Adroit Technologies, developers of cutting-edge scada systems, was commissioned by Manganese Metal Company (MMC), the world’s largest producer of electrolytic manganese and a subsidiary of the BHP Billiton Group, to replace the site's existing scada and bring it in line with technology for the new millennium.
MMC produces export quality manganese metal, which it refines from manganese ore. The site, based in Nelspruit Mpumalanga, has a plant capacity of 27 000 tons per annum of electrolytic manganese, which it produces with 99,9% purity in an environmentally-friendly, selenium-free process. The manganese is used in the steel, aluminium, non-ferrous alloys, welding, chemical and soft ferrite industries. The company refines the ore utilising a chemical process that produces a manganese sulphate solution. This solution is then used as an electrolyte in an electroplating process and the manganese steel is electroplated onto stainless steel cathode plates. This process produces manganese steel flakes, which are either marketed as such or milled into powders. These manganese powders are then used to make briquettes, with differing compositions, or in an oxidised chemical form for the electronics industry.
Adroit was tasked to replace the companies DOS-based AFE scada with its technologically advanced scada HMI, to bring MMC into the 21st century and align it with world best practice.
The project brief involved linking the sites' eight standalone plants together for the first time, via a network. Johan Snyman, Instrumentation specialist at MMC, undertook this task with the personal attention of Mike Lamusse, Adroit's technical director, who committed one week of his time to the successful commissioning of the networked system.
Although the plants are standalone units, installed with individual Adroit scadas, it is essential to production that each plant is aware of the others as they form part of a production chain-building base product for subsequent plants in the event sequence. The network facilitated inter-plant communication by linking the nine PLCs (mostly Modicon with some Advant and Toshiba products) and the eight scadas to ensure central control and data acquisition for MMC's future reporting system.
Process control is crucial in such functions as the speed and feed rates of the reduction agent and the ratio required in the reduction process of this agent and milled ore. The Adroit control system means that MMC no longer rely on hardwired controls and benefit from the use of menus, recipes and ratio set points in the system instead.
Controls are automated by the PLC via the scada, for its robustness and fit for industry purpose design. The installation project linked eight geographical plant locations, each with its own scada system monitoring a range of between 750 and 1500 scan points. The scada network is running on Windows 2000 and is connected via server to MMC's office network to allow managers full operational visibility from this remote location. Snyman comments, "The great benefits of the system include the production data it provides, the control that it allows the management as well as the time it saves us in not having to be physically on site. With the scada, we have been able to create a leaner, more efficient operation." Alarming is both visual and audible ensuring safety and efficiency of the system at all times.
MMC Instrumentation Department embarked on the project by utilising Adroit's facility to transfer (to Excel) the logged points from the old AFE and then to the new Adroit scada. Graphics were also customised to facilitate the operator's transition from the old system to the new. Snyman says, "The picture clarity is remarkable, and the user-friendliness of the system made the transition to the new technology simple. Each plant scada was developed by the specific plant's instrumentation technician, thus successfully generating a feeling of pride and ownership to the task."
A networked standby machine backs up the Adroit database daily to ensure the system of redundancy. Trending is of high importance to the company, which insisted on Adroit for its scada VCR mode technology. This allows MMC to scroll back in fault finding across its plant operations, including temperatures, flows and other mission critical components.
Visual Basic scripting was used to monitor the status of various motor drives, using colour coding to reflect the motor drives condition. MMC production staff utilises the data produced by the scada to draw shift reports. Future strides in report generation include plans to install Opus business report writing and analysis software.
By installing Adroit, MMC was able to streamline its production process and create a leaner organisation that gives it a competitive advantage for the new millennium and beyond.
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