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TiPS Newsletter - November 2006

TiPS User Conference: April 17-19, 2007 Austin, TX

SAVE THE DATE!.

The TiPS User Conference will teach you how to "tame your control room" this April 17-19, 2007, in Austin, TX. The conference agenda will cover control and personnel strategies for transforming control rooms into finely tuned command centers that de-stress operations and enable better business performance.

The conference, held in conjunction with ExperTune, covers such topics as holistic alarm management, plant situation awareness, and control loop performance tuning. Focal to the conference is the avoidance of and recovery from process disruptions. Expect more information very soon!

Make room on your calendar for us!

How Does Zero Process Alarms Sound?

A core tenet of alarm management is improving the ability of operators to successfully react to an abnormal trend prior to an alarm.

That may seem strange to say that managing alarms is about preventing them in the first place. When you consider that alarms are (or should be) indications of an undesired process disruption, you start to get the idea. In many cases, the most productive operating state is right on the edge of the alarm/abnormal threshold. Actually, if you give operators good enough information and control, you can push that threshold and increase productivity.

Striving for zero alarms isn't about operating so conservatively that you never infringe on normal limits. It's about using alarm activations as an indicator of production opportunity, and tuning the entire operating environment to allow operators to safely and successfully approach the alarm envelope without crossing the line.

Some say that a plant that operates with zero alarms isn't being pushed. We say change your measurement. Change your performance indicator. Measure operator actions instead. The gap between automated control and the true operating envelope is in the hands of your operators. The better they are equipped, the closer you come to truly optimized operations.

Instead of fixating on alarms, look for the underlying reasons they have become a problem. You may find that the alarm system has become the crutch for ineffective graphics or inadequate training. Once the alarm system is properly designed, other sources of information (better console graphics, improved ergonomics, updated training, etc.) should be in place to prompt action prior to an alarm.

What do you think? Talk Back!: http://www.alarmmanagement.com/Topic22-7-1.aspx

Visit TiPS at the 2006 Invensys Conference in Dallas

Come see us and talk about alarm management.