26 Mar

What We Can Learn From the 100 Largest Losses

Recently, Marsh released its report on the 100 Largest Losses in the hydrocarbon extraction, transport and processing industry from 1974 to 2013. Using the Nelson-Farrar Petroleum Pant Cost Index, the report includes inflated values to show how much these 100 incidents would cost in 2013.

Of the top 20 events, eight have taken place in the United States. Most of those losses are associated with vapor cloud explosions at petrochemical plants. While the study covers 40 years of plant operations, these events are hardly in our past. A petrochemical explosion on June 13^th, 2013 was one of the eight events.

While different sectors were involved in the report, all problems can be narrowed down to a few key areas that exist in all plants: Hardware, Management Systems and Emergency Controls. These are the systems that keep everything running smoothly and their failure can be catastrophic.

One of the easiest ways to ensure your safety systems are always running is to have a maintenance plan in place for routine checkups. The more regular the maintenance, the more you reduce the risk of a catastrophic event. In addition, new and emerging threats should be considered when upgrading hardware and emergency controls. This is why cyber security has been such a huge topic of late. Explosions and natural disasters may be at the heart of these 100 losses, but negligence towards emerging threats leaves the door open to something new creating even more damage.

If you want more information on protecting yourself from all safety threats, contact your local engineering consultants at Synergy Systems Inc.

19 Mar

Top Three Ways Automation can Reduce Raw Material and Fuel Usage

by Synergy Systems in Engineering & Automation Experts

Energy Patriot The ability to procure sustainable value within a process system, boiler room or plant provides a huge advantage to business. By their very nature, these industries use up fuel and raw materials to create products and energy. The less material you need for any given process, the less you have to pay for. When it comes to the production of consumer goods, such as food products, using less material to create the same result means you can create more product.

The secret to sustainability in the process industry is reliability. Instruments should be calibrated for optimized performance and communicate all valuable information to plant engineers. This is where automation’s abilities thrive. Harnessing automation technology in the following ways will generate reliable and sustainable plant instruments.

Preventative and Predictive Maintenance
This sustainability issue doubles as a safety issue. The worst kind of safety maintenance a plant can have is reactive. Control systems should be optimized in such a way that plant engineers are made aware of potential errors before they have a chance to wreak havoc. This kind of automation, however, is only preventative. If you want to take your reliability and sustainability a step further, you will calibrate for predictive maintenance as well. An intelligent control system can record and remember the continuous activities of a plant and learn the signs of a potential problem before an error ever occurs. When preventative and predictive maintenance work in tandem, they create an optimized environment with few, if any, major malfunctions.
Alarm Management and Reduction of Nuisance Trips
Last week, we discussed the importance of alarm prioritization as a method of measurement within the process industry. Alarm management is equally important for sustainability. Every nuisance trip wastes energy and employee time. At the same time, an overabundance of alarms can confuse plant workers and create misunderstandings of which alarm is the most crucial. Control systems can be automated in such a way that all this is resolved. The system will run smoothly and communicate all information in an actionable manner to the plant engineers. This avoids wasted time, materials and cost.
Instrument Reliability Experts
All the above will be for naught if the system isn’t put in place with the kind of care instrument reliability experts provide. Make sure you find an engineering consultant with an in-depth knowledge of what reliability and sustainability mean for your business.

13 Mar

Critical Measurements in a Process Plant

by Synergy Systems in Engineering & Automation Experts

Measurement is often part of the intelligent HMI discussion from the process industry to boiler systems; the measurement and balance of all materials involved is essential. The list of measurable elements in a plant can seem endless, which begs the question; what measurements should you prioritize in order to have the most efficient process?

This question was posed to Marc L. Hunter, our Vice-President, the other day, to which he replied, “That’s not quite the right question to ask.”

He went on to explain that measurement of anything is dependent on two questions. What is going to happen and what should I pay attention to?

The multitude of factors acting in a plant is indicative of the many different activities being performed. Many of these processes can be easily managed by automation and machines. The most important measurement of a plant then becomes alarms.

Alarm management is vital and should be made as proactive as possible. This requires strategic prioritization of alarms. No alarm should be completely ignored, but a smoothly running system must alert engineers to the most pressing alarms first.

Measurement in a plant therefore boils down to ISA 18.2 Alarm Management Standards. A system made to meet these standards alerts plant engineers of any issue using a prioritized list of alarms. This organization allows for the easy identification of the most critical issues. On days where few high risk problems occur, the less important alarms can be dealt with.

How many priority levels you need to adequately measure the performance of your plant requires a detailed discussion with an engineering consultant with alarm management expertise. The alarm management market offers a substantial variety in terms of the number of priorities levels. There isn’t much of a limit to the number of priority levels you can have. An alarm management expert will help you define just what you need to meet your business goals.

06 Mar

The Synergy of Man and Machine

by Synergy Systems in Engineering & Automation Experts

Smart machines only hold as much intelligence as the humans who build and program them. William Hawkins mentions the idea of machines and computers that learn from each other to be frightening. In such an environment, a machine could “learn” to override human actions it interprets as harmful. While current technology and gather, measure and interpret large amounts of data, they lack the ability to learn from it. That job is left to humans who must work in synergy with plant machines.

Having both humans and machines involved in a process system takes advantage of the strengths of each. Machines are an obvious asset with their predictability and ability to withstand steps in the manufacturing processes that are risky for humans. Process and plant engineers, on the other hand, have ingenuity and creativity that can be harnessed as continuous business improvement.

Synergy Systems balances these strengths with a three pronged process. We send our engineering experts directly to client plants and communicate with the process engineers working there. Since plant employees play such a crucial role in the operation of a system, we believe their input is vital to the success of any project. The three things we discuss are what machines should be doing, how they are currently running and how the plant employees would like them to run. Balancing these three realities with the goals of the business is a sure way to achieve success.

When it comes to business success, it is imperative that the strengths of all available assets be used. Cutting-edge technology is only one facet of success. Incorporating the knowledge, needs and ideas of plant employees to work in tandem with technology enables any company to accomplish its highest goals.