Businesses are increasingly demanding greater control over process operations within their plant, while at the same time wanting to lower energy usage. Automation can offer answers to both of these requirements, often resulting in a win-win situation. Jez Palmer believes better management of processes using 'collaborative control' techniques has never been more achievable
Businesses are always keen to achieve optimum process efficiencies, but there is now also a trend to increase energy efficiency, especially as the government is seeking a widespread reduction in carbon emissions. Both these aims can be achieved via automation and, in particular, by managing the plant through a single environment – the so-called ‘collaborative control system’.
There is no end of products available for those wanting to achieve greater energy efficiency, but to get the most out of them, businesses are urged to adopt the following four-step process: ‘measure’, ‘fix the basics’, ‘automate and monitor’, and ‘improve’ - all of which are inextricably linked to automation.
Without measuring energy usage, for example, its full extent can never be ascertained and an informed decision cannot be made about how to manage it. Undertaking an energy audit to determine which processes use the most energy will provide the basis for the next step – fixing any problems. Energy management specialists can help by carrying out a comprehensive audit of the processes involved. Recommendations can then be made to ensure the best methods are implemented to fix the basics and so maximise the energy saving opportunities.
Automation has long been recognised as an effective means of achieving efficiencies in both process and energy use, and for the last three or four decades, improved productivity and performance have numbered among the benefits of automation. But many process operations still lack the ‘holistic’ approach that is necessary to achieve improvements across the board. Indeed, this is where the collaborative control system – offering a software and hardware framework and central control point for the entire operation – comes into its own. Such architectures allow open collaboration with business software systems and a seamless integration of control and management elements across the enterprise.
The power of the HMI
One product that provides a direct link between the automation system and the plant itself is the human machine interface (HMI). By offering a window into the automation environment, the HMI provides that all-important visual link between the operator and his process, machine or appliance. The HMI essentially offers monitoring but it also provides the means of controlling the process, as well as facilitating diagnostics and application management. HMI ranges exist for a host of applications and are suitably housed for installation in demanding industrial environments with touch screen systems that will even respond to gloved hands.
Where an investment in HMIs has already been made, the installation can offer a greater degree of control over the process by investing in one or other of two approaches to remote monitoring: data sharing and web gate. Data sharing is the synchronisation between the various HMIs that are installed across a site or a large machine, allowing anyone with access to those HMIs to share critical production information. Web gate, as its name implies, refers to remote monitoring via the Internet, connecting to various items of plant equipment using IP addresses.
Technology is available that allows processes to be monitored and controlled not only locally, but also from anywhere in the world via the Internet, effectively providing secure 24/7 surveillance and control of remote operations. Various levels of security can be considered, depending upon the application, including IP verification so only certain IP addresses can connect, and read-only access, which allows selected individuals to view and read data but not affect the operations by initiating control actions.
Analysing production
Collaborative control routines can include a special software application that continually analyses, audits and tracks the performance of the production process – accumulating information that may identify where improvements and efficiencies are achievable. For example, Ryvita wanted to improve the reliability and availability of production data to monitor system efficiencies, downtime and product tracking, at its site in Poole, Dorset. Following an energy audit, a manufacturing execution system was installed to identify any issues that could have a negative impact on productivity. The company’s automation suppliers were then able to use this information, identify processes that could be made more energy efficient and advise accordingly. This example shows that by better management of automation systems and the masses of data accruing from such systems, enterprises will inevitably gain greater control over their processes. The bonus is that they also become more efficient in terms of production and energy usage as a result of this activity, and that has got to be a good thing at a time of economic uncertainty.
Jez Palmer is business development manager at Schneider Electric