by Gary Mintchell | Nov 3, 2015 | Automation, Safety
Mike Douglas, Sr. Manager of Health and Safety Engineering, at General Motors, spoke at the Technology track of the EHS Today’s Safety Leadership Conference on steps to getting to a safety consciousness within a company. He had led the team that changed GM from the top down into a safety-conscious company. The process included promoting safety as a brand within the company.
Using the model of the Safety Maturity Index, Douglas discussed culture, capital, and compliance.
Cultural involves what people say at the water cooler. You have to ask is safety a priority or a value. Priorities change but values don’t. That means working to assure safety is in the company DNA.
If you have achieved bringing safety into a key place in the company’s DNA, then it becomes time to put your money where your values are. In the Safety Maturity Index, this is called Capital. Douglas asks, “Have you committed to investing in design for safety? You must commit resources to perform the required due diligence to meet safety requirements. Further, ask, “Has your company performed throughput improvement analysis around safety investments?”
Finally, you must work on Compliance, the last stage of the Safety Maturity Index. Douglas asks, “Does your company follow a management system? Do you have specific performance standards that support the management system? Have resources been allocated and responsibilities assigned (governance, requirements, accountability)?
I noticed Douglas’ talk fit into a few trends most speakers discussed. One of these is the observation that business benefits accrue when safety becomes an integral part of not only culture, but also design. Douglas mentioned throughput (less downtime, for example) as a benefit that even financial managers can recognize.
Douglas had a final observation for Safety Leaders, “You have to be able to defend the system.” Change agents and leaders must either have this ability or develop it in order to achieve success.
by Gary Mintchell | Oct 28, 2015 | Automation, Safety
The EHS Today Safety Leadership Conference is this week in Greenville, SC. I’m there following the Safety Technology track sponsored by Rockwell Automation. I’ll have reports on information from the sessions in a later post. Rockwell used this opportunity to recognize the winners of its Safety Excellence Awards for leadership in manufacturing safety.
Rockwell Safety Excellence Awards Winners 2015
Four organizations received awards at this the third annual Manufacturing Safety Excellence Awards. The company recognized The Clorox Company, The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company, Kimberly-Clark Corporation and Paper Converting Machine Company (PCMC) for their leadership in applying a holistic approach to safety maturity across their organizations.
“This year’s recipients display a true commitment to safety maturity across their organizations,” said Mark Eitzman, safety market development manager, Rockwell Automation. “They’ve gone beyond approaching safety as a means to maintain compliance, and are embracing it at every level to achieve overall business goals.”
The Manufacturing Safety Excellence Awards honor companies that make workplace safety a core business value by building a comprehensive program based on three key pillars: a strong safety culture, well-executed compliance procedures, and effective use of contemporary safeguarding and automation technology through capital investments.
Following are the details about the award winners:
The Clorox Company: Tracy Glover, Jeff Deel, Rockwell’s Mark Eitzman
The Clorox Company
Clorox makes collaboration between engineering and EHS inherent in every safety project. Safety has become ingrained in the company’s culture. “Safety became part of our global company culture when we labeled it a core value, instead of just a priority,” said Jeff Deel, electrical instrumentation and controls engineering manager, Clorox. “Priorities can change over time, but our values remain constant. While we’ve seen improvements in productivity, throughput and competitiveness, the real focus is on ensuring that our partners and employees are well taken care of.”
The Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company: Dennis McGavis and Rockwell’s Mark Eitzman
The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company
Global tire manufacturer Goodyear has taken a proactive approach to safety by creating a corporate culture that values the wellness and safety of its employees. It continually drives toward a goal of zero incidents and injuries. To help achieve this, engineering and EHS teams in manufacturing facilities around the world collaborate during all stages of introducing any new or retrofitted equipment or plants – from the design phase until final sign-off by the EHS team.
“When it comes to safety, compliance and regulations are certainly important. But in order to reach our target of zero incidents and injuries, we believe it is critical for our associates to make safety a personal value in their lives,” said Mike Porter, director of global EHS, Goodyear. “We’re very proud of the progress we’ve made with safety, but know that it’s a journey, and we’re committed to getting better every day.”
Kimberly-Clark: Peter Shen with Rockwell’s Mark Eitzman
Kimberly-Clark Corporation
Kimberly-Clark has a long-standing commitment to safety improvement and the health of its employees as one of the founders of the National Safety Council. “Safety is fundamental to our organizational DNA,” said Dennis G. Averill, CIH, CSP, global director of safety and hygiene, Kimberly-Clark. “We achieve success with everyone in the organization working and learning together, including engineering, EHS and operations. This collaboration is not only done conceptually, but also during the actual execution of risk assessments, safety standards development and more.”
The company also continues to achieve safety improvements through its R.E.A.L. strategy, which addresses safety from all angles, including risk mitigation, EHS management systems, accountability and leadership.
The Paper Converting Machine Company, Jill Thiede, Jason Stover, Rockwell’s Mark Eitzman
Paper Converting Machine Company (PCMC)
As a manufacturer of tissue converting, packaging, envelope, nonwoven and flexographic printing technology and machines, PCMC has made functional safety an integral part of its machine design process. “We differentiate ourselves from competitors by guiding our customers through the safety process and educating them on the opportunities safety presents,” said Jason Stover, senior electrical project engineer, PCMC. “Some might not recognize safety as a fundamental part of the equipment, but by the time we’re done, they see the value.”
Past winners
The 2015 Manufacturing Safety Excellence Award recipients join a distinguished list of companies that have been recognized as safety leaders. Past winners include Bevcorp, Corning Environmental Technologies, General Motors, Procter & Gamble and the PepsiCo divisions of Walkers Crisps and Pepsi Flavors.
by Gary Mintchell | Oct 16, 2015 | Asset Performance Management, Automation, News, Operations Management, Process Control, Security, Technology, Wireless
This is another long post—and it is a summary—running through many of the new products introduced to the press and analysts durning Emerson Exchange 2015. If any of these whet your appetite, visit the Emerson Process Website for more information.
Another place to catch up on happenings at the conference is Jim Cahill’s Emerson Process Experts blog. He also has been introducing readers to highlighted sessions.
Machinery protection
CSI 6500 ATG protection system, a stand-alone machinery protection solution that allows users to cost-effectively introduce prediction monitoring of critical assets from the same system. Predictive intelligence is a key component to increasing availability and improving the reliability of plant assets.
These multi-functional cards can be easily reconfigured for a wide range of measurements, including the impacting or peak-to-peak data used in Emerson’s unique PeakVue technology. In addition to monitoring the start-up and coastdown of critical turbo machinery for safe operation, users will be able to utilize PeakVue technology to identify the earliest indications of developing faults in gearboxes and bearings.
With the CSI 6500 ATG, it is no longer necessary to return to the control room or open cabinets in the field to view or analyze data. The CSI 6500 ATG can be networked over wired or wireless Ethernet to deliver asset health information to authorized users through a PC or phone application.
To facilitate easy system integration with third party systems, CSI 6500 ATG is the first protection system to include a secure embedded OPC UA server.
Gas ultrasonic flow meter
A new Daniel gas ultrasonic flow meter platform elevates its well-proven British Gas design by providing two meters and transmitters in a single body to help natural gas operators and pipelines improve reliability and efficiency. Designed to maximize capital budgets by permitting two completely independent measurements with the installation of just a single flowmeter, the new 3415 (four-path + one-path) and 3416 (four-path + two-path) gas ultrasonic flow meters combine a four-path fiscal meter with an additional check meter, while the new 3417 (four-path + four-path) meter provides two fiscal meters for full redundancy and equal accuracy within one meter body. This two-in-one redundant design delivers continuous on-line verification of custody transfer measurement integrity, device health and process conditions, and improves fiscal metering confidence while ensuring regulatory compliance.
Both Daniel 3415 and 3416 gas ultrasonic meters measure flow using four horizontal chordal paths in addition to a reflective path dedicated to verification of the primary measurement, enabling improved metering insight, more informed decision making and simplified flow meter verification. For enhanced immunity to pipe wall contamination, the 3416 meter is equipped with an additional vertical reflective path to detect liquid or very thin layers of contamination at the bottom of the meter that otherwise remain completely hidden in a direct-path meter design. This allows reliable monitoring of process changes before they affect measurement, thus reducing calibration frequency and enabling maintenance to be condition-based instead of calendar-based.
Electric actuator control
DCMlink Software, a unified electric actuator control, monitoring and diagnostics platform, will allow, for the first time, Emerson customers to diagnose, configure, and monitor all electric actuators from a central location independent of protocol, actuator or host system. The software extends the useful life of field assets by providing actuator data gathering, condition monitoring, events log and prioritization of actuator alarms in a unified and consistent user interface. Actuator configuration includes custom characterization, as well as the ability to import and export historical configuration profiles.
Whether it is viewing value torque profile, live trending data or actionable alarms straight from the actuator, plant operators will be able to access detailed monitoring and diagnostics data, allowing them to take action before a fault occurs. DCMlink offers advanced control and diagnostics, including torque profile curves, initiating partial stroke test or emergency shut down and alarms in NE-107 format. Current communications support included Modbus, TCP-IP, and Bluetooth.
DeltaV v13
Version 13 (v13) of the DeltaV distributed control system (DCS) new features focus on integration, advanced alarm management, and security with an overarching design that improves ease of use and minimizes the need for specialized expertise.
DeltaV v13 delivers technologies to bring sources together for easy operator access and use. These technologies include an Ethernet I/O card (EIOC) for integrating Ethernet-based subsystems and devices, including a direct interface with smart motor control centers and substations. It improves the factory acceptance testing (FAT) experience by providing enhanced safety instrumented system simulation capabilities and easy-to-use virtualization environment.
The new DeltaV Alarm Mosaic has an intuitive alarm display that enables operators to more quickly identify, analyze, and respond correctly to the root cause of an abnormal process condition. The new release also provides trend display optimizations for better visibility of process changes.
SCADA
OpenEnterprise v3.2 release adds a native interface to the AMS Device Manager asset management software, enabling users to remotely manage and maintain HART and WirelessHART devices in wide-area SCADA networks.
OpenEnterprise v3.2 together with AMS Device Manager allows asset owners to extend the reach of their predictive maintenance capability out to their remote assets, providing a powerful and proactive method of diagnosing potential device problems remotely. This results in reduced trips to the field and helps to avoid unplanned process shutdowns, improving safety, reliability, and profitability.
The native interface of OpenEnterprise v3.2 to AMS Device Manager enables the collection of wired and wireless HART digital device data over low bandwidth wide-area SCADA networks from Emerson ROC, FloBoss, and ControlWave RTUs without adding the additional complexity and expense of external HART multiplexers. Support for AMS Device Manager SNAP-ON applications, OpenEnterprise SCADA server redundancy, multiple deployment options, and data collection for up to 10,000 HART devices ensures flexibility and scalability for a wide range of remote oil and gas applications.
Machinery health in PowerGen
Emerson now offers its power generation and water/wastewater industry customers native machinery health monitoring and protection capability within the Ovation distributed control system.
Ovation Machinery Health Monitor leverages the Ovation platform through a high-performance I/O module dedicated to machinery health functions. Simply install by inserting the module into a spare I/O slot.
With the Ovation Machinery Health Monitor, operators receive alerts from a single set of common plant HMIs and no longer need to manually check machinery functions through a separate system.
The Ovation Machinery Health Monitor also reduces the risk of cyber attack by eliminating links to standalone systems and isolating process information – all of which can help facilities meet NERC CIP and other security regulations.
Silica sensing
Costly damage to turbine blades caused by silica deposition can occur due to a poorly monitored steam purity program. The new Rosemount 2056 Silica Analyzer provides continuous accurate measurements of silica in process streams with a range of 0.5 ppb to 5000 ppb. The 2056’s usability features make it one of the easiest -to-use and high performing analyzers.
Harsh duty pressure sensing
Rosemount 3051S Thermal Range Expander with new UltraTherm 805 oil fill fluid enables pressure measurements by direct-mounting a diaphragm seal system to processes that reach up to 410°C (770°F) without requiring the challenging impulse piping or heat tracing used in traditional connection technology. In applications where ambient temperatures drop below ideal operating conditions, system response time becomes slow, resulting in delayed process pressure readings. Traditionally, this problem is solved by using heat tracing which is costly, maintenance intensive, and difficult to install. By using the new thermal range expander dual fill fluid seal, the Rosemount 3051S can reliably measure pressure at extremely high process and low ambient temperatures.
The Rosemount 3051S Electronic Remote Sensors (ERS) System now has safety certification. The ERS System calculates differential pressure through a digital architecture — and is now suitable for SIL 2 and 3 applications.
Rosemount 3051S High Static Differential Pressure Transmitter provides reliable flow measurement in high pressure applications with capabilities up to 15,000 psi (1034 bar). The transmitter’s SuperModule platform and coplanar design reduce potential leak points by 50 percent compared to traditional designs, ensuring the highest differential pressure measurement accuracy, field reliability and safety.
Corrosion monitoring
The Roxar Corrosion Monitoring system, consisting of wireless-based probes, will provide refineries with flexible, responsive, integrated and highly accurate corrosion monitoring.
Combined with the Emerson’s non-intrusive Field Signature Method (FSM) technology, a non-intrusive system for monitoring internal corrosion at the pipewall, refinery operators will be able to access more comprehensive corrosion information and corrosion rates, leading to improved operator insight and control over assets.
The system will also help identify and track opportunity/high TAN crudes and their corrosive elements. Such crudes are less expensive but more corrosive than others with the new system enabling the maximum amount of such crudes to be blended into the mix without increasing corrosion risk.
Wireless pressure gauge
Emerson Process Management has introduced the industry’s first WirelessHART pressure gauge. The Rosemount Wireless Pressure Gauge enables remote collection of field data.
The Wireless Pressure Gauge eliminates mechanical gauge common weak points by removing the components that inhibit the device from reporting/displaying pressure and providing up to a 10-year life, which reduces maintenance cost and time. The large 4.5-inch gauge face provides easy field visibility.
by Gary Mintchell | Oct 12, 2015 | Automation, Internet of Things, Manufacturing IT, Networking, News, Operations Management, Security, Technology
Cisco held a Global Editors’ Conference during which I was traveling and could not attend. However, here is news gleaned from the press releases and other sources.
Cisco has been building partnerships in the industrial and manufacturing space for quite some time. Emerson partnered as part of its wireless solutions. Rockwell Automation has become a valued partner even reselling Cisco switches and routers in industrially hardened configurations.
Rockwell has also partnered with Fanuc, the robot and CNC supplier. The primary reason for the partnership I would guess would be that each helps the other penetrate more deeply into some large accounts such as GM. However, the Fanuc on the technology front has developed EtherNet/IP connectivity for its products. This enables them to share data on a standard Ethernet network.
Connectivity between Rockwell and Fanuc products along a Cisco Ethernet platform becomes interesting. Indeed, note the announcement below where Fanuc is now partnering directly with Cisco.
Cisco postulates that forty percent of today’s leading companies will be displaced from their market position by digital disruption in the next five years, yet 75 percent of these companies have yet to address this risk by prioritizing their digital strategy, according to research conducted by the Global Center for Digital Business Transformation.
To help customers navigate this important transition. Cisco is introducing four new digital solutions for industries – manufacturing, transportation, utilities, and oil and gas. The solutions aim to help customers connect machines and assets, break through information silos, and digitize data in an integrated way across the business.
Additionally, Cisco is announcing a new, industrial Internet of Things (IoT) security solution. Customers will use the Cisco IoT System Security and professional services from Cisco and partners to mitigate the risk of system disruption – and efficiently assure compliance.
Removing Barriers to Efficiency
To remain competitive, industries like manufacturing, utilities, oil and gas, and transportation need to increase productivity, deliver more value, and create better experiences for customers and end users. Some of the greatest obstacles to efficiency are operational silos. Silos separate people, machines, systems, information, and complete areas of a business; they separate information from operational technology. Breaking through silos with a more holistic and connected architecture connects people, streamlines communication and drives a more agile operation.
Four New Digital Solutions:
- Connected Machines for Digital Manufacturing: A connected architecture that redefines secure, efficient, and visible operations. This solution enables rapid, standards-based, repeatable machine connectivity, and global factory integration while enabling OEM digitization and new business models – including highly secure remote access, monitoring and serviceability of machines. FANUC America and Cisco announced that they intend to implement the solution to enable robot connectivity and analytics for proactive maintenance. At an event in San Jose, high-tech manufacturer Flex outlined how it is already using the Connected Machines solution and FANUC Robots to drive efficiency and quality in its operations. Cisco is also today announcing a series of attractively priced solution bundles to simplify and accelerate infrastructure digitization for customers for the Factory Network, Factory Wireless and Factory Security.
- Smart Connected Pipeline for Digital Oil and Gas: A connected, highly secure architecture that allows oil and gas companies more control over their pipelines, helping to protect assets from accidents or cyber-attacks. Operations are safer, more efficient – and more secure. Schneider Electric and Cisco are collaborating to bring the Smart Connected Pipeline solution to market, and are already working with customers such as Italian multinational oil and gas company, ENI.
- Substation Security for Digital Utilities: A connected and timely architecture that enables highly-secure power grids for reliable, more efficient service across the utilities industry. Now, more than ever, the nation’s power grid needs additional layers of safety and security. Utility companies in North America must comply with the North American Electric Reliability Corporation Critical Infrastructure Protection (NERC/CIP) Version 5 mandated standards. South Carolina utility SCANA will be the first to deploy Cisco’s Substation Security Solution – a solution designed to enable utilities to comply with these regulations.
- Connected Mass Transit for Digital Transportation: A connected architecture that will enable the delivery of greater safety, mobility – and a better passenger experience. Through a converged network architecture that is based on the Cisco IoT System, transit systems can enhance automation, collaboration, video, cloud-to-fog agility and business intelligence. From the management control center to the transit station – onto the roads, the rails, and onboard mass transit vehicles themselves – the Cisco solution puts safety and security first. Situated on the River Danube, the Austrian City of Linz is implementing the solution to streamline operations across its tram network.
- IoT System Security: The IoT System Security product-portfolio helps deliver highly secure connectivity, visibility and control to assure that IoT initiatives deliver competitive advantage for customers across all verticals. The Cisco IoT System Security product portfolio includes IoT-specific security with the introduction of a new, dedicated security appliance (ISA-3000 for application visibility, policy enforcement and threat defense) and a Fog Data Services security solution. With today’s announcement, the IoT network can now act as a sensor and enforcer to provide security policy enforcement within router and switches. It also provides solutions for IoT physical security with video surveillance cameras, physical access control, and video surveillance manager with advanced security analytics. Cisco will continue to expand its IoT System security offering through additional developments and collaboration with key ecosystem partners, including Rockwell Automation.
A Few Quotes
Rick Schneider, North America CEO, FANUC: “Preventing unplanned downtime is a huge savings for our customers and makes the FANUC robots with ZDT a tremendous value. With Cisco, we are helping our customers access this new value and also re-imagining our go-to-market strategy for after-sales service and support. This has the potential to have the biggest impact of anything I’ve seen in my 35-year career.”
Murad Kurwa, Senior Vice President of Engineering, Advanced Engineering Group at Flex: “Cisco’s vision of the power of Industrial IoT was realized through joint collaboration using automation as the enabler. With Universal Mechanical Assembly process partnering with FANUC, we are now able to get data to create a pool of knowledge. This helps us take action through analytics and ultimately leads to a more robust ‘process’ performance – leading to a world class, smart factory.”
Ed Rodden, CIO, SugarCreek: “We are using Cisco’s Connected Machines solution as we build our new 418,000 square foot factory of the future. Cisco’s new Industrial IoT platform will provide us the ability to use all our company’s available pieces of data, including video and security, from all kinds of devices and to tie them all together to drive more operational efficiency in the new factory.”
Sujeet Chand, Sr. Vice President & CTO, Rockwell Automation: “The Cisco IoT System Security solution will make an immediate impact for customers by accelerating secure IT-OT convergence with an end-to-end security solution, simplifying compliance and mitigating threat vectors. Together with Cisco, we are helping industrial operations maintain the integrity and confidentially of their network in support of holistic enterprise risk management strategies throughout a Connected Enterprise.”
James Bielstein, CIO, Advanced Manufacturing Deployment for GE’s manufacturing facilities worldwide: “In order to start down the path to becoming a Brilliant Factory, the first step is to deploy a modern IT infrastructure. This infrastructure will give our plants the flexibility and security needed to develop a ‘digital thread’ from product design to shipping. Cisco is part of GE’s Brilliant Factory architecture.”
Georg Linhard, Project Manager for LINZ AG TELEKOM: “We decided to build on our existing Cisco network and channel its agility and simplicity to incorporate new security, mobile, and analytics technologies that help us achieve our goals and gain greater business insight.”
Patrick Albos, SVP, Oil and Gas Segment, Schneider Electric: “The Smart Connected Pipeline brings SCADA and IT infrastructure together in a converged, secure, easy to deploy and use platform, and brings significant business value in optimizing and reducing cost of pipeline operations.”
by Gary Mintchell | Jun 22, 2015 | Internet of Things, Interoperability, Networking, News, Operations Management, Process Control
I have business related to an angel investment and too much other travel to attend this week’s Honeywell User Group in San Antonio and Siemens Summit in Las Vegas. Trying to get to both events was both expensive and too exhausting to attempt. I had one friend, at least, who was going to both. More power to Greg.
I’ll analyze from reports I see from those there and from press releases. I know that Honeywell Process Solutions anticipated one major security announcement at HUG, but I would have been gone had I decided to attend anyway.
Meanwhile, I’ve been writing about the Internet of Things, fieldbuses, and networks for some time. The ODVA reached out asking if I’d like an update on its process industry work with EtherNet/IP. Of course, was the reply. It has a stand at ACHEMA in Frankfurt (another place I could have gone…) and sent me this update that would be the centerpiece of its press conference there.
Along with Rockwell Automation’s entry into the process industry automation market, EtherNet/IP usage now must incorporate process industry standards to go along with factory automation (discrete industry) usage. Partner Endress + Hauser has been building out devices that are EtherNet/IP enabled. This is an interesting addition to process industry “fieldbus” market (I know, perhaps EtherNet/IP is not a “real” fieldbus, but it will be used like one).
This was ODVA’s first appearance at ACHEMA, where ODVA members and EtherNet/IP suppliers Endress+Hauser, Hirschmann, Krone, Rockwell Automation, Rosemount, Schneider Electric and Yokogawa have assembled a demonstration of EtherNet/IP to explain to visitors ODVA’s approach to the optimization of process integration. Illustrating typical process applications, such as clean-in-place, highlights of the demonstration include:
- Use of EtherNet/IP to connect best-in-class solutions and devices for process applications;
- Integration of traditional process networks, such as HART, Profibus PA and Fieldbus Foundation, into an EtherNet/IP network; and
- Movement of data between field devices, such as pressure sensors and flow meter, and plant asset management systems.
ODVA’s process initiative, launched in 2013, is intended to proliferate the adoption of EtherNet/IP in the process industries. Initial focus has been on the integration of field devices with industrial control systems and related diagnostic services, leading to a road map for adapting the technology to the full spectrum of process automation needs, including safety, explosion protection, long distances and comprehensive device management.
“EtherNet/IP is at the forefront of trends in convergence of information and communication technologies used in industrial automation. Although industrial Ethernet was first adopted in the discrete industries, today EtherNet/IP is widely adopted in hybrid industries and is spreading into process industries, said Katherine Voss, president and executive director of ODVA. “Because ACHEMA is an international forum for users in chemical engineering and the process industries as a whole, ODVA felt it would be helpful to the ACHEMA’s audience to broadly showcase to process users the opportunities for integration improvements, optimized network architecture and increased ROI that EtherNet/IP can afford.”
