PACE - Process & Control Engineering - October 2010

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PACE PROCESS & CONTROL ENGINEERING Industry Notepad Motor Controls

AutomationDirect has partnered with Fuji Electric to offer a complete line of IEC motor controls.

SCE02220VAC Fuji IEC 9A contactor, 3pole, 43 mm frame width, 240VAC coil (purchase auxiliary contacts separately)

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OCTOBER 2010

VOL.63 NO.9

INSIDE THIS ISSUE

News Analysis 9

Decommissioning skills Australia will decommission marginal operations Safety Upgrade 11

Toxic gas detection Upgrading to intelligent toxic gas detectors is a smart move for process industries Instrumentation 16

Fieldbus installation Bio-fuel plants seek automation to reduce raw material costs and maximise revenue Design 20

PID control techniques Systematically find the set of gains to ensure the best performance of your system Training 30

Post Print Approved PP255003/00539

Skills shortage bites Investing in skilling must be a shared responsibility

Keep ore trains on track A 2.4 km long train with 234 cars needs a unique weighing system Feature 24

APC in secondary mining Andrew Sia discusses advanced process control and how to improve yield Conversation 12

One-click automation deal

BY KEVIN GOMEZ ADVANTECH and Wonderware have joined forces to deliver, what they term as, ‘one-click’ factory automation computing. This collaboration, exclusive to Australia, will see Advantech’s hardware coupled with Wonderware’s industrial software. The partners aim to compete with proprietary HMI vendors and offer a user-friendly and easy to upgrade HMI bundle.

“From petrochemical, oil and gas to food and beverage, the applications are limitless,” says Jose Lobato, general manager, Wonderware Australia. For a while, now, the company has been looking for a way to compete against proprietary HMI systems especially in the lower end of the market.

“This collaboration with Advantech allows us to do just that. We can now offer a full Windows XP HMI low cost to service and allow us to penetrate these sectors,” adds Lobato.

The two companies expect to garner interest from small OEMs, general electrical multipurpose integrators and switchboard manufacturers. “In the past we could not compete,” says Lobato.

Prices start from the low $2,800s for a Windows XP-based touch panel.

“Just about any application that needs to control or display a process graphically for a user operator will benefit from our bundled offer,” says Santo Gazzo, general manager of Advantech Australia. He is banking on the industry’s insatiable appetite for more data, more features and more functionality.

“There is no doubt that the cost effectiveness of this bundled solution will empower engineers to develop new applications or use it to replace and enhance

COLLABORATION: Santo Gazzo (L) and Jose Lobato join forces. existing operator interface terminal applications,” he adds. “No operator panel is going to give you all the processing power, the functionality or the flexibility that a PC-based system can offer.”

Advantech’s industrial computer-based HMI models, ranging from 10” to 17” panels, will be bundled with Wonderware InTouch HMI software. Unlike some proprietary HMI panels, which are

PowerFlex 750 Series —the NEW flexible AC drive The latest drive technology which offers greater control, communications, safety and supporting hardware options for either general purpose or demanding applications. www.rockwellautomation.com.au

limited to their own or a select few I/O devices, InTouch is PLC neutral. “Our bundle delivers a simple, easy to use outof-the-box, PC-based HMI with the widest range of I/O device support. This means more flexibility for users to develop and maintain their systems,” notes Gazzo. www.advantech.net.au www.wonderware.com.au

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High Performance for Harsh Environments The EtherCAT Box with IP 67 protection

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EtherCAT Extends its Reach into the IP 67 World Very compact and robust IP 67 modules Outstanding performance through EtherCAT The EtherCAT protocol is maintained right down to each device.

Fast system communication (no subsystem) Flexible topology, simple conďŹ guration Cost-effective wiring via standard Ethernet cables eXtreme Fast Control (XFC) now also possible in IP 67

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BECKHOFF New Automation Technology

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NEWS

EDITOR’S MESSAGE

PACE

Resource the future

PROCESS & CONTROL ENGINEERING

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FROM

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Next Issue Combininge automation with preventive maintenance Building a high electrical power test controller

IT’S been endlessly discussed and widely written about but our skills shortage crisis continues to cast a threatening shadow over the industry. While the nation was wrapped in the pre- and post-election dramas, the Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations (DEEWR) released, almost unnoticed, a technical paper – Resourcing the Future.

The Report and the associated Technical Paper analyse the resources sector’s labour and skills needed on a national basis over the five years to 2015. These documents certainly make for interesting reading for those in the industry. After all, a significant percentage of the instros and engineers in the country are ‘consumed’ by the resources sector. The shortages are expected to peak in 2012 and 2013 and in the short time available, what options does the industry have?

The report makes an interesting link between the current problem and human resource planning. Accurate projections of workforce numbers are difficult to ascertain as some companies fear that revealing this data may reveal investment intentions to their

competitors. One recommendation is for companies to state their workforce needs at the time of applying for project approval.

Following limited state trials, the recommendation is for the national implementation of this procedure to start January 1, 2012.

Perhaps, the most powerful statement is Recommendation 1.4: ‘Companies should consider adopting a training culture similar to their approach to safety.’ The argument is that companies have embraced a safety culture, with managers often able to clearly state their safety statistics, safety strategy and culture. If training were to garner the same attention and the same model adopted, the skills situation can change very quickly.

What the report fails to mention is that safety comes with a very big stick in the form of regulation and penalty. Still the concept is worth exploring.

The case study on GAGAL is worth mentioning. This is the largest employer of apprentices and trainees in Central Queensland and attributes its success to being a “good place to work”. Simple really.

Kevin.Gomez@reedbusiness.com.au

SAFETY

IEC approves openSAFETY as worldwide standard THE fieldbus-independent openSAFETY protocol was tested according to IEC 61784-3 FSCP 13 and approved by national IEC committees representing 27 countries including China, USA and Germany, and is therefore released for international standardisation.

Because openSAFETY is bus independent, it can be used with all fieldbus or industrial Ethernet systems. At the HMI 2010 trade fair, openSAFETY was presented in applications using some popular industrial Ethernet protocols: SERCOS III, Modbus TCP, EtherNet/IP and PowerLink. For the first time, users of an industrial Ethernet

system other than PowerLink now also have a complete, certified and open safety solution available to them. openSAFETY has been certified by TÜV Rheinland and TÜV Süd for SIL 3 applications.

“End customers have been requesting a uniform and manufacturer-independent standard for years, and openSAFETY is the response to those requests. It allows increases in productivity that are currently not possible with other safety protocols,” states Stefan Schoenegger, Open Automation BU Manager at B&R. The complete black channel principle

of openSAFETY is the basis for interoperability with arbitrary transport protocols. openSAFETY continually monitors all transferred data content to ensure that it is complete, that it has the correct transfer sequence and that the transfer duration is maintained. openSAFETY is characterised by three aspects: by the definition of data transport using an extremely flexible telegram format; by the integrated services for con-figuration and automatic parameter distribution, and in particular by a communication structure that achieves optimum machine productivity using cross traffic. open-safety.org

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OCTOBER 2010 www.pacetoday.com.au 5

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NEWS

DEFENCE

FROM THE WEB

SAGE Automation lands defence contract

COLLABORATION: SAGE Automation’s Andrew Downs (L) and Navantia’s Emiliano Matesanz have signed a four-year deal.

SAGE Automation has begun building the first of 500 control panels for the Air Warfare Destroyers (AWDs) project in Adelaide under a new $2.6 million, four-year contract with Spanish naval defence company Navantia. The control panels are a critical component of the AWD’s Integrated Platform Management System (IPMS). The IPMS is a comprehensive control system used on board ships and submarines for the real-time monitoring and control of the vessel’s hull, mechanical, electrical, damage control machinery and systems.

SAGE received its first contract order with Navantia this month after signing a Memorandum of Understanding in September last year to become its Australian in-country support agent for the IPMS on the AWD and Landing Helicopter Dock (LHD) ship projects.

In January 2006, SAGE began a concerted effort to expand into defence, including undertaking several trips to

Spain to meet with Navantia management. “We researched the global market and improved our internal systems to ensure we met the stringent compliance and traceability requirements in the defence sector. We also employed the best people with the highest calibre of technical expertise and defence experience ahead of time,” said SAGE Group managing director Andrew Downs.

“SAGE has been able to create global competitive advantage through our ability to provide manpower, resources and in-country support for Australian and international defence companies through the entire life of a project.”

Emiliano Matesanz, contract & business development manager of Navantia Australia, said, “This subcontract strengthens Navantia’s ties with local industry, which is one of the key elements of the strong partner relationship between Navantia and Australia.” www.gotosage.com

FIELDBUS FOUNDATION The Fieldbus Foundation has announced that an updated version of its Foundation fieldbus technical specification is available. This includes guidance supporting the development of fieldbus devices and host systems employing advanced field diagnostics per NAMUR NE107 and support for the H1 Interoperability Test Kit 6.0.

QUEENSLAND’S SMART ROBOT A solar-powered smart robot and 120 sensor nodes are positioned around Wivenhoe Dam to provide real-time data on water quality and weather conditions, and even the movement of cattle on the shore.

The autonomous solar-powered catamaran travels between the floating nodes gathering real time data and performing maintenance.

For daily updates visit www.pacetoday.com.au

OCTOBER 2010 www.pacetoday.com.au 7

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NEWS ANALYSIS

ENERGY

PowerLogic SCADA’s energy insight Schneider Electric’s new offering can tie a variety of smart energy devices together writes Kevin Gomez.

SCHNEIDER Electric has launched its PowerLogic SCADA software, a complete monitoring and control solution for electrical distribution networks.

“PowerLogic SCADA will enable us to link together our smart devices like circuit breakers, meters and protection relays, to provide customers with a complete solution across a common platform,” said Wendy Minne, executive general manager, Power Business, Schneider Electric.

Most manufacturing plants have a process setup and an electrical distribution network. “They would have implemented control on the process side,” explains Farokh Ghadially, marketing manager (low voltage), Schneider

Electric. “However most of these plants are not on SCADA for electrical distribution. They do not have load shedding schemes in place and they do not have load sharing. This can be implemented using PowerLogic SCADA.” With PowerLogic SCADA, it is possible to program the system to drop specific circuit breakers when the load reaches to a preset value. “Today many manufacturing companies do this in a patchwork manner using PLCs,” notes Ghadially. Using PowerLogic SCADA, the plant’s entire medium and low voltage (35 kV and below) electrical distribution network can be automated starting from medium voltage down to low voltage. “With PowerLogic SCADA,

Advan-Touch: Out Of The Box, Install And Connect!

Wonderware and Advantech are combining their leading products InTouch visualization and Windows XP Touch Panel Computers to provide the most cost effective SCADA/HMI TPC offering. This unique offering delivers pre-installed Operator Interface units that benefit users as follows: • • • • • •

Fully operational TPC options that are ready to be used Ranging from 64,128,256,500 & 1k Tags Avoid lengthy installation time and compatibility challenges Windows XP OS with full InTouch HMI functionality One development environment without any need for compilation or costly conversions Ideal add-on to existing SCADA or to replace old and antiquated hardware

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8 www.pacetoday.com.au OCTOBER 2010

CONTROL: With PowerLogic SCADA, it is possible to actively manage the plant’s energy says Schneider Electric’s Farokh Ghadially.

it is possible to actively manage and control the plant’s energy,” he adds.

PowerLogic SCADA boasts 1s response time and sequence of events recording with 1 ms resolution for over 2,000 devices and 200k tags.

PowerLogic SCADA is suitable for various power critical applications including data centres, airports, water treatment plants, oil &gas and mining sites. PowerLogic SCADA’s real-time control and monitoring of electrical distribution equipment allows system faults to be identified immediately.

“Currently mines may be using reporting software but these are slow,” notes Ghadially.” www.schneider-electric.com

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NEWS ANALYSIS

PLANNING

PSN shows decommissioning skills Australia will prepare to decommission economically marginal operations writes Kevin Gomez.

SKILLS: Decommissioning requires superior planning capabilities says Matt Gavin, PSN general manager Australia.

DECOMMISSIONING projects require meticulous study, planning, engineering and approval prior to execution. The lead time to execution is quite often long and needs to be factored into considerations well before the asset reaches the end of its service life.

“Given the age of assets and the gradual depletion of older fields in Australia it is expected that preparation for decommissioning of economically marginal operations will begin to increase in the coming years,” says Matt Gavin, PSN general manager Australia.

PSN has been awarded a contract by Shell UK (Shell), acting on behalf of itself and Esso Exploration and Production UK (Esso), for work on the Brent oil and gas field in the UK North Sea. “One critical skill for any contractor managing a decommissioning project is superior planning capabilities,” notes Gavin. “When assets are ‘destructed’ the work environment changes rapidly, for example escape routes change as kit and structures are removed and significant volumes of debris must be cleared from the work site.” A thorough planning process is required to manage these challenges successfully. Unlike during construction where there is a pre-determined erection sequence, during decommissioning more contingencies must be planned for from the outset, recognising all the constraints that working on an asset that is probably more than 50 years old may impose.

“In addition, the hazards (such as sludge, asbestos and other elements) can be uncovered in the process and must be dealt with in orderly and safe manner and with absolute professionalism and rigour,” Gavin told PACE. The general skills of integrated planning and dynamic safety management involved in decommissioning are extensions of what many contractors operating in Australia currently do. “However, Australia has

very few contractors who are focused on the brownfield side of the market. I believe it is an essential requirement for any successful decommissioning contractor to have an established pedigree in brownfield works, as this gives the asset owner confidence that the contractor has the requisite skills to work in confined spaces, on pressurised systems, with toxic materials,” says Gavin.

PSN’s Shell contract is for the decommissioning services on the Brent Delta platform topsides. PSN will provide services including integrity management; module, process and utility separation; safe shutdown; hydrocarbon cleaning; disconnections and preparation for removal of the topsides. Offshore work is expected to begin around late 2011 as part of the initial stages of Brent Delta decommissioning.

The regulations for decommissioning in Australia are broadly consistent to those that operate in the UK. “However, as the requirement for offshore decommissioning is more current in the UK, the regulations are generally more bedded down in the UK in this space,” notes Gavin.

Elements relating to the regulatory system for decommissioning works in Australia include the Petroleum (Submerged Lands) Act as well as the relevant sections of environmental regulation of sea dumping and biodiversity. In addition there are Australia’s international commitments, such as the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea and the guidelines provided by the International Marine Organisation. The UK shares many of these international responsibilities. “A difference is that the UK also faces obligations as a party to the Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment of the NorthEast Atlantic – the ‘OSPAR Convention’,” says Gavin. www.psnworld.com

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OCTOBER 2010 www.pacetoday.com.au 9

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OPINION

SAFETY OUTLOOK

Gas detection

See Through The Wall with ultrasonic level switches.

Probe Inlet Liquid level

Upgrade to intelligent toxic gas detectors, writes Allen Avery.

I

N the wake of several high profile industrial accidents, and against the background of an aging in-stalled base and a shrinking workforce, owner/operators in Australia’s mining, refining, petrochemicals, and other process industries should consider upgrading and modernising the toxic and combustible gas detection equipment installed in their mines and their plants. Replacing older conventional devices with safety integrity level (SIL)rated, intelligent detectors will help to increase visibility of toxic gas data across the organisation, improve reliability due to powerful self-diagnostic capabilities, and streamline device configuration and calibration. While replacing older, yet still functional, equipment may seem counterintuitive – particularly in the current challenging economic environment – the need for reliable toxic and combustible gas detection equipment remains, and safety and environmental regulations will not be relaxed any time soon. Modern intelligent gas detectors can improve both plant safety and environmental compliance.

Several trends will drive adoption of intelligent toxic gas detectors in new facilities and for replacing older conventional devices that have been in service for years. Among these are a need for visibility into toxic gas emissions data, stricter government regulations, the ability to remotely validate and diagnose sensors and transmitters to increase reliability and as a response to the transitioning work-force, and the increasing demand for SIL-rated devices in plants.

Stricter enforcement Smart transmitter sales will outpace sales of conventional and low-cost devices, as users seek to utilise recent technological advances to improve visibility into plant safety and device diagnostics. There is also an increasing requirement to archive toxic gas emissions data and alarms, to meet regulatory requirements, and for potential litigation by plant employees.

This will fuel demand for transmitters that incorporate powerful onboard diag-

Several trends will drive adoption of intelligent toxic gas detectors in new facilities and for replacing older conventional devices that have been in service for many years. nostics capabilities and use digital communication protocols.

To comply with increasingly tough safety and environmental regulations, owner/operators will need to revisit their safety and gas emissions strategies, assessing the efficacy and reliability of their safety systems and gas detection equipment. This will drive investment in safety systems and toxic gas detectors to mitigate the risk of catastrophic events.

Gas detectors are on the front line, warning of hazardous gas emissions before they reach crisis levels. As such, there will be a greater emphasis on deploying devices with greater sensitivity and coverage, and installing several types of detectors to ensure redundancy and overlapping coverage, should any one detector fail.

The sharper focus on safety in the wake of a number of high-profile accidents and an increase in regulatory scrutiny have helped to drive the adoption of reliable SIL-rated transmitters for safety instrumented systems to mitigate the risk of catastrophic events. Toxic and combustible gas detectors are an integral part of safety instrumented systems.

Many leading gas detector suppliers offer safety integrity level SIL-rated transmitters, including Dräger, General Monitors, Honeywell, Indus-trial Scientific, and Sierra Monitors. Sensor validation and diagnostic monitoring capabilities for generating an audit trail are important to the effectiveness of the entire safety system.

The adoption of wireless field devices

by process industry users will continue to affect the dynamics of the market for toxic gas detectors. Although wireless gas detectors still only represent a small percentage of the overall toxic gas detector market, the wireless market is poised for strong growth over the next five years period. Wireless technology allows users to install field devices in new measurement points that were previously not feasible due to the high cost of wiring. This is particularly true for hazardous or inaccessible areas.

With wireless gas detectors, users can easily and economically expand the coverage of their toxic and combustible gas detection systems.

Ageing installed base The installed base of conventional gas detection equipment is ageing. Every year, more and more units reach the end of their lifecycle, requiring replacement. Companies are replacing conventional transmitters with the more capable smart transmitters that provide key enabling technology for data visibility, giving users access to diagnostic functionality and reducing requirements for manual calibration.

Ironically, with each passing year, there are fewer plant personnel to protect, given the retirement boom, leaving fewer technicians to manage and maintain plant assets, including gas detection equipment. Arguably, relying on older detectors that do not incorporate the latest diagnostic capabilities and digital communication protocols puts the plant and surrounding areas in greater jeopardy.

While gas detection equipment can function for decades, the sensors they use to detect gas must be periodically calibrated, and it cannot be easily ascertained if a detector or sensor has failed.

Many new intelligent gas detectors can calibrate themselves, diagnose potential problems, and generate alerts automatically, with a minimum of human intervention.

[Allen Avery (AAvery@arcweb.com) is an Analyst at ARC Advisory Group.]

Probe

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PRICAM AUTOMATION PTY LTD Melbourne, Australia P: 03 9532 2235 sales@pricam.com F: 03 9532 2236 www.pricam.com OCTOBER 2010 www.pacetoday.com.au 11

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CONVERSATION

PRODUCTIVITY

APC in secondary mining Andrew Sia talks up advanced process control which can improve plant yield. By Kevin Gomez.

How do you define secondary mining and what are some of the key processes that are employed?

Secondary mining is defined as the processing of material within a mining operation. Mineral processing or smelting would be regarded as secondary mining. We’re assuming here that the regulatory control, which is the minimal standard for these plants, is in place. So you would typically have a DCS or a loop controller executing PID control, providing the regulatory control. In addition, to satisfy advanced regulatory and supervisory control, you would adopt advanced process control (APC).

Processing plants are typically high yield and there’s a certain efficiency rate in terms of converting ore or raw product into a useable product. For advanced process control you mix and match dead time compensation, constraint control, multi-variable cascading, gain scheduling, fuzzy and feed forward and several other techniques to improve plant throughput and yield.

What are the benefits of APC? APC can improve throughput and yield. In a typical application, you would be able to increase throughput from about five to 10 per cent. Obviously it could be a lot higher if the plant is in a very poor state as far as its throughput is considered. From our experience with mining companies in Australia, yield increases in the five to 10 per cent range are realistic. As far as dollars are concerned, it varies, but gains of $10 million to $20 million are feasible. In most cases, the typical payback time could be six months to a year. This is a key consideration for companies seeking to invest in this area.

Does the solution vary across sites?

No two applications or processes are identical. If you check out several process control loops for example, one may use fuzzy logic control, another may use cascade control only and the third could use feed-back control.

It depends on the base – the state of the regulatory control. To ensure a successful implementation, all the control elements such as instrumentation and valves have to work well and be in a good condition. It is only after that that you can implement advanced process control well and derive the full benefit.

What’s preventing more companies from implementing APC? It really comes down to skill set availability. The challenge for us, in Australia, is to have people who are very familiar with their industry, their application and who also know process control theory. Within Australia, there would only be a small community with the extremely advanced level of knowledge and competency 12 www.pacetoday.com.au OCTOBER 2010

BENEFITS: An APC solution was implemented for the SAG mill at WA’s Gold Fields St Ives gold mine.

required to design, build and run the systems with the tools available.

However, with the tools becoming more generic and intuitive, the situation is getting better. You no longer have to be a PhD or a metallurgist or an expert in control to be able to use them, as the tools are often standard “out-of-the–box”. But if you ask me why there aren’t more of these, I’d say end users may be restricted by their level of knowledge and business risk to actually operate these systems onsite. There are plenty of people implementing process control and able to design systems, but there are few that combine control principles with process application and tie that into APC technology to produce tangible business results.

Who caters for APC in Australia?

There are a few specialists, such as Manta Controls who is also a systems integrator and implements advanced process control solutions. But very few other companies specialise in this area. Rockwell Automation has the ability to provide advanced process control through systems integrators or internal specialist resources, which highlights the flexibility of our business. One such example was a solution provided via Manta on the St Ives gold mine. I would say Australia is at the forefront of APC technology. While it’s good we have incountry knowledge and expertise, my lament is that we have so few experts. Fortunately, Adelaide-based Manta Controls does provide training in this particular area and is one of the very few in the region to do so.

Can APC be used in other industries?

APC is applicable across a variety of industries, not just in mining. Personally, I’ve worked on chemical and oil & gas APC applications, and they have been successful.

Other industries could definitely benefit from the technology. Till recently, advanced process control was treated as a black box which could only be understood and manipulated by so called propeller heads or PhDs who implemented very complex algorithms. People tended to shy away because of the expertise required.

But the situation is changing. For example, the Rockwell Automation PlantPAx system does have outof-the-box functionality that is rather straightforward to implement. The configuration software allows you to easily drag and drop boxes to create fuzzy control blocks, a cascade loop or dead time compensation.

System simulation and analysis is also made easy by the advances in processing power of modern day computing. Moreover, it’s becoming quite inexpensive.

We used to see price tags of $100,000 and even going up to $300,000, to implement such solutions. With these tools, we’re talking only several thousand dollars and this could see the number of implementations grow, given of course there are people willing to learn and deliver quantifiable business results.

[Andrew Sia is Rockwell Automation Business Development Manager, Process Solutions, South Pacific.]

Rockwell Automation 03 9896 0300 www.rockwellautomation.com.au

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OPINION

IICA NEWS & VIEWS

Keep up with technology Training can help writes Dirk Kuiper.

T

HE IICA Event Booking Form for 2011 will be released early October for next year’s events. Each year, a number of events are available including Table Top Exhibitions, Symposia, ISA Training Courses and a Promotion Booth at National Manufacturing Week.

IICA Table Top Exhibitions are a cost effective way for companies involved in the instrumentation, control & automation areas to showcase their products to a range of people from managers and engineers to apprentices and students.

IICA Table Tops are run Australiawide in capital cities and regional areas providing a one-stop shop and are an economical way to access prospective customers in a relaxed environment over a drink or refreshments. Table Top Entry for visitors is free. For exhibitors, various booking rates are applicable dependant on the type of IICA membership, the number of events booked and the applicable early bird discount.

Non members are encouraged to join to take advantage of the discounts for IICA members. A saving can be made on booking for just one event.

Each year, a topic of interest is chosen for the IICA Symposia which are run Australia wide. Expert speakers keep IICA members and others up to date with the latest in technology and regulations. Continuous education is essential in any career path and the IICA strongly believes this is part of its mandate. In conjunction with the ISA and others, IICA offers a variety of practical training courses. All instructors are ISA approved. The IICA/ISA professional development training courses and symposia may be recognised by Engineers Australia in accordance with their CPD Policy Guidelines.

National Manufacturing Week is being held in Melbourne 24 -27 May 2011 and the IICA will be under the banner of Process Control & Instrumentation (formerly known as ICEX). Larger companies are encouraged

Andrew Sia, BDM Process Solutions Rockwell Automation

Process control gets made-over by new generation DCS

W

HERE distributed control systems (DCS) have traditionally been the system-of-choice for process control, and programmable logic controllers (PLCs) the preferred method for achieving discrete control, there is now a new generation of DCS that blur these accepted boundaries. Delivering both process and high-speed discrete control functionality, these new architectures look set to change the way industry addresses business-wide challenges of control and data management.

Continuous education is essential and the IICA strongly believes this is part of its mandate.

to invest in a separate booth to take advantage of the space on offer. The IICA Promotion Booth is a great way for smaller companies to access the large number of attendees at an affordable rate.

Do keep an eye on your inbox for the IICA 2011 Event Booking Form or on the Events page of the IICA website at www.iica.org.au. A sliding scale of discounts is available for companies that book and pay in full by 1 February 2011. Bookings can be made early with payment dates scheduled closer to the time of the event. No discounts apply in this case. Discounts do not apply to the IICA Promotion Booth as this is already a special rate for IICA Members.

[Dirk Kuiper is the IICA President and General Manager of AMS Instrumentation & Calibration.]

The new-generation DCS is a bundled, pre-configured and tailored solution, comprising a multidisciplinary process automation controller, advanced production/performance software, and integrated visualisation/HMI and integration of third-party systems. Thus, the ‘DCS experience’ is achieved, while maintaining the flexibility, modularity and the scalability of openstyle architectures. This allows discrete, motion, drive, safety and process control to be achieved from a single operating platform.

In contrast, legacy DCS systems are limited in functionality and commonly rely on parts which are increasingly becoming obsolete.

The situation is made more difficult by traditional DCS vendors commonly retaining their engineering services in-house, resulting in ongoing requirements for vendor assistance to ensure adequate maintenance throughout the life of the system.

As legacy DCS systems approach the end of their usable life and need replacing, companies face the challenge to find sufficient production downtime to implement these complex upgrades.

PlantPAx—a new-generation DCS from Rockwell Automation— offers hardware options to interface with a wide variety of legacy DCS systems. The available software tools facilitate the efficient conversion of application code from most known legacy DCS systems and minimises production downtime.

For more information, visit: www.rockwellautomation.com

IICA 1300 781 715 www.iica.org.au OCTOBER 2010 www.pacetoday.com.au 13

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IN FOCUS

Opt for more efficient flotation cells One of the most important process operations in a mining concentrator is the flotation cell area. The concentrator’s profitability is largely attributable to this stage of the process, writes Marie Osterskog.

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OST older flotation cells use a displacement float below the froth layer to measure the pulp height.

Pulp height is an important process measurement, used to ensure that liquid pulp is not allowed to overflow to the launders. If pulp overflows, the flotation cell ceases to function effectively, and this is very costly to the process. The displacement float technique is limited in performance in a variety of ways: the float may at times stick, slurry builds up on the float mechanism changing the effective specific gravity tracked and they are affected by high agitation.

Hawk has developed a very low frequency acoustic wave transmitter that is non intrusive and will penetrate the froth to measure the pulp height. The Hawk sensor is mounted above the froth and pulp height, so it has no maintenance or mechanical problems. Typically the transmitter can be mounted at walkway height for easy serviceability.

The low frequency level transmitter can be supplied ready for connection to the typical 2 wire loop power supply used for the displacement float transmitter which it is replacing. Remote mounted transmitters are also an option.

As an option, Hawk offers a nonintrusive transmitter to measure the froth height. Continuous measurement of the froth height, provided as feedback

PERFORMANCE: If pulp overflows, the flotation cell ceases to function effectively and this can be costly to the process. to the control loop for the inlet ‘Dart Valve’, allows a floatation cell to maintain constant overflowing of froth to the launder, even when the ore body type may produce variations to frothing consistency. Small changes in the pulp height to keep the froth overflowing at all times will increase the efficiency of the flotation cell and consequently increase profitability. Hawk transmitters will reliably measure froth height, even when froth density changes.

A third type of transmitter to measure relative froth density is also offered. Higher density froth will have greater entrainment of mineral going over the launder. Currently, density measurement is not widely used due to the degree of difficulty in making an effective online density measurement in each flotation cell. Bubbler type pressure transmitters have been commonly used, though they have high maintenance costs due to their intrusive installation.

A non intrusive transmitter that penetrates partly through the froth gives an output proportional to density. Data from the froth height transmitter is used with the froth penetration (density) information. Monitoring of the deviation between froth height and froth penetration allows the control system to track relative froth density – all non intrusively. Relative density data can be used to actively control density through a feedback loop, regulating forced air flow into the flotation cell. Air input is currently largely controlled manually by onsite operators.

The low frequency transmitters require no maintenance due to their self cleaning nature. The high powered acoustic wave being transmitted will automatically clean the sensor face with every measurement pulse. Self cleaning minimises build-up on the sensor facing which would otherwise prevent the sensor from measuring accurately. Build-up is a significant problem in the mining industry due to the dirty nature of materials being handled, and the presence of moisture and dust in the environment.

[Marie Osterskog is Market Communication Manager, Hawk Measurement Systems.]

Hawk Measurement Systems 03 9873 4750 www.hawk.com.au

1300-132-566 www.turck.com.au

OCTOBER 2010 www.pacetoday.com.au 15

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BEHIND THE SCENES

Optimising Fieldbus installation Bio-fuel production plants seek advanced automation technology to reduce raw material costs, increase yields, comply with regulatory standards and maximise revenue write Tim Wilson and Jeff Marsh.

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BENGOA Bioenergy recently commissioned a greenfield ethanol production plant in Ravenna, Nebraska. This facility has an ethanol production capacity of 333 million litres per year and is one of the largest dry mill ethanol plants in the US. In Abengoaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s dry mill process, corn starch is hydrolysed into sugar and then fermented into alcohol. The major steps in the dry mill operation are milling, liquefaction, saccharification, fermentation, distillation, dehydration and denaturing. The company enlisted Fru-Con to handle plant design, project planning, procurement and construction, while FeedForward was awarded the contract

FIG 1: The fieldbus system infrastructure reduces the amount and complexity of wiring throughout a plant.

for control system design and installation.

Due to the lack of control that ethanol producers have over the market price for its products and raw materials, Abengoa needed to tightly control its own plant operations to produce consistently high yield, while minimising the consumption of energy and raw materials. Abengoa challenged its project team to achieve the lowest total cost of plant ownership through automation and integration from an operational and maintenance standpoint. It also wanted the control systems to provide reliable operation and a low cost of ownership over the life of the installed assets.

Plant optimisation required an advanced automation architecture

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connecting â&#x20AC;&#x153;smartâ&#x20AC;? field instrumentation into a Distributed Control System (DCS) using digital networks with a high degree of diagnostics and troubleshooting information.

After considering alternative solutions for plant enterprise automation, Abengoa decided upon Yokogawaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Centum CS3000 DCS. This system enables true distributed control throughout the ethanol plant. It distributes control strategies to field instruments, enables flexible device networking, and allows free access to the process and devices by system software.

The system employs the Foundation Fieldbus H1 protocol for use with analogue devices, and AS-i bus with a Profibus-DP gateway for all motor control centres (MCCs). Foundation Fieldbus is an all-digital, two-way communications system interconnecting interoperable field equipment from different suppliers, such as sensors, actuators and controllers, on a single network (see Fig 1). The protocol transmits multiple variables, including device

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Ethanol producers need solutions which enable a quick ramp-up from installation to operation of the control system.

identification information, reducing process variability. It allows collection and transmission of robust instrument diagnostics, enabling remote configuration and asset management, reducing unnecessary shutdowns and improving safety and regulatory compliance.

Modern fieldbus-based process control systems reduce capital expenses and operating expenses by eliminating wiring and providing more information from field instruments. Despite its advantages, installation involves additional considerations over and above 420mA systems. The physical layer needs > to be protected against short

SMART: TrunkGuard device couplers provided fully automatic fieldbus segment termination.

OCTOBER 2010 www.pacetoday.com.au 17

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BEHIND THE SCENES

circuits, improper termination and other problems which can adversely affect system performance and reliability.

Power conditioning is important, and proper termination is needed to prevent communication errors through uncontrolled signal reflections.

It has been estimated that wiring malfunctions are responsible for about 90% of the challenges on fieldbus projects. Bad termination, short circuits, interference and inadequate earthing are the biggest causes of performance and reliability problems, especially during start-up and commissioning.

Without correct connection of wiring and field devices, any anticipated return on investment from fieldbus technology can be wiped out. Technical complications arising from incorrect connection and termination can delay the setting up of a plant, resulting in a longer period needed to recoup operational savings. As such, upfront engineering is key to the success of any fieldbus project.

Short circuits can be caused by main-

SNAPSHOT

RELIABLE OPERATIONS

FIG 2: Device couplers utilising fold-back active spur protection automatically remove the faulted device from the segment.

tenance technicians jostling the cables, weakened connections due to corrosion, and vibration from pumps and motors, which can loosen cables and connectors.

Engineers designing fieldbus systems are faced with incorporating some form of spur short-circuit protection, which may

be either active or passive in design.

One option is the “current limiting” approach which restricts the amount of power short-circuits can draw to between 40 and 90mA. However, it holds the fault on the segment continuously. The additional current draw can also deprive other instruments on the segment of power, overload the segment power supply, and cause an entire segment to have a catastrophic failure.

Industrial plants can avoid many fieldbus physical layer problems by specifying the latest generation of device couplers with automatic segment terminators and short-circuit protection.

These devices, such as MooreHawke’s TrunkGuard system, simplify fieldbus installation and reduce the time required to install and troubleshoot devices in the field. They also have short circuit protection utilising a “fold-back” technique.

Fold-back technique The system automatically removes the faulted device from the segment, and does not permit any current flow to the device until the fault is corrected. The fold-back technique employs a logic circuit on each spur, which detects a short in an instrument, disconnects that spur from the segment, and illuminates an LED visible to maintenance personnel. Multiple short circuits on a segment cannot deprive other instruments of power and cause a complete segment failure, as with conventional device couplers (see Fig 2).

Thus, FeedForward opted to install MooreHawke’s TrunkGuard system on the Abengoa Greenfield plant project.

The system is said to be the first 18 www.pacetoday.com.au OCTOBER 2010

Despite the rising demand for biofuels, the profitability equation for the ethanol industry is negatively impacted by inefficiencies in production processes. An individual ethanol producer has little influence on the market price it receives for the product it ships, and little control over the price of feedstock and natural gas. What ethanol producers can do – must do – is tightly control their own plant operations, and thereby produce consistently high yield, while minimising the consumption of energy and raw materials. Engineers continuously face new challenges when designing fieldbus segments, which potentially can be brought down by a single short. Most process plants cannot afford an unexpected shutdown that would immediately affect their bottom line.

Foundation Fieldbus and Profibus physical layer solution providing fully automatic fieldbus segment termination.

The device segments were installed utilising MooreHawke field device couplers, redundant fieldbus power supplies and segment power conditioners. FeedForward says TrunkGuard provided seamless connection with the Yokogawa DCS. The control system’s H1 cards connected directly to the power conditioner boards, eliminating the need to manually wire each fieldbus segment. The TrunkGuard solution also expedited unit start-up at the Abengoa facility by providing increased fieldbus status information. Green and red LEDs on device couplers helped technicians determine if there was proper voltage on the fieldbus spurs. The indicator lights also showed whether terminators had been applied at specific device couplers.

The auto-termination capability assures local parts of a segment will continue to function even if remote parts of the segment are accidentally disconnected, preventing costly downtime and hazardous situations.

[Tim Wilson is chief operating officer Abengoa Bioenergy and Jeff Marsh is senior project manager FeedForward.]

Moore Industries 02 8536-7200 www.miinet.com/au

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IN FOCUS

PID control design made easy Systematically finding the set of gains that ensures the best performance of your control system is a complex task write Murad Abu-Khalaf, Rong Chen and Arkadiy Turevskiy.

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UNING a PID controller appears easy, requiring you to find just three values: proportional, integral, and derivative gains.

In fact, safely and systematically finding the set of gains that ensures the best performance of your control system is a complex task. Traditionally, PID controllers are tuned either manually or using rulebased methods.

Manual methods are iterative and time-consuming, and if used on the hardware, can cause damage. Rulebased methods also have serious limitations: they do not support certain types of plant models, such as unstable plants, high-order plants, or plants with little or no time delay.

In addition to tuning, PID control involves design and implementation challenges, such as discrete-time implementation and fixed-point scaling.

Using a four-bar linkage system as an example, >

20 www.pacetoday.com.au OCTOBER 2010

MODEL: (L-R) Four-bar linkage. The plant model. The PID controller. Tune the controller.

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IN FOCUS

this article describes a method that simplifies and improves the design and implementation of PID controllers.

This method is based on two R2009b product features: the PID Controller blocks in Simulink and the PID tuning algorithm in Simulink Control Design.

time form, and the gains and calculated signals must be scaled accordingly.

Tuning the controller

Control design goals Four-bar linkage (Figure 1) is used in a wide range of applications, including car suspensions, robot actuators and aircraft landing gears.

The control system consists of two elements: feedforward control and feedback PID control.

Feedforward control inverts plant dynamics – it handles the major motion of the mechanism by taking into account the nonlinear behaviour.

Feedback PID control keeps positioning errors small in the face of modelling uncertainties and external disturbances.

This article focuses on the design of feedback PID control.

The PID controller (Figure 2) takes

22 www.pacetoday.com.au OCTOBER 2010

CONTROL: (L-R) Simulating the nonlinear model. Setpoint tracking response.

the error signal between the desired and actual rotation angle of one of the links and creates a torque request.

This request is added to the torque request from the feedforward controller, and the sum signal is used to drive a DC motor that actuates rotation of the joint

connecting the links.

The controller must stabilise the operation of the plant. It must also provide fast response time and little overshoot. Because the controller will be implemented on a fixed-point processor with 16 bits, it needs to be in discrete-

The plant model consists of a four-bar linkage mechanism modelled in SimMechanics and a DC motor modelled in SimElectronics (Figure 3).

To create the controller architecture shown in Figure 2, we simply add a discrete-time PID Controller block from the Simulink Discrete library. With the closed-loop system configured, we are ready to tune the controller.

To do that, we open the PID Controller block dialog, specify controller sampling time, and press “Tune” (Figure 4) to open the PID Tuner GUI. Before displaying the GUI, Simulink Control Design linearises the plant at the current operating point and derives the linear time invariant (LTI) plant model seen by the PID Controller block in this feedback control loop.

Computational delay associated with sampling is automatically taken into

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account. Using an automatic tuning method, Simulink Control Design then generates the initial gains of the PID controller. This tuning method imposes no limits on plant order or time delay, and it works in both continuous and discrete time domains.

Figure 5 shows the setpoint tracking response of the closed-loop system with this initial PID design. If the controller performance is satisfactory, we press “Apply” to update the values of P, I, D, and N gains in the PID Controller block dialog. We can then test the performance of our design by simulating the nonlinear model and looking at the results (Figure 6). We can also tune our design interactively using a simple slider to make the controller faster or slower (Figure 5, bottom).

Prepare for implementation To prepare the controller for implementation on a 16-bit microprocessor we scale it for the fixed-point arithmetic supported by the chip. Using “Data Types” tab in the block dialog, we apply

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CODE: (L-R) PID controller block with double-precision values. Settings for fixed-point design.

the settings required for fixed-point design (Figure 7). Obtain these settings automatically using the Fixed-Point Tool in Simulink. We then run the simulation using fixed-point settings to verify that the fixed-point design results closely

match the results we obtained when the controller gains and signals were implemented as double-precision values.

Generating production code With the PID controller prepared for

implementation, the final step is to use Real-Time Workshop Embedded Coder to generate C code (Figure 8). To test this code, we replace the PID Controller block with the generated C code and run the code in closed-loop simulation.

We can do that by using Real-Time Workshop Embedded Coder to automatically create a Simulink block that invokes the generated C code.

We can now run the simulation using the C code that will run on the actual processor. Simulation shows that the generated code produces results that closely match the results obtained with our PID Controller block with doubleprecision values (Figure 9). We can now deploy this code to the processor and start controlling our four-bar linkage in real time.

[Murad Abu-Khalaf and Rong Chen are Senior Software Developers; Arkadiy Turevskiy is Technical Marketing Manager – all three are with MathWorks.]

MathWorks 02 8669 4700 www.mathworks.com.au

OCTOBER 2010 www.pacetoday.com.au 23

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BEHIND THE SCENES

Innovative scales keep trains on track An ore-laden 2.4 km long train with 234 cars, five locomotives and a driver weighs 29,500t and needs a unique weighing system so that it can be loaded up accurately and efficiently, writes Peter Newfield.

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VER the last few years Rio Tinto has made several efficiency improvements to its Pilbara rail network.

A key contributor to this success was the optimisation of train loading operations at Yandicoogina.

An essential part of their integrated iron ore production process, Rio Tinto’s rail system directly affects the company's capacity to blend ore to customer specifications. Linking 12 mines with three shipping terminals, this piece of infrastructure is the largest privately owned heavy freight rail network in Australia. Spanning some 1,400 km of track, it is responsible for moving 220 million tonnes of ore from Rio’s Pilbara mine sites through some of the harshest and remote country on the planet to their port facilities in Dampier and Cape Lambert.

Each train is operated by a single driver, and comprises up to 234 ore cars.

A fully loaded train weighs in at around 29,500 tonnes and is about 2.4 km in length. On average, the network’s cycle time is 28 hours with a train movement every 25 minutes along the line. Due to the weight and length of each train, three locomotives are used to pull the load at the front and two to push at the end of the train.

With such an arrangement, the correct loading of the cars is critical.

24 www.pacetoday.com.au OCTOBER 2010

VARIATION: There was a discrepancy between car load weights measured and estimated during train loading operations at the mine site and those measured at the port.

While consistently loading each car with as much iron ore as possible yields optimum network efficiency, it’s important not to exceed the car’s maximum load capacity. Overloading places stress on critical components, causing failures that can lead to train

derailments. On the other hand, under loaded cars represent wasted capacity and poor network efficiency. Lightly loaded cars sandwiched between fully loaded cars can be lifted off the rails also leading to derailments.

Train derailments have a cata-

strophic effect on mining operations because they damage the tracks and depending on where they occur, can halt rail traffic from multiple mine sites to port. Repairing the line after such an incident and getting the train > back on track can take days. If in

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BEHIND THE SCENES

SNAPSHOT

ACCURACY IS KEY The weighing system for each train load out (TLO) is based on two separate Schenck Process MultiRail train scales. The ‘Tare’ scale located on the inbound side of the TLO provides the weight of each empty car heading in for loading. On the outbound side of the TLO is the ‘Gross’ scale that measures the weight of each loaded car as it leaves the load out. The MultiRail electronic modules are connected to PCs that are responsible for logging the car weights. Each car is identified using an RFID tag, and then its empty and loaded weights are logged. The scale PCs are linked to the TLO’s Modicon Quantum PLC via a Modbus TCP/IP Ethernet network. The PLC interprets the weight data and reports back to the operator in real time via the TLO’s SCADA system.

26 www.pacetoday.com.au OCTOBER 2010

the meanwhile, sites can’t load and dispatch their final product, their stock piles reach maximum capacity forcing them to shut down their processing plants and mine production.

Mine to port logistics operations are of such importance to Rio Tinto that in 2008 they launched a major project called ‘Drumbeat’ to optimise the efficiency of their entire supply chain. As part of this strategic project, mine sites were encouraged to improve the speed and accuracy of their train loading operations.

Responding to challenge

PRECISION: The rail car is weighed as it goes over the track scale.

The team at Yandicoogina decided to target a long standing issue responsible for heated debate between the site and port operations. The issue related to a discrepancy between car load weights measured and estimated during train loading operations at the mine site and those measured at the port. The mine operates two train loaders, one had a weighing system with a 2% accuracy, which introduced a variability of around

2.3 tonnes per car. The other relied on a weightometer that provided the weight of ore loaded on each train. This data was then divided by the number of cars to obtain an average weight per car. The port operations on the other hand have a facility to weigh each car individually giving a better indication of the ore weight per car.

Unfortunately, by the time the train

reached the port was weighed and the data fed back to the mine, 24 hours had passed during which another five or six trains had potentially been loaded incorrectly. The end result was that while the site was targeting 116 tonnes of ore per car, they were actually loading anywhere between 110 and 120 tonnes per car and were seldom achieving their target weight. The team realised that the only way to improve their loading accuracy was by weighing the wagons accurately at the point of loading rather than at the port.

A project team was assembled to tackle the problem and identified a number of ways of improving Yandicoogina’s train loading performance. The key was their ability to accurately measure the weight of each car before and after loading and to provide the operator with rapid feedback as to how well he was loading the cars.

Because loading speed was also an important consideration to operational efficiency, weighing had to be accom> plished dynamically while the cars

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The only way to improve loading accuracy was to weigh wagons accurately at the loading point rather than at the port. were moving through the loader.

Working with an external engineering firm, the project team identified two of their existing suppliers that were capable of implementing such a system.

Proposals from both companies were evaluated. The key selection criteria for the system were; accuracy and ease of integration into the existing train loader’s automation system. The team gained management approval for the project’s capital expenditure based on an average gain of one extra tonne of ore per car. Having received the green light from management, the project was handed over to Sang Nguyen, the site’s planning & engineering superintendant

and his team of mechanical, electrical, condition monitoring & process control engineers, for execution.

Implementing the system Nguyen, an electrical engineer with experience in automation and control systems said: “I took the project on myself due to its size, complexity and automation intensive nature.”

Reflecting on the choice of Schenck Process as the system supplier, he notes: “In choosing our supplier, we were looking for a ‘one stop shop’. We needed a partner that could not only supply a weighing system to match our needs, but one that could also provide seamless integration into our existing PLC & Citect SCADA system. Schenck Process was a good choice because they were the OEM that had originally supplied the train load out and associated weighing and automation systems.”

“The fact that MultiRail was already being used successfully in many European ‘Legal - for - Trade’

EFFICIENCY: Weighing has to be accomplished dynamically while the cars move through the loader.

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Project outcomes

applications with an accuracy of 0.5% also made the system appealing to us,” he adds.

System benefits Gerry West, Yandicoogina’s Fixed Plant production superintendant is responsible for the day to day running and efficiency of the mine site’s equipment and processes. West first arrived on site just as the new train scales were being installed and commissioned. He says: “The MultiRail track scale implementation was a very successful part of the Drumbeat project because it delivered on its promises. It has enabled us to control our loading within much tighter limits allowing us to increase the average load per car by two to three tonnes.”

With respect to integration into the overall control system, he says: “I would be surprised if some of our operators can even tell you where the scales are, the integration is so neat.”

West and his team use the new system to collect valuable statistical information that allows them to

TARE SCALE: The PLC interprets the weight data and reports back to the operator in real time via the train load out’s SCADA system. analyse the site’s loading performance and compare it to data measured by the port operations. Before the system was installed, data provided from the port indicated that 13% of their cars were being overloaded. Since the

MultiRail scales have been installed that number has dropped down to less than 5%. Statistics fed back from the port also show that the standard deviation of tonnes per car have improved dramatically.

Rio Tinto’s management discovered that instead of the projected one extra tonne per car, Yandi were able to achieve between two and three extra tonnes per car. This shortened the system payback period to just a few months.

The discrepancies between the estimated tonnes per car loaded at the site and those reported from the port were a major concern for Mark Rodgers, Rio Tinto’s general manager at Yandicoogina.

The last thing that he wanted was for his site to be responsible for a derailment – an event considered on par with the impact of a tropical cyclone.

Commenting on the impact of the project Mark says: “We’re always trying to squeeze out as many tonnes as we can and this system has helped us to achieve that objective.”

[Peter Newfield is Marketing & Technical Support Manager, Schenck Process Australia.]

Schenck Process Australia 02 9886 6800 www.schenckprocess.com.au

OCTOBER 2010 www.pacetoday.com.au 29

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IN FOCUS

Skills shortage is starting to bite Managing skills shortages is a high priority, but industry believes that investing in skilling is a shared responsibility between government, business and individuals, writes Hartley Henderson.

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HERE is growing evidence that skills shortages present a major continuing and escalating threat to the competitiveness and future viability of Australia’s manufacturing industry.

A recent Australian Jobs 2010 report from the federal department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations advises that as the Australian economy strengthens after the global recession, the demand for skilled workers is growing, and that a highly skilled workforce is needed to secure Australia’s economic growth.

Further, the recent National CEO Survey, Skills Shortages: A High Risk Business, undertaken by the Australian Industry Group (Ai Group) and Deloitte, found that skills shortages are an immediate issue of concern to business now and this concern is expected to exacerbate in the medium term. Nearly half of all businesses in the survey are giving the management of skills shortages a high or top priority as major risks are foreseen in relation to production and service delivery.

Ai Group chief executive, Heather Ridout, believes that while skills shortages have never totally gone away, they are set to intensify with a vengeance and are arguably the number one threat to our economic growth.

“While companies learnt painful lessons from past downturns and hoarded their skilled staff, the magnitude of the problem today requires new strategies and renewed effort at a whole new level,” she said.

“Of particular concern is that shortages are intensifying in occupations associated with manufacturing, construction and engineering, which are pivotal to the Australian economy. These occupations are based on skills which have a long development lead time, are in high use across the economy, and whose absence puts industry at high risk.

“Industry considers that managing skills shortages is a high priority, but they also believe that investing in skilling is a shared responsibility between 30 www.pacetoday.com.au OCTOBER 2010

DISMAL: Forty per cent of companies surveyed do not expect to find people with the specialised skills needed.

government, business and individuals.”

The survey revealed that many companies were forced to reduce staff during the downturn, so there is no ‘fat’ to cover skill shortages, while others are concerned about the impact of skilled employees entering retirement over the next few years. Suggested government reforms include additional financial incentives for small businesses, tax breaks for training expenditure, and making trade apprentices more attractive to both individuals and business.

Significant difficulties were experienced in filling vacancies for metal fitters and machinists, engineering professionals, metal casting, forging and finishing trades persons, and structural

steel and welding trades workers. By far the most popular response where a vacancy cannot be filled is to upskill existing staff, followed by outsourcing or sub-contacting the work, or redesigning jobs around available skills.

It was found that 39.7 per cent of companies surveyed expect not to be able to find people with the specialised skills needed for their workplace. For some companies the risk will increase between 2010 and 2015 due to the impact of the ageing workforce.

Strategies being adopted to address current and anticipated skills shortages include implementing a longer term strategy to train the next generation and especially putting effort into apprentices,

Our training system needs to be refocused back to the delivery of vocational skills for jobs in the context of employment. developing a plan to multi-skill by training existing workers, and considering increasing wages and pay for performance to retain skilled workers.

Andrew Rimington, senior manager employment education and training at the Victorian Employers Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VECCI),

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points out that 30 per cent of the workforce is now over the age of 45 years old with developed skill sets fought over by their employers, yet workers younger than 25 years old only account for 17 per cent of the workforce.

“So who is going to fill the gap as the older workers seek retirement, or scale back their work commitments, or exit the workforce altogether? This means there will be a gap in labour supply as well as growing skill shortages across all industry sectors, which will have a particular impact for employers in the manufacturing sector,” Rimington said.

“Many employers have not undertaken an analysis of their business to determine the impact of the aging workforce, and are unaware of future impacts of retirement, occupational capacity restrictions, as well as the need for training and skilling to meet succession planning requirements.

“VECCI participates in the Manufacturing and Engineering Skills Advisory Board (MESAB) and each year the Board completes an economic outlook for its industry sectors. The report for 2010 was compiled in partnership with ACCESS Economics and determined that fitters, toolmakers, aircraft maintenance engineers (avionics and mechanical), and metal fabricators and welders are occupations experiencing a critical skills shortage.

Occupations in continuing demand include boat builders, mechatronics tradespersons, welders, and production and process workers.”

Rimington points out that when looking at the ongoing demand for particular skills, as well as the reducing number of employees in the manufacturing sector, a number of factors need to be considered.

“Survey data and anecdotal feedback indicates that many business operations have restructured and introduced leaner manufacturing processes as well as trimming business costs during the GFC. Also, there is still an apparent trend to move to off-shore production to remain competitive in global markets,” he said.

“Another factor is the introduction of new technology and processes as a means to lift overall productivity, and there has been a considerable increase in using Australian Apprenticeships to increase skill levels of existing workers whilst the overall level of traditional trade apprenticeships has remained static or declined in some sectors.

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While skills shortages have never totally gone away they are set to intensify with a vengeance and are the number one threat to our economic growth.

“An issue here remains the general level of inflexibility of training providers to meet employer requirements. A comment from MESAB that many employers would engage apprentices if providers were more responsive is a concern at a time of growing skill shortages. Restrictions being imposed in terms of particular days or weeks of block release do not necessarily suit employer requirements in meeting production targets.

“The Commonwealth Government, in an attempt to increase the overall training effort, has introduced the Apprentice Kickstart Incentive by way of additional funding support for business owners with less than 200 employees.

The incentive applies for any apprentice under 19 years undertaking a Certificate III or IV in a skills shortage trade occupation (on the National Skills Needs List) and employed before 12 November this year. Employers should take advantage of the additional funding to help them address the looming skills crisis.”

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the needs of the employer and industry in general, and to then ensure that the company actually invests in this training.

“Businesses often account for training within their profit and loss report and therefore see training as an expense. We need to change the mindset so that the upskilling of our workforce is seen as an investment, otherwise we will continue to battle the issue of skill gaps within the manufacturing sector and never be able to move forward.”

Capacity constraint Ian Curry, national projects officer at the Australian Manufacturing Workers’ Union, observes that skills shortages are once again emerging as a serious capacity constraint in the economy and in manufacturing and engineering specifically.

“We believe that the sectors most vulnerable are those dependent on key technical skills associated with engineering planning, design and drafting, and those requiring key engineering trades in fabrication and welding, diesel mechanics, and mechanical maintenance

trades. These generic technical and trade disciplines are, and will continue to be, in high demand across a range of industry sectors and the economy is yet to demonstrate a capacity to gear training to meet replacement rates,” Curry said.

“Our training system needs to be refocused back to the delivery of vocational skills for jobs in the context of employment. More competition in the training sector is not the answer, and the States need to revert to managing their training systems, not just their training budgets. We are concerned about the rash of quick fix fads emerging as solutions, none of which address the key issue; that being the need to give proper attention to the development of sustainable vocational skills through an integrated combination of work and learning, as is found in the traditional apprenticeship/cadetship model.

Ai Group: www.aigroup.com.au AMTIL: www.amtil.com.au AMWU: www.amwu.org.au VECCI: www.vecci.org.au

Skill gaps Shane Infanti, CEO at the Australian Manufacturing Technology Institute (AMTIL), says that the issue of relevant skills for our manufacturing sector continues to be one of high importance.

“As the ageing workforce hits a level where we have more people leaving the industry than we have being attracted to it we will continue to have a shortage of skills. This requires a significant focus to be put into promoting our industry as a potential long term career for our younger generation. Government and industry need to work together to ensure this happens,” Infanti told PACE. “The identification of skill gaps is a slightly different issue. This is where we have a gap between the skill required to perform a job to international standard and the actual skill currently employed.

The solution to this problem is to make sure the relevant training in place meets OCTOBER 2010 www.pacetoday.com.au 31

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Industry Notepad Motor Controls AutomationDirect has partnered with Fuji Electric to offer a complete line of IEC motor controls.

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EDITOR’S CHOICE

SC-E Series Contactor Features • •

up to 75Kw at 480 VAC CSA approval, CE mark, meets JIS and IEC standards.

Models SC-E02-xxx to SC-E4-xxx have3-pole main circuits and come in three sizes with widths of 43 mm, 54 mm, and67 mm.

Models SC-E1-xxx to SC-E7-xxx employ a box terminal structure; allowing wires to be connected directly to the main circuit.

Has a finger-protection terminal structure that prevents the exposure of live parts.

Models SC-E5-xxx to SC-E7-xxx use a SUPERMAGNETTM (ACinput/DC-output operation) for high operating reliability

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Isolated NO and NC contacts can be used with different potentials A high-precision scale for the current adjustment dial enables easy and exact current setting The operating status can be visually checked with ease The relays can be manually tripped. A tripfree mechanism is also provided Base unit can be added to enable separate mounting of the TK-E02, E2, and E3-xxx models

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www.automationdirect.com.au 3N Series Contactor Features •

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Provides higher current and horsepower capabilities than SC-E series. Designed for reliable use in applications requiring constant switching, reduced coil energy consumption, and increased horsepower capabilities.

Available in 154 mm and 169 mm frame widths SUPERMAGNET™ for high operating reliability.

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Scalable remote terminal unit Honeywell’s RC500 Remote Terminal Unit is a modular and scalable controller that integrates with SCADA technology to give industrial manufacturers tighter control of remote operations. The RC500 is designed to withstand harsh environments and is suitable for remote automation needs such as those found in oil and gas applications.

It also can operate using minimal electricity, making it suitable to run on solar power and for providing continuous monitoring of remote, fixed assets.

Honeywell 1800 456 066 www.honeywell.com/ps

Manual Motor Starters (MMS) Circuit breakers for motor use that provide optimal protection by integrating the functions of a molded case circuit breaker and thermal overload relay into a compact unit.

BM3 Series - Rated Current: 0.16 to 32A, 10 to 63A - Short Circuit Current Rating: 100 kA at 240V, 50 kA at 480V, 10 kA at 600V - Widths: 45 mm and 55 mm

Combination Starters The ability to configure combination starters for compact, reliable motor protection by combining a manual motor starter and a magnetic contactor.

AutomationDirect.Com.Au Call Toll free 1800-633-0405 32 www.pacetoday.com.au OCTOBER 2010

Dekoron Wire & Cable’s range for plant operations Dekoron Wire & Cable have developed technology to improve signal transmission, insulation and shielding.

Dekoron Instrumentation Cables are used in plants to transmit information between sensors, analysers and control rooms. Thermocouple extension cables utilise a solid alloy wire conductor in applications requiring precise temperature measurement and control for process plants. Specialty Cables for extreme applications, which include fire resistant, cold weather, dual armour, circuit integrity, armoured fieldbus and zero halogen are also developed and manufactured. Cables with up to 100 conductors or conductor groups and continuous lengths of 3048m are also possible. All conductor groups can be shielded against electromagnetic interference by the use of proper shields and drains. Thermoplastic materials are used for insulation.

Maser Australia 1300 130 722 www.maser.com.au

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Email your product news to pace@reedbusiness.com.au

Meter recognises different load cells The HH4-WT hand held load meter incorporates load cell recognition. Load cells to be used with the HH4WT can be equipped with a memory chip in the connector at the end of the cable. The load cell and instrument are calibrated together and the information is stored automatically into the chip. When a chip equipped load cell is plugged into the HH4-WT, the instrument recognises the information and sets itself up accordingly with calibration and scaling information.

The HH4-WT can also store three sets of calibration information internally. At the push of a button, the display shows the load in the required units. The recognition feature becomes valuable when multiple load cells are installed and need to be checked occasionally.

or decrease fan speed to activate the AVFS. The AVFS will signal a loss of flow and the N.O. SPST output will indicate the detected decrease. For system troubleshooting, the Series AVFS possesses an LED indication to provide local status if the air flow is above (green) or below (red) the set-point.

National Instruments’ Ethernet-based NI CompactDAQ modular data acquisition system combines the ease of use and low cost of a data logger with the performance and flexibility of modular instrumentation. The new NI cDAQ-9188 chassis is designed to hold eight I/O modules for measuring up to 256 channels of electrical, physical, mechanical or acoustic signals in a small (25 by 9 by 9 cm), rugged form factor. With more than 50 different I/O modules to choose from, engineers and scientists can build remote or distributed, high-speed measurement systems using standard Gigabit Ethernet infrastructure.

In addition, NI CompactDAQ simplifies initial setup with zero configuration networking technology and a built-in, Web-based configuration and monitoring utility. NI CompactDAQ uses patented NI Signal Streaming technology to deliver high-bandwidth data over Ethernet to a host computer. NI Signal Streaming provides the ability to maintain bidirectional analogue and digital waveforms continuously over a TCP/IP connection. With NI-STC3 timing and synchronization technology, each chassis also can manage up to seven separate hardware-timed I/O tasks at different sample rates, including analogue I/O, digital I/O and counter/timer operations. The chassis operate in a temperature range of -20 to 55 °C and can withstand up to 30g shock and 3g vibration, making NI CompactDAQ suitable for test applications on the benchtop, in the field or on the production line.

Dwyer Instruments 02 4272 2055 www.dwyer-inst.com.au

National Instruments 1800 300 800 www.ni.com/new_compactdaq

Amalgamated Instrument Co 02 9476 2244 www.aicpl.com.au

Adjustable air velocity flow switch The new series adjustable air velocity flow switch (AVFS) complements the Dwyer Instruments line of thermoanemometer transmitters and handheld instruments. The AVFS is specifically designed to monitor air flow in ducts and provides a 3A contact output to indicate a change or loss of flow. Turn on the fan or air handling unit and adjust the set-point via the potentiometer to show normal status. Then alter a damper

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OCTOBER 2010 www.pacetoday.com.au 33

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EVENTS & EDUCATION

WHAT’S ON

Profibus 'One for all' 13 October, Melbourne profibusaustralia.com.au Instrumentation Back to Basics Seminar 13 October, Perth www.iica.org.au IICA Table Top 19 October, Ingleburn 20 October, Dee Why www.iica.org.au Centum CS3000 Enngineering 8-12 November, Sydney training@au.yokogawa.com EtherNet/IP Design and Configuration 19-20 October, Melbourne www.rockwellautomation.com.au ARC Orlando Forum 7-10 February 2011, Florida www.arcweb.com/res/forumorl

For daily updates visit www.pacetoday.com.au

34 www.pacetoday.com.au OCTOBER 2010

REVIEW

Test and Measurement: Know It All ‘Test and Measurement: Know It All’ Jon S. Wilson, Stuart Ball, Creed Huddleston, Edward Ramsden and Dogan Ibrahim $89.00 This 912-page book is suitable for field application engineers, electronics engineers and communications engineers. There are chapters on: Fundamentals of measurement; Sensors and transducers; Data acquisition hardware and software; Overview of measurement systems; Acceleration, shock and vibration; Flow; Temperature; Pressure; Position; Strain gauges, load cells and

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weighing; Light; Signal processing and conditioning; Interfacing and data communications; Data acquisition software; Scaling and calibration; Synthetic instruments; Real-world measurement applications.

‘Materials for Engineers and Technicians, 5th Edition’ R. Higgins, Bill Bolton $79.95 Offering a comprehensive guide to materials, this fifth edition focuses on applications and selection, reflecting the increased emphasis on this aspect of materials engineering now seen within current vocational and university courses. Materials properties and relevance to particular uses are addressed in detail from the outset, with all subsequent chapters linking back to these essential concepts. Detailed discussion of examples of materials and

additional applications of processes have been incorporated throughout, along with expanded sections addressing the causes of failure and material selection. This title has served a guide to professionals for over 30 years.

You could win one of these valuable engineering textbooks by answering the following simple question: Which book has information on ‘strain gauges’? Email your answer to evin.gomez@reedbusiness.com.au

Both books are available direct from Elsevier Australia Customer Service, 1800 263 951 or customerserviceau@elsevier.com

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