A Wisconsin-based software company, the OPC Foundation, and Oxford University in England have combined to bring unprecedented benefits to manufacturers and processors in almost every industry.An enhancement to the PlantTriage software package from ExperTune now gives corporations the tools to improve the performance of the entire enterprise in real-time -- even those struggling to extract essential information from older DCS systems.A dash-board allows users to view the performance of the entire organization, allowing ‘drill down’ to any site, plant, or unit operation. The dash-board is available to anyone via a secure Web browser connection. The ISA award-winning CEO of the company, John Gerry, explained: "The software enables users to ‘subscribe’ to performance reports of any area.
The .pdf formatted reports supply only the performance information needed, when it is needed. Users can configure and subscribe to reports via their browser.He continued: In minutes, users can develop reports containing any analysis for any portion of the operation over any time period. PlantTriage now enables users to balance the communication-traffic load based on the running condition of individual plants at a site.
"Users can turn a plant off-scan while leaving the other plants inside the PlantTriage system on-scan. Thus allowing for balanced load on DCS systems. This is especially crucial on plants that have older DCS systems whose communication loads are already high", Mr Gerry said.Finding the root causeAlready producing notable results for industrial companies around the world, the performance tracking in PlantTriage has been enhanced, allowing users to create a performance report based on previous performance. For example, users can view the crucial performance opportunities report now, or from three months ago, or averaged over the past two months.
Mr Gerry said: "The program has further enhanced its best-in-class capabilities to pinpoint the root cause of a unit-wide or plant-wide oscillation. Reducing swings or oscillations can dramatically improve the performance and profitability of the plant. Getting at the root cause, fast, is what it's all about." All of this performance and diagnostic history is now available enterprise-wide via OPC HDA. HDA stands for Historical Data Access, a new standard created by the OPC Foundation and embraced by ExperTune.
(The company is a member of the Foundation.) PlantTriage has added new assessments to help pinpoint and diagnose process problems. The program now monitors itself with detailed explanations of assessment status. Leading-edge technology for signal validation developed in partnership with Oxford University ensures that the results are usable all the time.Standard templates allow users to quickly implement a PlantTriage system.
Templates include flow, level, averaging level, gas and liquid pressure, and temperature. The baseline of performance provides a benchmark for the plant to continuously improve itself.The enhanced version includes a "super-filter" button that sets-up the performance data inside Microsoft Excel. All of the data analysis tools inside Excel are available to analyze performance data. Mr Gerry commented: "In boardrooms around the world, company owners and managers are seeking innovative ways to squeeze additional profits from the same plant assets – and now they can.
The key to reaching such objectives as increased reliability, minimal downtime, and optimal efficiency is timely and pertinent information." He added: "ExperTune, the OPC Foundation, and Oxford University have focused their collective expertise on various aspects of these complex issues, and the result is the enhanced version of PlantTriage." More information: Tom Kinney, ExperTune Inc. 4734 Sonseeahray Drive, Hubertus, Wisconsin WI 53033, USA.
Tel: +1 262 628 0088, E-mail: [email protected] - Website: www.expertune.com
