Aksa Natural Gas Distribution, Inc. sought an automation system for its Natural Gas Regulating and Metering Stations (RMSs), which are divided into three separate types (A, B, C) according to pressure classes. These stations reduce and regulate downstream pressure, measuring the quantity of energy transferred from Aksa’s natural gas transmission system to medium pressure networks or to consumers who are connected directly to the transmission system. They also add the distinctive odor to the gas, providing prompt detection of any leakages, as required by national and international safety standards. Aksa required the stations’ data to be gathered by a central HMI/SCADA system via OPC servers and PLCs. Alarms are generated from critical values within the received data. Aksa required that their selected alarm management system be able to integrate with their RMS system, as well as to provide notifications. The alarm management system needed to handle thousands of tags, with each tag’s status made available to multiple locations, and if necessary, allow for expected intervention within 15 minutes.

The Attiki Odos Motorway, one of the most modern motorways in Europe, needed a system to centralize motorway operations and provide the status of all electromechanical systems. The motorway extends over 60 km, is four lanes wide, and has 32 multi-level interchanges and hundreds of overpasses. The motorway uses the most modern equipment for incident detection and emergency response. The challenge was to enhance the ability of motorway operators to easily identify and handle emergency situations and overcome malfunctions of equipment in order to provide better quality of services.

ABB Foundry Group needed a solution to monitor and control the melting process in their foundries. They required a system that could handle connectivity to multiple devices from a single Windows-based server. The system needed to connect to temperature measurement devices, analyzers, and spectrometers, and offer a variety of operational reports. The system also needed to be quick-to-learn, easy-to-use, controller (PLC) independent, support multiple languages, and work with different unit systems. The system was to be configured to individual foundry requirements and operations.

The City of Grapevine, located in the DallasFort Worth area in North Texas, realized the need to replace or upgrade their existing HMI/ SCADA, PLCs and radio communications systems. Their needs as a city were growing and they required a system better equipped to handle a diverse and multifaceted infrastructure. Additionally, they were also faced with the potential of the FCC narrow banding their frequency, which would affect the reliability and functionality of their existing PLCs, communications and stability of their current system as a whole. This set of needs started the journey to find the best option for Grapevine.

Converteam, a leading supplier of power conversion engineering, needed a reliable and efficient HMI system for their C-Series Vessel Control System (VCS) used in the marine and offshore industry. The HMI system needed to comply with standards and regulations concerning night vision and other safety measures. It also needed to be extensible, modular, flexible, and have good connectivity. The company had tried several other HMI systems but they failed in these key areas. The HMI system was to be implemented in a fleet of LNG tankers designed to transport liquefied natural gas.

Fort Collins Light & Power had a number of specific goals in mind before upgrading its SCADA system. The SCADA software itself needed to support five substations and 2,600 data and control points using OPC communications standards. The HMI would need to interface with multiple applications including system power quality and security, to name a few. Fort Collins also planned to establish a dedicated GIG Ethernet fiber loop to each of its substations, as well as to the utility’s Drake Water Reclamation Facility, to provide a high-speed secure data highway for SCADA and future applications such as distribution automation. The utility also planned upgrades to all substation remote terminal units (RTUs) and power quality meters (involving both hardware and software).

LUKOIL, a major international oil and gas company, was planning to build a new datacenter in its Moscow office. The company required an HMI/SCADA system that could provide maximum security and performance of datacenter utility systems while also ensuring high energy efficiency. The datacenter computer rooms were to include over 100 server racks, each designed with a capacity of 17kW of power. The company also required 24/7 control capability for its utility systems. LUKOIL wanted an HMI/SCADA system that could provide estimates for the datacenter rooms’ technological and climatic metrics and could quickly acquire status information for all nodes of power and cooling/air conditioning systems. As the planned datacenter was to include approximately 5,000 data points, LUKOIL sought an HMI/SCADA solution that easily centralizes functional mode management for utility systems.

Leciva, a.s. Pharmaceutical, the largest Czech pharmaceutical company, needed a system to meet their high recording requirements for documenting every aspect of their production process to meet GMP (Good Manufacturing Practice) standards. They required a system that provided extensive security measures, audit trails for operators, reliable logging of all production data, operational sequence checking, and traceable alarm and event history recordings. The system also needed to meet their process documentation, production data collection, and report requirements to meet their GMP standards.

Lake Cities Municipal Utility Authority had an aging infrastructure system that needed help from top to bottom. Upgrading the system was one of the organization’s biggest priorities, so that they could better maintain it. A large portion of LCMUA’s budget at the time was being spent on call-outs, false alarms and failing equipment, so the authority sought solutions to reduce these related costs. One effort involved replacing their older SCADA system. The pre-existing system was actually a combination of three competitor products, which ended up providing LCMUA personnel with three different sets of operating data. In addition to requiring a unified solution for their new HMI/ SCADA, the authority also required one that could handle Distributed Network Protocol (DNP3) communications and interface with existing Servelec Technologies Tbox combined PLC/RTU hardware installed at every lift station, pump station and elevated storage tank in their system.

IDRA Presse, a leading producer of Pressure Die Casting Machines, had the requirement of sampling process parameters on their Pressure Die Casting Machines at 10,000 cycles/sec and needed a software system to have the ability to collect real time data at those rates. They used an external sampling system with real time operating software. This system was connected through an Ethernet link with ICONICS software using an OPC Server on a PC, where TrendWorX32 trends the data collected. This data was then sent via a LAN to a centralized database for final evaluation and storage. IDRA selected ICONICS to provide them with state-of-the-art injection press machine monitoring and control after evaluating nine other suppliers including Intellution, Wonderware, WinCC and RSView. IDRA replaced their existing Orsi Cube system with the GENESIS32™ HMI Software suite.

Merrill Lynch, a globally recognized financial management and advisory company, required a monitor and control solution for their building campus in Hopewell, New Jersey. The campus consisted of twelve buildings, including office buildings, assembly buildings, and parking garages. The company aimed to manage every aspect of the building complex, including HVAC, Lighting, Energy, Security, Fire, and other Energy Smart Buildings. They also utilized ice plants as a cost-efficient method for building energy management, freezing water at night when electricity is cheaper and melting it during the day to cool the buildings. This 'time shifting' of energy usage was designed to help reduce the energy bill.

Metal Trade Comax a.s., a producer of non-ferrous casting alloys and surface treated metal sheets and bands, needed a comprehensive monitoring and control solution for their production processes. They required a system that could ensure the coated metal exits the production line without defects. The company also wanted to gain interoperability with their devices from different vendors. They were looking for a solution that could interface with their Siemens SIMOTION PLC, which controls the main drives or motors of the production line, and a Siemens Simatic S7-300, connected with industrial ethernet.

Mohegan Sun, a renowned gaming and entertainment destination, needed a system to monitor and control the various aspects of their facility. This included the status of chillers, boilers, and other behind-the-scene systems, as well as approximately 250 VAV boxes, about 60 air handling units (AHUs), 30 exhaust fans, a dozen fan coil units, and a host of temperature and humidity readings. An interesting aspect of this project is the AHUs deployed for the arena. There are four fans moving 200,000 cubic feet per minute of air. Normally these are used to air condition the facility for spectators. However, in case of a fire, the smoke detector system puts these AHUs into “Smoke Mode”. Instead of bringing air into the arena, dampers change and these pull the smoke out of the area, making it easier for firefighters to enter the building.

Mosenergo Heating and Pipeline Network in Moscow, Russia, distributes hot water to 99 percent of all the buildings in Moscow for heating. The entire network has 12 regional dispatch centers and over ten heating plants, pump stations, and local facilities. The main challenge for this 24/7/365 application was to deliver thousands of real-time parameters to operators and for operator commands to be delivered back down to the PLCs in a few seconds. Mosenergo had previously tried to develop an in-house system to monitor and control the pipeline heating network.

PGT Industries, a leading manufacturer and supplier of residential impact-resistant windows and doors in the U.S., was facing a challenge of demand exceeding production capacity, which was constraining revenue growth. The company had developed a capital plan to expand their manufacturing operations. However, before executing the capital expansion, the Vice President of Operations decided to test the assumptions about current capacity by installing and applying a productivity analysis tool. The company selected ICONICS Productivity Analytics software to analyze the Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE) of the current plant. The software’s drilldown and correlation capabilities were used to zero in on sources of loss of OEE, focusing on three OEE factors: availability, quality and performance.

Racine Water & Wastewater Utilities had been using the GENESIS for DOS as the HMI operator interface software for their plant wide SCADA system at their water utility since 1991. This system controlled the entire water plant and distribution system operation of 3 remote tanks and 1 remote pumping station, from a central control room. However, with the advancement of technology and the need for more efficient and reliable systems, the utility needed to upgrade their system. In 1996, the system was upgraded to GENESIS for Windows and in 2001 the wastewater plant was modernized using GENESIS32™ to increase capacity and to automate and centralize the control to one room. An extensive evaluation was made of leading SCADA vendors. GENESIS32™ was selected because of the speed and redundancy of data collection systems, as well as due to the superior OPC-based data engine allowing live changes to the system without the need to restart.

R-CUA, a company specializing in the design, financing, development and operation of heat networks, power stations and associated energy sources, sought an automation software solution that would monitor the power plant and heat distribution in the city of Strasbourg in real time. The company required that the software be able to provide information via web browser as well as via mobile devices. In addition, the company sought to manage consumption and potentially save on energy costs. A primary location involved in the installation is the Eco2 Wacken plant, located in Strasbourg. The selected automation software solution needed to integrate with multiple BACnet controllers, with three controllers located at the Eco2 Wacken plant. The entire network contains over 2,000 tags, including 16 delivery points, each managed via BACnet controller. The delivery points and the boiler house are connected via 8 kilometers of optical fiber. R-CUA wanted a solution that would work with its existing Microsoft Windows Server 2012 R2 machines and Windows SQL 2012 databases, as well as with cloud-based servers and multiple mobile clients.

The University of Bristol (UoB) is a top-ranking university in the UK with a vast estate comprising over 600 hectares of land and more than 370 buildings. The buildings range in age from the late 17th century to the 21st century. Given the large number of buildings, estate management is crucial. A major requirement of the project was to integrate the buildings together to provide a secure, future-proof centralized building management solution. The UoB was looking for a modern, future-proof solution platform that would allow them to continue to build new capabilities as new equipment and buildings were needed and connected to the Secure Data network (SDN). The University needed a company with reliable software solutions that could meet several objectives, including providing all departments of the University with accommodations of quality and functionality, ensuring the most efficient use of all built space, working to reduce the University’s carbon emissions, and enabling Building Management System (BMS), Fire Monitoring, Critical Alarms, Sustainability Monitoring, etc.

The University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL) had set an ambitious goal of reducing energy use by 15 percent across many of its buildings. To achieve this, the university had been installing energy-efficient equipment and automating building systems to ensure that mechanical and electrical equipment minimized energy waste. However, just like a brand-new car that’s driven off the lot, building equipment starts to deteriorate as soon as it’s installed, losing energy efficiency over time. To mitigate deterioration, UNL had in the past performed ad-hoc recommissioning, but was now developing a comprehensive recommissioning program. The university wanted to find a way to maintain optimal performance without the expense of periodic recommissioning.

Vitkovice Steel, a leading European manufacturer of rolled steel products, was faced with the challenge of replacing a production monitoring system from the late 1980’s, in addition to control systems based on obsolete Czechoslovakian computers (PPC-4). The company needed a system that could meet their high availability, 24x7 requirements, as well as scale to the needs of about 180 users. They also needed a system that could integrate seamlessly with existing systems, including KEP Servers, Stratus Servers, Siemens Simatic S7 PLCs, Oracle 9.2 database, UZ line-over databases, stampers in hot or cold conditions (3964R), and paint stampers. The system also needed to connect easily to the company’s existing Microsoft products, including Windows 2003 Server, Windows 2000 and XP clients, Microsoft Office and SQL databases.

The Webb County Water Treatment Plant (WTP) in Rio Bravo, Texas was facing challenges due to population growth and rising water quality requirements. The existing plant was outdated and required high maintenance. It lacked a computerized control or SCADA system, making the operation of the process equipment, water intake, and distribution systems time-consuming. Additionally, most of the plant personnel were native Spanish speakers and were not fluent in technical English. This posed a challenge in operating a new, sophisticated control system. The new SCADA system needed to be user-friendly, graphically enhanced, and bilingual to accommodate the language needs of the staff.

The growth of Xi’an Xianyang International Airport made it necessary to seek a monitoring and control solution that could handle communication with multiple different data sources as well as scale to the wide array of equipment that is continuously added. One primary concern was energy use and temperature control throughout the 360,000 square meters of indoor airport space. China Western Airport Group and the Xi’an Airport Construction Co., Ltd. created a dedicated energy center that could assist them in providing comfortable temperatures for millions of passengers as well as the great number of people who work within the airport facilities. As the airport expands, so too does its energy use, as well as the complexity of its energy system. Airport officials required an HMI/SCADA system with a safe, reliable, cost-saving energy management component.

Castle Rock Water, a public utility in the rapidly growing town of Castle Rock, Colorado, was seeking a software management solution to improve its operations. The utility operates five major water treatment plants throughout the town, producing high-quality drinking water and generating approximately 16 million gallons per day during the summer months. The utility's second highest cost is power, and it was keen to monitor power consumption over its Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) system. The utility had installed power monitoring devices to monitor power demand on its deep well pumps, but it needed a solution that would provide the engineering staff with a baseline to give the operations staff the tools to make necessary changes in pumping operations through SCADA to maximize production while minimizing cost per gallon pumped.

The Town of Tonawanda was facing high support costs for their existing HMI/SCADA package and other third-party applications such as reporting solutions. The legacy system was expensive to maintain and did not provide the flexibility and scalability required for future expansion. The town was looking for a solution that would not only reduce their support costs but also provide a platform that they could build upon in the future. They needed a system that could support additional functionality such as wireless operator stations, the ability to stay connected via mobile phones, and more. The system also needed to be robust and reliable, with redundancy at multiple levels to ensure continuous operation.

SIGNATURE S.A., a European leader in road signage and road marking, sought a solution to assist in the automation of its paint plant using a batch process. The company wanted to connect PLCs from different manufacturers to their system, ensure traceability, and enable remote control via production manager and process engineer stations. Additionally, SIGNATURE S.A. wanted to generate daily alarms, event and production data reports, a production report by orders of fabrication (with associated alarms), and a weekly report for total consumption of raw materials used in production.

Scottish Water had a vision to establish an Intelligent Control Centre (ICC) that would allow them to respond in a timely and effective manner to emerging business events to minimise risk and impact on both the customer and Scottish Water. They wanted a solution that would revolutionize the way in which they could understand business events and ensure effective response arrangements for many years to come. The key aims of the ICC were to improve the speed of identification of various business risks that had the potential to impact on the service to their customers, ensure they had the capability to link various sources of business intelligence including telemetry, customer, weather and workflow activity data, etc. to support the early identification and response to, business events and having a system that was flexible enough to both develop and enhance in house to meet future business needs.

The animal healthcare company, a leading international manufacturer and distributor of animal healthcare products, was in need of an industrial controls solution that would best manage and monitor critical process alarms. The company also planned to replace an existing visualization system, seeking a solution that provided additional enhancements. The company’s plant is involved mainly with pharmaceutical manufacturing and packaging. The company uses ICONICS solutions to interface with Allen Bradley PLCs via Foundation Fieldbus, Data Highway Plus industrial LAN and Ethernet network communication structures. Among the Microsoft solutions used on-site are SQL Server and Excel, which are used in reporting and trending.

SASKI, the General Directorate of Sakarya Water and Sewerage Administration, provides clean water to the province of Sakarya, Turkey. The organization sought to improve its field data collection capabilities, adding functionality such as full station status, detailed reporting, field device control, fast historical archiving/retrieval, and integration with geographic information systems (GIS). SASKI specifically required an automation software provider that could integrate with their multiple applications across hundreds of locations, including tank storage, drinking water purification/provision, wastewater purification, drilling, flow metering, and more. The water-focused organization initially planned for their new monitoring and control solution to connect to over 50,000 tags, and integrating with on-site OPC-integrated equipment (including PLCs). The chosen solution would also need to work with multiple servers, databases (Microsoft SQL Server and Oracle), and client machines.

The Future Factory Initiative (FFI) is a joint effort of SAP Research and external partner organizations, including ICONICS. It is active in key areas including a Living Lab, a Real-World Manufacturing Testbed and a Center of Excellence. The initiative is a set of innovative demonstrators showing the potential of real-world-integrated business processes in the manufacturing domain. The challenge was to create a testbed that shows leading edge software and the latest hardware developments with different scenarios, products, and prototypes in a distributed manufacturing environment. The testbed needed to span multiple manufacturers and demonstrate the viability of prototypes.

Arlington Public Schools sought to consolidate its summer-school operations into one building at The Peirce School. Anticipating the need for an increase in air conditioning, the district immediately purchased a new chiller for the school building. The Regional Energy Manager for the town of Arlington, Ruthy Bennett, is responsible for looking for ways to reduce energy costs, a high priority for a town named a Green Community by the State of Massachusetts in 2010. The town and school district, both operating on tight budgets, wished to ensure that their decisions to consolidate summer school classes to one location and to purchase a new chiller made financial sense. With the goal towards lower energy and operational costs, Bennett sought energy management software that would be more beneficial than what she considered “glorified schedulers”. While researching solutions, she learned of ICONICS’ Facility AnalytiX being used to help cut energy costs at Microsoft’s headquarters in Redmond, WA.