Make the Most ofMigration

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2009

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Tackle System ObsolescenceA well-planned and executed control system migration improves plant availability and reliability, while increasing production flexibility.

DistriButeD Control Systems (DCS), at some point, require upgrading to ensure reliable op-eration and to leverage the latest technology. A well-planned and executed evolution to a modern control system improves plant availability and reliability, and can also provide a more flexible production platform. Flexibility is the key for companies seeking to make the most of business opportunities. This article will introduce the basics of “obsolescence planning” that can be applied to most situations.

oBsolesCenCe ConCerns

Obsolescence can come in several forms. A control system can suffer from technical obsolescence (miss-ing yield), functional obsolescence (missing oppor-tunities) or supply obsolescence (risk for continued operation). Maintenance costs may be rising, with spare parts becoming scarce and expensive. Obsoles-cence is a viable reason for an upgrade when there’s increasing risk of control equipment failure shutting down a critical process.

Obsolescence or pending obsolescence may be a contributing factor in limitations of legacy systems, preventing the plant from:

• Taking advantage of an emerging business opportunity,

• Supporting today’s open networks cost-effectively,

• Utilizing plant asset management applications and production management solutions.

Security issues are another critical concern as-sociated with obsolescence. Some plants maintain their older DCS in hopes of avoiding cyber threats — thus gaining a false sense of security. However, legacy systems are subject to stresses for which they were not designed, creating significant security vulnerabilities. The presence of obsolete software products embedded in the system is another poten-tial liability.

Regardless of whether a DCS is state-of-the-art or vintage, sites must adopt a security strategy rely-ing on “defense in depth.” This strategy is included in the IEC 61511 standard, which stipulates that every layer of protection (including both control and safety systems) should be unambiguously indepen-dent. Some of the reasons for this basic requirement are to avoid common cause faults, minimize system-atic errors, and provide security against uninten-tional access.

In the 1970s, the DCS revolutionized plant-wide operations, performance and asset utilization in the process industries. Four decades later, leading control system suppliers are once again redefining industrial automation with enterprise-wide solutions designed to unify people with process, business requirements and asset management.

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Plan a suCCessful evolution strategy

Properly planned and implemented, control system evolutions enable end-users to migrate legacy control platforms at their own pace, allowing new control-lers to be added at any time and integrated with existing controllers. It also permits migration of subsystems and function blocks to new controllers whenever the user decides.

As areas of obsolescence are identified, a phased approach can facilitate the evolution to the logical and preferred replacement. As part of obsolescence planning for an existing system, evolution goals and objectives should be defined. A structured, organized approach to system evolution enhances the benefits of technology upgrades and preserves the rich intellec-tual property contained in legacy systems.

Migrating at your own pace positions you to manage your operational budget in a very competi-tive marketplace. This process allows for transitional training of operations, maintenance and engineering while delivering continued production. This evolution strategy is the inverse of the “rip and replace” method.

Do your hoMework

As part of good engineering and project manage-ment practices, plants should take the following steps during obsolescence planning:

• Determine the best time to upgrade based on your production targets.

• Determine your evolutionary path with proj-ects that meet specific business objectives.

• Define a path for the smooth transition of your operations, maintenance and engineering workflows.

• Make beneficial decisions in your planning by looking for opportunities to improve your operations with new capabilities.

• Consider where you can protect your intellec-tual investments in your legacy control system.

• Use a proven approach with comprehensive checklists.

• Develop detailed cutover plans.• Define intermediate operability and training

plans.Planning for control system evolution is the

key to success. An effective plan will protect your existing intellectual property, while supporting the

inclusion of new capabilities. Evolving your system should allow you to engineer new capabilities that improve your bottom line while maintaining intel-lectual property that’s currently serving your needs.

One of the most important parts of an obso-lescence plan is the collective set of replacement or upgrade scenarios, along with an understanding of interdependencies. To ensure a successful technol-ogy evolution, end users should plan for the change, identify a critical timeline, engage those who will be affected by the change, identify all available resources and plan for contingency resources or vendor staff, if needed.

A formal obsolescence plan identifies evolution and support strategies for existing control system nodes, such as controllers, HMIs, supervisory computing nodes, etc. It may also include strategies for consolidating existing control systems in order to reduce costs and enhance safety. Additionally, the plan provides recommendations for ensuring the reliability, robustness, security, expandability and ease of diagnosis of process control networks.

getting starteD

Here are some practical guidelines that can help you start planning.

Know what’s installed. While it may be well un-derstood, in order to put together a comprehensive obsolescence plan, you need to capture your current situation — detail what is installed at the plant or

plants you wish to manage with the obsolescence plan.

Prepare to be surprised. There may be assets you thought were no longer in use!

Map assets to near-term and longer term actions. Partner with your preferred vendor representative to map out your path. This information will help to identify assets that you have installed and which ones are near-term candidates for action. You will begin to see the foundation for a timeline in address-ing obsolescence issues.

Prioritize your obsolescence vulnerabilities. By

DistriButeD Control systeMFigure 1. A legacy control system can suffer from technical, functional or supply obsolescence.

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prioritizing, you will be able to formulate a phased mitigation approach, starting with your most critical obsolescence issues.

Determine how to address each obsolescence vul-nerability. There will likely be different resolution options for each identified vulnerability. Perhaps an upgrade kit or other appropriate solution is available. For some vulnerabilities, it may be clear that reason-able solutions could be developed in an appropriate timeframe. And, for some, you may recognize a need for urgent action.

Document your obsolescence plan and update regu-larly. Verify that you have included appropriate steps from the “Do your homework” outlined above.

Addressing evolution from the perspectives of technical, functional, and supply obsolescence allows you to address issues logically, in a phased approach, in order to minimize the impact on your operations. Many control system vendors like Honeywell can provide information and guidance as your obsolescence plan is developed and maintained.

honeywell ProCess solutions helps industrial

customers worldwide operate safe, reliable, efficient, sustain-

able and more profitable facilities. For more than 35 years the

company has continuously evolved its process automation

control from legacy control systems to today’s innovations. For

more information, visit Honeywell Process Solutions.

How to Deal with System ObsolescenceProcess industry panelists discuss migration challenges

By Keith Larson, Publisher

“riP anD replace is a last resort. It means you’ve either not been keeping up with technology or relationships with your supplier have broken down.” Paul Stewart was suitably blunt in his dismissal of wholesale replacement as a viable means of dealing with obsolete control systems.

At the November 2012 Honeywell Users Group EMEA meeting in Istanbul, Stewart, of Marathon Oil in the U.K., joined Paul Anderson of Saudi Aramco, Mahdi Akbar of EQUATE Petrochemical, Keith Landells of BP, and Andy Coward of Honeywell Process Solutions to discuss how the process industries are dealing with the large number of process control systems that are approaching the end of their useful lives. David Humphrey of the ARC Advisory Group moderated the panel.

funCtionality selDoM a Driver

While a phased approach to migrating from older systems to newer technology is preferred, the panel-ists agreed it’s often difficult to determine just when and how to make that switch. “Some of the really old systems are still very reliable,” noted BP’s Keith Landells. “That’s part of the problem.”

“Engineers want the latest and greatest, but man-agement is looking at costs,” added Saudi Aramco’s Jim Anderson. “Very seldom is the driver enhanced func-tionality. Many of our current systems were installed in the 1980s and 1990s to replace single loop controllers and are reaching the end of their useful lives,” he said. “But it all comes down to whether we can continue to operate reliably and safely. Can we continue to get the parts, the training? The savings you get by delaying a capital expenditure is significant.”

Obsolescence and reliability — not new func-tionality — are the key modernization drivers, agreed Stewart. “It’s really hard with electronics, with systems

that have been operating for 20-30 years. How long can they reasonably be expected to run? We take advantage of added features and functionalities when we upgrade, but it’s not the reason.”

Cots CoMPliCations

A double-edged sword inherent in today’s process control systems is the pervasive use of commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) computing technology. And while leveraging commercial IT developments makes possible a broad swath of advanced functionality, maintaining an automation infrastructure for 20 or more years based on component technologies

Figure 1. “Anything that simplifies the system is a good thing.” BP’s Keith Landells on the use of virtualization technology to make control system computing infrastructure easier to maintain.

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intended to be superseded in three years, presents a significant and ongoing issue, the panelists said.

For its part, Honeywell Process Solutions has com-mitted to providing its customers with an evolutionary path forward from its extensive installed base of older systems, even as it pioneers new advances in control system technology, according to Andy Coward of Honeywell. “Keeping up with the pace of COTS tech-nology is a real challenge. Some customers want the latest technologies, and some want to wait until new releases are stable,” Coward said. “We have to respond to a wide range of customer desires, even within the same company, between IT and control system groups. We work with our key suppliers like Microsoft to make sure we’re ready to meet those needs.”

Virtualization is but the latest COTS technol-ogy to be appropriated from the commercial IT space and is having a significant impact on how many control system applications are deployed and maintained. “Anything that simplifies the system is a good thing,” said BP’s Landells, “and separating the hardware from the software is one.”

And while virtualization has proven effective in consolidating and separating hardware maintenance from the upkeep of operating systems and applica-tions, Mahdi Akbar of EQUATE Petrochemical expressed concern that the virtualization environment might one day present its own maintenance demands. “Will the virtualization platform become just another operating system?” he asked.

PeoPle issues

While system migration and modernization presents undeniable technical challenges, neglect the human aspects at your own peril, the panelists said. “Training and work processes, hardware and software: they all play into the feasibility of an online migration,” said Honeywell’s Coward. Up front, it’s important to do role and complexity assessments so that the new displays support what operators need to do, he adds. “It’s not technology, it’s not usability – it’s managing change.”

“Most of the people ‘gotchas’ are expected,” agreed BP’s Landells, who likened operator adoption of a new control system to the inevitable learning curve of a new mobile phone. “It always takes a while to figure out how to work it, how to be proficient. And it’s usually a younger member of the family that

shows me how,” he confessed. “We know change is going to be a big issue, that there will always be push back, and we do the best we can.”

“The best way to gain operator acceptance is to involve them from the very beginning,” added Akbar.

“If they understand why they have to change, they’re much more likely to embrace it,” said Mara-thon Oil’s Stewart. “The needed skills are chang-ing — especially with the use of IT technology,” he added. “We need to have them work together and for each to learn each other’s domain.”

The difficulties inherent in keeping older control systems running, and in determining the proper migra-tion timing needed to head off reliability and obsoles-cence problems, also is reshaping the terms under which users engage with their technology suppliers. Saudi Ar-amco, for one, has been including 10 years of software updates and hardware refreshes in the bid processes for its control system investments, said Anderson.

A core deliverable of Honeywell is plant avail-ability, added Coward. “We used to sell boxes and support — now we’re selling outcomes.”

This article originally appeared in Chemical Processing’s sister

publication, Control.

Figure 2. “Rip and replace is a last resort.” Marathon Oil’s Paul Stewart on the need for control system suppliers to provide a phased upgrade path that allows users to gradually replace obsolete control systems with current technology.

Restoration PossibleMany new tools and innovative methods support and breath new life into aging

distributed control systems

by Jim Montague, Control

youth May be wasted on the young, but there’s no reason you and your control systems and process applications can’t regain and maintain some youth-ful strength and couple it with your veteran experi-ence and know-how.

Just as getting up, moving around, walking, biking and sensible weightlifting can get people’s blood moving, release endorphins and fuel a sense of well-being, there’s a boatload of innovative tools and methods that can do the same for support-ing, migrating and reviving distributed control systems and their overall applications—and help them overcome the problems of obsolete equipment and persistent downtime, and reach new levels of efficiency, safety and sustainability. Of course, most process applications go years or decades without replacing many controls and other equipment, but there comes a time when maintenance and repairs must give way to technical advances and more capable components and systems.

For instance, Valero Energy Corp.’s (www.valero.com) refinery in Benicia, Calif., recently completed a major upgrade and rearrangement of its control systems, control room and networking infrastructure with help from Honeywell Process Solutions (HPS, www.honeywellprocess.com). The refinery was built by Exxon Mobil in the late 1960s and originally used an IBM 1800 system for process control, but later replaced these mainframe computers with Honeywell’s TDC 2000 and TDC 3000 systems with extended controllers on Data Hiways for base regulatory control and application modules for supervisory control.

Beginning with 44 nodes, the system grew to more than 60 nodes over the next 20 years. The refinery added a local control network (LCN) as its node count grew, but later replaced it with total plant network (TPN) bridges to maintain the

performance of this large system. High-performance process managers (HPMs) were added in 2004. And Valero began planning in 2006 to remove its TPN bridges by 2010. The company also wanted to improve its native Windows (NW) interfaces and reduce the possible scope of failure by dividing its system into manageable clusters.

“TPN Bridge support was going away, and, though our big LCN was working OK, a refinery-wide reliability study in 2003 reported that using it was out of step with the industry. The study pointed out that multiple smaller LCNs were more com-mon in the refining industry,” says Denise Plaskett, Valero’s principal applications engineer for control systems. “So the best solution for us was to remove the TPN Bridge and add Honeywell’s Experion PKS on top, allowing distributed system architecture (DSA) communications between clusters to keep our system whole.” Plaskett adds that some of the main challenges to renovating with Experion included:

• Limited space in the refinery’s centralized control room;

• Seven-week shift cycles that made it hard to get operators in to help with design and training plans;

• A traditionally do-it-yourself Control Systems group that needed external support for this renovation, even as it continued to support day-to-day refinery operations; and

• Timing issues that required all integration and cutover to the new system be done on-line, while working around unit turnarounds over a multi-year time period.

reasoning the neeD

Of course, Valero’s Benicia plant is just one of many on the quest to renovate its controls, and though each has many unique characteristics, they also share

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many common challenges and can use many of the same solutions.

In fact, a new automation survey by system inte-grator Maverick Technologies LLC (www.mavtech-global.com) in Columbia, Ill., included responses from 175 technical support, asset maintenance and project planning and execution personnel about their DCS applications and efforts (Figure 1).

More than half of the respondents (53.5%) report they’re operating with new or updated automation systems, but more than a third each are running legacy automaton (35.7%) or integrating control data into their enterprise (33.5%).

They add the biggest constraints on automation in their plants include budget (28%); capital expen-diture priorities (26.5%); resources (19.5%); integra-tion of platforms (9.7%); maintaining legacy systems (8.6%); and planning (7%).

To improve their applications, close to half of the respondents plan to expand with new automation systems (47%) within the next 24 months, while about a third each plan to add remote support for data and controls (37.8%); integrate controls with their enterprise/business systems (33.5%); and/or migrate their legacy automation systems (33%).

For more detailed results of Maverick’s survey, visit ControlGlobal.com/1306_MaverickSurvey.

Plan is key, sCheDule is king

Before securing the most suitable hardware and soft-ware for upgrading a DCS, the most important task is evaluating what’s truly needed by the application and the overall business, drafting a thorough plan meet those requirements and following a precise, but flexible schedule.

For instance, Indonesia-based PT. Pertamina (www.pertamina.com) recently migrated the DCS that runs its paraxylene plant, which is part of Unit IV at its Cilacap refinery. It worked with Azbil Corp. (www.azbil.com) and local affiliate Azbil Berca Indonesia (ABID), and together they planned a combined cold changeover (CCO) and hot changeover (HCO), minimized switchover time by retaining all sensors, valves and terminal panels in good working condition, and migrated only the plant’s DCS to Azbil’s Harmonas-DEO monitoring and control system.

“The DCS was replaced while part of the plant was shut down for planned maintenance, so the timing would change depending on how the maintenance work progressed,” says Erfan Gafar, deputy section head of Pertamina’s project engi-neering department. “Despite repeated schedule changes, switchover was completed as originally planned without delays.”

Likewise, the Langkawi cement plant in Ke-dah, Malaysia, has two production lines produc-ing 3.3 million tons of clinker per year. The facil-ity is one of three operated by Lafarge Malayan Cement (LMC, www.lafargemalayancement.com), and its Line 2 was run by an aging Polysius DCS for which spare parts were no longer easily available.

So beginning in 2007, Lafarge planned and undertook a four-phase, five-year revamping of the line’s controls with help from ABB Malaysia and its associated Operation Center in India (INOPC). The third phase shifted key process areas of Line 2 to ABB’s 800xA control system in June 2011, and the final phase was completed in June 2012 (Figure 2). This new DCS included with 11 AC 800M controllers for 14,000 I/O points, integration of ex-isting 5 AC 800M controllers for 6000 I/O points, and seven operator workstations.

To upgrade the plant’s safety capabilities at the same time, Lafarge also planned to renovate the line’s electrical systems and installed visible cut-off, switch-power isolation and control units on more than 300 motors and local control units for 13 high-tension (HT) motors, and added about 100 pulse-controlled speed sensors for critical drives. This allowed 800xA to provide safety instrumented systems (SISs) that comply with IEC 61508 and IEC 61511.

“Our operators now have full control over en-ergy and raw material consumption with 800xA and can keep vital processes running without interruption,” says Mohamad Fadzil Ramli, Lafarge’s methods manager. “For instance, with a fully integrated control system, the average tem-peratures in the kiln can be adjusted for mini-mum energy requirements. When an operator combines process knowledge with 800xA, energy consumption can be reduced by 10%.”

DiviDe anD Conquer

Because migrating an old DCS is such a complex project, the best way to carry out its upgrade and replacement plan is to break it up into a logical series of workable chunks.

For example, Golden Triangle Energy Coopera-tive (GTEC, http://goldentriangleenergy.com) in Craig, Mo., makes about 20 million gallons of etha-nol and 160,000 tons of wet livestock feed per year. It had been controlled by a DCS installed when the plant was built in 2001, but just a few years later its manufacturer reported it was obsolete and would no longer be supported.

“The supplier would still repair some rundown parts, but the refurbishment process could take up to three weeks,” explains Roger Hill, GTEC’s general manager. “One day of downtime can cost us $35,000 in lost profit, and unexpected shutdowns can cause unsafe conditions for our employees. We started shutting down operations at every threat of a thunderstorm just to avoid the risk of an outage. We were even browsing online auction sites to find backups for our critical components.”

To solve these problems and replace the old DCS, GTEC sought help from system integrator Bachelor Controls Inc. (http://bachelorcontrols.com) in Sabetha, Kan., and together they implemented PlantPAx process automation system and Control-Logix PLCs from Rockwell Automation (www.rockwellautomation.com), and minimized costs by retaining all existing field wiring and devices and reverse engineering control logic and strategies from the old DCS.

The migration was completed during two, sched-uled, four-day shutdowns. The first included instal-lation of one ControlLogix controller, Ethernet and ControlNet communications and FactoryTalk View supervisory HMI software. The second involved the complete plant switchover with BCI replacing GTEC’s outdated I/O racks for more than 800 I/O points spread throughout the plant, installing the remaining ControlLogix PACs, and checking that each I/O point responded correctly to controller commands.

Restart procedures began on the morning of the fifth day, and Hill reports that downtime and maintenance were greatly reduced. “There are

living with legaCy, seeking to MigrateFigure 1: More than a third of respondents to Maverick Technologies’ recent automation survey report operating with legacy automation systems, while just about one third report they’re planning to migrate legacy automaton systems in the next two years.

Present Level of Automation ActivityUsing panel board controls

15.7%

Operating with legacy automation system

35.7%Operating with updated or new automation system

53.5%Integrating plant controls data into enterprise system

33.5% Fully integrated throughout our enterprise

7.3%

Biggest Constraint on Automation at Facility Budget

28.6%Plant capital expenditure priorities

26.5% Resources

19.5% Integration of technology platforms

9.7% Maintaining legacy systems

8.6%Project planning

7%IT infrastructure limits

0%

Investment Plans in Next 24 MonthsPlant expansion using new automation system

47% Add remote support for information and control systems

37.8%Integrate controls into enterprise systems

33.5%Legacy automation system migration

33%Panel board controls migration

7.6%None of the above

11.9%

Maverick autoMation Survey: DcS reSultS

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some months that we operate with zero down-time,” says Hill.

In addition, PlantPAx also helped GTEC install a new production line for grain-neutral spirits. “We just tied in the new I/O, downloaded the necessary programming to the FactoryTalk View SE software and ControlLogix controllers, and double-checked the I/O points for each valve and input,” says Marvin Coker, BCI’s senior project engineer. As a result, GTEC has expanded its production capacity by 75%, and is now able to manufacture 35 million gallons of industrial and beverage-quality ethanol per year.

eDuCate anD exeCute

Meanwhile, Plaskett reports the Benicia’s refinery’s migration to Experion began with I/O realignment, including an “A cluster,” covering the refinery’s up-stream instruments and controls, and a “B cluster,” covering its blending and other operations.

“More than 2000 points were moved and re-built,” says Plaskett. “With movement of I/O comes deleting and rebuilding of points, meaning inter-nal IDs changed, and all references needed to be cleaned up. With only one LCN in the beginning, DOC 4000 Express worked fairly well to allow us to identify and cleanup references. However, we also used—and I would advise doing it—a homegrown cross-reference (XREF) utility based on the Find Names utility, which allowed us to find even indi-rection references that we also use at Benicia. We also learned it’s easiest to do this before Experion is placed on top because priming for the Experion layer is also required.”

Following some in-depth training and hands-on practice, the Benecia refinery’s engineers and opera-tors set up a testing system to explore the relation-ship between their LCN and Experion to gain more application-specific knowledge. In addition, because a critical part of any Experion system is the configu-ration of the fault-tolerant Ethernet (FTE) network, Plaskett added that Valero’s engineers also secured help from Honeywell Network Services to set up a hot-standby router protocol (HSRP) in a redundant configuration.

“Using our test system, we were able to conduct extensive testing of switch shutdowns, router shut-downs and FTE cable disconnects,” explains Plaskett.

“The testing pointed out the need to carefully check operating systems on these network devices and to test, test and test for proper operation.”

The detailed design also included an enterprise model database (EMDB), as well as three clusters, A, B and OM, with redundant servers on top of each individual LCN to allow future expansion. Also, each cluster would have its own subnet address, and these would be tied together with redundant rout-ers, allowing for reliable DSA communications, as well as protected access to/from upper-levels plant networks.

To get its actual execution moving, Benecia’s en-gineers decided to start with their graphics conver-sion. “We had an extensive set of operating graphics and wanted to retain the operators’ familiarity with their layout and reduce their learning curve by continuing to use our 20 years of good graphics,” says Plaskett. “By interviewing, visiting and getting proposals from several vendors, we found one that had shape libraries and navigation tools that met the ASM-like look and feel we wanted to give the operators, while also being able to take our exist-ing graphic layouts and convert them efficiently to HMIWeb graphics. For this project, we decided to convert only our primary control graphics, which included 165 for A, 195 for B and 42 for OM, which adds up to 402 graphics that were converted and migrated out of 3000 total NW displays. My advice here is that, if you have a good set of DCS graph-ics, don’t change them too radically during upgrade projects. And, for us, though ASM-type graphics are good for handling upsets, they’re extremely bland for normal monitoring by operators.”

flexiBle tools = easier Migrations

One of the primary forces aiding DCS migrations these days is more capable software and hardware that can adapt more easily to legacy systems and allow more old I/O points and other devices to continue to run in updated environments.

For example, Tsb Sugar (www.tsb.co.za) recently decided to consolidate automation and data assets at its 18-year-old Komati Mill in Komatipoort, South Africa, and planned to migrate from its old DCS to a control system combining PLCs, SCADA and even its manufacturing execution system (MES) into

a one, overall information server. This would allow Komati to measure and optimize throughput, evalu-ate stoppages and downtime, predict final volumes, and provide device-layer and area-level bookings to Tsb’s reporting layer. However, this plan required renovating and/or integrating new Quantum PLCs, legacy Provox and DeltaV DCSs, LIMS database, and SAP enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems into one data and reporting point. As a result, Tsb and system integrator Control Systems Integration (CSI, www.controlsi.co.za) implemented Arches-trA System Platform and Wonderware InTouch SCADA/HMI, historian and MES Performance software from Invensys Operations Management South Africa (http://iom.invensys.co.za). The plant also adopted AutoSave change management soft-ware from MDT Software (www.mdtsoft.com) and

Top Server OPC solution from Software Toolbox (www.softwaretoolbox.com) to connect the PLCs to Komati’s new systems.

The project was completed in phases with first-phase implementation during a three-month, off-crop season in January to April 2011, which was enough time to remove the old Provox DCS and re-place it with the new, integrated system on Komati’s Extraction Line 2. “All the other systems remained the same, and System Platform was built on top of the existing systems to facilitate integration,” says Samantha Rabé, CSI’s systems engineer. “Overall equipment effectiveness (OEE), LIMS, Provox and DeltaV data were integrated into System Platform to show KPIs on the InTouch dual-screen displays.”

Pieter san Tonder, Tsb Komati’s instrumenta-tion engineer, reports, “We’re now able to manage

sMarter CeMent Figure 2: Operators at Lafarge’s Langkawi cement plant use their new 800xA DCS from ABB to adjust their process to run at optimal levels.

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low throughput because, for the first time, we can measure it accurately. Real-time feedback to record the plant’s lost-time availability (LTA) and overall time efficiency (OTE), and have it available on managers’ desktops was unthinkable a decade ago. System Platform’s ability to integrate and consoli-date data across the different systems and deliver it in a presentable format enables us to be proactive rather than reactive.”

Meanwhile, on the software side, PCN Tech-nology Inc. (www.pcntechnology.com) reports it’s developed software algorithms and hardware modules that can be dropped into a legacy control system, and allow it to be retained, but still enable it to be accessed by an Internet protocol (IP) network. “This allows migrations at a more rapid pace because we don’t have to rip and replace so much,” says Daniel Drolet, PCN’s executive vice president. “For example, users may have an old Seriplex or RS485 network that works OK, and we can plug into its PLCs, head or service center router to add multidrop IP communications, while still allowing the serial network to continue.”

Rich Clark, principal applications consultant in Honeywell’s Lifecycle Services business unit, reports, “Many DCS migration plans are using advances in the IT world, such as virtualization, open standards-based devices and HMIs using thin-client computing and eServer produces to put control data in secure zones for viewing by browser-based systems. For example, in the past three years, more migration projects are using virtualized data processing that doesn’t need to be implemented all at once. There are many large base stations and ap-plications in Windows XP and Windows 2003 with three- to five-year-old hardware, but Microsoft won’t support XP after next year, so many users will need to migrate those stations. Virtualization gives users the flexibility to stretch out their migrations and go longer between the time they have to touch wires and reengineer systems.”

“riP off the BanD-aiD”

To finally upgrade its consoles and layer on its new DCS, Benecia’s engineers added a pair of redundant Experion Servers (ESVTs) to their 73-node LCN, and then added two Icon stations to test them on

why anD how to uPgraDe a DCsIn his white paper, “Upgrading Your DCS: Why You May Need to Do It Sooner Than You Think,” Chad Harper of system integrator Maverick Technologies (www.mavtechglobal.com) lays out some reasons for migrating distributed control systems, and describes how to approach it.

signs your DCs neeDs uPgraDing

• Staff resources supporting the existing DCS are close to retire-ment;

• Vendor plans to end support for the product;• Control problems are causing unplanned outages and increased

downtime;• Latest technologies are not compatible with your DCS; • Spare parts and technical support are becoming hard to find.

why not to wait too long to uPgraDe

• Present staff don’t know your legacy DCS;• Waiting until support for DCS ends will make migration harder;• Old systems often can’t use new technologies;• Old DCSs only allow for configuration of certain types of controls;• Cost of maintaining an old system will outgrow the cost of migration.

aPProaChing a DCs uPgraDe

Because upgrading a DCS can be a monumental and expensive project, it’s important to evaluate whether it makes more sense to migrate all at once or conduct a partial or phased approach, which most DCS suppliers offer. A phased upgrade can be less risky, spread out costs and minimize downtime. Two common phased-migration methods are

• Upgrade HMIs first. Most newer DCS HMIs can be configured on top of legacy control systems. This can be done on a running plant with little impact to production. By upgrading the HMI first, you ensure that toperators know the new technology before the com-plete system is installed. Changes in presentation and interaction with new controls are some of the biggest hurdles that operators face. Many new HMI packages also support extra connectivity, such as OPC. HMI software can serve as an interface that allows for development of MES and ERP projects without needing a full DCS revamp.

• Replace the controllers and HMI, but leave the existing I/O mod-ules. Most of the latest DCSs can connect to I/O devices at the backplane of old DCS controllers.

Most I/O and field wiring can be left in place and upgraded as needed. This allows for easier hot cutovers and the ability to change out I/O as plant shutdown schedules permit. It also reduces labor costs for electrical and wiring work and associated documentation updates, such as wiring diagrams.

their production system. As these worked well, they upgraded their engineer console. Finally, they added a second temporary console in the center, reaching a total of 10 Icon stations in their system. These provided stations for engineers and operators to preview and test the converted graphics, while still maintaining enough stations for operations in high demand situations.

“Once all three chunks of A’s complex graph-ics were converted, we were ready to train our A console operators. Our graphics vendor trained the operators, and then they were physically relocated to the new center console,” added Plaskett. “We left their console in place for another seven weeks, making sure all operators had a chance to work their shift cycle at the new stations before removing the stations they felt most comfortable with. These stations were not side-by-side, but in an emergency, the operator could go back to the console and oper-ate the refinery. This satisfied our space limitation challenge. Once the seven weeks passed, we began demolishing and replacing the old A console, and these operators were moved back to their home when it was upgraded. This method of training and relocation also allowed us to satisfy our seven-week shift schedule staffing challenge.”

Next, with the B cluster graphics completed and B operators trained on Experion, it was time to upgrade the B console to Icon stations. However, this could not be done until the old TPN Bridge was removed and a second set of Experion servers put into opera-tion. This bridge removal was preceded by months of preparation. LCN nodes were relocated within cabinets, so nodes on the same cluster were in close proximity and could be re-cabled together carefully.

“Our detailed procedure for making all of these moves included over 120 LCN cable moves. Besides moving and re-cabling all of these nodes, the exact procedure we developed for removing the bridge was reviewed and blessed by Honeywell,” explains Plaskett. “On D-day, all operators were moved to universal stations (USs) or used NW on ESTs. The TPN Bridge nodes and switches were all simultane-ously powered off. The system complained loudly for two minutes, noting which nodes were now missing from each LCN. LCN re-cabling was done to eliminate these boxes from the LCNs. A console

ESTs could not be used until all points were re-primed, since many internal IDs it had known about were now gone. It had to discover these points now as DSA points. The new B cluster servers had to be started up and primed with the points on its LCN. Once primed, they could each offer up their points on DSA. After several days of re-priming, HMIWeb graphics could be used again and B console stations could now be upgraded to Icons.

“At this point, the console upgrades could contin-ue. The B operators who had been at their B console USs could be moved back to the center console. The USs were replaced with Icons, and the B operators were moved back to the newly converted B console. Throughout all of this, OM operations had been a subset of the B complex. After allowing the A and B complex operations to line out over a few months, the OM cluster was finally broken off and created.”

Finally, Plaskett reports finding that seven weeks was enough time for Benecia’s operators to train on Experion. “Though we heard of other locations where old USs and new Experion stations sit side by side for years, we essentially had to ‘rip off the Band-Aid’ and remove the old stations to move through the project and complete it,” she says. Also, NW on the Icon has been a blessing and a curse because operators sometimes fall back to using it when they don’t think the Experion graphic is responding fast enough. So we’re glad it’s there to give them a sense of security, but the black NW and gray HMIWeb graphics are a continual source of discussion at our plant. Also, support is becoming a big issue, as we have to do patching, error logs and network support. And simple point rebuilding now requires an extra step, DSPPrime, and even AM point algorithm changes require new priming!

“However, we achieved a successful project completed within the challenges of space, staffing, resources and timing. We maintained an integrated view for our operators. We now have a modern, highly functional operator interface. We’ve contin-ued evolution along with our Honeywell system, and our investment is secure.”

This article originally appeared in Chemical Processing’s sister

publication, Control. JiM Montague is Control’s executive

editor.

15 14

DCS Migration:Failure Is Not an OptionAnd doing nothing is not a solution

by Matt Sigmon

reCently, i watched the movie, Apollo 13, again, this time with my four children who had never seen the cinematic classic. I’ve personally seen it too many times to count; it’s one of my favorites—primarily because it’s based on actual events. Perhaps my favorite scene in the movie is the one where Gene Kranz (played by Ed Harris), NASA flight director of the Apollo mis-sions, is confronted with the harsh reality that three American astronauts were trapped inside the crippled command and lunar modules, unlikely to reach their destination and needing a dif-ficult, if not impossible, rescue. Back at Mission Control, Kranz and those around him confronted the likelihood of mission failure and loss of three lives. But Kranz was a rock of sanity and determination. As the movie depicts, it was in this moment and faced with a mountain of pressure that Kranz uttered the words, “Failure is not an option!”

Interestingly, however, Kranz never actually uttered that phrase during the Apollo 13 mission. Rather, it was written by screenplay writers after interviewing former flight con-troller Jerry Bostick. As the story goes, while interviewing Bostick for the movie, writers Al Reinart and Bill Broyles asked, “Weren’t there times when everybody, or at least a few people, just panicked?” Bostick answered, “No, when bad things happened, we just calmly laid out all the options, and failure was not one of them. We never panicked, and we never gave up on finding a solution.” Reinart and Broyles so liked that sentiment they coined it as, “Failure is not an option,” and gave it to Kranz in the screenplay.

Admittedly, most controls engineers will never be confront-ed with such a life-and-death dilemma, yet we do face problems that demand the same determined ethic. Perhaps the most critical challenge facing the automation industry is that of aging control systems at or near the end of their product lifecycles. Many refineries, chemical plants and paper mills are more than 50 years old, and most of them have been running on the same control systems for more than three decades. This is particu-larly the case with DCS systems, though there are certainly a

multitude of mature PLC, SCADA and DDC systems likewise nearing the end of their lifespans. According to one recent report, there is $65 billion of obsolete control systems installed worldwide. Assuming that a third of those (approximately $20 billion) are DCS systems, the result is that over 10 million DCS I/O points will need to be migrated over the next 10+ years. Multiple platforms are no longer approaching the end of their lifecycles; they are already there. For many systems, the can simply cannot be kicked further down the road.

the tiMes they are a-Changin’

However, while obsolescence is certainly a real and pressing con-cern for owners of older control systems, it is not the only issue they face when considering the challenge of platform migration. The objective should not be to simply replace and replicate, but rather to innovate. DCS migration is an opportunity to design, implement and maintain a 21st-century control system that will enable the manufacturer to operate more efficiently and safely; position it for market growth; and firm up its stability for a quarter-century or more. Further, it is an occasion for process improvement and expansion, as well as a much needed op-portunity to address the gap between how the plant is currently operated and controlled and how it should be.

For example, refineries in North America are running above design capacity, some as much as 135% above. The youngest refinery in the United States is the Exxon-Mobil refinery in Joliet, Ill., which is 43 years old. The control systems installed at most refineries and other process facili-ties were designed to requirements developed years before actual construction began. Further, the systems in these plants have been upgraded and modified over the years, but in most cases the upgrades and modifications have been done to continue the basic operational functionality of the plant. Rarely has an upgrade been done that took deviations in design requirements into account, nor implemented with a goal of improving process efficiency and productivity.

leaDers, followers anD laggarDs

Aberdeen Group, (www.aberdeen.com), a major consultancy that works in manufacturing, divides companies into: Leaders, who set the pace and implement new strategies; Followers, who do what leaders do, but later; and Laggards, who don’t do what Leaders or Followers do until it’s nearly too late or already too late for them to continue to be competitive without major change. The issue of DCS upgrades and 21st -century competitiveness clearly lends itself to Aberdeen’s method. For industrial manufacturers with a significant DCS installed base, the problem is daunting, and they face the real challenges of limited resources and capital.

The Leaders are proactive in facing these problems and challenges, having already begun implementing migration strategies and plans. This includes Front End Loading (FEL) studies, capital and commissioning planning, and actual execu-tion of migration projects. Most Leaders use modern collabora-tive tools and outsiders, such as vendors and especially control system integrators, as effective, long-term team members.

Many others haven’t been so proactive, yet these Followers are now beginning to embark on similar endeavors. They are starting and completing evaluations; developing preliminary estimates and schedules; and laying out roadmaps for their migrations. Some in this second category are further along than others, but all face similar challenges, including vendor selection, funding approval, and figuring out how to migrate thousands of I/O and application programs to a new system with little or no downtime.

Finally, a number of manufacturers, the Laggards, are in reactive mode and have done little or nothing to plan for or begin migrating their obsolete systems. In a recent discussion, one controls engineer told me his management’ will not begin replacing their old DCS until equipment fail-ures that can’t be remedied with parts refurbished on-site cause process downtime.

Failure should not be an option, yet for some industrial manufacturers it’s a very real possibility, particularly those in the third category. With no plan, no funding approved and no migration work completed, they potentially face production downtime, loss of efficiency and diminished market presence. And without an effective, proactive plan, they’ll likely struggle to secure funding, fail to thoroughly evaluate their options, and spend too much when they finally begin the migration process.

Even so, there’s time and opportunity to plan for success, implement the right solution and move your organization for-ward. How? The following key steps should be put into practice post-haste.

First, start planning now. Don’t delay any longer. In 1961, President Kennedy issued a great challenge to the American people and to a specific team of engineers, scientists, pilots and others. But it took more than a chal-lenge for the goal to be achieved. It took years of planning, research, effort and continued refining of the solutions and designs. The team did not quit after the Apollo 1 tragedy, and neither did it quit when faced the impending disaster of Apollo 13. Failure was not, and should not, be an option. Plan the work and work the plan, and start planning now. Incorporate all the stakeholders in the design team, and de-mand the assistance of vendors and control system integra-tors at the very front end of the project.

Second, remember that you must develop the project in light of the business goals of the enterprise and the place of the plant in the company’s overall financial strategy. Funding for migration projects will likely not come easily or quickly, and you will need a strategy and plan in order to secure it. The sooner you take the first couple of steps, the sooner you can get funding approved, and begin imple-menting a holistic plan that addresses not only the obso-lescence of your existing systems, but also helps you drive process improvement.

Third, get the right people on your team and challenge them to deliver. Remind them failure (e.g., downtime, loss of production, etc.) is not an option, and success is achievable. You likely can’t go this alone, and you’ll need a team that possesses the right aptitude and attitude for success. Look for partners and team members that understand your needs and goals and will be mutually committed to your mission’s suc-cess. Be careful of biases and excuses—they’ll lead you down the wrong road or hold you back. Seek out those who are ob-jective and experienced. They can be found in your supplier community, in the control system integrator community, and among your plant operators and maintenance staff.

And fourth, but not last, as you face challenges, set-backs and delays, go back to your plan, revise your solutions and keep moving forward. Stagnation and apathy will result in missed opportunities and possibly failure. As the Apollo 13 mission taught us, never panic and never give up on finding the right solution. Lay out the options, consider them objectively and develop a migration and funding plan that meets your objectives and results in success.

This article originally appeared in Chemical Processing’s sister publica-

tion, Control. Matt sigMon, is director of DCSNext, Maverick

Technologies.

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