September 6 Implementation Chronicles Update

By Control Engineering Staff September 6, 2005

With the devastation left behind in Hurricane Katrina’s wake, work on the SCADA project at the Baton Rouge wastewater facility has obviously come to a halt. Blogger Stan Prutz says the UPS systems, however, have proven their worth. Meanwhile, John Sever, one of the bloggers on the biopharmaceutical filtration automation project, explains how work is progressing with equipment module design and development.

Wastewater SCADA project:
Stan Prutz wrote to us on Monday, Aug. 29, that it would be “a difficult week in Louisiana. As I am writing this, a Category 5 hurricane is passing by and we are without utility power. This appears to be the worst storm in more than 25 years to hit the Gulf Coast. As is the case when a major hurricane appears in the gulf, business life tends to slow as other concerns loom. Therefore, we are not expecting to make much progress on the project this week as people focus on cleanup.”
At the time of Stan’s last post, few would have predicted the developments that have occurred over the past week in Louisiana. How Stan’s project proceeds from here will be interesting to follow—as their project in upgrading the Baton Rouge wastewater facility is likely to take on added importance in light of the influx of refugees from New Orleans.
To get the full details on this project, view the weekly blog updates here .
To view the introductory article explaining this project, click here .

Biopharmaceutical filtration automation project:
Work continues on equipment module design in parallel with equipment module development. John Sever writes that: “We expect to complete the first pass design on all equipment modules by next week. The design will then be given to the customer for review. Again, we have been developing equipment module code without an approved design document to stay aligned with the project schedule.”

John also provides insight into recent project developments around the design for equipment status software based on requirements of biotech applications for exacting cleanliness standards. Equipment internals must be cleaned and sterilized after each batch. A new batch cannot be started unless there is a high degree of confidence that the process is free of foreign material and microorganisms. Manufacturing instructions often instruct the operator to verify a piece of equipment is marked CLEAN or STERILE or some other such status before proceeding with the instructions. “We are implementing this functionality through a control module called a unit status controller (USC) that provides a logical status for any piece of equipment that may have a unique and independent status.”
To get the full details on this project, view the weekly blog updates here .
To view the introductory article explaining this project, click here .