System Integration & Control Systems Design


Scada Review 2017

June 2017 System Integration & Control Systems Design

The subject projects of this year’s Scada Review are a worthy reflection of the effort put in by the respondent end-users, SIs and vendors. It is encouraging to see that even in these times of depressed confidence and political uncertainty there are world-class projects being engineered by South African companies across a broad range of industrial sectors.

Insight in the detail

We remind readers that the value of the scada reviews is not always about the capabilities of the scada product – it may be about how the project has been engineered or managed, an innovative system architecture or the adoption of certain standards. This year’s reviews contain details of all of these and more.

In print we feature each vendor’s response, which we have edited to meet space constraints. In order to prevent such editing from keeping valuable information from readers, we have published the full-length questionnaire responses online. For readers’ convenience, we have provided a link to the full-length article at the end of each printed review.

Our subject projects

The subject of Schneider’s submission is a mining application in the North West province. The project described is an upgrade from a legacy system to Citect Scada 2015. This was done in order to standardise objects and templates across all plant sections, while also consolidating all plant sections into a single system.

Highlights of Adroit’s submission on a wastewater project include the installation of a system to monitor and control a new plant in Swaziland. The primary requirement was for a scada system capable of monitoring and controlling the pump stations and reacting to alarms. The system integrators were impressed by how easy it was to scale and modify the architecture and how the Adroit solution reduced the engineering time significantly through standard equipment units and faceplates. The end user was impressed by the standard logging and alarming capabilities.

Wonderware’s subject project involved the consolidation of pre-existing legacy control systems spanning the site of a mining operation in Carletonville, into one centrally managed system based on Wonderware System Platform. The brief was to implement one automated energy control system across all operations, which could perform automated load shifting as well as automated load clipping. A major requirement was that the entire control system and schedules be manageable from a central point.

Thank you

On behalf of our readers, we thank the end-users, SIs and vendors for their efforts in comprehensively completing our 2017 scada questionnaire, for sharing their expertise and experience, and continuing to expand the knowledge base of the C&I industry in South Africa.

Notes:

1. The order of appearance of reviews is the order in which they were received by SA Instrumentation and Control.

2. Some reviewer responses have been edited due to space and comprehension considerations.

3. A 'No' or 'N/A' response to a question in the project-specific responses does not necessarily mean that the scada system lacks that feature; only that the feature was not implemented in, or not applicable to, the subject project.

4. Where a respondent has not answered a question or has answered off topic that response has been omitted.



Credit(s)



Share this article:
Share via emailShare via LinkedInPrint this page

Further reading:

Four ways the global parts shortage has led to innovation and openness
System Integration & Control Systems Design
For those who use automation parts, the unpredictable nature of the supply chain is one of the biggest problems faced today. The shortfall has impacted every industry, but automation components have been especially affected.

Read more...
From the editor's desk: The little helicopter that could
Technews Publishing (SA Instrumentation & Control) News
The thrill of space exploration captures our imagination. I‘ve been following NASA’s Perseverance rover and Ingenuity helicopter with fascination as these tiny vehicles pushed the boundaries of scientific achievement.

Read more...
Iritron’s year of consolidation
Iritron Editor's Choice System Integration & Control Systems Design
Despite the multiple challenges faced by businesses in South Africa, the buoyancy of the technology sector worldwide has produced some green shoots for automation specialist, Iritron.

Read more...
Five edge opportunities for SIs to maximise revenue in 2024
Editor's Choice System Integration & Control Systems Design
System integrators continue to face the challenge of doing more with less – supporting complex operations, while meeting production schedules with limited resources, and innovating to increase efficiency, maximise safety and reduce risk.

Read more...
Condition monitoring in a forging press retrofit
Beckhoff Automation System Integration & Control Systems Design
Significantly increased vibration on machines can result in many forms of negative impacts such as reduced system performance or damage to the machine and foundation. Using the example of retrofitting a forging press with a maximum press force of 2000 tons, Wölfel Engineering explains how efficiently the process was tailored and implemented with PC-based control and measurement technology from Beckhoff.

Read more...
System integration in the digital age
System Integration & Control Systems Design
To meet the challenges of an increasingly competitive marketplace, many manufacturers (end users) must focus on their core competencies and outsource the rest to experts.

Read more...
From the editor's desk: What’s staying, what’s going
Technews Publishing (SA Instrumentation & Control) News
It’s still early in the year and there’s no shortage of predictions on what will happen in 2024. It looks like the breakthrough trends from 2023 will continue. We know that generative AI is the big one, ...

Read more...
From the editor's desk: The next quantum leap
Technews Publishing (SA Instrumentation & Control) News
It’s a fresh new year alive with possibility. Happy new year, and here’s wishing you one where you can rise to the challenges ahead and still enjoy all the good things we have in this country.  ...

Read more...
Choosing a system integrator
Editor's Choice System Integration & Control Systems Design
Automation is an essential part of manufacturing today. Whatever the size, an upgrade or migration project can be complex, and the risks can be high. This is where system integrators (SIs) can help. They can bring together complex subsystems or components of a larger system and make them operate as a whole.

Read more...
From the editor's desk: Joining the quantum dots
Technews Publishing (SA Instrumentation & Control) News
This year’s Nobel prizes were recently announced. I was fascinated by the Nobel Prize for Chemistry, which was awarded for research on quantum dots, and I wondered what they actually are. Well, they ...

Read more...