System integrators are there to solve automation problems by providing the time, talent, and technology required to turn a plan into a completed project
System integrators are in business to solve automation problems by providing the time, talent, and technology required to turn a plan into a completed project. When a manufacturing company is ready to expand its production systems or upgrade its processes, where should it turn? How can it know if a system integrator can help?
One place to turn for answers is the Control System Integrators Association (CSIA), a group of independent, professional service providers who use hardware, software, and communications products to offer industry clients the best choices for control and information system integration. According to CSIA, system integrators design and implement sophisticated control systems for end users in manufacturing, process, and other industrial facilities.
Their knowledge of engineering, information technology, and business enables them to automate manufacturing and processes from the plant floor to the enterprise level. Automation helps manufacturers reduce cost and energy use, and increase production, while lowering environmental impact.
Both articles in this issue are from system integrators. The cover story describes two case studies involving water/wastewater treatment plants. The first project involved replacing programmable logic controllers (PLCs), converting protocols, and upgrading supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) system hardware and software. The second project involved PLC consolidation and a SCADA software upgrade. And of course, both projects were successful.
The second article explains how end users, insurance companies, system manufacturers, standards organizations, and government agencies can identify how a process safety system is to be designed, operated, and maintained over its lifecycle. It lists the key codes and standards applicable to the process industries and offers perspective regarding the compliance of legacy systems.
This article appears in the Applied Automation supplement for Control Engineering and Plant Engineering.
– See other articles from the supplement below.
