2004
Invensys Chooses ExperTune's PlantTriage for its Loop Management Services Business (December 2004)
Invensys has chosen ExperTune's PlantTriage performance monitoring system to underpin
their comprehensive new process control Loop Management Services. Together, the two
companies will help customers maximize the performance of their installed automation
assets.
PlantTriage allows Invensys process control experts to quickly identify where control or
process improvements would result in the greatest economic benefit. Full control valve
and loop diagnostics are obtained in normal operation while the plant remains on-line.
PlantTriage easily connects via OPC to Foxboro I/A Series automation system or any other
process control system.
"When we conceived the new service and were evaluating potential technology suppliers,
only ExperTune had the complete tool set to enable monitoring, diagnostics and remediation
with its award winning Advanced Analysis and Tuning software embedded within PlantTriage,"
said Harris Kagan, director of technology marketing at Invensys Process Systems. "In order
to bring real value to our customers we saw the need to have the tools to correct problems
found as critical. ExperTune is the only solution in the market place that filled this
need. Moreover, since we are providing a service, the comprehensive reporting available
with this tool enables us to quickly track and share with our customers the improvements
we've been able to achieve."
Following remediation, Invensys provides a report documenting the loop performance
improvements that were achieved. Ongoing remote monitoring, reporting, prioritization, and
on-site remediation services are available to help ensure optimal plant performance over
time.
Harris Kagan of Invensys continues, "Poorly performing control loops, and particularly
oscillating loops, often result in excessive valve wear, thus increasing maintenance
requirements. By off-loading day-to-day loop management to Invensys, process manufacturers
can realize optimal control loop performance, while freeing typically overworked plant
personnel to perform other critical plant tasks."
About ExperTune
ExperTune's full suite of optimization tools are designed to increase the
efficiency of processes. ExperTune's PlantTriage monitors and assesses the
entire plant, assuring optimal operation. ExperTune's analysis includes
simulation, modeling, robustness, linearization, valve wear analysis, pH
linearizer, time series analysis, multivariable, statistical, frequency
response, and PID tuning tools.
About Invensys Process Systems
Process Systems, a business unit of Invensys plc, provides products, services
and solutions for the automation and optimization of industrial process
plants. Invensys Process Systems includes industry-leading brands such as
Foxboro, Triconex, SimSci-Esscor, Wonderware, and Avantis, whose products are
installed in more than 100,000 plants across the world. These range from small
hybrid and batch plants to the world's largest refineries, gas plants,
petrochemicals plants, power plants, and pulp and paper mills.
ExperTune home page | Information request form
How PlantTriage is Saving Kruger Paper One Million Dollars Annually (November 2004)
According to plant personnel at the Kruger Wayagamack facility in Trois-Rivieres, Quebec,
Canada, ExperTune PlantTriage automatic diagnostic software has increased the efficiency
of the #4 paper machine by 2% annually. This 2% increase corresponds to over a million
dollars annually. A video documentary explains in detail how Kruger achieved the
percentage increase in efficiency and their goal of fast startup. The video is available
from:
http://www.expertune.com/customersuccess.html#kruger
In 2003, Kruger started up a new paper machine. Kruger chose to install PlantTriage to
assist with their goal of fast startup. PlantTriage helped them surpass their startup
curve by 3 months. The Kruger Wayagamack mill manager said: "It is one of the best
startups ever in Kruger history."
Within 2 weeks of receiving the software, Kruger had installed it and was receiving
diagnostic information. This diagnostic information identified trouble spots in the plant,
preventing at least 3 shut-downs in the early startup phase of the paper machine.
According to the Superintendent of Production, "The paper machine start-up began on
November 1, 2003. We made the first ton of light coated paper on November 7, 2003. Within
one week, we were able to produce the final paper for the grades we wanted."
But the benefits did not end at startup. Kruger's use of PlantTriage resulted in a 2%
annual increase in paper machine efficiency. According to Kruger's Instrumentation
Supervisor, "We are actually working on a project to install PlantTriage in the rest of
our plant, where we have the Kraft mechanical pulp process, the secondary treatment and
all the other plant processes. We want to add about 700 control loops in PlantTriage in
order to monitor all our process sequences. Our goal is to be able to optimize the whole
plant with PlantTriage before the end of 2004."
For 18 years, ExperTune has created award winning optimization software that runs in
thousands of plants world-wide. ExperTune's full suite of optimization tools are designed
to increase the efficiency of processes. PlantTriage is an automatic diagnostic system for
the entire plant, ensuring optimal operation. The company's analysis tools include
simulation, modeling, robustness, linearization, valve wear analysis, pH linearizer, time
series analysis, multivariable, statistical, frequency response, and PID tuning tools.
ExperTune home page | Information request form
Decision-makers need not build castles on sand (November 2004)
In today's fiercely competitive marketplace for manufactured products, the difference
between profit and loss can often be found in boardroom decisions. The downstream results
of those decisions are directly attributable to the quality of information available to
the manufacturer's management team.
A Wisconsin-based software company with a worldwide reputation in the field of plant
tuning, believes that senior managers cannot make good decisions unless they have the
latest and best information at their fingertips.
CEO of ExperTune, John Gerry, says: "Our flagship software package, PlantTriage, has
primarily functioned at engineering level, identifying areas in need of fine-tuning in
order to obtain optimum efficiency. Now, PlantTriage has entered the boardroom."
He continues: "The latest version of the software, perfected in concert with experts at
the world-famous Oxford University, includes a 'dashboard' that enables senior managers to
view real-time performance benchmarks of an entire company's control
system—from Baltimore to Beijing."
The new release of PlantTriage includes a corporate overview of multi-site performance in
real-time. This is an overview of the complete automated process control system -
everything from the controllers to the process instrumentation and control valves.
Mr Gerry added: "The dashboard allows users to compare the performance of one site or
plant to others across the enterprise. A board of directors can be shown a snapshot view
of current performance, or view performance over time of the entire corporation, with
individual sites or plants broken out in detail."
Down to a loop
Available anywhere, anytime, through a standard PC browser (such as Internet Explorer),
the dashboard enables engineers drill down into individual plants for more detail in a
specific plant.
Mr Gerry explains: "This facility allows managers and engineers to view plants being
assessed and monitored under different PlantTriage servers. They can drill down from the
dashboard into individual sites, plants, unit operations, and finally loops - revealing a
wealth of useful information while conducting a rigorous health check."
ExperTune has created PlantTriage as an enterprise-wide, automation monitoring and
diagnostic system. It pinpoints opportunities for achieving the optimum economic impact on
operations, increasing reliability, efficiency, and profit. It minimizes cost without
adding bricks and mortar or personnel, the company says.
Mr Gerry adds: "PlantTriage is being used by blue-chip manufacturers around the world, and
is recommended by the top-tier of automation vendors. Profit-conscious companies are now
able to make boardroom decisions that maintain their market leadership and yield
additional profits from their existing manufacturing capacity."
ExperTune home page | Information request form
Real-time performance monitoring - enterprise wide (June 2004)
A Wisconsin-based software company, the OPC Foundation, and Oxford University in England
have combined to bring unprecedented benefits to manufacturers and processors in almost
every industry.
An enhancement to the PlantTriage software package from ExperTune now gives corporations
the tools to improve the performance of the entire enterprise in real-time -- even those
struggling to extract essential information from older DCS systems.
A dash-board allows users to view the performance of the entire organization, allowing
‘drill down’ to any site, plant, or unit operation. The dash-board is available to anyone
via a secure Web browser connection.
The ISA award-winning CEO of the company, John Gerry, explained: "The software enables
users to ‘subscribe’ to performance reports of any area. The PDF formatted reports
supply only the performance information needed, when it is needed. Users can configure
and subscribe to reports via their browser.
He continued: In minutes, users can develop reports containing any analysis for any
portion of the operation over any time period. PlantTriage now enables users to balance
the communication-traffic load based on the running condition of individual plants at a
site.
"Users can turn a plant off-scan while leaving the other plants inside the PlantTriage
system on-scan. Thus allowing for balanced load on DCS systems. This is especially crucial
on plants that have older DCS systems whose communication loads are already high", Mr
Gerry said.
Finding the root cause
Already producing notable results for industrial companies around the world, the
performance tracking in PlantTriage has been enhanced, allowing users to create a
performance report based on previous performance. For example, users can view the crucial
performance opportunities report now, or from three months ago, or averaged over the past
two months.
Mr Gerry said: "The program has further enhanced its best-in-class capabilities to pinpoint
the root cause of a unit-wide or plant-wide oscillation. Reducing swings or oscillations
can dramatically improve the performance and profitability of the plant. Getting at the
root cause, fast, is what it's all about."
All of this performance and diagnostic history is now available enterprise-wide via OPC
HDA. HDA stands for Historical Data Access, a new standard created by the OPC Foundation
and embraced by ExperTune. (The company is a member of the Foundation.)
PlantTriage has added new assessments to help pinpoint and diagnose process problems. The
program now monitors itself with detailed explanations of assessment status. Leading-edge
technology for signal validation developed in partnership with Oxford University ensures
that the results are usable all the time.
Standard templates allow users to quickly implement a PlantTriage system. Templates
include flow, level, averaging level, gas and liquid pressure, and temperature. The
baseline of performance provides a benchmark for the plant to continuously improve itself.
The enhanced version includes a "super-filter" button that sets-up the performance data
inside Microsoft Excel. All of the data analysis tools inside Excel are available to
analyze performance data.
Mr Gerry commented: "In boardrooms around the world, company owners and managers are
seeking innovative ways to squeeze additional profits from the same plant assets – and now
they can. The key to reaching such objectives as increased reliability, minimal downtime,
and optimal efficiency is timely and pertinent information."
He added: "ExperTune, the OPC Foundation, and Oxford University have focused their
collective expertise on various aspects of these complex issues, and the result is the
enhanced version of PlantTriage."
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Engineers quick to spot the benefits of Historical Data Access (March 2004)
The CEO of Wisconsin-based ExperTune, John Gerry, believes that the launch of a new
standard opens the door for many companies to extract greater efficiency - and, therefore,
profitability - from existing plant and procedure, without expensive installations of the
latest 'gee whiz' hardware.
He explained: "HDA is a new standard from the OPC Foundation, of which ExperTune is a
member, and it stands for Historical Data Access. It gives clients, such as OSI's PI,
access to historical assessment and diagnostic data within PlantTriage (PT) - an
affordable software package that is continually analyzing, diagnosing, and storing a
history of these assessments."
Mr Gerry, recipient of an Award for software innovation at the last ISA Conference,
continued: "With PT and HDA, engineers gain access to the performance history of a plant.
The assessments are available in real-time, too, just after they are calculated via
standard OPC data access."
This unique package from ExperTune, already being adopted by process plants worldwide, has
now expanded its reach with the availability of HDA-based analysis. Now that it is an HDA
server, users can capitalize on hidden savings from their process with the power and
flexibility of this program.
Holder of 4 patents in process control and a member of the ExperTune team, Tom Kinney,
explained: "In many cases, a key event or operating period captured in the PlantTriage
assessments could bring significant additional benefit to plant operations."
He elaborated: "This is because its analysis and diagnostics are continually
historized, saving the time usually required to repeat important tests or to capture
cause-and-effect from prior events. The assessments for all control loops in the plant are
now accessible plant-wide, via an HDA OPC interface."
"As PT models process dynamics from historical data, important process models can be
developed, validated, and refined from historical data - saving time and money, and
eliminating the need for potentially costly tests on the plant."
Tuning for performance
Mr Gerry added: "In these days of fierce competition in almost any vertical sector, in the
USA or in the global marketplace, plant owners and operators are urgently seeking ways to
optimize output while, at the same time, curtailing costs.
"Industry is about to welcome the new OPC standard with open arms, because of the
cost-savings that it makes possible. Now, the monitoring and analysis procedures built
into PlantTriage enable engineers to identify the bottlenecks, take remedial action, and
extract the optimum performance from legacy plants."
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