The November technology evening for the Durban branch of the SAIMC was a most interesting one on process information system Historians. These have evolved significantly from the early days when their function was to archive data from the DCS and provide data extraction and trending tools for reporting, often in other proprietary environments. Modern systems, by contrast, form an indispensable realtime infrastructure in the manufacturing plant, marshalling data from disparate sources, applying context, and providing this information to company personnel and third party MRO and ERP systems through standard visualisation portals and gateways. Open standards, security, scalability, reliability and support are all essential components that were discussed during this presentation.
Dean Trattles, the presenter for the evening, obtained his BSc in Chemical Engineering from the University of Cape Town in 1977. He subsequently worked for 10 years in the fields of process engineering, process design and plant automation with Engen Refinery and Illovo Sugar. During this time he spent two years studying advanced process control at Louisiana State University. For the next 12 years he provided engineering consulting and was involved with system integration at Bosch & Associates, Best SA and ITSI. Dean has spent the last six years as regional manager sub-Saharan Africa for OSIsoft, a vendor of realtime information systems. He holds memberships of SAIChE, CSSA, SAIMC, and is a registered professional engineer.
SAB Prospecton Brewery tour
One of the branch highlights last year was the SAB tour in November. 24 Durban branch members were treated to a tour of the SAB Prospecton Brewery by Kurt Smorenburg, senior process control technician for the site. Our group was led by Unathi Makalima from the visitor centre, who explained the layout of the site and the various process operations and bottling lines, ably assisted by process control manager Carlos da Silva. Each visitor was equipped with a radio headset ensuring we could all hear the narrative from our hosts and the answers to the many questions from the group.
Being from the SAIMC, we were given a tour with a difference and taken through the brew house PLC I/O room as well as the control room where we were shown the scada and batch control systems.
Naturally, the final Q&A was held over at the reception centre, where we were offered snacks and SAB’s finest to sample and appreciate! Sincere thanks to Kurt and his colleagues for a really enjoyable visit (could this become an annual event?).
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