End-user details
Details withheld at reviewer request
SI details
Name: Ivan Booysen
Designation: Manager IA Delivery
Company: Yokogawa SA
Phone: + 27 (0)11 831 6300
E-mail: [email protected]
Product details
Product name and version: FAST/TOOLS 9.0.2
Vendor: Yokogawa Electric Corporation
Phone: +27 (0)11 831 6300
E-mail: [email protected]
URL: www.yokogawa.com
Application details
Location: Bronkhorspruit, Mpumalanga
Industry: Chemical
Application: Manufacturing
Server OS: N/A
Client OS: N/A
Application statistics
Tag count: Approx 4500
Updates per day: N/A
Front ends: Approx 40 DIO, 160 AIO on one Stardom FCN (Field Control Node)
Licences: 1 * 2500 Bundle Scada Vendor Licence
End–user responses
General
Q: Briefly describe the application including information on any pre-existing control system.
The application was an upgrade from a Texas Instruments PLC system and incorporates the scada to run the plant on semi-auto and to provide trend and Web based capabilities. This 200 I/O point plant was changed over on a weekend with minimal loss of production.
Q: What was the primary motivation for the project?
Complete automation of the process including the bypass of human interference and the elimination of erroneous data recording.
Q: What were the main goals established for the project?
To provide process visualisation and to control batch process parameters.
Licensing, maintenance & support
Q: What upgrade agreements are in place for this application?
None. Upgrades are advised on an ad hoc basis.
Q: How is the after-sales support handled on this particular application?
This is covered by the Annual Assistance Support agreement which includes on-site and remote desktop/telephone support.
System architecture
Q: Is the scada system integrated onto an intranet or the Internet? If so, what level of remote monitoring and control is configured?
The scada operates over an intranet. Five concurrent seats are available for monitoring purposes.
Q: Do you run the scada in conjunction with any third-party application software (Other than MES)?
No.
Management reporting and integration
Q: Does the application include data archiving/historian capabilities with an historical data reporting system?
Yes. The system provides a trending facility that is used for monitoring the plant process. Trends are analysed when required to investigate specific events, plant unrequested shuts and night-shift operations.
Q: Is the system integrated with an MES/ERP or other management reporting or control system? (e.g. Baan, SAP, SYSPRO…)
No.
Q: Have any production benchmarking tools been configured as part of the scada system?
No.
Q: Has any asset management functionality been configured in the application (for software assets, control system assets or for plant assets)?
No.
Q: Are you currently using tablet PCs or mobile phones to interact with the scada system?
No.
End-user conclusion
Q: In the procurement decision making process was the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) considered? If so, what were the primary TCO considerations that influenced the product selection?
The procurement decision was based on a competitive quotation process and system evaluation.
Q: What was the predominant feature (or features) that made you decide to purchase this scada product over all others for this application?
Ease of configuration, Web based and real-time architecture borrowing from proven stable technological DCS functionality, impressive flexibility for a growing plant, trending capabilities and data archiving.
Q: What single feature most impresses you about the product now that it is in operation?
The trending feature.
Q: What impresses you most about the architecture?
System scalability and architecture flexibility that allows the system to scale from as little as 200 I/O all the way to a one million tags.
SI Responses
Project details
Q: Approximately how many man-hours did the scada configuration take?
1020 man-hours.
Q: What human factors were taken into consideration in the HMI design process?
As far as possible the system was designed to bypass human intervention and process interference.
Q: For the graphics devlopment process did you use standard library images, or did you have to draw images from scratch?
The Standard PAS Portfolio image libraries were used.
Q: How would you describe the library of graphic images?
It is very impressive and uses extensive XML technology.
Q: Did you use any ‘special’ images (e.g. photographs, 3D images, specialised dashboards, etc.)?
No.
Q: Did you use any video or multimedia technology used in the application?
No.
Q: What alarm management standards or best practices were adopted in configuring the scada system?
Alarms were configured using the standard ALARM/FAST alarm management module.
Q: What structured processes were followed to determine expected performance under full load, and during abnormal failure conditions?
N/A.
Q: What are the key physical communication layers and communication protocols employed in the system?
N/A.
Q: What levels of redundancy are incorporated in this scada application?
N/A.
Q: What specific custom code or scada scripts were written for this project?
None.
Security and data protection
Q: How have authentication, authorisation and role management been configured?
N/A.
Q: Does the design make provision for a DMZ and firewall segregation of process (scada) network and business networks.
N/A.
Q: What intrusion detection has been incorporated on the plant network(s) on which this scada system exists?
Information withheld by end-user.
Q: What configuration backup and data archive backup methodologies have been adopted?
N/A.
Q: Did you use any integrated or third-party configuration control system for the scada configuration during the engineering of this application?
No.
SI conclusion
Q: How would you rate the ease of use of the historical reporting system?
Very flexible and functional.
Q: What impresses you the most about the engineering/configuration aspects of the product now that it is in operation?
The inclusion of wizards that aid configuration.
Q: What impresses you most about the architecture?
Its flexibility and the ability to support many different configuration possibilities such as Dual or Triple server configurations, redundant networks between the scada system servers and clients and/or between scada systems.
Vendor responses
Product
Q: Vendor comments on product/modules?
The current version of FAST/TOOLS is 9.0.2.
FAST/TOOLS provides a total and integral solution.
Operating systems/VMware
Q: Vendor comments on operating systems
FAST/TOOLS is platform independent supporting Windows, Sun Solaris, Unix and Linux.
Licensing, maintenance & support model
Q: What sort of licensing agreement options are offered?
Licences are based on number of tags.
Q: Are licences sold outright or subject to periodic (e.g. annual) renewal?
Licences are a once-off purchased for a particular version of the software.
Q: What upgrade agreements are offered?
Patches are free, version upgrades are partially covered by an annual product support fee or Maintenance Contract when applicable.
Q: What after-sales offerings iro support and maintenance are available, and which technologies are used to deliver them?
An Annual Support Contract is available, which covers the client for basic hardware and software support. A Maintenance Contract is offered by the Company in order to assist the client in maintaining the system ensuring it will run to its best performance.
Yokogawa also offers the following additional services: Upgrades, performance tuning and cyber security services.
Technology incorporated
Management reporting and integration
Q: What native historical data reporting options are available?
Fully native and extensive historical data reporting functionality is integrated in FAST/TOOLS. Reports can be generated in HTML.
Q: What product specific interface does the product have iro well-known MES packages?
FAST/TOOLS uses XML, OPC and ODBC for external connectivity.
PLC configuration and programming
Q: What capabilities does the scada offer in terms of generation and/or management of PLC configuration files or PLC application code?
This is incorporated in the scada application.
Security and data protection
Q: If the scada system generates application files that are transferred to the PLC, how are Stuxnet style PLC virus attacks prevented?
N/A.
Q: What authentication, authorisation and role management models are available for the runtime environment?
N/A.
Unique selling proposition (USP)
Q: List the top five feature/benefit pairs that contribute to this product’s USP.
* Quick load utilities - Reduces engineering and maintenance effort and cost.
* Low footprint - Provides high performance from COTS hardware.
* No additional licences required for drivers – Cost saving.
* Open platform base – Permits end-user flexibility iro hardware and OS selection.
| Tel: | +27 11 831 6300 |
| Email: | [email protected] |
| www: | www.yokogawa.com/za |
| Articles: | More information and articles about Yokogawa South Africa |
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