There comes a time in the life of any control system when it must be brought into conformance with the latest technologies. This is true whether it is a process control system or a small programmable logic controller (PLC) on a discrete manufacturing piece of machinery. Many control systems in use today are not equipped to handle the demands of modern digital fieldbus networks, or to process and communicate the vast amounts of real-time manufacturing data required by voracious business information systems. That’s not to mention coordinated motion and logic control, or the development of a library of programming objects.

Management at Nova Chemicals Corp., a Canadian-based manufacturer of chemicals and plastics with executive offices in Moon Township, Pa., near Pittsburgh, decided that if the company was to grow and thrive, it needed to achieve operational excellence across its many manufacturing plants. To form the challenge it placed before its employees, it defined the mission: “We will astutely employ process automation expertise, technology and sustainable infrastructure to achieve Operational Excellence and top quartile manufacturing performance through a program that leverages people, systems and best practices.”

Steve Deschamps, principal practitioner-automation at Nova Chemicals and member of the implementation team, says, “We will achieve manufacturing excellence through automation migration.” The ambitious strategy that Deschamps outlines includes:

optimize cross organizational performance implement short- and long-range plans to fully optimize the prevailing asset base, leverage internal and external knowledge, resources and best practices astutely integrate process and business automation into manufacturing systems and processes.

Deschamps notes that the progress the company has made so far would never have happened without all the relationships that the implementation team formed. As the team members began to focus on the control platform, they realized that the best strategy would be to work with one supplier. After an extensive selection process, they picked Swiss-based ABB, whose U.S. offices are in Norwalk, Conn. Teams of engineers from the two companies conducted a thorough automation lifecycle review, drew up a business case and evaluated the potential lifecycle—including ABB’s product plans—for each automation component. The team then laid out an eight-year evolution plan.

Not only were process engineers and ABB engineers involved, but the team also had active participation from Nova’s information technology (IT) department. Says Deschamps, “We’re really proud of the IT involvement in this project. Plus, I can truly say that collaboration with your supplier works.”

Random migrations? Platt Beltz, technical support specialist at process controls vendor Yokogawa Corp. of America, in Houston, is concerned that customers hearing the term “migration” from a system sales person may conjure visions of a haphazard, poorly designed program to move them from the old platform to a new one. Customers may also be concerned about giving up a system that is working. “The reality is,” says Beltz, “that as systems get older, maintenance costs can increase—especially if they are in a harsh environment. Also, there is a lifecycle phase-out as newer systems are released.”

Beltz enumerates the many advantages of the latest control systems as reasons to consider migrating, or evolving, a working control system. Compared to 10 years ago, for example, when a control station could handle up to 225 instruments, the equivalent control station today can handle 1,200 of the same instruments, plus up to 1 million tags. Plus, users get a more modern set of engineering tools and graphics builders that improve and speed the design process. Add in the benefits of wiring and diagnostics from Foundation Fieldbus, and Beltz makes a compelling case for users to seriously look at migration.

Of course, careful advanced planning and building a compelling business case, as Nova Chemicals’ Deschamps showed, should be done before plunging ahead into a haphazard migration.

Pete Sharpe, principal consultant at process controls vendor Emerson Process Management’s Advanced Application Technologies Group, in Austin, Texas, works with customers as they plan upgrades to their control systems. He agrees that planning is key. “Get your hands on the business justification for your system upgrade,” states Sharpe. “Users should perform a thorough analysis, looking at all the pieces of the system that must be replaced, and cost all the components. There are various levels of complexity that should be addressed. Is the project a complete ‘rip-and-replace,’ or can you maintain your I/O (input/output) modules and racks, and just replace the system boards and software? Or is it a case of ripping out the system and I/O and just leaving the field instruments? In any case, this is a significant activity, so ...