AUGUST 20218 MANUFACTURING TECHNOLOGY INSIGHTSIN MY OPINIONSupervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) is a broad term that can be applied to a variety of control system components and functions as it pertains to manufacturing and process systems. Our focus to today will be on the software layer of a SCADA system that exists between the controller interacting with the field devices and the people who operate the manufacturing systems. There are four major technical functions, graphical representation of automated systems, data storage, and annunciation. Just as important as the technical functions of a SCADA system are the standards used to develop and maintain the system along with key performance indicators (KPIs). Development standards and KPI's represent the bookends that create a robust software platform and drive business objectives.The ability for a SCADA system to monitor and track performance of a manufacturing or process system is key realizing long-term business objectives. Monitoring and reporting on performance does not have to be complex. Your typical SCADA graphic resembles a Piping and Instrumentation Diagram (P&ID), plenty of pressures, speeds, temperatures and status feedback shown on the graphical display. This is useful information when trouble shooting, changing over or starting up a production system. Once that system is running these screens provide more comfort than value. Maintaining the speed of a pump or temperature of a system may be a critical control point for a process, however these individual readings and status points fail to define performance. Performance measurement requires that these standalone values be combined to create a KPI. A KPI can be the rate of production per unit of time, efficiency of fuel used per unit of work done and raw material variance expressed in a unit such as pounds or dollars. There is a high probability that the SCADA system is already monitoring the raw value to create the KPIs, they require only a bit of math to create and some graphical housekeeping to create a place to display them. Place these values in a consistent location across numerous screens and work them into shift transition meetings and continuous improvement efforts. Adding KPIs to a trending graphic can assist in looking at performance over extended periods of time. Corelate KPI's with production logs or at shift change while shift details are fresh to identify what caused performance to drop or soar. The more attention a KPI is given the faster it will improve.By Chris Marinucci, Director Advanced Manufacturing, RambollSupervisory Control & Data Acquisition
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