Control System World

Kepware Technologies was recently named as one of the 2014 Best Places to Work in Maine in the medium company category. The awards program, founded in 2006 by the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) – Maine State Council and the Best Companies Group, is a project designed to identify, recognize, and honor the best places of employment in Maine, benefiting the state's economy, its workforce, and businesses. Partners endorsing the program include Mainebiz, the Maine State Chamber of Commerce, and Maine HR Convention.

Kepware, founded in 1995 and headquartered in Portland, Maine, develops software solutions for the Automation Industry. The company has expanded their distribution to more than 100 countries and increased their headcount by more than 300% over the past decade. Key to the company’s rapid growth and continuing success is its flagship solution KEPServerEX—a communications platform that connects, manages, monitors, and controls diverse automation devices and software applications. Kepware continues to evolve the platform's communication abilities to help companies improve their operations and decision-making by ensuring accurate and reliable data.

The ninth annual Best Places to Work in Maine list is comprised of 70 companies from around the state separated into one of the three size categories: small (15-45 employees), medium (50-249 employees), and large (250+ U.S. employees).

Companies that met eligibility requirements for entry had to complete a vigorous two-part process to determine the Best Places to Work in Maine. The first part (worth 25 percent of the total evaluation) consisted of evaluating each nominated company's workplace policies, practices, and demographics. The second part (worth 75 percent of the total evaluation) consisted of an employee survey to measure employee experience, engagement, and satisfaction. The combined scores determined the top companies and the final ranking. Best Companies Group administered the overall registration and survey process in Maine, and also analyzed the data and used their expertise to determine the final rankings.

Kepware was recognized and honored at the Best Places to Work in Maine awards ceremony on October 8 and will be profiled in a special publication by Mainebiz. This is Kepware's fourth consecutive year winning a spot on the list.

Schneider Electric, the global specialist in energy management, has helped New Belgium Brewing Company dramatically increase production using its Wonderware MES Performance software.  Based in Fort Collins, Co., New Belgium Brewing emphasizes eco-friendly production practices, continuous improvement and metrics measurement. Just as it is vigilant about the products that go into its premium beers, the brewer also believes it is vital to have and maintain production processes that are as accurate, green and lean as possible.

After a closer look at its bottling lines, the brewer’s operations management team realized they were producing 150,000 cases of beer each week on lines that were capable of producing 294,000. Scheduled and unscheduled downtime was causing valuable packaging time to be lost.

“After ramping up our bottling line to meet growing customer demand, we were disappointed to find the brewery was producing only about half of what it was truly capable of producing,” said Joe Herrick, packaging systems manager, New Belgium Brewing. “Our brewery’s existing manual systems generated a huge amount of data but we had no way of presenting it in context.”

To address these issues and to otherwise improve performance, New Belgium Brewing, with technical assistance from Apex Manufacturing Solutions, implemented a solution using Wonderware manufacturing execution system software from Schneider Electric. Not only does the Wonderware MES software track and record the bottling process automatically, it transforms raw data into user-friendly presentations that drive improvement. For example, the software facilitates shift changes by providing new workers with data on the performance of the previous shift. The system also integrates with the brewery’s existing Wonderware System Platform and Wonderware HMI software. The combined solutions improved operators’ ability to maintain precise packaging production schedules and effectively manage the materials supply chain during the brewing process.

“The ability to customize the graphics provided by the Wonderware MES software solution enabled us to develop a system that could effectively communicate the line status and production capacities of the bottling and packaging lines, while at the same time illustrate New Belgium’s unique company culture with engaging graphics,” said Sam Vail, chief strategy officer at Apex. “Screen data shows what order is being worked on, what is coming next and how the current rate compares to their standard. This is a great example of how Wonderware software changed the game for New Belgium Brewing, effectively enabling them to increase capacity, expand production and improve quality without investing in new equipment.”

“With Wonderware MES Performance software coupled with our continuous improvement strategy, we have increased the efficiency of our packaging line by 30 percent, which allowed us to extend our packaging capacity to about 1.3 million barrels each year,” Herrick said. “Improved manufacturing efficiencies plus increased line production means we’ve saved more than $400,000 in previously planned labor costs and decreased downtime by 50 percent. At this point, our approach to higher volumes is ‘bring it on.’

Matrikon has recently announced the release of the Matrikon Industrial UA Modbus Gateway, housed in a small form factor gateway that provides secure, powerful and broad connectivity to access data from RTU’s, PLCs or any other devices that use the Mobus data protocol.

As a native Modbus communicator, the UA Modbus Gateway can connect to any device that uses the standard Modbus protocol both over Serial or Ethernet connections on one side and makes it securely available to OPC UA clients on the other via OPC UA over Ethernet. Unlike Modbus, OPC UA, the next generation of OPC - the de facto standard for open standards based data connectivity, offers all the features Modbus lacks such as: security, reliability, and data modelling. The UA Modbus Gateway allows data sharing via UA as natural next step up from using Modbus.

“The UA Modbus Gateway is a great example of the power and versatility OPC UA has to offer when embedded in a small, rugged field device. From pump stations and plants, to off-shore rigs - there is strong demand for secure, reliable data connectivity right to the data source without a PC in the middle. Matrikon OPC UA Gateway answers this demand directly – making OPC UA data sharing as fast and easy as the Modbus protocol it interfaces with.“ said Darek Kominek, marketing manager of MatrikonOPC.

Matrikon Industrial UA Modbus Gateway is well suited for challenging situations that include:

• limited power availability in remote conditions

• remote or unmanned stations that need data collection

• limited space requiring a compact solution

• operation in extreme temperatures and/or dusty environments

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Schneider Electric, the global specialist in energy management, continued its 2014 Software Global Customer Conference in Orlando, Fla., with an overview of new product releases from its Ampla, Avantis, SimSci and Wonderware product lines. Formerly part of Invensys but now combined with Schneider Electric, the company’s new Software business unveiled an impressive lineup of new capabilities that improve operations management for process, hybrid and infrastructure companies.

“As we have been saying, combining Avantis, Wonderware, SimSci and other Invensys software solutions with Schneider Electric’s existing software portfolio is changing the game for our customers,” said Ravi Gopinath, Ph.D., executive vice president, Schneider Electric software business. “Our combined development, delivery and service capabilities enable new systems, applications and technologies to be brought to market faster. And our customers will continue to benefit from our long history of innovation, our world-leading brands and powerful new solutions that improve efficiency, help manage risk and drive higher levels of customer value."

One example of this is Plant Operation Ampla MES 2014 software, Schneider Electric’s integrated planning and optimization solution for the mining industry. Ampla MES 2014 optimizes the entire mining supply chain, from resource to market, and can improve productivity by up to 20 percent. Ampla MES 2014 includes production and inventory accounting, delay accounting, energy management and conformance to plan metrics. It is the latest evolution of the company’s leading MES solution for the mining industry and includes significant advances in inventory management, tracking and work-in-progress visualization across the mining operation.

The company has also added new and updated features to its industry-leading Avantis enterprise asset management software, extending usability, knowledge management and collaboration for more comprehensive and predictive asset management. New workflow functionality provides customers with closed-loop work process management, along with escalation and system of record capture of processes, procedures and activities. A plug-in for Esri’s geographic information system allows customers to view Avantis.PRO information in a map and manage work based on physical locations. To meet the need for lower cost of ownership and deployment, Avantis.PRO software has also been qualified to operate on virtual machines hosted within the Microsoft Azure environment using the Platform-as-a-Service hosting model.

SimSci Suite 2014 software contains the most recent versions of the company’s flagship process design, simulation and optimization offering. SimSci Suite 2014 includes PRO/II 9.3 with updated sequencing and focused improvements to de-pressuring; DYNSIM 5.2 with enhanced usability and commercialization of a metals, mining and minerals model library; and ROMeo 6.2 with enhancements to the existing Information Stream functionality and integration to third-party refinery reactor models. SimSci Suite 2014 software supports the full plant lifecycle, from process design to operator training to process optimization.

Wonderware InTouch 2014 R2 human machine interface and Wonderware System Platform 2014 R2 SCADA products provide a host of functional upgrades and improvements, elevating the brand's renowned ease of use. An expanded set of symbols and wizards in the offerings’ situational awareness libraries make it easier than ever to drag and drop informational and HMI displays, helping to improve standards, reduce engineering time and improve training for operators and other users. An extensive array of new alarm features and capabilities make it easier to manage large-scale events. Major new editor improvements and new tools to convert legacy graphics deliver point-and-click simplicity so customers can preserve their investments in existing systems while benefitting from all the latest capabilities.

Exida, a global supplier of functional safety products, services, and certifications has released the second version of its SILStatTM software. SILStat helps evaluate actual risk reduction by collecting and analyzing operation and maintenance data.

“SILStat v2 improves the scalability of the software rollout through a standalone (Lite) and Server based (Site) offering,” says Iwan van Beurden, exida’s director of product development. “Data collected by SILStat can help determine the actual risk posed by a hazardous situation and the effectiveness of the individual layers of protection allowing safety practitioners to evaluate the effectiveness of their process safety design and consider actual performance in future hazard and risk evaluations.”

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ICONICS, a Microsoft® Gold Application Development Partner and provider of Web-enabled, OPC-based Visualization and Energy Management software for Microsoft Windows® operating systems, continues its efforts that led to being named the 2014 Microsoft Public Sector CityNext Partner of the Year. The company was honored in May, 2014, among a global field of top Microsoft Corp. partners, for demonstrating excellence in innovation and implementation of customer solutions based on Microsoft technology.

Awards were presented in multiple categories, with winners chosen from a set of more than 2,800 entrants from 117 different countries worldwide. ICONICS was recognized for providing outstanding solutions and services in Microsoft’s CityNext initiative including services pertaining to building automation and energy efficiency.

The Microsoft CityNext Partner of the Year Award recognizes the partner who best exemplifies how their solutions, built on Microsoft technology, address the most pressing challenges for cities and help them do “more with less”. The Microsoft platform provides a connected foundation for cities to build on, utilizing solutions and apps across core city functional solution areas and scenarios that present opportunities for cities to address challenges, spur economic growth and transform where they work and live.

“Microsoft’s success as a company depends on great partners, and ICONICS is a shining example of the kind of innovation our partner ecosystem drives year after year,” said Phil Sorgen, corporate vice president, Worldwide Partner Group, Microsoft Corp. “We are honored to recognize ICONICS as this year’s winner of the 2014 Microsoft CityNext Partner of the Year award, and we applaud ICONICS’ dedication to providing innovative solutions that drive results for our mutual customers.” The Microsoft Partner of the Year Awards recognize Microsoft partners that have developed and delivered exceptional Microsoft-based solutions during the past year.

Yokogawa Electric Corporation announces that one of its major platform products for the industrial automation and control business, the ProSafe®-RS safety instrumented system (SIS), has received a Science and Technology Award in the Excellent Product category from the China Instrument and Control Society (CIS).

The award was presented on September 23 in a ceremony that was conducted at the opening of the 25th International Conference and Fair for Measurement Instrumentation and Automation (Miconex 2014), a CIS-sponsored event in Beijing, China. Yokogawa China Co., Ltd., a Yokogawa subsidiary, accepted the award certificate on Yokogawa’s behalf.

The CIS Science and Technology Award was established by the National Office for the Science & Technology Awards and the Ministry of Science and Technology of the People’s Republic of China, and is considered to be highly prestigious and influential. This year, 21 products won this award in the Excellent Product category, and it is particularly noteworthy that Yokogawa was the only non-Chinese company to receive this honor. This award for ProSafe-RS is the first time an SIS has won this honor, and it comes in recognition of our success in supplying many ProSafe-RS SISs in China which can be attributed to the high reliability of the ProSafe-RS and the enhancement to plant operations that comes through integration of ProSafe-RS and the Yokogawa CENTUM® VP integrated production control system. CENTUM VP received this award last year, making this the second consecutive year that we have received this award.

In energy and raw materials industries such as oil, natural gas, petrochemicals, and chemicals, there is a strong demand for solutions that will help to ensure a safer workplace. Safety instrumented system can detect hazardous conditions and initiate an emergency shutdown. To improve plant safety, the Chinese government is recommending the use of safety instrumented systems. Yokogawa will continue to provide products and other solutions that can enhance both operational efficiency and safety in China.

/Honeywell Process Solutions has announced that its DynAMo™ alarm management technology is improving safety and productivity at more than 100 process plants and pipelines around the world by helping operators better and more quickly evaluate alarm situations in control rooms.

Plants and pipelines are increasingly relying on numerous automation systems, which can produce more than 1,000 system alarms in a given day. The number of alarms can often overwhelm operators, a problem that leads to lower production and increased safety incidents that cost the process industry billions of dollars every year, according to the Abnormal Situation Management® (ASM) Consortium, an industry group dedicated to advancing process technology.

"The DynAMo solution, which was launched in November 2013, allows plant operators to tune out noise and focus on critical situations by more efficiently managing and evaluating alarms," said Ali Raza, vice president and general manager, Honeywell Process Solutions. "This allows operators to more easily detect and prevent problems, and to develop and implement effective alarm management strategies aligned with industry-recognized guidelines and standards."

DynAMo is based on Honeywell's 20-plus years of alarm management experience in the process industries. DynAMo reduces control room alarms by up to 80 percent by allowing operators to create customizable dashboards on computers or mobile devices that allow them to view the alarm system health at a glance. This allows operators to better and more quickly diagnosis alarms and their causes and consequence on one console.

Honeywell has licensed DynAMo technology at plants in Australia, Canada, Japan, Saudi Arabia, and the United Kingdom, among others, as companies work to increase the efficiencies of their control rooms.

Richard Wawrzon, process engineering and control team leader for Qenos Pty Ltd., Australia's leading supplier of polyethylene and polymers, said, "High quality tools to manage and maintain process alarm systems are critical to running petrochemical plants. Honeywell's DynAMo Alarm Suite has sensibly integrated analysis, documentation and notification tools to provide support engineers with an efficient way to stay in control of process alarm systems. Once process safety is being looked after, key resources can focus on production efficiency."

As a global alarm management solution provider, Honeywell recognized the severity of alarm problems at industrial sites and delivered an effective tool for assisting in optimizing alarm management programs, which are intended to prevent alarm floods and reduce operator loading. With the DynAMo Alarm Suite, personnel can monitor alarm issues based on their specific roles and take action before abnormal situations escalate. A new, customizable, role-based dashboard enables operators, engineers and managers to view the health of their alarm system at a glance. The software has added mobile device compatibility for viewing alarm metrics at any time, from almost any location.

Chris Lucas, gas control team leader for Alliance Pipeline in Canada, said, "We chose Honeywell to provide our alarm management solution because its DynAMo Alarm Suite will help us meet our alarm philosophy and control room management plan objectives. Honeywell's involvement with the ASM Consortium and the American Petroleum Institute also weighed into our decision, as did integration with the control system of our choice."

DynAMo Alarm Suite works with any control system as well as complementing Honeywell's Experion® PKS system. The alarm software provides a single window into alarm system performance and regulatory compliance, helping companies adhere to industry standards such as ISA 18.2, EEMUA 191, API 1167, and PHMSA.

Honeywell also provides a variety of services to help customers get the most out of their alarm management strategy. This includes alarm rationalization, alarm philosophy and strategy, workshops, best practices training and other services to enable customers to focus on alarm management priorities.

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