Case Study
Edge Computing in Specialty Chemicals
How EOSYS modernized batch infrastructure in 10 weeks with Stratus edge computing from Penguin Solutions®
Challenges
• Outdated legacy hardware and software
• Frequent unplanned downtime
• Multiple, disconnected physical hosts running different software
• Difficulty facilitating repairs and fixes due to limited staff
Solution
• Stratus ftServer®
• Rockwell Automation
• FactoryTalk View
• FactoryTalk Historian
• FactoryTalk Batch
• FactoryTalk Transaction Manager
• FactoryTalk Directory
• Engineering workstation running SE and ControlLogix PLC
• VMware Veeam
Benefits
• Consolidated 9 server workloads and processes onto a single Stratus ftServer
• Received access to 24/7 Stratus Support and Services
• Updated and modernized legacy systems
• Eliminated unplanned downtime
EOSYS is a trusted, employee-owned system integrator. Recently named System Integrator of the Year by Control Engineering, EOSYS delivers innovative technical solutions to automate, monitor, and secure customers’ industrial systems.
The company has expertise in several industries—including chemical manufacturing, food & beverage, building products, and pulp & paper—with offices covering customer sites across the United States. EOSYS employs dedicated subject matter experts in platform and distributed control systems, including Rockwell, AVEVA, Wonderware, Ignition, Siemens, GE, and more. This enables them to be extremely flexible and responsive for critical customer implementations.
Because of this deep expertise, EOSYS was selected by a leading global specialty chemicals manufacturer to recommend, design, and implement a phased program to modernize compute infrastructure across product lines. The solution was a Stratus edge computing platform from Penguin Solutions. The specialty chemicals manufacturer plays an important role in sustainability and green technology by producing catalysts that reduce emissions of light- and mid-duty internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles. These vehicles range from automobiles and motorcycles to diesel-powered trucks, tractors, and trains.
However, the company was experiencing several production disruptions due to disconnected processes, legacy computing infrastructure, frequent unplanned downtime, and difficulty facilitating repairs and fixes due to limited staff—challenges common to many manufacturers managing long life assets and established production lines.
To address these challenges, the chemical manufacturer needed to streamline and consolidate complex processes, eliminate unplanned downtime, and update and modernize legacy servers to avoid disruptions that were not only costly, but potentially hazardous. With support from EOSYS and Stratus edge computing, the company successfully addressed these challenges by modernizing its infrastructure and eliminating unplanned downtime.
Legacy systems and aging computing infrastructure hardware disrupt operations
To update their customers’ environment and simplify operations, EOSYS recommended consolidating hardware and software to simplify both footprint and manageability while continuing to support and update the Rockwell Automation applications. The chemical manufacturer relied on Rockwell Automation-based systems to run their slurry batching process, which was managed and controlled by nine physical hosts. These included three FactoryTalk batch servers, two FactoryTalk HMI servers, one Historian server, one SQL server, one domain controller, and an engineering workstation.
The hardware was approaching end of life with systems running on the Windows Server 2008 R2 operating system, leading to reliability problems with both the servers and software. Additionally, the backup domain controller had not been synchronized for quite some time, and the secondary HMI server would occasionally disconnect.
A significant concern was that the company had been running in a non-redundant mode without knowing it. The system would often lock up, requiring OT personnel to reboot machines frequently. Without a dedicated IT staff, the small OT team— comprising of one on-site OT engineer and one controls engineer—would receive calls at all hours to maintain and fix these systems. They had limited expertise with the existing products, which made troubleshooting and repairs difficult. They also had little time to monitor both the processes and maintenance on the machines.
The breaking point came when a final server failure caused extensive unplanned downtime. It took days for the chemicals manufacturer to rebuild the server, causing a major interruption to operations. After that, the manufacturer knew it was time to upgrade their hardware and turned to EOSYS for support.
They have not had any unplanned downtime since we put the Stratus ftServer in (2022), and there has been no call-in situations where they’ve had to go in and reboot the machine.
Chase Davis Director of Technology for Automation EOSYS
The company chose Stratus ftServer to modernize systems and eliminate downtime
After the final server failure, it became clear the company had to modernize their aging hardware, which also presented the opportunity to explore consolidating software workloads onto a single production server. EOSYS provided a few options but ultimately recommended moving forward with the Stratus ftServer, highlighting its fault-tolerant design. They explained that even in the event of a CPU or motherboard failure, the platform would continue operating with zero downtime.
After carefully considering the options presented by EOSYS, the specialty chemicals manufacturer chose to move with the Stratus ftServer to modernize and replace their nine physical servers—each performing separate functions and occupying significant rack space. Without making this change, the company was at risk of significant downtime with their aging servers. Choosing the Stratus ftServer also solved IT support concerns, providing access to 24/7 Penguin Solutions Support Services. With a team of just two OT staff, the company no longer needed them on call to fix and repair systems.
The decision to adopt the Stratus ftServer made the most sense financially and logistically. Not only was uptime availability essential for the manufacturer, but being able to easily maintain the system, consolidate critical workloads, and have access to impeccable service support—including Penguin Solutions nextday SLA on server replacement parts—was critical.
It took ten weeks from start to finish for EOSYS to implement and deploy the Stratus ftServer in the company’s data room. This included spinning up new virtual machines (VMs), installing software, and importing and testing applications. Once the platform was racked and communications were tested and verified, the final cutover took just two days.
The company is successfully running several VMs and different software packages on the Stratus ftServer platform, including:
• Two domain controllers
• Two FactoryTalk View Site Edition (SE) Servers
• One FactoryTalk Historian
• Three FactoryTalk Batch Servers,
• One engineering workstation running SE and ControlLogix PLC Development Software
• One SQL server running FactoryTalk Transaction Manager
• One FactoryTalk Directory Server
• One VMware Veeam Server
Since the implementation and upgrade, there has been no downtime.
24/7 Penguin Solutions Support Services enable continuous operations,
no downtime, and no data loss
The company has access to Penguin Solutions Support Services, which was a huge selling point in selecting the Stratus ftServer. Penguin Solutions provides proactive services that focus on preventing downtime and data loss before it occurs. The Stratus Automated Uptime Layer (AUL) is embedded onto every Stratus ftServer platform, which monitors over 500 system alarms to identify, handle, and report faults before they impact the system. Without having to place an order, Penguin Solutions Support Services will automatically order the correct customer-replaceable part if a component need replacing.
Since using Stratus edge computing platforms, the company has seen zero unplanned application downtime and continuous operations. The controls engineer and OT network engineer have not had to be called in at odd times to fix and repair failures, freeing up their time to work on other important, businesscritical tasks. EOSYS helped the chemicals manufacturer consolidate the multiple servers they had running into a single, fault-tolerant Stratus ftServer, modernizing their infrastructure and eliminating costly, unplanned downtime. Currently, the company is getting ready to implement its second Stratus ftServer after seeing outstanding success partnering with EOSYS to deploy Stratus computing platforms.
It should give you a peace of mind that you have a reliable and robust computing architecture for your processes or your systems.
Chase Davis Director of Technology for Automation EOSYS
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