Category: Industry News

23 Oct

The Third Internet Revolution and Security Demands

by Synergy Systems in Industry News

Rich Carpenter, chief technology officer of GE Intelligent Platforms, touched on the three internet revolutions in a Control Engineering article. The third revolution is happening right now and while it provides even greater opportunities for business, it also comes with its own risk.

The First Revolution:

The first internet revolution is rooted in the web’s very existence. People suddenly have access to information on a global scale. All the information in the world, and every opinion held, can be found within a few clicks.

Necessary security: Internet users need their computer to keep running so as not to lose pictures, documentation and other information stored on the device.

The Second Revolution:

Consumerism takes hold of the internet, allowing people to buy everything from cars to groceries online. Items bought online can be delivered straight to a consumer’s door.

Necessary security: Personal identity needs to be protected as well as financial information such as credit cards and bank accounts.

The Third Revolution:

Carpenter has named this third revolution the Age of the Industrial Internet, where machines and factory devices communicate with each other and with plant staff through an internet connection. This allows for an optimized process that is safe, more reliable and more profitable.

Necessary security: The internet is now linked to the most critical devices of our infrastructure. Previous concerns, such as loss of device or information, are still high, but another has been added. Loss of control is a huge safety concern. Security must be so tight as to ensure no one besides those authorized can communicate with a machine and yet simplistic enough that it is easy to use.

This industrial internet requires a level of security that goes beyond anti-virus software. Machines and site assets need to be programed with safety as a high priority. Intelligent software adds another level of security, so that a machine understands how to safely react to errors without a human user telling it to do so.

At no other time in history have we been able to so intricately design and program business assets. The continuing revolution of the internet provides greater optimization, reliability and efficiency. Safety is not to be forgotten, but it is also not suffering. That same technology which increases the need for safety also increases the ability to maintain safety.

Synergy programmers and engineers use the internet to remotely work on client assets. This means most problems can be addressed as soon as an engineer gets access to a computer. Without the need to travel to a client site for every problem, time is saved for the engineer and the client, resulting in faster maintenance and shorter downtime.

Is your security up to par with the third revolution of the internet?

 

 

16 Oct

The Asset Management Strategy

by Synergy Systems in Industry News

Modern instruments now go beyond customization and data collection. Each device in the field, be it an analyzer, valve or otherwise, can be programmed to collect larger varieties of data and disseminate it into actionable information. Alerts and device consistency can be constantly measured and updated, automatically collecting data for audits.

The above is the heart of asset management, operating intelligent hardware in a plant to ensure the fastest reaction time and actionable information. In short, optimized asset management provides the following:

  • Maintenance which considers the entire life-cycle of an asset
  • Real-time diagnostics
  • Dissemination of relevant information to different parties in the business
  • Central location for information
  • Pro-active maintenance
  • Extension of equipment life
  • Reduced downtime
  • Documented asset history

Installing an asset management system has long term benefits, but will require a culture change. Planning is critical because staff and plant engineers act as first responders to any issues in the plant. Decide where all information assembled by assets will be gathered and how it will be collected, making sure desired information lines up with the company mission and goals. With a plan in place, explain to the staff how the system will make their job easier and more efficient. In addition to earning their support, their feedback is crucial for optimization of the asset management strategy.

Collecting data, including asset trends, operating manuals, specification sheets and alert logs, is only half of what asset management provides. The benefits extend to pro-active maintenance that can result in the optimization of the plants as a whole.  Devices can be observed by their history, allowing those prone to failure to be identified and dealt with. Every asset in the plant becomes modifiable. This coupled with a pro-active staff creates a culture where operation can be constantly improved and strategies for monetary savings are always active.

With optimally implemented asset management, even plant areas that traditionally have only used up funds, like boiler rooms, become a site of monetary gain. The data provided by the system becomes an asset in itself, to be used as a tool to save money, fuel and energy.

This article was inspired by this Intech article

 

09 Oct

Invensys Acquires InduSoft

by Synergy Systems in Industry News

InduSoft devices - Invensys Acquires InduSoftIn late September Invensys announced it had acquired InduSoft, a provider of HMI and embedded intelligent device software for automation industries. Invensys has been a member of the Synergy team for 14 years. They are highly valued as they share our goal to provide safe, efficient and reliable systems to clients.

Founded in 1997, InduSoft has proven themselves as a source for quality HMI and software. The company won Control Engineering magazine’s Engineer’s Choice Award in 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2013. Invensys President, Ravi Gopinath, told Control Engineering the acquisition strengthens Invensys embedded HMI and continues the company’s drive for growth.

Specifically, Invensys’s strength and expertise will grow in the following areas:

  • OEM and machine building
  • End-to-end HMI, SCADA and MES solutions
  • Integration of information and automation systems

InduSoft will be adding employees to Invensys operations in the United States, Brazil and Germany. We at Synergy Systems are proud to be allied with a high –quality HMI and software provider like Invensys who continues to strive for growth and excellence.

 

 

 

 

07 Aug

Human Machine Interface Essentials

by Synergy Systems in Industry News

Control-Engineering- MagazineAn article on page 14 of the latest Control Engineering Magazine ask the question “Who is building your HMI?” The question related to high-performance HMI and implores readers to answer honestly about the human machine interfaces they use and/or create. Industrial accidents, collectively costing billions of dollars every year, are often related to poor HMI. The discussion of what is and isn’t high performance HMI is curtail to an optimally running plant.

While there are a number of HMI guidelines out there, the variations in what a plant or organization needs are so great that it is hard to nail down specific standards that must be followed in every case. The true test of high performance comes down to usability. The Control Engineering article considers usability testing as a worth-while step when creating HMI.

Consider your typical new hire. You are confident the person has the basic skills needed to perform the job, but, since the person hasn’t been on the job for a significant amount of time, those basic skills are the only ones you can be sure of. Would that new hire be able to use operational HMI screen successfully with just those basic skills?

Usability testing can be as simple as having a person with basic skills in operation use the HMI and taking note of errors they make and questions they have. In this way, you can be sure to have high performance HMI made for the mind of the operator instead of the mind of the programmer.

Regardless of your unique HMI needs, there is no question that operational screen should be accurate in their presentation of process data, safety data and alarms. Ease of use and accurate portray of information should be the primary focus of all high performance HMI.

Here at Synergy, we often perform our own usability test, asking members unrelated to a project to utilize the screen and the user manual to perform basic tasks. Not only does this improve our HMI, taking it to a higher level of usability, it also improves our user manuals. The first place an operator should be able to turn to when a questions arises is the user manual, making accurate portray of screen operations equally important in that document.

31 Jul

Rethinking Millennial Business Loyalty

by Synergy Systems in Industry News

 

This photo, “Millennials Jam Workshop: Youth and ICTs beyond 2015” is copyright (c) 2014 itupictures and made available under an Attribution 2.0 Generic license.

Business loyalty has often thought to be a thing of the past. Gone are the days when a person would graduate college and work with a single company until their retirement day. Millennials (those born roughly between the years of 1982 and 2002) are changing the workplace, with some expecting them to have upwards of nine different careers in their lifetime. At least, these are the assumptions. New statistics out of the 2013 Kelly Global Workforce Index indicate Millennials are still interested in business loyalty if their employer is willing to invest.

Offering benefits, like health care and paid vacation, have always been perks that Millennials have in mind during their job search. One of the most interesting items the Workforce Index looked at was the benefit of training and development on the job. As opposed to the idea the generation will hop from job to job, many Millennials are looking for training opportunity as a way to grow with a business. Two-thirds of engineering professionals hope to remain loyal to their employer and see training as a way to further their importance to the company. On the other end, only 15 percent seek additional training for the purpose of finding a better job or starting their own business.

Many businesses enjoy having Millennials as employees for the ease with which they handle technology. Synergy is no exception, especially because of our commitment to be at the forefront of technological advancements in automation.  To this end, we provide many benefits that Millennials look for, including the above mentioned health care and paid vacation time. We look to train our workers to be the best they can be and offer various opportunities to advance in skill and position. In addition, we offer a flexibility that is craved in the workplace.

If you know of a recent college graduate interested in joining a team of expert engineers and combustion experts, send them to our Careers page or have them send a message to Careers@synsysinc.com

 

 

25 Jul

Using Digital Backup to Guard Against Mother Nature’s Wrath

by Synergy Systems in Industry News

Natural disasters cost the government and insurance companies billions every year, the most costly over the past 10 years resulting from hurricanes and earthquakes. However, in 2012, damage due to droughts far outweighed earthquakes. Any natural disaster, big or small, can have a huge impact on industry. We often hear about shortages of certain products due to natural disasters. It wasn’t long ago the news was talking about a predicted shortage of pork due to various factors including last year’s long dry spell. Individual plants can be affected as well. A simple power outage can be caused by a number of natural weather events and can cost a plant a large amount of money if they right mechanisms aren’t in place.

In industry, we often prepare for natural disasters by having back-up power and continuity policies. Mother Nature’s wrath is a natural part of life and sometimes all we can do is have a plan in place to pick up the pieces after the damage. Living in the digital age means that many of the pieces will be in the form of electronic data.

Digital information is both a blessing and a curse depending on how you use it. All the information in your business can potentially be accessed from one computer. At the same time, if something happens to that once computer, where is the data then? A few years ago, people backed up data on compact disk or external hard drives. These are both very good options, but they all pose one problem: they are physical objects which can be easily corrupted or destroyed.

These realities make off-site backup and cloud storage that much more important. Having information stored on the iCloud or SkyDrives means that information is available on any computer, even if the original computer that created the information is destroyed. Likewise, off-site back up, such as the quarterly backup Synergy offers clients through safety plans, makes sure you data is stored safely and that someone can be held accountable if that off-site backup fails.

While our society has grown to rely on digital data, our ability to backup that data is slow in catching up. It is still not uncommon for someone to post a Facebook status proclaiming they need everyone’s phone numbers again because they lost their phone. Business data is greater than a Facebook post can fix, though. In the past three years, 30 percent of small business have been closed for at least 24 hours due to a natural disaster and still, 60 percent of U.S. businesses are without off-site data back up or a formalized recovery plan.

So important are backup and recovery plans that the Control Integrators Association mentions its significance multiple times throughout their best practices document. In fact, it is even a requirement of the audit to be prepared for Mother Nature. As such, we have added a whole host of security measures to our own business. Recently, we upgraded to Office 365, which comes with SkyDrive cloud storage. While we rarely have an issue with our data, it gives us peace of mind to know that our valuable business information is secure. Mother Nature is unpredictable, after all. Who knows where or how she will strike next.

26 Jun

The Benefit of Holidays for Plants and Industries

by Synergy Systems in Industry News

Energy PatriotThe 4th of July is almost here and numerous plants will take some down time, or at the very least reduce their operation to the bare essentials, so that employees can celebrate pride in their country with their families. While the 4th is a great time to set aside political differences and embrace unified pride, it also provides a great time for plants to perform maintenance work on the plant.

An article from Control Engineering specifically points out computer numerical control (CNC) maintenance, noting that scheduled down time provides an opportunity to make sure all equipment is performing optimally and all batteries have enough power in them. A complete memory back up can also be done during this period and is essential if it has been a while since the last backup. We’ve been talking a lot about cyber security this year and one of your best tools to protect yourself is having a backup in place. Then, regardless of what happens, you have something to fall back on.

In addition, the holiday may be the perfect time to perform a boiler assessment to identify areas where production could be improved. While this is something that can be done at any time, holidays tend to provide at least a couple days where demand at a boiler room or plant is relatively low. Since activity is as low as it ever is, an assessment can be carried out with extremely low impact on the overall function of the plant for that day.

In the spirit of American pride, consider also looking for way in which your energy use can be optimized. Those who take great strides to lower the electrical load and pollution generated by their plant are recognized by Synergy as Energy Patriots. In the past, we have awarded plants with an Energy Patriot pin for their achievements. The Energy Patriot Pilot program is not just about the conservation of energy, but about reducing energy demand as a whole so that a day may come when America is energy independent.

12 Jun

An Artifact of B&W Legacy

by Synergy Systems in Industry News
An Artifact of B&W Legacy

Our technical writer, Susie Sentevski, happened to be at the Great Lakes Science Center in Cleveland, Ohio this weekend. While there, she got a look inside Steamship William G. Mather. The freighter was built in 1925. While viewing the restored vessel, she happened upon the ship’s boiler, built by our ally Babcock and Wilcox.

She took the above picture of the B&W boiler in ship. The museum has great pride in the vessel, as the website proclaims the freighter “the ship that built Cleveland.”

“It seemed only natural to find B&W a part of what is widely considered an engineering triumph,” said Susie.
She was happy for the opportunity to discuss B&W’s legacy in the shipping industry with her friend, whose career involves working on ships.

The boiler of Steamship William G. Mather has gone through some changes since it was first installed.  The original coal-fired boiler was replaced by a B&W oil fueled boiler in 1954. In 1964, the ship became the first Great Lakes vessel to have fully automated boiler controls. So successful was the modification, that other ships began to do the same to their controls. The increase in safety and efficiency were not to be passed up.

The ship was designated a historic landmark in 1995 by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers.

Steam Production Optimization

 

 

01 May

EPA Now Considering Regulations for the Steam Electric Power Generating Industry

by Synergy Systems in Industry News
EPA Now Considering Regulations for the Steam Electric Power Generating Industry

The EPA is proposing new regulations for the steam electric power generating industry to control the amount of contaminates being released into America’s waterways, according to a Power Engineering article. The rule as it stands has not been updated since 1982 and, according to an EPA fact sheet, “does not adequately address the associated toxic metals discharged to surface waters from facilities in this industry.”

Toxins specifically addressed include arsenic, mercury, lead, boron, cadmium, selenium, chromium, nickel, thallium, vanadium, zinc, nitrogen, chlorides, bromides, iron, copper and aluminum. These elements increase the risk of cancer and may have other health consequences when humans consume them through eating fish or drinking the water.

Proposed requirements will affect the following processes/byproducts in the electric power generating industry:

  • Flue gas desulfurization
  • Fly ash
  • Bottom ash
  • Flue gas mercury control
  • Gasification of fuels

The fact sheet mentions four options the EPA is currently looking at to reduce toxins in waterways.  Also mentioned are studies showing that the new regulations will have little effect on the energy industry.  Numbers or stats related to the benefits of the plans were not given.  The EPA estimates fewer than half of coal-fired power plants will incur any cost due to the regulations. They are trying to work with existing equipment and most power plants already possess the technology needed to meet the proposed standards.

More information can be found on the EPA website.

17 Apr

10 Years Into Manufacturing’s Future

by Synergy Systems in Industry News

 

Manufacturing Executive has published an article highlighting the Manufacturing Leadership Council’s predictions for the next decade of manufacturing. The council, which is an invitation-only network of executives who work to design and shape a better future for manufacturers around the world, noted five different areas of change.

  •  Factory Network Models
  • Key Technologies
  •  Energy Sources
  • Design/Production Digitization
  • Workforce

While the changes in these five areas largely reflects how our world is changing in terms of education, energy production and technology.

Currently, the majority of manufacturing executives (39%) favor having a few large factories that produce for the global market rather than have a network of many small factories. This trend is expected to continue through the next decade, although the gap between those who favor large factories to those who favor small is expected to shrink. Only 31% of manufacturers are expected to follow the model of large factories.

The reason for favoring large factories may, in large part, be due to technological advances that make it easier to keep track of every important section and measurement in a factory. Intelligent technologies, which allow for simplified conversion of data into usable information, predictive alarming and the fine tuning of every factory compensate, are a key technology in the optimization of the plant. These technologies, when first installed, can result in large monetary savings since they can regulate energy consumption based on demand.

Energy itself is also expected to see a change in the future. More than 90% of factories currently use electricity from the electric grid. In a decade, that number is expected to drop to 84% as manufacturing executives continue to incorporate more and more renewable sources of energy into their factories. Wind energy, in particular, is expected to make a big impact. While only 7% use this source today, in 10 years, it is expected that 97% of manufacturers will be incorporating the renewable source into their energy usage.

The growth of renewable energy is especially exciting in terms of Synergy’s goal to work towards an energy independent America, an idea reflected in our Energy Patriot pilot program.

New technology also plays a part in the further digitization of the design and production process. While only 13% of manufacturers have completely digitized these processes, in a mere 10 years, 53% are expected to have completely digitized design and productions processes. Digital manufacturing allows the transfer of relevant product information between design and manufacturing groups in a plant. This kind of technology can be a huge asset in the optimization and profitability of a plant.

With all the new technology swirling around, a future of growth and development can be seen for manufacturing. The one wrench in the machine is related to the skilled workforce, or the lack thereof. Manufacturing executives cited finding skilled workers as their biggest challenge to success in the future. It is a bit ironic, considering there is plenty of news about how difficult it is to find a job. The Manufacturing Leadership Council has created a group dedicated to this issue. Just like other industries, attaining a skilled workforce means getting involved with high school and college students, making sure they know the opportunities that await them in manufacturing.

Synergy offers opportunities for college students interested in part-time or internship work in the automation industry. Interested applicants can apply through our career page

Regardless of the challenges that await the manufacturing industry, most numbers point towards a growing, high-tech and energy conscious future, with the continued growth of technology at the forefront of change.