Expo Showcases Operator Effectiveness, Mobility, Big Data and the Cloud

“Invensys has a proven track record of delivering solutions and services that sustain value over the lifetime of the plant’s investments, which is perfectly demonstrated in the layout of our Expo Hall,” said Steve Garbrecht, vice president of software product marketing for Invensys. “With a combination of professional services, customer programs and an unmatched global partner network, we are ideally situated to enable revolutionary value for our customers with new technology innovations.”

Here’s a rundown of some of the highlights from the Expo:

• In the new InTouch HMI software, Style Libraries are offered that allow the user to choose color palettes that conform to ASM Consortium guidelines or High-Performance HMI recommendations. These style definitions can also be altered to fit a company’s unique requirements. The ultimate goal of the new InTouch capabilities is focused on creating greater situational awareness for operators. The System Platform supporting the new InTouch software ensures that the information shown on the screen is put into context for the operator through the design templates offered. Initial testing indicates that use of InTouch’s new style definitions and standardized colors can help customers reduce situation interpretation time by 40 percent.

• The convergence of mobile, the cloud, social and analytics is being taken to the next level with SmartGlance, which allows customers to access any data (from a historian or database) via a smartphone, tablet or PC. Using SmartGlance, the data can be accessed over the cloud or via a private network when the viewing device is on the same network. The “i” button on the SmartGlance display allows for drilling down into the context of data shown and even provides contact information to those responsible for the data as well as access to related reports.

• Integration of the Spiral CrudeSuite crude oil knowledge-management software and SimSci PRO/II design and ROMeo optimization software enables use of crude assay information throughout plant lifecycle modeling, from design through operations and into performance optimization. Key to this integration is the ability to bring in crude assay information without having to manually key it in. Now customers can bring crude data into SimSci PRO/II by selecting from a menu. Once selected, the automatic population of the integrated software suite with crude data helps customers configure the refinery design based on the crude—or mix of crudes—to be refined.

• Invensys’ cyber security service now features more than 20 North America-based cyber security specialists. The offering does not extend only to Invensys products, but to all connected systems in a production facility—from switches and routers to servers and applications, regardless of the manufacturer of those products. Invensys sees its cyber security service as filling the gap between operational technology and information technology.

• Avantis Enterprise Asset Management—which includes Avantis Condition Manager for compiling plant floor data from hardware and software and Avantis Pro which uses Condition Manager data for execution, planning and scheduling—collects all information on asset history including open work projects, safety and procedures, transactions, etc. Customers can even add videos, CAD files and other relevant documentation to Avantis records. New features include a lock-out/tag-out isolation module and use of ESRI GIS to extend Avantis to field crews for job and route management. Like InTouch, Invensys’ workflow automation links Avantis Pro to personnel for work assignment and tracking.

• In 2014, Wonderware training will begin offering  e-learning for customers. From one-hour sessions to five-day training programs, Invensys will offer recorded online classes as well as live remote learning classes. Invensys has been testing this new service out internally over the past year. Classroom-based training will continue to be offered.

• A preview of the Customer First Support Tool is being shown. This tool monitors all computer systems in a plant, or multiple plants, 24/7. Monitored via VPN or the cloud, the tool can be configured so that notifications can be handled directly by the customer or by Invensys. Future plans already in the works for this tool include using it for predictive maintenance based on data gathered from connected systems. The Customer First Support Tool leverages SCOM (Systems Center Operations Management) and Azure from Microsoft to monitor the systems.

• MES Operations and Performance applications focus on addressing the gap between recipe management and batch management to integrate quality management, operations management and OEE. The gap between recipe and batch management is addressed via a standardized approach to formula management through model-driven software applications. The application maps formula parameters to equipment parameters to ensure the equipment works properly for quality production of the batch. To do this, customers drag and drop from a selection of stored recipes and then set parameters as needed. The MES handles validation of equipment for the batch.

• Another preview being highlighted is new capabilities for Advanced Process Control (APC), an application that is positioned between PID control  and first-principle-based optimization  to perform model predictive control. The data brought in by APC is used to build performance trends and model predictive controllers, which move the process to a new and more profitable point of operation as determined by ROMeo. SimSci APC is a complete revamp of the company’s previous product known as Connoisseur, with a focus on ease of use.