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Plant Information
Systems:
The nerve systems of the modern process plant
Nigel Bowden, Yokogawa
The global marketplace for state-of-the-art process control software development
and integration is substantial. New-build and refurbishment of the world’s
largest production plants is racing ahead to satisfy all kinds of new demands.
Plant Information Management Systems will play a key role as nerve centers of
the modern process plant. Yokogawa shares its views.
Manufacturers of process control software and integrated networks must meet this
challenge with speed and accuracy, in the environment of open standards. Never
before has the work of the Open Process Control (OPC) and Fieldbus independent
foundations been more important. We live in an open standards world where the
installation of Plant Information Management Systems (PIMS), and manufacturing
execution and operational excellence systems (MES/OES) differentiate between
plants that meet modern standards and those that do not.
The PIMS principle
Fundamental to understanding the business benefits of a fully integrated
PIMS system is an understanding of where this fits in the plant view.
Intelligent instrumentation pervades modern plants. Every sensor acts as a
transceiver, providing the centralized database with point and quality data tags
outside a predefined ‘deadband’. The information is sampled at intervals varying
from every second to 10 minutes or less; the interval depending on the attribute
being monitored. Scalability means the ability to handle a wide range of tag
numbers: tag counts in the largest systems regularly enter hundreds of
thousands. These tags and instruments at the lowest level of the process control
pyramid feed process data into the distributed control system (DCS). Above the
DCS are more sophisticated and operationally-oriented software such as PIMS. The
full power of the PIMS now becomes apparent, pulling together process data from
the DCS, manipulating, sorting, analyzing and reporting production information
across the Enterprise and upwards into Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP)
systems. This operational software is central to the efficient operation of the
plant and also includes: document management, time & attendance, human
resources, planning, schedules, financial, materials management, manufacturing
planning, statistical process control, laboratory and maintenance. PIMS is the
nerve center of the plant and delivers process information-based analysis
supporting decisions to make savings in wastage and gains in material or energy
use. Above all, these systems must be comprehensive and future-proof.
PIMS today
The world’s processing industries offer a great challenge to process systems
developers and integrators. Today’s new plants require PIMS systems that are
powerful, robust and flexible. The best form the core of integrated information
systems (IIS) that enable plant operators to optimize their businesses
discovering new and substantial profits. Operators can now build integrated
global information systems rather than just a network of plant systems. When
designing world-class PIMS, systems developers must examine the real needs of
plant operators and create responsive and best-fit solutions.
PIMS in the future
Integration of information will be central to future developments in PIMS.
The best systems offer such facilities as sequence of events recorders to
support plant trip analysis and OPC Batch-based PIMS systems, providing FDA 21
CFR Part 11 compliance as part of a core design philosophy, which today is a
unique Yokogawa benefit. Other recent developments have focused on two business
areas; the development and marketing of optimizing process management software
(MES/OES), and implementing customer specific integrated information and control
systems which are based on open standards (OPC/Fieldbus) and the key
interoperability benefits which follow. Turnkey supply contracts cover the
complete design, supply, engineering and commissioning of the systems as well as
the training of users and long-term support. The understanding of customers’
business processes and the integration of business solutions give the commercial
edge they need and identify the competitive advantage of the provider.
Operational Excellence Solutions
Only the agile and efficient companies will prosper in today’s environment.
Such companies have embraced business process re-engineering, just-in-time
supply chain management, activity based costing, continuous improvement, and the
integration of manufacturing resource planning (MRP). This enables them to
deliver world-beating products, on time, on budget and to the delight of the
customer. This is where world-class MES/OES comes in; they are the vital link
between the plant and the business. Top-class MES/OES offer the following key
features:
- An integrated relational and historical database allowing fast, flexible,
traceable, access to real time and historic data
- Powerful central processor providing full PIMS functionality that is scaleable
and future-proof. These can include customized integrated information systems
(IIS) and, for example, specialist integrated refinery information systems
(IRIS)
- Customizable analysis and reporting to allow additional data collection,
analysis and reporting and integration, i.e. from on-line analyzers, laboratory,
stores or waste
- Regulator-approved continuous or batch data recording and reporting
- Flexible configuration to match a wide range of sizes and budgets reducing
overall lifetime ownership costs
- Maximized ease-of-use and operator assistance, greatly increasing reliability
and reducing training requirement
- Ready integration with legacy applications and open standard connectivity to
plant monitoring and control equipment
For customers, benefits gained from MES/OES functionality include:
- Improved yield and product quality, achieved through tracking of defects,
rework and quality/giveaway in real time via fingertip control of the process
within tightly controlled, but flexible parameters
- Flexible response and reporting of manufacturing alarms with trip reports and
event analysis. By monitoring process conditions, downtime and reject product
is minimized
- Reduced administration costs and greater reliability through paperless
recording and reporting while retaining full production history and traceability
for all production whether continuous or batch, ideally regulator-approved
software administered and processed in a regulator-approved way
- Improved customer service and response time through integration of
customer-specific specifications, parameters and materials
- Production-line management recording and reporting plant equipment and
processes, lockouts, downtime and alarms/alerts. This can include automated
maintenance cycles and scheduled redundancy/replacement
- Customizable, industry-tuned special releases of the overall process control
package or individual modules within it
Open Standards
Interoperability is the watchword of the modern world. From mobile telecoms
(3G, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi) to the exchange of process control data (Fieldbus and OPC
standards), interoperability and scalability/future proofing are key to
influencing the purchase of process systems in the industrial market. Previous
generations of plant operators had a large number of providers/vendors, each
with their own proprietary standards and interface protocols. The birth of the
open standards foundations began the unstoppable trend towards common
interfaces, another reflection of the move from production-bias to user-bias. No
longer is an operator locked into one provider, and forward thinking software
developers and integrators have led the field in adopting open standards. Open
standards standardizes the technology rather than the product. It eliminates the
need for costly customization of platforms, equipment, interfaces, storage,
drivers and ports. There is no need for constant rewriting of protocols and the
benefits of new avenues of communication are achievable at minimal cost. The
number of software drivers required for a given task is minimized, the
efficiency of data exchange and storage maximized. It is clear that
customer-driven production processes with scalable, reliable, low cost process
control business solutions are the ideal, and are now achievable. With today’s
powerful plant information management systems (PIMS), and the universal benefits
of open standards interoperability, plant operators can rely on the maximum
output from their ever-more complex plants. <<
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