters, for Process Variables, Custom Units, or Tags. The bright LCD display is easily read under varying lighting conditions and from viewing angles of up to +/- 40 degrees (twice that of competitive models); it can also be rotated in 90-fdegree increments for increased readability.
Four sensors in the PD6730X operate as through-window buttons for programming and operation without removing the cover in wet or dirty areas.
These SafeTouch buttons include an energy saving mode to save power, extend battery life, and prevent unintended triggers.
The PD6730X provides flexible power options, including battery, DC with battery backup, DC only, output-loop, or output loop with battery backup. Its element-resistant enclosure provides three threaded conduit holes and integrated pipe or wall mounting holes. Operating temperatures range from -40 to 75 degrees C.
by Gary Mintchell | Nov 4, 2014 | Automation, Security
Patrick Coyle writing on his Chemical Facility Security blog notes a long term campaign that has been compromising industrial control system security. The following is from his blog. Check out his site.
This evening the DHS ICS-CERT published an alert about a long term anti-ICS campaign that has been compromising various control systems from multiple vendors since at least 2011. ICS-CERT is reporting that, at a minimum, HMI from GE, Advantech and Siemens have been compromised in this campaign. They are not currently reporting any damage to control systems or to operations that are controlled by those systems.
ICS-CERT is publicly providing detailed information about how these compromised HMI can be identified and it is asking all potentially affected system owners to check their systems and notify ICS-CERT if evidence of compromise exists.
As one would suspect with something that is apparently as serious as this, ICS-CERT has released an alert (ICS-ALERT-14-281-01P) on the US-CERT secure portal and has already published an update to that alert. ICS-CERT is also taking the unusual step of publicly describing that alert and notifying “US critical infrastructure asset owners and operators” that they can request a copy of the alert by email ( [email protected]).
As I have already mentioned on TWITTER, this is the most detailed ICS-CERT alert that I have ever seen, especially on an initial publication. This is the type of information that we should be able to expect from ICS-CERT. This is also the type problem that we really need to be able to expect them to delve deeply into. I suspect, however, that we will be receiving the bulk of our information on this from private sector researchers who will have more resources and expertise to throw at this problem. That would be a good topic for a congressional investigation.
BTW: Here is an interesting question about this issue from Chris Sistrunk: “Could the BlackEnergy ICS malware be related to the vulns discovered by Z0mb1E and amisto0x07 from ZDI and the Metasploit mods they wrote?”
BTW: The alert contains a link to the GE security page. Nothing specific there except a brief note that: “The CIMPLICITY Webview server that existed in prior versions of CIMPLICITY, has been removed due to security concerns.” No further information available.
by Gary Mintchell | Nov 4, 2014 | Automation, News, Process Control
Honeywell Customer Experience Center
Last week I had the opportunity to visit the new Honeywell Process Solutions Customer Experience Center for process industry customers in Houston. Laid out very much like a science and industry museum with wall graphics leading customers from technology to technology across the Honeywell portfolio. This is the third one I’ve heard of this year, and each seems to trump the previous ones.
The highlight is an experience center amphitheater where Honeywell engineers can demonstrate the wide variety of solutions available customized to the industry of the particular group of customers touring.
From the press release, “The new Customer Experience Center (CEC) – located at Honeywell Process Solutions’ global headquarters at 1250 W. Sam Houston Parkway S. – brings to life many of the newest, high-tech innovations for customers in the oil and gas, refining, petrochemicals, mining, power generation, pulp and paper, and other industries. The center includes, for example, a plant control room outfitted with Honeywell’s Experion Process Knowledge System (PKS) Orion Console. The console is a completely new interface that uses the integration of larger screens, touchscreen displays, mobile device capabilities and other technologies to better assist plant operators who are charged with running some of the world’s most critical and complex manufacturing facilities.”
The $5 million CEC will be a destination showcase site for Honeywell’s customers from process industries throughout the world.
“There’s only so much someone can learn about a new technology by talking about it. The goal of the new Customer Experience Center is to physically show our customers what these systems look like and how they can help them solve their most daunting manufacturing challenges,” said Olivier Biebuyck, global vice president of marketing and strategy, Honeywell Process Solutions. “Even seeing the setup in a smaller scale like this gives our customers a much better idea for how the technology works to improve the safety, reliability and efficiency of their plants.”
Other CEC highlights include field instrument technologies – such as transmitters used to monitor pipelines – that have been transformed in recent years into smart devices that deliver more-relevant information to operators in the control room, as well as to mobile operators. The center also demonstrates how Honeywell safety, physical and cyber security systems can be fully integrated together within facilities to achieve the highest level of asset protection, and features advanced software that helps manufacturers design their processes, train their operators and optimize daily operations.
