Project Summary:

One of South Jersey Industries’ (SJI) key initiatives is to deliver on its commitment to provide cleaner energy. The generation of renewable natural gas facilities at dairy farms is a key production commitment for SJI. A modular production facility is required at each farm site, near the raw materials. The speed of deployment and number of sites involved demands the establishment of a universal architecture and platform for the integration of control and enterprise systems at the company. In addition, the distributed nature of the system and criticality to the energy infrastructure demand the highest level of security and reliability. Finally, SJI requires that all these sites be centrally monitored from an enterprise SCADA system that will also historize data for financial and regulatory reporting. The central importance of reliable data for continual operational financial justification proves the common Digital Transformation adage that “data is the new gas.”

SJI Industries tasked Automated Control Concepts (ACC) to build a foundation for the application of key control and information technologies and systems that will allow the organization to realize world-class Digital Transformation and create a secure data pipeline. In doing so, SJI would be able to provide users at all levels of the organization with access to control system information. Through the strategic application of industrial information technologies, significant benefits are realized in the following areas: reliability, availability, visibility, and security.

ACC successfully built and deployed this operational technology stack on Inductive Automation’s Ignition platform, which let ACC establish a scalable architecture to support plants/sites of varying sizes and complexity. The integration of data from the site’s control level, through various secure (DMZ) network layers to the corporate core network and cloud providers, has been addressed.

Problem:

SJI’s challenge had multiple aspects. It needed to rapidly deploy modular production facilities at remote, rural locations. These locations required full SCADA control and visibility across multiple modular skid equipment systems. Data from these systems must be reliably and securely published in a central repository for reporting purposes. Financial and regulatory reporting is critical in this application with the need to totalize raw materials, renewable natural gas production, and effluents.

Solution:

The highly flexible Ignition platform can be deployed in a modular fashion, allowing ACC to deploy a gateway at each site that complies with the network architecture required by SJI. Secure site functions such as SCADA are separated from external-facing functions such as data transmission via MQTT and alarm notifications via Twilio. The lightweight MQTT transmitters allow ACC to publish and synchronize all data from each site’s SCADA to a central system, where the data can be viewed in a central portal across multiple sites. 

Ignition helps establish an enterprise-wide Unified Namespace. This ensures asset-naming standards across all sites allow data to be combined into the centralized location and allow seamless integration to external applications. The creation of this Unified Namespace and Ignition embedded into the design of the SCADA’s tag structure makes the integration of the resulting data from these systems possible with no additional toolsets. Essentially the data is self-describing.

MQTT provides robust, secure data transmission with store-and-forward capabilities to ensure data delivery despite the remote and low-speed nature of many of the site connections. The enterprise-level system is highly scalable, using a combination of multiple MQTT distributors, redundant MQTT Engine backend gateway tag servers, and multiple frontend servers attached to a secure enterprise load balancer. While users can drill down and visualize the same screens and data that are visible at the site SCADAs, the system also provides a flexible dashboard interface to allow users to create their own views of data with the combination of multiple, flexible widgets.

Results:

ACC was able to deliver on all aspects of this secure system solution for SJI, with a fully scaled solution of over 50 sites. The system provides a standard, local control system at each site, centralized viewing and historization, and satisfies SJI’s need for a reliable repository of production data that supports its financial and regulatory reporting needs.

Deploy Date: December 2022

Project Scope:

Tags: 40,000 per site X 50 sites

Screens: 28 displays per site, variable dashboards at multi-site

Clients: 50

Alarms: 3,000 per site X 50 sites

Devices used: 8 skid-based PLCs for digester, media feeds, gas upgrading, and compression/distribution at each site utilizing Siemens, Rockwell, Opto22, and Schneider. Central BOP PLC based on Rockwell ControlLogix.

Architectures used: Enterprise/IIoT

Databases used: 50

Historical data logged: 1,292 tags per site X 50 sites, ~64,600 historical data points

Problem:

ANZCO had a critical requirement to modernize and standardize the control systems across its sites. While some of the existing SCADA systems were outdated and unsupported, others were not standardized, leading to inconsistencies and inefficiencies. ANZCO needed a seamless solution that could replace the outdated systems, standardize the entire control system, and provide a framework for new applications. The solution also had to be comprehensive, user-friendly, and forward-thinking, due to an OT strategy that aimed to ensure:

• People have access to the right information and control where and when they need it, to safely and effectively operate, repair, or maintain equipment.
• Data provides visibility into the true operational status, condition, and efficiency of plant assets, and is acquired, stored, and analyzed to drive increased business value.

After evaluating various options, ANZCO identified Ignition's Perspective Module as the ideal solution for its needs. It chose the Perspective Module in order to provide a standardized control system framework that could support existing applications without requiring changes to the PLC code. 

Adopting Ignition as an enterprise-wide platform required upgrading all existing Ignition SCADA systems to version 8.1 and re-engineering them to work with a common database system in Microsoft SQL Server. This involved consolidating pre-existing solutions from different automation engineers and harmonizing them to function cohesively. ANZCO successfully addressed this requirement to achieve its goal of a modern, efficient, and standardized control system.

The project presented a multitude of challenges, including the development of a comprehensive library of Perspective views for symbols, pop-ups, navigation, and piping. Given the versatility of the Perspective platform, Tamaki Control had to carefully balance performance, reliability, functionality, alarming, security, and responsive displays, while also ensuring stylistic consistency across 10 different sites.

Moreover, the Perspective components had to be compatible with varying tag data types inherited from existing structures. To minimize symbol and component variations and make engineering more straightforward, Tamaki Control needed to design Ignition UDTs that could work across multiple component views without compromising performance.

The project also entailed dealing with varying hardware resolutions throughout different plants, while also ensuring that the application could be accessed on mobile devices with responsive designs. The challenge was to develop a UI that could adapt to different screen sizes and resolutions without sacrificing functionality or performance.

Stylistic consistency proved to be another significant challenge, as different plants had varying color preferences, even when adhering to Abnormal Situation Management standards. Tamaki Control had to find ways to accommodate different preferences while still ensuring consistency in its approach.

The upgrade from Ignition 7.9 to 8.1 presented its own set of challenges, as the plants could not afford to stop running during the transition. Moreover, migrating years of historian data from Postgres to MSSQL needed to be done quickly and efficiently to avoid disruptions.

Finally, integrating Ignition with ANZCO's ERP system CloudSuite via REST API and developing an operator interface to interact with manufacturing orders posed several challenges. One of the challenges was the need for a label management system capable of importing, storing, and parameterizing label templates from BarTender. ANZCO needed full control over label template versions and to test label designs easily, with the ability to revert to previous versions.

Solution:

To overcome the project's challenges, Tamaki Control utilized Perspective to its full potential by creating lightweight SVG graphics that formed the foundation for the symbols. The CSS system and Perspective styles were the sole sources of all colors and styling used, with strong colors and blinking employed to indicate alarm priority and status. The pop-ups, designed to work seamlessly on both desktop and mobile devices, utilized the carousel component to access additional information for each device. Browser developer tools were used to optimize performance when required.

To reduce the number of symbol components required, Ignition's UDTs were designed to work with various PLC data structures using tag inheritance and overrides. Tamaki Control leveraged Perspective's tag-drop feature to establish an association between UDTs and symbol components.

To ensure device-based access control, Tamaki Control designed a security system that used Ignition's identity providers, with roles and areas governing access levels at the tag level, and optionally at the component level. The areas also propagated through to the alarm banner filtering system, and the security accounts were integrated into ANZCO's enterprise-wide Active Directory.

The Perspective theme system accommodated different user preferences via different themes. The new themes were additive to the standard themes, ensuring any future upgrades are catered for.

A standard Perspective layout was designed that could accommodate different resolutions by utilizing docks around the screen's edges. The layout featured a navigation menu and a sidebar that displayed critical data.

To integrate with ANZCO's ERP system, Tamaki Control utilized the WebDev Module to create the API endpoints, while Ignition's SFCs provided a structured sequence for operator interaction and code execution. Tamaki employed Ignition's Python scripting and database connectivity to create a reliable and user-friendly label management system and printing driver.

Results:

The outcome of the project was an innovative and sophisticated Perspective framework that enabled operators to visualize their plant with precision and securely access any device or control point. This ensured all device instances could utilize their full potential and more by providing complete functionality of a broad range of features.

The SCADA engineers utilized the tag-drop feature, which enabled seamless tag integration into any view with the option of selecting the appropriate component, thus streamlining the development process. Moreover, the collection of pre-built bespoke inanimate plant equipment, such as vessels, conveyors, and heat exchangers, could be easily resized and modified. With the pipe tool, engineers could draw lines, and the theme system enabled color selection based on variables like water, product, steam, and more.

By upgrading all gateways to 8.1 and connecting them via the Gateway Network, ANZCO gained centralized visibility and control over its sites through the Enterprise Administration Module. This allowed Perspective projects to be launched from anywhere on the ANZCO network, subject to security protocols. As a result, this broadened the user base beyond just the operators to include managers, supervisors, engineers, and analysts, all of whom could now contribute to the support and continuous improvement of the plant.

The project inheritance feature was leveraged to separate standard from site-specific components, which let governing engineers easily deploy the standard project from one site to another. ANZCO users can access the SCADA system from an iPad using the native Perspective iOS app at one of its grain tempering and milling plants. The integration of Ignition's ERP solution was a crucial component of ANZCO's manufacturing operation.

The ability of the Perspective framework, developed to operate without modification on both 32” monitors and iPads, meets the strategic objective of having the right information and control where and when people need it. Additionally, the combination of Ignition’s historian using each site’s on-premises SQL Server, and the Tag Splitter Module sending the data to a central enterprise Canary historian, is integral to ANZCO’s goal of being a data-driven organization. Brian Ingham, ANZCO’s Operational Technology Manager, believes this is a foundational and transformative project that will underpin ongoing business value.

Deploy Date: March 2023

Project Scope:

Tags: 220,000 across 10 gateways

Screens: 100+ screens

Clients: 25 fixed Workstations plus many browser-based

Alarms: 50,000

Devices used: 10 Sites, 3-30 AB PLCs on each site. Various Modbus scales and power meters as well as ethernet IP labellers and scanners

Architectures used: Enterprise

Databases used: Microsoft SQL

Historical data logged: Most tags are logged in Ignition and pushed to Canary

Project Summary:

Initially, Zendal approached Optomation Systems to tackle their needs for monitoring unmanned storage units holding pharmaceutical final products for their customers. When Optomation introduced Ignition, it rapidly evolved into a larger project with a broader scope to encompass the data acquisition of varied equipment, process control and supervision, alarm notification, data historization, and automatic report generation.

The main objective of the project was to implement a system that acts as a data repository for the information collected from the dedicated equipment in the different production areas and auxiliary services, both to satisfy regulatory requirements and prove compliance with CDMO obligations to customers.

In addition, the system integrated new production areas into the system and expanded functionality to include control and supervision of several processes. Field devices and sensors are connected to controllers that execute automated sequences, and from Ignition, operators have full access to the operation, just like a traditional SCADA system.

Problem:

One of the main problems for Zendal was that the freezers and cold rooms for the final products are spread throughout the site and are mostly unmanned, even during working hours. To ensure safety and compliance, set-apart personnel were required to regularly inspect the installations to record data and check for equipment failures.

New products and regulatory requirements also brought in new process units in the form of dedicated equipment (autoclaves, incubators, particle counters, etc.) or skid units with their own data retention mechanisms. This created a labyrinth of data formats, device connections, and communication protocols leading to information silos that were really hard to sort out.

Lastly, the increased production heightened the demand for operations such as connecting skid units or cleaning, which are normally performed manually, to be automated to increase speed, repeatability, and product safety.

Solution:

Selecting the proper architecture design along with Ignition’s unique features, provided the solution for network and area distribution concerns. The hub & spoke architecture with gateway nodes placed locally in each production area ensures that all data collection is independent of the network backbone. Using Ignition Edge in Opto 22’s groov EPIC controllers, combined with Ignition’s Store and Forward mechanism, safeguards historical data in the event of communication problems and guarantees that the central node receives all data for long-term storage.

The system leveraged I/O and programming capabilities of the groov EPIC controllers to achieve the full potential of this segmented design. In practice, each groov EPIC becomes a node in the gateway network that can perform data acquisition, process control, operator interface and data synchronization in a self-contained unit that is independent of the network and other areas.

The gateway network provides the appropriate protection and cybersecurity for data traveling the network backbone, while the physical separation of the IT and OT networks protects all the data sources such as standard laboratory or production equipment with legacy protocols or unsecure access.

For the non-process controlled, unmanned areas, the combination of Ignition’s Alarm Notification and Voice Notification modules provided the perfect solution for the maintenance teams. By monitoring both device alarm contacts and process conditions, the system can provide notifications to selected users using visual elements, e-mail notifications, and in some critical cases, by phone calls to on-duty staff and on-call crews.

By carefully using the unique features of Vision and Perspective, combined with the ability to provide multiple projects within the same license space, the system can easily tackle the different requirements of all its users. 

• Operators, production supervisors, and quality technicians gain access to production using screens in Vision clients created for each plant area. 
• Managers for production, product, or quality have access to all the plant’s data with Perspective where views were created to unleash the amazing customization of Power Charts, so users can create and save their own charts, check dashboards, or export data for advanced data analysis.
• The Quality Assurance department gets automatically generated and pre-formatted reports for key equipment.  

Results: 

Besides the evident benefits from going from a manual and non-automated data recollection and supervision to a new and modern automated system, the project also showed the amazing scalability of Ignition.

The extensive use of UDTs to template analyzers and other typical pharmaceutical equipment permitted new equipment to be rapidly incorporated anywhere in the plant, saving time, resources and, ultimately, money. Also, the breakthrough licensing model of Inductive Automation gives the customer the confidence and predictability to keep growing the system.

As a CDMO, Zendal is continuously adapting their installations to its customers’ needs, not to mention that for Zendal and its customers the speed to market is crucial for the business. Ignition’s flexibility and scalability has proved to be the right choice to adapt to Zendal’s ever-changing needs.

Start Date: 11/2020

Deploy Date: Ongoing

Project Scope:

Tags: 187,900 (Atomic Tags), 28,600 (OPC Tags)

Screens: 217

Clients: Unlimited. 5 fixed Vision clients, and other Vision and Perspective clients connect freely

Alarms: 9,500 (Atomic Tags with at least one alarm configured)

Devices used: - 18 Opto22 groovEPIC, 25 Siemens SIMATIC S7-1500, 2 Allen-Bradley CompactLogix, 10 Bürkert Valve Islands (160 Solenoid Valves), 8 Schneider Motor Variable Frequency Drives, and 60 Lighthouse Particle Counter Analyzers

Architectures used: Hub & Spoke

Databases used: Two. One per site, MSSQL Server 2019

Historical data logged: 36,700