Procedural automation for continuous process operations

The International Society of Automation (ISA) Standards and Practices Board has approved the formation of a new committee, ISA106, to develop standards, recommended practices, and technical reports on the design and implementation of procedures for automating continuous process operations.

The ISA106 committee work products will apply to continuous processing applications and will address topics including:

Models and terminology
Modularization of procedural steps to foster re-use and lower total cost of ownership (TCO)
Exception handling for abnormal situations
State models for procedural logic
Process unit orientation with operational perspective
Recommended best practices
Implementation of start-up, shutdown, abnormal situations, hold states, and transition logic
Recommended target platform (i.e. control system vs. safety system) for different types of procedures
Lifecycle management best practices
Training and certification best practices

Board member Dr. Maurice J. Wilkins of Yokogawa, will serve as managing director of the new ISA106 committee. Dr. Wilkins has appointed Mr. Marty King of Chevron and Dr. Yahya Nazer of The Dow Chemical Company as co-chairs, and Mr. David Emerson of Yokogawa as vice chair and editor.

“The ultimate goal of ISA106 is to provide generic, cross-industry standards for procedural automation in continuous industries, in much the same way that ISA88 has done for the batch industries,” explained Dr. Wilkins. “In fact, I am hoping that some of the ISA88 work will apply to ISA106 and thus help speed up the process. It is also possible that ISA106 could develop joint recommended practices for various industries and work with standards committees that already exist, such as the ISA67 (nuclear) and ISA77 (fossil) power plant standards committees—as well as for industries that do not have separate ISA standards committees, such as petrochemical, refining, and upstream oil and gas.”
Much of the work of the ISA106 committee will be carried out electronically via web meetings and email; however, a kickoff, face-to-face meeting is planned for 9–10 June 2010 in the Houston (TX US), area.

More about ISA Standards.