Leadership in Automation Body.

We noted the start of the elections for officers for the International Society of Automation (ISA) in early June. These are usually conducted on-line so the COVID-19 pandemic had little or no effect. The results have now been posted on the society website.

Carlos Mandolesi

Carlos Mandolesi is the newly elected President-Elect/Secretary for 2021 and President for 2022. He is originally from Brazil though he is now based in Dublin (IRL). He is very passionate about ISA and its vision of Creating a Better World Through Automation. He feels that there is a need to reduce the gap between strategy definition and strategy execution, to enable the achievement of this vision. He has been an ISA member for more than ten years holding various leadership positions within the society: Section Delegate, District 4 DVP, Division Director, co-founder of the new Smart Manufacturing and IIoT Division - and currently a member of the ISA Executive Board.

His professional journey includes jobs in Project Management, Six Sigma, Engineering, Sales & Marketing, and Information Technology and various leadership positions at General Electric (GE) and as an entrepreneur at Sigma Automation.

Carlos is currently a Portfolio Manager at Trinity College Dublin Programme Management Office (PMO). He has established a formidable reputation in a very short time - he moved to Dublin from his native land in late 2018. He has been instrumental in driving the implementation and adoption of the new PPM (Project Portfolio Management) system across college. “The PPM is a system to manage most projects and programmes in the college,” he said recently. It gives Executives, Sponsors, Programme and Project Managers near real-time information about their projects, and it gives PMO a bird’s-eye view of all ongoing projects with the necessary data to provide transparency and good governance. In 2019 he was nominated for the College Provost Award for his leadership in the project.

In this new position leading the International Society of Automation he crystallises his objectives using the three initial letters of the society - I.S.A.

- "I" International focus: we need to become a truly international society defining strategies to grow in our traditional markets (like the US and Canada) and high potential markets like India, Asia, Europe, Brazil and Latin America.

- "S" Society focus: We need to improve how our Society works, creating a growth, collaborative and agile mindset, offering more help to our Sections and Divisions to engage our membership and provide a better value proposition to them. I strongly believe that we need to give more attention to our members, including students and young professionals, as they are the reason we exist.

- "A" Automation focus: We need to become the leading automation association providing the best technical content (standards, publications, training and new services) to the automation market, expanding to new industries, markets and niches and making the bridge between traditional and emerging technologies.

It looks like the ISA, now celebrating its 75th birthday has an exciting and challenging future under his leadership.

The complete slate of officers elected this summer are listed here on the ISA website.

We wish them well in their labours for the discipline – Instrumentation, Systems and Automation.

@ISA_Interchange @ISA_EU @IrelandISA @isaseccolombia #PAuto #TandM #Brazil #Ireland

Top supplier announced!

Bechtel, one of the most respected global engineering, construction, and project management companies and the largest construction firm in the U.S. has announced ABB as a top supplier and subcontractor in its annual Supply Chain Awards.

ABB has been awarded as a top supplier and subcontractor for exceptional contributions to one of Bechtel’s major projects and relating to mining and metals. The prestigious award was presented at an annual ceremony held this month in Reston, Virginia and recognizes supplier excellence in supporting Bechtel's landmark projects across the globe. ABB local units in the U.S., Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Switzerland and Germany have worked with Bechtel on numerous equipment deliveries over the years, which are essential to the success of their projects.

The 2019 award honors technology leader ABB for excellent contractor and supplier performance in delivering Gearless Mill Drives (GMD), 245kV Gas Insulated Switchgear (GIS), 24kV Gas Insulated Switchgear (GIS), Main Power Transformers, Distribution Transformers, Harmonic Filters, as well as other equipment for the Bechtel project.

“ABB has been a vital partner to Bechtel, working with us to achieve outstanding results for our customers,” said Al Hankins, Corporate Manager Procurement & Contracts. “The performance of key suppliers continues to be critical to delivering superior service to our customers and advancing innovation for the industry.”

Companies were evaluated on multiple factors including: overall performance, ability to deliver quality services/supplies on time, ability to work collaboratively to meet milestones, and meeting or exceeding project expectations in aspects of safety, performance, technical expertise, and environmental compliance. Nominations were reviewed and approved by Bechtel procurement and project managers with final approval from senior leadership.

"This prestigious award underscores ABB's ability to deliver innovation, quality and dedication to customer success and we are truly honored to be recognized by Bechtel as one of their top suppliers." said Brandon Spencer, Managing Director for ABB’s Process Industries business. “Helping our customers to succeed and take their business forward is a key priority for ABB; our ongoing work with Bechtel exemplifies this commitment.”

#PAuto @ABBgroupnews @Bechtel

Irish co-operation on Brexit.

Irish project managers are establishing a cross-border working group to address Brexit. This was announced at the Ireland Chapter of Project Management Institute’s (PMI) annual conference. The new all-island working group will make recommendations on how Brexit’s impact on cross-border projects can be minimised.

The group, consisting of members from the Ireland Chapter of PMI, the largest professional organisation for project managers in Ireland with over 1,300 members, and the PMI Northern Ireland Committee, will put in place recommendations on how to navigate Brexit. The British formal exit from the European Union takes place in 2019.

Gerald Fleming, former head of forecasting at Met Éireann, and chair of the Public Weather Services Programme at the World Meteorological Organization; Dr Norah Patten, who is on course to become Ireland’s first ever astronaut; Pat Lucey, President, Ireland Chapter of PMI; Marcus Gageby, EY Ireland advisory partner; and Ariadna Groberio, Chair, PMI Northern Ireland Committee.

The announcement opened the Ireland Chapter of PMI’s annual conference at the Aviva Stadium (Dublin, IRL) with headline sponsor EY Ireland. This Stadium is the HQ of the Irish Rugby Football Union which is itself an all island body which predates the Border. The event, titled The Change Makers, was attended by almost 400 business leaders, with guest speakers including Irish astronaut hopeful, Dr Norah Patten; former head of forecasting at Met Éireann, Gerald Fleming; and EY Ireland advisory partner, Marcus Gageby.

Speaking on the announcement, President of the Ireland Chapter of PMI, Pat Lucey said: “This cross-border, all-island strategy on Brexit is incredibly important, especially given the current talks on the customs union. So many all-island projects are in jeopardy if a strong and definite strategy is not put in place now before a border, of any kind, becomes a reality.”

This is the first working group of the Ireland Chapter of PMI and the PMI Northern Ireland Committee since their Memorandum of Understanding was signed in 2016.

PMI Northern Ireland Committee Chair, Ariadna Groberio added the development of the cross-border strategy will benefit project managers that work in Northern Ireland and the Republic. “By engaging in this cohesive and strategic all-island approach, the two PMI branches will assist and help project managers in futureproofing against Brexit uncertainty.”

Speaking on the new all-island working group, Marcus Gageby stated: "A collaborative approach outlined by project managers either side of the border is very much welcomed, as joined-up thinking is needed to minimise the impact of Brexit on north-south projects.”

@PMI_Ireland #PAuto @PMI_UK_Chapter #Breatimeacht #Brexit

Irish engineering & projects management group expands US operations.

DPS Group* has trebled its turnover and employment in the past five years. It has expanded its US operations with a major investment in TRIA, a Boston-based architectural firm with a focus on the science and technology sectors.

Frank Keogh DPS CEO.

Commenting on this latest investment in the US, DPS Chief Executive Frank Keogh said: “This is an exciting development for DPS and our investment in TRIA, and its partners Sherwood Butler and Jeannie Pierce Thacker complements perfectly our existing engineering and project management business in New England and North Carolina. Sherwood and Jeannie have extensive experience working with the type of life science clients that have been the backbone of our expansion in the US over the past five years.”

Keogh said that TRIA operates in the life science sub-section of the R&D sector and that this specialization complements DPS, whose primary business is in the process manufacturing sector. “I have no doubt that the combination of DPS and TRIA will be of great benefit to both new and future clients.” 

Keogh added that there has been huge investment in life science facilities in the New England area, partly through investment in facilities educational institutions such as MIT, Harvard and Boston College but also through major investment in facilities by major global pharmaceutical groups such as Novartis, Pfizer, Genzyme, Sanofi and Shire. “Our aim is to significantly increase the biotech and science-related business we are doing in New England, both through our existing operations and our investment in TRIA.”

He also revealed that DPS has increased its turnover globally to over €100 million and employment to 1,100. “Five years ago when we made our first acquisition in the US, our turnover was €35 million and we had about 400 people. The target we set ourselves back then was to increase turnover to €50 million within five years. Instead we have more than trebled our turnover and employment.”

* The DPS Group is an Irish Project Management and Engineering company serving industry around the world for over 40 years.

@DPSEng #PAuto @TRIA_Inc

Reversing industry trend of capital project cost and schedule overages.

Emerson to help customers achieve Top Quartile project performance by eliminating cost, reducing complexity and accommodating change.

How Emerson see Project Certainty.

Addressing a growing industry demand for transformational improvements in capital project execution, Emerson has launched Project Certainty, an innovative technology and engineering-based approach for improved capital efficiency and more reliable project schedules. This was a major part of the emphasis at the Emerson User Group assembly in Brussels - 12-14 April 2016).
(We will have a more detailed impression on this meeting later.)

As things stand
Due to project excesses, billions of dollars are lost annually in oil and gas exploration and production, hydrocarbon and gas processing, chemical, pharmaceutical, and other process industries. According to industry data, over 65 percent of projects greater than $1 billion fail, with companies exceeding their budgets by more than 25 percent or missing schedules by more than 50 percent. Routinely, they also face operational problems continuing through the second year of operations. This consistently poor project performance can be a serious deterrent to process manufacturers considering new investments.

Source: Speed Kills, Ali Klaver, 2012 Project Manager Magazine

“The industry has reached a tipping point in which projects are not sustainable with current budget and schedule excesses,” said Jim Nyquist, president of Emerson Process Management’s Systems and Solution business (NYSE: EMR).  “In order to achieve game-changing performance in projects, it will take a truly transformative and comprehensive approach like Project Certainty.”

So what is Project Certainity?

Project complexity created by more project stakeholders

Emerson’s Project Certainty begins with early engagement during engineering and design studies to define project goals and high impact strategies to meet those goals. Despite traditionally accounting for approximately 4 percent of a project investment, automation is revealing unique and repeatable ways to eliminate cost, reduce complexity and accommodate late-stage project changes, beyond the automation discipline.

For example, Project Certainty relies on the right design engineering strategy to eliminate centralised control system room requirements by 70 to 80 percent, and can eliminate piping in some applications up to 50 to 60 percent. Additionally, tens of millions of dollars in capital spare parts can be eliminated through project-wide equipment reliability analysis.

“Project Certainty also tackles complexity by decoupling the dependencies suppliers have on each other, eliminating bottlenecks and allowing concurrent work streams,” said Nyquist.  “Likewise, we are addressing the complexity of data and documentation with innovative technologies that provide features like a single source of project data as well as automated documentation.”

Addressing one of the greatest project vulnerabilities, Project Certainty significantly improves project schedule performance. Revolutionary technologies like Electronic Marshalling with CHARMs, and pervasive wireless field instrumentation are helping project teams accommodate inevitable last-minute design changes without impacting schedule.

“The path to Top Quartile project performance is right in front of us,” said Nyquist.  “The technologies and proven methodologies are here. It will take collaboration and commitment to eliminate outdated project approaches and drive change into the industry.”

@EmersonProcess #PAuto #EMrex

Learn project management!

The International Society of Automation (ISA) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Control System Integrators Association (CSIA) to deliver a web-based project management course customised to meet the specialised needs of system integrators.

Project Management for Automation and Control System Integration (MT08W) will be taught live online by an ISA expert instructor during four brief sessions spread over two consecutive weeks. Consistent with CSIA Best Practices© and CSIA’s commitment to improve the business practices of system integrators, the course covers all aspects of project management phases, functions, responsibilities, techniques and tools.

“ISA is pleased to collaborate with CSIA on the development of this new project management course for system integrators,” says Dalton Wilson, ISA’s Director of Education Services. “Through our discussions with CSIA, it was made clear to us that demand is rising among CSIA members for comprehensive project management training. By making the course available over the Web with live instruction by a leading subject-matter expert, we’re blending convenience with an engaging, high-quality learning format.”

“Best Practices represents the backbone of CSIA and project management is a key section of our manual,” explains Jose M. Rivera, CSIA CEO. “This training addresses the need of our members for immediate applicability to their jobs while reducing the lost productivity and costs associated with travel.”

The new course will debut in March of this year (2016), with four-hour classes taught on Tuesday, 8 March; Thursday, 10 March; Tuesday, 15 March; and Thursday, 17 March. Another offering is planned for the autumnLearn project management.

Course registration, payment processing and enrollment confirmation are provided through ISA's website and customer service department. To view a description of the course and enroll online today, click here.

#PAuto @isaInterchange @CSIAtweet

Four new eBooks.

Yokogawa have made four new eBooks available for download this year.

Modular Procedural Automation (MPA) eBook Download this eBook and learn: What Modular Procedural Automation (MPA) is and how you can implement it How to identify MPA opportunities within your plan How MPA improves operational consistency, resulting in improved safety, quality and higher throughput Download Now

Agile Project Execution eBook Download this eBook and learn: Why conventional project execution no longer works How agile project execution lives up to the major changes in the industrial automation landscape. How you can better execute industrial automation projects Download Now

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Boiler Optimization Toolkit Billions of dollars are wasted every year due to boiler inefficiencies and dangerous accidents.  Get your free download of the Boiler Optimization Toolkit and learn how to get your boiler started quicker and reduce accidents and unnecessary costs. Download Now

The pH and ORP Handbook Measuring pH/ORP is a common procedure, but taking a true measurement and making the correct interpretation of the results is not always easy or simple. Part of achieving accurate and reliable pH/ORP measurements requires sufficient and correct maintenance and storage conditions.  Download this handbook to gain a comprehensive understanding of pH/ORP measurements, the construction of the sensing elements, how to achieve reliable results, and use cases in process applications. Download Now

#PAuto @Yokogawa @YokogawaIA

Streamlining specification processing to reduce project risk.

Emerson Process Management has released Project Data Link, a project engineering environment that helps reduce complexity and accommodate changes in capital projects.

As projects become more complex with multiple contractors and stakeholders, Project Data Link helps keep projects off the critical path by efficiently and consistently translating project information, including tag databases and instrument indices, from multiple sources into project deliverables. It mitigates project risk by normalising specifications into a single data source with traceability and an integrated change-management system.

Project Data Link gives multiple suppliers, engineering firms, and other stakeholders access to project information including specifications related to field devices and the distributed control system (including control logic and configuration). In addition, data provided in various formats is normalised so that all information is available in a single, consolidated standard view.

The integrity of project information is especially important during late project changes. The data link is always up to date, so when a change is initiated Project Data Link automatically reconciles it against what is in the system, identifies what needs to be changed, automatically sends updates to the DeltaV distributed control system and provides an audit trail of what has changed. This saves time and eliminates errors during the critical late stages of the project.

“Moving forward to improve project certainty, Emerson continues to find methods to reduce the risk of project errors, accommodate change and improve engineering efficiency,” said Randall Fong, project technical manager. “We are confident that Project Data Link will help our customers move towards on-budget and on-time projects.”

Reducing project development time

Development environment ideal for managing projects in the Maple language.

Maplesoft™ has announced a new member of their Maple™ product family, the Maple IDE. The Maple IDE, powered by DigiArea Inc., is an integrated development environment for the Maple programming language that improves productivity by providing advanced tools for writing and managing Maple projects. The Maple IDE, which is based on the Eclipse™ platform, offers a customized industry-standard environment for medium- to large-scale Maple development projects.

The Maple language provides built-in knowledge of mathematical data structures and concepts, support for writing multi-threaded, parallel programs as well as a very rich library of existing commands and algorithms. Over 90 percent of the algorithms built into Maple have been implemented using the Maple programming language. This same language is available to any Maple user for writing scripts, implementing new algorithms and extending the Maple system. The Maple IDE makes it dramatically easier for Maple users to create, manage, and update libraries of Maple code.

Features of the Maple IDE include the ability to quickly browse and search through source hierarchies, automatic highlighting and formatting based on syntactic and semantic properties of the code, navigation, testing and much more. The Maple IDE assists developers in writing, updating, maintaining, and understanding code, so projects can be completed faster with fewer errors, and later enhancements can be made more easily.

“Together with our partner DigiArea Inc., we have created a modern development environment on top of the popular Eclipse framework,” says Dr. Laurent Bernardin, Executive Vice-President and Chief Scientist at Maplesoft. “The Maple IDE provides a powerful, familiar environment for seasoned programmers, while giving new programmers valuable assistance getting started. Programming medium to large libraries in Maple is suddenly a feasible option for more customers.”

“We are excited to partner with Maplesoft to bring this new product to the Maple user community,” said Oleksandr Shkliaiev, President, DigiArea. “Working with Maple IDE will put a beginner on the path to learning the Maple language faster, and advanced developers will find a full range of tools for professional Maple programming.”

Supplier selection guide launched!

The ARC Advisory Group has just released its new Global Service Provider (GSP) supplier selection guide. The guide includes both selection criteria and guided workflow steps for choosing a services company. The scope of the criteria cover the needs of corporate IT and manufacturing IT including communications with control systems. The guide has attributes tailored for industrial organizations, and allows those involved in a GSP selection process to make quicker and improved decisions.

Ralph Rio, Research Director, stated, “The pace of technology evolution continues to accelerate. Now, cloud, mobile, social, analytics, Internet of Things (IoT), and 3D are impacting industrial concerns for improved business processes and enhanced business models.
“Technology adoption is not an option. Each of these major technology groupings involve multiple specific technical skills. GSPs have access to a diverse set of skills, and can map them into a project as needed for lower cost, less risk, and faster time to benefit.”

Lower Supplier Selection Risk and Time
GSP selection has become mission critical. The needed services include application and IT infrastructure development, roll-out, and maintenance. The companies have become complex and decision making involves a range of capabilities from specific technologies to managing major programs. Suppliers have specific domain expertise, geographical presence, and knowledge of certain industry dynamics.

Guided Supplier Selection
The ARC STAR Supplier Evaluation and Selection Service guides users through a step-by-step process of selecting and evaluating suppliers against specific technology, application, and industry requirements. The process guides the user through the project and team definition, reviewing and editing ARC-provided selection criteria and supplier questions, weighing selection criteria, developing a supplier Request for Information (RFI) list, evaluating supplier responses, and developing a final ranking of RFI results. ARC STAR then fully documents the process and results for management review and approval. ARC STAR helps ensure inclusive, fact-based, impartial supplier evaluations and selections, free of the user bias issues that typically hamper these activities. In addition, ARC estimates that ARC STAR can reduce the cost, effort and time span for a supplier selection process by well over 50 percent.

Data for your project!

Gnaros Inc has announced the launch of Databook Engine.

DataBook Engine is a cloud-based document solution which automates the last step of the project document cycle. It creates the final record books in the various formats demanded by engineering companies. Users can create a databook by simply uploading documents to DataBook Engine, providing some key information from their project document register, and pressing Submit. A single PDF of the required databook will be generated complete with bookmarks, hyperlinks, a table of contents, and an appropriate layout for any unique customer.

“A databook is often the last requirement of a document submission package for an engineering company and can be extremely time consuming to create,” said Gnaros president Brad Bowyer. “We wanted to develop an easy-to-use tool for creating databooks for process control equipment suppliers (and fabricators) that removes the tedious work from this critical step in project document control.”

Accelerating results!

On-line Process for Supplier Selection

ARC STAR (Solutions That Accelerate Results), a domain-specific supplier selection service has been launched by ARC Advisory. This on-line, cloud-based, hosted solution provides easy-to-use tools that define a process and selection criteria for making strategic supplier selections. ARC clients can now make use of ARC’s proven supplier selection process, in an on-line, hosted, and guided environment. ARC STAR will be available for most key enterprise, automation, and manufacturing software application areas. At this release, ARC STAR is available for Advanced Process Control (APC), Analytics for Operational Excellence, Batch Control Systems, Collaborative Production Management/MES (for Discrete and Process Industries), and Distributed Control Systems (DCS).

ARC STAR – Supplier Selection Service guides users through a step-by-step process selecting and evaluating suppliers and their products against specific application and cultural requirements. The process guides the user through the project and team definition, reviewing and editing ARC-provided selection criteria and supplier questions, weighing selection criteria, developing a supplier Request for Information (RFI) list, evaluating supplier responses, and developing a final ranking of RFI results. ARC STAR then fully documents the process and results for management review and approval. ARC STAR helps ensure inclusive, fact-based, impartial supplier evaluations and selections, free of the user bias issues that typically hamper these activities. In addition, ARC estimates that ARC STAR can reduce the cost and effort of a supplier selection process by well over 50 percent.

“ARC STAR is a new area of value for ARC end user clients. We have been involved in many custom supplier selection processes over the past 25 years and have used this expertise to create a simple, cost-effective service, for others to use,” says ARC President Andy Chatha. “The ARC STAR offering will expand from the current six domains to over a dozen in the coming months.”

Practical Project Manageemnt

A new technical publication, Practical Project Management: Learning to Manage the Professional, Second Edition, by Gerald W. Cockrell has appeared in the ISA stable of publications.

Practical Project Management: Learning to Manage the Professional, Second Edition, goes beyond the scope of a simple how-to book. It defines each unique phase of a project and then provides practical knowledge in areas such as budget and cost estimates, contracts, negotiating, team building, scheduling and choosing project management software. In addition, the book provides sample forms, contracts and bids for industrial projects.

In today’s economy, organisations need to perform faster, better and cheaper. Projects have to conform to ever-tightening schedules and budgets. Because the second edition focuses specifically on techniques proven to be effective in industry, it is the ideal reference for both new and experienced project managers.

The second edition updates some of the newer concepts, including SCRUM Project Management. This methodology offers new techniques that may be used with automation-related projects.

Gerald W. Cockrell, a former Prseident of ISA, is a professor emeritus at Indiana State University and an internationally recognized leader in the development and delivery of distance process control and automation programs. He has served as project manager on numerous projects in the aerospace and pharmaceutical industries and in educational institutions.

Technology investment to be "Best of the best!"

The recently completed implementation of Aegis Manufacturing Operations Software allows Concept 2Market, Inc. (C2M) to improve efficiencies and quality by streamlining and controlling process planning and launch, process tracking and control, and quality and test management.

“Factory information visibility and process-wide control is core to competitiveness. We utilise technology to connect data to all of our factory processes”, said Todd Kirkeeng, President of C2M.

Aegis acts as the bridge from Engineering to Manufacturing by readying products for launch. They provide support for virtually every CAD type and simplifies programming of the machines that use the CAD data. Ensuring the documentation is revision controlled, is at the operator’s workstation, and provides the detail required to build quality product is now an automated process. And, it is achieved with the environment in mind through a paperless system, which is a step towards one of C2M’s corporate objectives.

Determining where all the work orders are located throughout the factory is now a matter of accessing real-time information. Customer service often depends on having the information they need when they need it. Aegis allows C2M to track WIP progress and provide predictive job completion times, which is important to C2M’s customers.

Quality has to be a “given” in any manufacturing process. The Aegis software provides C2M with the required information to build the product correctly and to verify the quality while the work is still in process so any corrections can be made

The Aegis software collects data and puts it into reports, visualizations, and real-time dashboards that are used by C2M to constantly improve quality and efficiency. Traceability of every product is also achieved and allows failures and rejections to be tracked down and eliminated before they become an issue for the customer.


C2M’s CEO and owner, Maria Kirkeeng, summed it up the best when she said, “We want to be the best of the best, which is why we’ve made this investment in technology. We’re taking the necessary steps to constantly improve our processes and efficiency so we can provide our customers with a superior product.”

Visualiation and programming projects

ISaGRAF releases the ISaVIEW plug-in for ISaGRAF v6

The ISaVIEW plug-in from IsaGRAF, provides ISaGRAF 6 workbench users with a simple yet powerful integrated HMI. The ISaVIEW Pages are mapped to the automation project structure.

ISaVIEW is integrated into the workbench for simultaneous visualization and programming of process control. It provides predefined, fully customizable and ready-to-use set of objects. Animation can easily be modified graphically. Design and on-line modes are also available to eliminate the need to recompile. ISaVIEW also permit users to quickly create groups of basic objects.

ISaGRAF 6 leverages the powerful Microsoft® Visual Studio® Shell and offers an unprecedented environment for OEMs and automation vendors to create differentiated products for their markets. Based on an open plug-in technology designed specifically for industrial automation needs, the ISaGRAF 6 Workbench is a modular and flexible environment that allows users to add or remove components. Every component in the Workbench was developed with and interacts through ISaGRAF’s new Microsoft .NET® Framework-based technology called the Automation Collaborative Platform (ACP). The ISaGRAF ACP provides the ability to add or remove the various plug-ins to meet specific automation product requirements. ISaGRAF 6.0 now has several plug-ins including a Ladder Diagram editor, a Function Block Diagram editor, a Structured Text editor, a Tag Database editor (Dictionary), an integrated HMI plus several other auxiliary plug-ins.

ISaGRAF is to continue to release a new plug-in every other week over the next several months to complement the ISaGRAF 6 offering. The staged release of the different industrial automation components illustrates the modularity and flexibility of this new environment.

Project from a technician's viewpoint

The International Society of Automation (ISA) has just published "Project Management: A Technician’s Guide," by Leo Staples.

With more than 30 years of power-generation experience, and with post-secondary studies in project management, Staples explores project management from a technician’s perspective. Subjects include documentation requirements, communication requirements, planning and resource coordination, monitoring and control, administration, and closeout. These subjects are covered in domains six (project organization) and seven (administration) of the ISA Certified Control Systems Technician® (CCST®) exam.

According to Leo Staples, automation projects are one of the most challenging and rewarding aspects of the job of a Control System Technician (CST). In order to meet these challenges, a CST must understand project management and the CST's role on the project management team. This book defines a CST's role on the project management team.

Each chapter includes a set of questions designed to stimulate the thought process involved for a successful application. As a bonus, the final chapter follows two CCSTs through a control system replacement project. This chapter provides an example, based on an actual project, of the duties and responsibilities that might be assigned to two technicians who are members of a project management team.

This guide is a must read for technicians preparing for the CCST exam and those who manage technicians during automation projects.

About the Author:
An ISA Fellow, Leo Staples has authored numerous papers, given technical presentations at Technical Conferences and ISA Division Symposia, and has served as a reviewer for technical papers and books.
From 1994 through 2008, he managed a large technical workgroup that supported OGE Energy Corp.’s power plants in the areas of automation, testing and reliability. He currently serves as the Compliance Management Leader for the Power Supply Division. He was elected in 2009 as President-Elect of the ISA and assumes office in 2011.

Packaged change management

Solution drives increased efficiency of personnel and productivity

GE Intelligent Platforms has announced the availability of its new SmartStart for Proficy® Change Management, a packaged software and services solution that is designed to get users started quickly with the company’s award-winning asset management software solution. Proficy Change Management helps organisations assess, monitor, manage, control, and lower, project and maintenance costs associated with software and device management. In addition, by providing traceability and notification of changes, it drives increased efficiency of personnel, and as a result, productivity. SmartStart delivers functionality in a low-risk, extremely rapid manner by using a proven, template- based approach to implementing automated change management in plant systems.

“Across industries, companies are faced with increasing safety, reliability and regulatory compliance requirements,” said Claire Cerrato, General Manager, Automation Software for GE Intelligent Platforms. “Yet many operations, facilities and/or utilities lack the tools to adequately manage changes in the mission-critical software that controls their processes. All too often, changes are made by unauthorized users, without the benefit of an audit trail, or plants suffer additional downtime during backup recovery when the wrong software version is loaded. Beyond the added costs, real safety and product quality situations can arise when interlocks are bypassed or older parameters are used.”
This package combines the full-featured software and a rapid engagement model to rapidly automate and improve change management processes.

• Version Control ensures that only one person at a time is making changes and archives the versions for reuse.
• Security enables users to monitor and control access reducing the number and seriousness of potential errors.
• Audit Trails and Reports allow users to track what has been happening with programs and devices in the plant.
• Automated Scheduling, Notification and Reporting checks the integrity of what is happening on a regularly scheduled basis.
• Configurable interface for project organization reduces training time and user error.
• Extensive Product Support, pre-configured to support a variety of commonly used industrial software and devices.

With SmartStart, users can fully understand and evaluate the power of Proficy for 30 days with minimal upfront cost or risk of customization. Throughout the evaluation, companies invest only in the services that help get them started and receive the latest software licenses at no cost for the duration of the evaluation period. SmartStart includes:

• Access to the right mix of full-featured Proficy software components
• A fixed set of services to install the system, train teams, and support the evaluation
• A structured and proven engagement model that leverages best practices to accelerate results
• Availability of an entry-priced Server module, fully-featured for use with the production equipment included in the SmartStart pilot
• Availability of a pre-loaded, pre-configured server package to speed deployment
• Access to world-class GlobalCare technical support to keep you up and running

“SmartStart for Proficy Change Management leverages proven products and best practices to rapidly demonstrate the value of GE’s Proficy software and combines the right blend of solution components for a specific industry application or process,” concluded Cerrato. “It gives manufacturers an easy way to get started and allows for future expansion for true operational excellence.”