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“We were looking for a SCADA system that would be easy to connect to our ERP application and we also wanted to implement the ISA-95 standard. The Wonderware System Platform met our expectations.”
Serge TalleuxIndustrial IT Director
Making it Easy to Connect to an ERP Application While Monitoring the Production of Additives for Oil and Gas
Goals• ImplementaSCADAsystemforanewadditive
productionunit• Facilitateinformationsharingbetweenshop
applicationsandtheSAPERPapplication• UsethinclientstoconnecttotheSCADAservers• Determinestandardsthatmakeiteasiertoreuse
andupdateapplications
Challenges• Addingdifferenttypesofequipmenttothe
ERPapplication• Standardizingcurrentterminology• Meetingveryshortimplementationdeadlines• AdoptingtheISA-95standardtodefinedata
sharingbetweentheshopfloorandtheERPapplication
Solutions and Products• WonderwareInTouchHMIforTerminalServices• WonderwareEquipmentOperationsModule• WonderwareSystemPlatform
Results• Terminologyfordifferentproductsand
measurementunitswerestandardized• InformationsharingbetweentheERP
applicationandproductionunitsnolongerrequiresmanualintervention
• Launchinganewproductandaddingnewitemsishandledwithoutjeopardizingtheexistingproduct
• Modificationstoanobjectareimmediatelytransferredtoallofthegraphicdisplays,resultinginsignificanttimesavings
INDUSTRY:HYDROCARBONPROCESSING
Chevron Oronite Company LLCwww.chevron.com/products/oronite/
Gonfreville l’Orcher (Le Havre), France-ChevronOroniteisasubsidiaryoftheChevronCorporation,oneofthelargestoilcompaniesintheworld.Thecompanyspecializesintheproductionofadditivesforfuelsandlubricants.ItisdueinlargeparttotheseadditivesthatonecanmakeitalmosttheentirewayacrossFranceononetankofgasanddrive40,000kmbetweenoilchanges.
Aproductionvolumeof300,000tonsperyearmakestheGonfrevillel’Orcherfactoryoneofthecompany’slargestmanufacturingunits,alongwithOakPointintheUnitedStatesandSingapore,whichhasfour,moremodestsites.However,theirprimaryroleistomeettheneedsoftheareainwhichtheyarelocated.TheGonfrevillel’OrchersitecoversthemarketsinEurope,Africa,andtheMiddleEast.Eachgeographicalareaalsohasitsownsalesforceandsignificantautonomy.Thisautonomyexistsevenwhenitcomestotechnicalchoices.However,certaindecisionsaremadeatthecorporatelevel,andcanhaveasignificantlocalimpact.ThisispreciselywhathappenedwhencorporatemanagementdecidedtodeployintegratedERP(EntrepriseResourcePlanning)managementsoftwarefromSAPonallofthemanufacturingandcommercialsites.
Theobjective,asitalwaysisinthistypeofdecision,wastoimprovethemanagementandcontrolofallofthecompany’soperations,costsanddeadlines.Todothis,theERPapplicationsendsmanufacturingorderstotheequipmentconcernedwiththespecificationstobeapplied.Inturn,supervisorsprovidetheERPapplicationwithmanufacturingreports,rawmaterialvolumes,finishedproductquantities,andinventorystatus.
Two Simultaneous Operations: Connecting to an ERP System and Implementing a New SCADA Application
TheannouncementabouttheimplementationofanERPapplicationwasmadeatatimewhenthefactoryalsohadtosetupanewreactor.
“Thiswasalottohandleatonce.WerealizedhowbeneficialanERPapplicationwouldbeforthecompanyandwehadstudiedtheentiresituation,bothexistingapplicationsandthenewonetobeputintoplace.Wedidthisallonourown.Frankly,wehavealwaysdevelopedourownapplicationsandkeptupwiththestate-of-the-artintechnology,”saidSergeTalleux,directoroftheindustrialITservice.
Ifthesite’sonlyneedhadbeentoconnecttheexistingsystemstotheERPapplication,theproblemwouldhavebeenapproacheddifferently.Inthiscase,however,anewcontrolapplicationalsohadtobeimplemented,whichpromptedahigher,broaderapproachtotheproblem.
Itwasquicklydecidedthataprogrammablelogiccontroller(PLC)shouldbeusedbecausecontrollerswerealreadypartofthefactory’senvironment,whichincludedsixtycontrollersmanagingapproximately15,000inputs/outputs.
ISA-95 - A Key Advantage for the Wonderware System Platform
TheremainingtasksweretochoosethesupervisorycontrolsoftwareforthenewequipmentandtoconnectallofthecontrolsystemstotheERPapplication.Thistaskwasdifficultgiventhefactory’spreviousexperienceinthisarea.
Afewyearsago,arelativelybasicERPapplicationwasinstalledandtheindustrialITdepartmentdevelopedaprogramtoenablecommunicationbetweencontrolsystemsandthisERPapplication.
“Theconnectionprogramthatwehaddevelopedhadseveralthousandlinesanditonlyincludedafewofoursupervisoryservers.Inaddition,itwasanightmaretomaintain,becauseforanynewitemtobemanufactured,oranexistingitemtobemodified,youhadtomakesomesortofchangetotheprogram.Itwasoutofthequestiontodothesamethingagainbecausewehavebetterthingstodothanalignprogramlines,”saidGuillaumeLabadie.
TheSAPERPapplicationhasbroughtwithitastandardthathaschangedeverything.Thisstandard,theISA-95(knownbetterunderitsformername,S95)beganintheUnitedStatesandisnowawidelyadoptedinternationalstandard(ISO/IEC62264andAfnorNF62264,inparticular).ThisstandardhasthemajoradvantageofstandardizingexchangesbetweentheproductionsystemandtheERPapplication.
“Forthesupervisionofournewreactor,wedecidedtogoinanewdirectionandusethelatestincomputertechnology.Morethananything,wewantedasoftwareprogramthatwascompatiblewithISA-95becauseitguaranteedthesimplificationofexchangesbetweenthecontrolsystemandtheERPapplication.Wewerealsolookingforasolutionthatacceptstheconnectionforthinclientworkstations.Andfinally,andthiswasaveryimportantaspect,wewantedasoftwareprogramthatenabledustodesignobjects,”saidTalleux.
A Major Project – Standardizing Terminology
TodeploytheWonderwareSystemPlatform,theChevronOroniteGonfrevilleindustrialITteambeganbybecomingfamiliarwiththeISA-95standard.
Thestandardconsistsofterminologyandmodelsthatdescribeboththestructural(products,materials,productionfacilities,andhumanresources)andoperational(capability,production)aspectsoftheproductionsystemsusedtosupportinformationsharing.Italsodefinesdataattributesandstructures,productionoperationmanagementmodels,andtransactionsbetweenmanagementandtheshopfloor.
“Itiswell-structuredanddetailed,butaswithmanynewstandards,ittakesamajorefforttoabsorbitall.Tobetterunderstandit,andto‘pickout’whatwasmostsuitableforoursituation,ourteamattendedatwo-daytrainingsessiononsitegivenbytheControlChainGroup(CGC).Thishelpwasveryvaluabletous,”saidTalleux.ImplementingtheISA-95standardinvolvedamajorefforttostandardizeinternalterminology.Asisoftenthecaseonmanufacturingsiteswith
alonghistory,severaldifferentnamesandlabelsthatmeanthesamethingemergeovertheyears,andseveralmeasurementunitsmaybeusedtoquantifyoneparameter.
Inadditiontothisstandardizationwork,routineshadtobecreatedtocalculatetheparametersrequiredbytheERPapplication.Thus,newcountershadtobecreatedthatwouldenabletheuploadalloftheconsumptioninformationthatwasneededfortheERPapplication.ApreviousdecisiontoreducethenumberofcontrolsystemsinstalledonsitehadalreadyledtheindustrialITteamtoundertakeasimilarstandardizationproject.
“Weknewthatitwouldtaketime,butnotthatmuch.Butonceeverythingisstandardized,theconnectionbetweentheWonderwareSystemPlatformandtheERPapplicationisveryfastbecausethetwodatabaseshavethesamestructure.Andifwewanttoaddanewmodelorparameterlater,itcanbedoneimmediately,nothingisaffected,”saidLabadie.
Objects and Thin Client Workstations - A Bonus for the SCADA System
InchoosingtheWonderwareSystemPlatform,thesimpleconnectionwiththeSAPERPapplicationwasnottheonlybasisforthedecision.Beingabletoworkwiththinclientswasalsooneofthecriteria.Inparticular,thisenabledChevronOronitetomaintainacertainconsistencybetweentheirtwosystems.
Toaccessinformationonthesupervisoryserversinstalleduptothispoint,theGonfrevillesiteisworkingwiththinclients.Thisapproachhastheadvantageofusingmorerobust(nomovingmechanicalparts)andcost-effectiveworkstations,whichdonotrequireupdating.WonderwarealreadyofferedthisoptionwithWindowsworkstations.
“WeweredelightedthatthecompanyexpandedthisoptionandthatwecannowuseLinuxworkstations.Intermsofupdatefrequencyandanticipatedcomputersecurity,wewillhavealotlesswork,”saidTalleux.
RedundancywasalsoastrongargumentforchoosingtheWonderwareSystemPlatform.Toensurehighdataavailability,thedataacquisitionsystemnativelyintegratesaredundancyfeatureusingsimpleconfiguration,whichmeansthatsomeapplicationscanbeputononeserverandothersonasecondserver.Ifoneoftheserversfails,theapplicationsonthefailedserverareautomaticallytransferredtothesecondserver.
Gonfreville’sindustrialITdepartmentalsowantedtotaketheinitiativewiththesupervisoryfeaturesoftheplatformaswell.
“Wemonitortechnologicaldevelopmentsandwewantedtoprogresstotheobjectconcept.AcquiringtheWonderwareSystemPlatformenabledustoreachthisnextlevel.Heretoo,wehadtochallengeourselvesbecausetheobjectconceptmeansaprofoundchangeinhabits,”saidOliverGodard,whofocusesonsupervision(SCADA).
Todothis,ChevronOroniteGonfrevillewasabletocountonskilledadvicefromWonderwareFrance,whocautionedthemagainstrushingforwardwithnewsoftwaredevelopments,and
advisedthemtoattendtrainingsessionfortheircurrentproductsandtospendmoretimecreatingstandardsinstead.
“Normally,whenwedevelopsupervisoryapplications,weobtainthefirstgraphicdisplaysveryquickly.Foradepartmentdirector,thisisreassuringbecauseheseesthattheworkisprogressing.Withtheobjectconcept,it’sbetternottothinkaboutit.Youwaitimpatientlyformonthswithoutseeingasinglediagram.However,oncethebasicobjects(valves,regulators,displaydevices,pumps,etc.)havebeencreated,everythinggoesveryquickly,”saidTalleux.
Andinthelongrun,thissavestime.Itisveryeasytomodifyboththegraphicsandattributes(variables)ofanexistingobject.Modificationsareimmediatelymadeonallofthedisplaydiagramscontainingtheobjectinquestion.Infact,evenachildcancreatethesesupervisorydisplays.Godardremembersahighschoolstudentonadiscoveryinternshipthatwasabletocreateblockdiagramsontheveryfirstday.
NormallywithSCADAapplications,aneffortismadetonotinterferewiththeproceduresoftheoperatorsstationedinthecontrolrooms.Inthiscase,however,operatorsweredirectlyinvolvedintheimprovementsmadetotheircontrolinterfaces.
TheSCADAdesignersavoidedtheoveruseofcoloronthescreendisplays.Instead,theyusedmoreneutralcolorsandonlyusedbrightcolorsforimportantinformationsothatitstandsoutbetter.Majorworkwasalsodoneonalarmdisplays.Bannerswithendlesslistsofalarmsaregone,andonlythealarmsusedfortheoperatoraredisplayedonthescreen.
ThedesignoftheWonderwareSystemPlatformsupervisorysystemhasenabledChevronOroniteGonfrevilletoturnanewcorner.
www.wonderware.fi
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