“Using IntelaTrac has made a major contribution to reaching a plant availability factor above 90%, since it has integrated perfectly with the other innovations added to our equipment.” Mauro Tassistro Applications Team Leader Plant Operational Excellence Thanks to Wonderware IntelaTrac Goals • Increase plant’s availability by anticipating any potentially damaging situations • Optimize operators’ efficiency and reliability during inspection activity • Limit production downtimes to scheduled maintenance only Challenges • The proximity of the plants to inhabited areas makes it essential for the sites to be safe and reliable at all times • Detection of critical indicators, e.g. vibrations or the presence of foreign particles, which automatic instruments do not usually detect effectively • Maximize the value of the time and experience of the field operators Solutions and Products • Wonderware IntelaTrac Results • The Wonderware solution has enabled the plant to achieve a plant availability factor of over 90% • The system has allowed the operational procedures for visual inspections of equipment to be optimized and standardized, thanks to the removal of paper reports and the intuitive nature of the handheld devices • Wonderware IntelaTrac’s features now allow operators to identify potential problems which were previously neglected, thus avoiding the need for any emergency intervention INDUSTRY: HYDROCARBON PROCESSING Infineum www.infineum.com
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“Using IntelaTrac has made a major contribution to reaching a plant availability factor above 90%, since it has integrated perfectly with the other innovations added to our equipment.”
Mauro TassistroApplications Team Leader
Plant Operational Excellence Thanks to Wonderware IntelaTrac
Goals• Increaseplant’savailabilitybyanticipatingany
potentiallydamagingsituations• Optimizeoperators’efficiencyandreliability
duringinspectionactivity• Limitproductiondowntimestoscheduled
maintenanceonly
Challenges• Theproximityoftheplantstoinhabitedareas
makesitessentialforthesitestobesafeandreliableatalltimes
• Detectionofcriticalindicators,e.g.vibrationsorthepresenceofforeignparticles,whichautomaticinstrumentsdonotusuallydetecteffectively
• Maximizethevalueofthetimeandexperienceofthefieldoperators
Solutions and Products• WonderwareIntelaTrac
Results• TheWonderwaresolutionhasenabledtheplant
toachieveaplantavailabilityfactorofover90%• Thesystemhasallowedtheoperational
proceduresforvisualinspectionsofequipmenttobeoptimizedandstandardized,thankstotheremovalofpaperreportsandtheintuitivenatureofthehandhelddevices
• WonderwareIntelaTrac’sfeaturesnowallowoperatorstoidentifypotentialproblemswhichwerepreviouslyneglected,thusavoidingtheneedforanyemergencyintervention
INDUSTRY:HYDROCARBONPROCESSING
Infineumwww.infineum.com
Vado Ligure, Italy–Everytimewestartthecar,ourgazefallsalmostwithoutfailtothefuelgauge,sincefuelistheessentialelementformakingavehiclerun.Weonlythinkaboutoilwhentheindicatorlightcomeson,andwerarelystoptothinkabouttheadditivesthathelpoptimizeenginefunction.Andyet,engineoilandadditivesarefundamentalelementsinensuringthatthecarsandothermeansoftransportweusetotravelaroundeverydayareworkingproperly.TheproductionoftheseadditivesforlubricantoilsisthecorebusinessoftheInfineumGroup.ThecompanywasestablishedtenyearsagothroughthemergerofParamins(theadditivesdivisionofwhatwasthenExxonChemical)andShellAdditives.InItaly,thefactoryinVadoLigure(nearSavona)istheInfineumGroup’smainEuropeansupplycenterforadditivesinlubricantoils.
Human Supervision in an Automated Industry
Whenworkinginthepetrochemicalsector,itbecomesessentialtocombinesafetyandproductivitybyanticipatingpotentiallydamagingsituations.Inaddition,unforeseenproblemshaveimmediateandfinanciallysignificantrepercussionsforproductionandtherefore,tothebusiness.InspectionsusingtheManufacturingEfficiencyIndex,carriedoutbymanagementintheyearsfollowingthemergershowedanaverageplantavailabilityof80%.Thisisnotanacceptablevalueforahighlyautomatedfirmlookingtothefuture.
Inresponsetothis,InfineumlaunchedtheGlobalManufacturingExcellenceProgramin2004,withtheaimofmaximizingplantreliability,achievingavailabilityofover90%andlimitingproductiondowntimestoscheduledmaintenanceonly.Effortshavethereforebeenconcentratedontwospecificfronts:preventivemaintenanceandoperationalmanagement.
Inthiscontext,itiseasytounderstandtheimportanceofmaintenanceatlargescaleplants.Seeminglylessimportant,however,istheperiodicmonitoringoftheplantcarriedoutbyfieldoperationspersonnel.
However,theseprofessionals,thankstotheirregularrounds,areinfactthepeoplewhoknowthesitebest.Theyareabletorecognizeabnormalorpotentiallydangeroussituationsthatarenotdetectedbyplantinstruments.Theplant’sproductionprocessisconstantlymonitoredbyelectronicinstrumentsanddetectsanydeviationfromtheidealworkingparameters.AllthisinformationisfedbacktotheDCSinrealtime.However,certainspecificfactorssuchasnoise,vibrationsorthepresenceofdirtorsmallinternalleaks,arenotefficientlymeasuredordetectedbyautomaticinstruments.
InstallingadditionalmeasuringinstrumentationwouldleadtohighercostsandcouldoverloadtheDCS.Humansupervisiontherefore,remainsfundamentallyimportanteveninanindustrythatisbecomingmoreandmoreautomated.
Traditionally,operatorsusepaperforreportingeventhoughitispronetotranscriptionerrors.Thesereportsthenhadtobetransferredmanually,thereforeincreasingtheamountoftimerequiredtoobtainusefulinformation.Moreover,someinspectionsarenotcarriedoutfromthecorrectlocation,thuslimitingtheaccuracyoftheobservations.
Collecting Critical Operational Information Quickly and Efficiently
AspartoftheGlobalManufacturingExcellenceProgramtoincreaseplantavailabilityandoptimizeoperators’work,theInfineumGroupdecidedtoequipitsstaffwithdevicescapableofcollectingcriticaloperationalinformationinaquickandefficientmanner.Thegroupneededtoidentifyareliabletoolthatoptimizesdirectinspectionactivities.
Thiswasnotasimplesearch,sinceeachplanthasitsownparticularfeatures.Thismakesitimpossibletostandardizetheinspectionprocesses.Thewholesearchwasmadeevenmorecomplicatedduetotheregulationsineachcountry.Forthisreason,itwasnecessarytostartbyestablishinganewmethodofinspectionprocedures.Theoperatorsthemselvesweredirectlyinvolvedinthistask,leveragingtheirspecificexperiencetoidentifythecorrectsteps.
Theorganizationalplanningalsorequiredtheadoptionofinstrumentsthatwillenableoperatorstoworkoptimallysothattheycouldconcentrateontheirfieldofexpertise.
Infineumtestedmultiplesolutions,butmostofthemendedupbeingunsuitabletothecomplexitiesoftheplant’sproduction.Anintensesoftwareselectionprocessbegan,intendedtoidentifyasingleplatformcapableofadaptingtothespecificneedsofallproductionplants.
Attheendofthissearch,onlytwoproductswerefoundtofulfiltheserequirements.Evenwhennarroweddown,thechoicewasstillcomplicatedsincethesuccessofthewholeprojectdependedontheselectedplatform.
“Aswewerefacedwithtwopossibilities,”explainedEnricoBertossi,Infineum’sGlobalManufacturingExcellenceProgramAdvisor,“therealandconcretereferencespresentedbytheSystemIntegrator,Rex,playedacrucialroleinthedecision-makingprocess.”
AnotherfactorwastheneedtoachieveintegrationwithSAP,thebusinesssystemInfineumusesforplanningplantmaintenanceoperations.TheonlytoolabletomeettheserequirementswasWonderwareIntelaTrac,themobileworkforceanddecisionsupportsystembyInvensysOperationsManagement.
Thissolutionisdesignedtoenableworkflow,proceduralandgeneraltaskmanagementactivitiesrequiredtoachievereliableoperations.Thesecapabilitiesareenhancedbythetool’skeyfeature:allowingon-siteoperatorstoinputinformationandreceivesupportatanylocationwithintheplant,withouttheneedofaphysicalconnection.
Thedecisionwasmadeeasierbythefactthat-“IntelaTracwaspricedlessthantheothersupplier,”saidBertossi.
Staff Approval of IntelaTrac Usability
“Allourexpectationswereconfirmedimmediatelyaftertheapplicationdeployment.Wewereabletoobtaintheapprovalofallsystemusersafteronly6monthsofdevelopment,”saidMauroTassistro,Infineum’sApplicationsTeamLeaderinItaly.
Tassistrohimselfhasanoverallviewofthewholeproject,sincethesystemarchitectureiscentralizedinItaly,buthascontinuousconnectiontotheplantsinFrance,Germany,NorthAmericaandSingapore.
Theseplantspresentextremelydifferentsituationsintermsofbothproductionandstaffoperatingmethods.However,theapprovalofusers,whoappreciatedtheease-of-useandmaintainabilityofthesystem,wasoneofthecriticalfactorsinchoosingtheIntelaTracbasedmonitoringsystem.
Fieldoperatorspreviouslyusedpaperformsforreportingduringtheirrounds.Thiswasdifficult,especiallyduringadverseweatherconditions.Bycontrast,WonderwareIntelaTracinstalledonahandhelddeviceissimpleandintuitive,allowingoperatorstoconcentratemoreontheirtraditionaltasks.
Asanaddedbenefit,theintegrationwithRFIDtechnologymeansdatarelatingtoaspecificobservationcanonlybeinputwhentheoperatorisinthecorrectposition.Thisprocedurepreventserrors.Inaddition,thepracticaluseoftheIntelaTracinterfacemadetheseoperatorsreallyappreciatethetechnologybeingdeveloped,sincetheyunderstoodthebenefitfortheirday-to-daywork.
“ThedecisiontoinvolveusersfromtheverystartoftheprojecthasenhancedtheadvantagesprovidedbyaninnovativetoollikeIntelaTrac,”emphasizedTassistro.
“Staffapprovalistheresultofthesolution’susabilityintheplants.Inaddition,installationwascompletedinjustafewmonths,thereforeminimizingtheimpactonstaffoperationsandavoidinganyinterferencewithproduction,”confirmedBertossi.
Nothing Escapes Wonderware IntelaTrac
“UsingIntelaTrachasenabledtheplanttoachieveaplantavailabilityfactorofover90%.Ithasintegratedperfectlywiththeotherinnovationsaddedtoourequipment,”saidTassistro.
TheplatformdevelopedbyInvensysOperationsManagementhasallowedtheidentificationofcertainsituations,usuallyoverlooked,whichcouldhavepotentiallyledtotheprogressivedeteriorationofsomepiecesofequipmentthatwouldsubsequentlyneedemergencymaintenanceintervention.
Finally,theuseofinspectionsupporttoolshasalsoincreasedon-siteoperators’senseofresponsibility,astheyfeelmoreinvolvedinensuringthattheentireplantisrunproperlyandcorrectly.
Invensys,theInvensyslogo,ArchestrA,Avantis,Eurotherm,Foxboro,IMServ,InFusion,SimSci-Esscor,Triconex,andWonderwarearetrademarksofInvensysplc,itssubsidiariesoraffiliates.Allotherbrandsandproductnamesmaybethetrademarksorservicemarksoftheirrepresentativeowners.
©2010InvensysSystems,Inc.Allrightsreserved.Nopartofthematerialprotectedbythiscopyrightmaybereproducedorutilizedinanyformorbyanymeans,electronicormechanical,includingphotocopying,recording,broadcasting,orbyanyinformationstorageandretrievalsystem,withoutpermissioninwritingfromInvensysSystems,Inc.
Invensys Operations Management • 5601 Granite Parkway III, #1000, Plano, TX 75024 • Tel: (469) 365-6400 • Fax: (469) 365-6401 • iom.invensys.com
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