John Cavalenes, Director of Strategic Marketing and Solutions,
US SCADA and MES Competency Center
Schneider Electric

Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) systems are PC-based technologies that have been in use for decades by facility managers and plant operators. Traditionally, multiple systems have been implemented to monitor and control several different critical functions of their facilities. Some of these systems were proprietary, and others were based off of SCADA software. However, technologies are available today that allow for the integration of multiple systems into one overall, comprehensive SCADA system, enabling a superior automation solution that increases reliability, optimization and efficiency, decreases production costs and ultimately achieves significant improvements to an organization’s bottom line.

Before an overall SCADA system can be installed, necessary steps must be taken to ensure that a facility installs a solution which meets its specific data, information and energy needs. These steps, known as the needs assessment, reveal the needs of the users and mangers of these systems. This is used to determine proper network and communication configuration. This determines the layout of a facility’s data inside of its controllers, and its PLC is the foundation of this step, and lays the groundwork for an effective and optimized overall SCADA solution.

The needs assessment also ensures an overall SCADA solution is customized to monitor the most beneficial processes possible, which vary greatly depending on an organization’s functions and needs. A water treatment plant may value video monitoring as the most important (and therefore most heavily integrated) function of its solution, while a manufacturing plant might place more emphasis on the most centralized view of its operations as possible, in order to see every point and process within a plant.

Once implemented, one of the strongest features of an overall SCADA monitoring system is its significantly increased security, and the resulting simplicity of the systems needed for operators to manage and maintain the system. By reducing the number of open gateways into a system’s software into one singular portal, overall SCADA systems implement one single funnel point through which information and data flow. This small surface area of vulnerability limits the number of entry ways available to hackers and viruses. By having one system, operators and engineers are able to use and manage only one system to gain all the information across their area.

An additional benefit of consolidating all systems with a comprehensive SCADA monitoring software solution is the strong redundancy and guaranteed reliability features, which are built into the system when implemented and centralized. For utilities such as water treatment plants, and other facilities which require a strong support and back-up system, this feature is critically important in the midst of hurricanes and other natural disasters, as it prevents large system failures which can cripple a community.

One of the most visible and recognized benefits of a comprehensive overall automation solution, however, are the significant reductions in facility operating and maintenance costs. This is achieved by enabling operators and managers to access a complete view of all points, systems and data within their systems, as well as a clear picture of what is happening within each aspect. If, however, a manufacturing plant operator has no centralized view of activities and functions happening within the plan, the maintenance staff of that particular facility has to work significantly harder to control and monitor several different functions, forming a sneaker net in the place of a plant network where they repeatedly walk looking for problems, as opposed to having a central location which can pinpoint exactly where the problems are.

With the implementation of an over-arching SCADA system, operators are given a single portal to view all activities of all points from one screen, at their fingertips. One specific new technology, which augments this benefit to certain organizations, is the use of video cameras, which allow managers to see processes as they are happening. Integrated collectively into the overall solution, the cameras lay the groundwork to achieve one of the greatest benefits of lean manufacturing, process improvement. When manufacturers are able to visually see the problem that is slowing down a production line, it enables them to quickly conduct root-cause analysis and get to the bottom of the problem as quick as possible. After diagnosis, rectifying the problem enables machines to produce as fast as they are able, in turn achieving the highest levels of efficiency and productivity.

Combining the systems of a plant or facility effectively eliminates the need for data to be combined manually, a necessary function of disparate systems. This feature not only allows one comprehensive view of all activities, but also allows operators to leverage the most out of their workforce, and maximize their inherent energy by allowing them to work more productively, with instant gratification of the results and data of different activities. This instant information catalyzes a more proactive and efficient approach, simply by giving workers the right information at the right time.

One facility that has integrated an overall SCADA monitoring system, and achieved all of the aforementioned benefits, is the Nuremberg Exhibition Center, one of the largest and fastest-growing exhibition centers in Germany. Because the center’s primary goal is to provide a world-class, premiere exhibition venue for its clients and guests, it has grown continuously since its opening in 1974, consequently implementing multiple climate and energy systems at different times in different buildings, all of which needed to be integrated to standardize operational functionality, allow flexibility for future expansion and done in a method that would not lock the center into a single vendor or hardware platform.

The Nurnberg Exhibition Center chose Schneider Electric’s solution to combine all of its disparate systems into a single, integrated concept. The software, which consolidated and optimized systems from multiple vendors across the entire center, now serves as the sole visual, control and alarm interface for all on-site systems. This was achieved by leveraging a high-connectivity feature, specifically the use of open protocol BACnet, which promoted the seamless integration of facility systems and equipment from a diverse range of vendors, including Siemens, Sauter, Honeywell, Saier, Kieback & Peter and Johnson Controls. The installation, which currently has 43,000 tags communication on the BACnet protocol, utilizes nine I/O servers and three display clients, all of which have a response time of less than five seconds.

Ultimately, the standardization of operational functionality from multiple vendor systems has resulted in the Nuremberg Exhibition Center realizing higher productivity, more efficient operational performance and lower maintenance and operating costs. Also, the openness and flexibility of the chosen overall monitoring solution ensures the center may integrate additional systems in the future, with lower installation costs.

The benefits realized by an overall SCADA automation solution can be achieved through a customized and specific installation. The resulting centralized operation management and consistent performance of these solutions enable buildings, plants, utilities and other facilities to reduce their automation and maintenance costs, as well as optimize their efficiency and productivity, in turn enhancing their bottom lines.

John Cavalenes has been in the automation industry for over 20 years, and has been with Schneider Electric, including his time with Citect, for over nine years. During his career he has held several positions, including professional services sales manager, regional sales manager and director of MES solutions. Currently, he is responsible for the SCADA marketing and solutions within the US. For more information visit www.schneider-electric.com.

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