Control System World

It takes Pacesetters two steps to optimize their maintenance efforts. First they automate their realtime data acquisition and storage using standards-based software applications. Second, they implement CBM systems that assess equipment health based on timely and accurate information. This enables Pacesetters to prioritize their maintenance efforts by moving human and capital resources away from well functioning equipment to areas that scream for early attention.

While at first it might seem that Pacesetters’ accomplishments are currently out of reach, most corporations are indeed surprised to find out that these steps are easier to complete than initially perceived. Using commercial-off-the-shelf software and standards-based applications, such tasks can be completed economically and provide exceptional add-on value to the CMMS installations.

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Join the OPC Foundation for OPC Day Europe 2015 on May 19-20, 2015 hosted by Microsoft Paris, France.  This OPC Day conference will be held at the Microsoft Conference Center, Le Campus in Paris. Click the Location tab above for more information. The conference will feature OPC Unified Architecture experts and users from a number of industries. Catering will be included during the conference sessions.

For those who are new to OPC Unified Architecture (UA), there will be a Pre-Conference on Tuesday morning which will cover the basics of the technology, a look at security and how to get started with OPC UA. The Main Conference will begin with Registration and Welcome remarks on Tuesday afternoon followed by a networking reception with the speakers and the exhibitors on Tuesday evening. The Conference finishes on Wednesday afternoon. This event is open to both OPC Foundation members and non-members.

Benefits of attending:

This conference will focus on the rich feature set of OPC UA and the unique ways that End Users are putting these features to use in their applications. By attending this conference you will:

• Hear how Microsoft is positioning Azure with OPC UA extensions
• Learn how OPC UA fits into the Internet of Things and Industry 4.0
• Hear why end-users are requiring vendors to build OPC UA into their products,
• Learn how active collaborations with other industry organizations are working to revolutionize the transformation of data, providing an infrastructure for the modeling of information
• Network with industry experts and peers

Location: Microsoft | Le Campus

39 quai du President Roosevelt

Issy-les-Moulineaux (Paris)

92130

France

Register

Yokogawa Electric Corporation announces that, as of the end of fiscal year 2014, 14 of its employees have obtained certification as Global Industrial Cyber Security Professionals (GICSP). This is a relatively new professional qualification, first introduced in November 2013, and Yokogawa has been one of the leading companies within the industrial automation industry in obtaining certification for its employees. This attests to the high-level industrial cyber security expertise of its workforce and is in line with the company's longstanding commitment to bringing its customers safety and asset excellence.

The GICSP certification exam is offered under the auspices of Global Information Assurance Certification (GIAC), a leader in the cyber security certification field. The GICSP is the only credential of its kind that addresses the specific cyber security issues that are encountered in the industrial control systems (ICS) field. This vendor-neutral certification is aimed at IT, engineering, and security professionals working in every industry. It assesses and validates that professionals have the skills, knowledge, and capabilities needed to be in a role where they will exercise responsibility for the cyber security of an ICS.

An increasing number of Yokogawa's major customers are now requiring the assignment of at least one GICSP qualified professional to each project. This is clear evidence of the industry's strong recognition of and support for this professional qualification.

Commenting on the GICSP, Shailendra Shete, head of the Global Engineering Business Division, says, "I believe it will be difficult for Yokogawa to make headway in expanding its security business if we do not emphasize the GICSP. Employees who get this certification will be conversant with the latest technologies and be at the forefront of efforts to provide such services to the industry. I think that they will be able to help Yokogawa take and maintain a leading position in the provision of security services."

Yokogawa is continually striving to optimize control systems security for its customers by developing highly secure systems and instruments and providing operational support services. Even before launching its GICSP initiative, Yokogawa had developed its own security training program to ensure that its employees would be able to provide the security solutions needed by customers. Yokogawa will continue its efforts to increase the number of GICSP certified professionals at each of its Group companies around the world. This will help to strengthen the company's position as a leader in the ICS field, and will build on our long history in network security and our global reach. Our continual aim is to make sure that our customers can operate their plants safely.

Emerson Process Management, a business of St. Louis-based Emerson (NYSE: EMR), today unveiled Energy Advisor, a real-time energy management information system that automates the process of monitoring and managing energy consumption across mills, plants, and refineries. With real-time, meaningful information about a site’s energy performance, process manufacturers can identify inefficiencies and irregularities and take corrective action, saving on average 5 to 10 percent in energy costs annually.

In energy-intensive process industries like chemical, metals and mining, oil and gas, pulp and paper, and refining, where energy is often 30 to 50 percent of their operating expense, these savings can have a significant impact on the bottom line.

“Energy Advisor is a natural extension to Emerson’s Smart Energy Management portfolio,” said Peter Zornio, chief strategic officer, Emerson Process Management. “In 2011, we announced the company’s commitment to improving our customers’ industrial energy efficiency and we began focusing on how to help our customers best optimize combustion processes, steam systems, and on-site electrical generation. In 2013, Emerson unveiled its pervasive sensing strategy that extends wireless technologies beyond process controls to include the extensive use of wireless sensors to monitor energy consumption in our customers’ operations. Energy Advisor leverages this technology with analytics to provide visualization of the full energy picture, helping companies make smarter decisions with real-time insight into site-wide energy performance. ”

Energy Advisor pulls energy data from various sources, including (but not limited to) Emerson’s DeltaV™ and Ovation™ distributed control systems, as well as its wireless infrastructure, to provide real-time analysis and historical context. Using Emerson’s unique process models, manufacturers are now able to analyze and compare three critical items: the amount of energy a system is designed to use, what it has used over time, and what it is consuming in the moment.

“Many manufacturers are looking at their energy performance, but it is usually in hindsight and is often an incomplete picture, with data culled from disparate sources,” said Barbara Hamilton, energy management program manager at Emerson Process Management. “To increase energy productivity and eliminate waste, manufacturers need more than historical data. They need real-time insight into what is going on to drive continuous improvement behavior. That is what Energy Advisor delivers.”

Energy Advisor integrates seamlessly with current site control and information systems, allowing a straight-forward and cost-effective implementation. Key features of the technology include:

• ​Consumption Monitoring: identifies and logs root causes for energy over-consumption events.
• Data Integrity Checker: verifies integrity of energy data before it is used.
• Energy Target Calculator: creates models from past historical data to predict target energy consumption. Optional process models from Emerson provide theoretical targets as well as other energy-related performance indicators.
• Standard Reports: including cost per unit of production, energy performance trends, and electrical demand cost.

This device is a non-contact radar level meter that uses FMCW technology. It measures distance, level and volume of liquids and pastes. It is ideal for measuring the level of corrosive products with its PP or PTFE antenna options.

• 2-wire / 10 GHz Radar (FMCW) Level Meter
• Modular design of housing and antenna ensures suitability for a variety of mounting positions and applications
• Universal measurement device for liquids, pastes and slurries
• SIL2-compliant according to IEC 61508 for safety-related systems
• PP or PTFE Wave Horn antennas for the measurement of corrosive products
• Modular design: horizontal or vertical position of housing is suitable for almost all installations
• Optional local display with an integrated 4-button keypad. It is not necessary to remove the housing cover to get access to the keypad.
• Quick coupling system permits removal of the housing under process conditions and rotation of the housing through 360°
• The remote converter can be installed up to 100 m / 328 ft from the probe
• Bayonet housing cover permits easy opening and closing of the housing, even after years in service
• Measuring range up to 30 m / 98.4 ft
• Converter is backwards compatible with all BM 70x flange systems
• SIL2-compliant according to IEC 61508 for safety-related systems
• Each device is calibrated on dedicated calibration rigs before it leaves the factory

Rockwell Automation has introduced its new OptiSIS solution, giving industrial operators a pre-engineered safety instrumented system that can help ease deployment and reduce lead times for small and midsized process applications. The OptiSIS solution is ideal for oil and gas, chemical and petrochemical producers with aging process-safety systems that are either noncompliant or can no longer be maintained.

“Replacing or upgrading a process-safety system using a custom-engineered approach can be costly and time-consuming,” said Mark Eldredge, Packaged Solutions program manager for Rockwell Automation. “The OptiSIS solution can reduce lead time by more than 30 percent, leading to faster and more cost-effective safety instrumented system deployments.”

The OptiSIS solution is designed for safety instrumented system applications of 50 or 100 I/O points, including emergency shutdown (ESD) systems, burner-management systems (BMS) and high-integrity pressure protection systems (HIPPS). The version for applications of up to 100 I/O points will be available in the fourth quarter of 2015.

“Packaged solutions from Rockwell Automation are designed to help industrial operators fill capability gaps and address their specific business challenges,” said Allan Rentcome, global technology director for Systems and Solutions at Rockwell Automation. “With the OptiSIS solution, industrial operators now have a packaged solution for safety applications that historically may have been too small to justify the investment.”

The pre-engineered OptiSIS solution is delivered ready to install, wire and configure, shortening the overall engineering time and eliminating the need for any programming. Users need only enter their logic scenarios into the system’s cause-and-effect graphical interface. The configurations are tested and can then be stored for verification against original safety function requirements – or used at a later date to restore the system to a known state.

Flexible inputs and outputs help confirm that the system accommodates a varying mix of digital and analog I/O types. Additionally, simplex I/O and fault-tolerant (dual) I/O versions are available to address different redundancy needs.  The system meets requirements up to Safety Integrity Level 3 (SIL 3) and is compliant with IEC 61511/ISA 84.00.01. It uses ready-to-install, TUV-certified hardware and validated application software.

Rockwell Automation will demonstrate the new OptiSIS solution at the Offshore Technology Conference (OTC) in Booth 11813, taking place May 4 to 7 in Houston.

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Endress+Hauser has stood its ground in the market in an uncertain economic environment. The Swiss Group increased net sales in 2014 by 11.0 percent to 2.013 billion euros and achieved a net income of 192 million euros. The company invested over 126 million euros worldwide and employed 12,435 staff by the end of the year. However, prospects for 2015 are clouded by economic risks and currency movements.

In his first year as CEO of the Endress+Hauser Group, Matthias Altendorf presented good figures – “despite all the unpredictable external influences that hadn’t been considered in our budgets,” as he stressed. Endress+Hauser has doubled turnover within eight years. “For the first time in our history, over half of our net sales were generated outside Europe.”

Broad-based growth in sales:

Above all, business was good on the American continent, reported COO Michael Ziesemer, as seen in the US. Germany, the country with the highest sales volume, also improved significantly – as did Europe in general. Development in Asia was inconsistent. Growth slowed in China, whilst in Southeast Asia sales grew dynamically. In Africa and the Middle East, political instability in individual countries was noticeable.

Increased employment, higher capital expenditure:

At the end of 2014 Endress+Hauser employed 12,435 people worldwide – 516 more than the year before. The company invested 126 million euros and increased the production of flow measurement technology in Reinach, Switzerland, amongst others. 259 initial applications at patent offices around the world give evidence of the Group’s innovative powers.

Profitable and financially strong:

Operating profit (EBIT) decreased by 3.2 percent to 268 million euros. Thanks to the effects of favorable exchange rates and rewarding financial investments, the financial results were positive. As a result, profit before taxes (EBT) increased by 1.7 percent to 274 million euros. A slightly decreasing tax rate of 30.2 percent raised the net income by 2.3 percent to 192 million euros. CFO Dr Luc Schultheiss emphasized the Group’s robust financing. Equity ratio grew by 0.5 points to 68.3 percent.

Current year clouded by strength of Swiss franc:

The influence of foreign exchange rates was small in 2014. The consequences of the abolition of the minimum euro exchange rate by the Swiss National Bank in the current year are far harder to predict. “The Endress+Hauser Group as a whole can cope with the strengthening of the franc,” emphasized Luc Schultheiss. A large part of the added value is independent of the Swiss currency. However, the CFO anticipates lower profits due to the pressure on the Swiss companies in the Group.

Investments in more sustainability:

For the first time, Endress+Hauser presented a sustainability report together with the annual report. The report is intended to make developments visible and measurable. For example, cogeneration plants reduced carbon dioxide emissions at production sites in Maulburg and Gerlingen, Germany. A new plant to treat the surface of metal parts that uses metal beads instead of glass beads has significantly reduced the amount of special waste in Reinach, Switzerland.

Technip, in partnership with UNICO, a Japanese engineering consultant, has been awarded a Project Management Consultancy (PMC) contract on a reimbursable basis, for the upgrading of the Basra refinery. This contract, awarded by South Refineries Company (SRC) – Ministry of Oil, covers the engineering, procurement, construction, commissioning, start-up and warranty management phase of the refinery upgrading project(1), located in Basra, Iraq.

The project will aim at increasing the gasoline production capacity through the installation of a new fluid catalytic cracking unit and associated units like visbreaker, hydrotreating, hydrogen plant, etc. This development is part of the Iraqi Government’s long term plan to meet increasing future demand for hydrocarbon products.

This award follows the PMC contract attributed to Technip in June 2013 for the Karbala refinery. It will be executed by Technip’s engineering center in Milton Keynes, United Kingdom, and supported by Technip PMC teams.

Technip PMC gathers all the know-how and expertise acquired by the Group over the years in executing challenging projects in the world. This new award continues to reinforce our position in PMC in the Middle East.

Nicoletta Giadrossi, President of Technip’s Region A(2), commented: “We are delighted to help SRC and the Iraqi’s Ministry of Oil achieve their goals and business objectives, while meeting safety, cost, schedule and quality targets".

Riccardo Moizo, Senior Vice President for Technip PMC, stated: “We are honoured to have been awarded this important project by SRC. This new award continues to reinforce Technip’s positioning on PMC activities. We are looking forward to assisting SRC in the development of this complex project.”