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ECS Solutions has acquired the assets of HTI Inc. of Horse Branch, KY

ECS Solutions, Inc. founded in 1977, and dedicated to performance improvement and innovation in batch manufacturing, has acquired the assets of HTI Inc. of Horse Branch, Kentucky. HTI Inc was founded in 1996 with a primary focus on serving Water and Wastewater municipal customers. The company specialized in water and wastewater plant process control design, implementation, and related services. The company was known for its expertise in remote “telemetry” solutions, utilizing multiple communications platforms such as Narrowband radio communications, spread spectrum radio communications, ISP, and Cellular networks. HTI offered PLC-based process controls, SCADA/HMI development, and provided and maintained process measurement and online water quality analytical instrumentation.

“ECS is very excited about this partnership with HTI. We have looked at the Kentucky market as a vibrant, growing industrial area. With HTI’s established local presence, ECS can augment their existing skills with increased capacity and a specialized skillset in batch process automation. Together we can better serve this geography and the Water/Wastewater market.” said Randy Otto, ECS Solutions CEO.

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Embedded Engineers as Trusted Advisors

The legacy walls between areas and disciplines inside of a manufacturing plant have melted away, leaving behind a complex, inter-woven tapestry of interconnected workers and departments. The speed at which technology advances inside of plants would make it nearly impossible for most organizations to support all systems via internal personnel. The internal support teams of today are smaller than they once were while the reliance on the plant tech has grown. The tasks of hiring, training, and then retaining highly technical talent in IT, engineering, general maintenance have become more difficult.

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Benefits of a Campaign Manager

Batch processing facilitates the repetitive, tightly controlled manufacture of many things. This type of operation is ideal for large scale manufacturing where products are assembled and modified in a series of stages or steps. When connected to a batch management software system, the number of ingredients, execution stages, and degree of processing complexity which can be handled by relatively unsophisticated operators can be extraordinary. The typical end results for manufacturers are lower cost per unit products with tight quality control and meticulous records of production.

Enterprise resource and scheduling systems are ubiquitous to modern manufacturing organizations. These are frequently mated to plant floor automation systems. For simple batch operations with savvy operators this task can be straightforward, particularly when aided by a batch management solution. However, in operations that require rapid processing or changeover between many in-progress batch orders, this can be challenging. The same is true if batch processing requirements for a single order are large in either complexity or an amount of time that spans beyond the purview of a single operator or team. Integration between the master resource and scheduling system and the batch operating environment can be enhanced using a campaign manager.

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A Trusted Advisor Cements Their Value During Project Startups

Engineering projects may take extended periods of time to develop and physically install, often with macro progress being tough to gauge on a day-to-day basis. These efforts come to a head with a flurry of activity in the final hours before “go live”. Tradesmen flutter about making final adjustments to installed bulk hardware and intricate instruments, electricians frantically make and test terminations, and supervising engineers and integrators follow about ensuring that checklist items are noted and addressed. These activities can resemble an orchestral presentation that might span multiple shifts for days and weeks on end. It is at this time that the systems integrator proves their value and clients learn that having a true trusted advisor is critically important to success.

There was a time where simple catch all language could be inserted into automation project contracts and a client could fairly expect an integrator to ensure that a system was complete. Language like “systems integrator must include all miscellaneous items required to make a complete system” would be included in specifications. This verbiage would cover small things like signal conditioning hardware and loop tuning labor and/or tools and it was reasonable to expect that the integrator could include “everything”. The definition of complete has changed considerably over the last decade. Factories today are far more complex, and the plant automation systems are interwoven into every part of many organizations. Protection language like those mentioned before would be wholly inadequate in covering the breadth of items that intermingle with the controls today. Furthermore, attempts to bind project contracts with far-reaching, boilerplate language would leave enormous gaps in functionality that would render most systems a shell of what is truly possible with modern technology.

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ECS Delivers True Long Term Success as Trusted Advisors

People and organizations leverage trusted advisors in all facets of life. Whether it is something as commercial as an auto mechanic or as intimate as a primary care physician, attorney, or wealth advisor, trusted advisors play a role just about everywhere. They maintain deep, current knowledge in specialized fields, and they stand ready to support those in need. They are driven by excellence, thinking beyond themselves or their own organization and focus on the broader environment. Where their focus intersects with the needs of a client, a true trusted advisor relationship can take hold.

Control systems integration is young but maturing when compared to many other functions in legacy buildings and operations. The discipline, which barely existed a generation and a half ago, has become the technological focal point of modern manufacturing. There are no lulls or definable steps as technology continually advances at a dizzying pace. What started as ways to simplify wiring and logic applied to flexibility in controls has evolved into a holistic environment which links manufacturing, operations, and supply chains via a web of connected people and equipment. Manufacturers leverage related professionals each day to stay at the edge of technology and to apply it effectively.

ECS Solutions (ECS) has been around since the dawn of the systems integrator-for-hire concept. Our success has been driven by working collaboratively with our clients as true strategic partners. We know that enduring bonds do not develop by accident nor out of contractual obligation. Our clients expect that we know not only where technology is today, but also where it is going. They leverage our extensive knowledge and experience in ways that address both their immediate needs and their continuing objectives.

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KNOW YOUR LOOP BEFORE YOU ATTEMPT TO TUNE YOUR LOOP – PART 2

In the last article for this topic, we discussed the importance of field data collection and the importance of a methodical approach to PID tuning. I introduced the concept of the bump test and that its results would help guide the steps and equations used in proper tuning. Here I will explore that concept in greater detail. At ECS we use a visual tool for data collection in every instance. The tool may be part of a controller suite, or it may be stand-alone but, in any case, it is imperative to capture accurate information about the performance of your system before planning and then programming a solution.

In the interest of time, this article will focus on tuning concepts for self-regulating loops as they make up the majority of applications in the industrial field. A common example of this type of loop is a flow control which varies flow through a pipe via either variable speed control on a pump or a position-controlled valve. In this example, the flow can be adjusted by speed adjustment of the pump or position of a valve and the result of the change ordered from the controller is stable and is generally fast and repeatable.

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Innovative Tools for the Evolving Systems Integrator

The personnel challenges facing virtually every industry over the last few years have been nothing short of astonishing. Proper candidates have become increasingly difficult to court and bring on board. New staff in key roles are tasked to accomplish more with fewer floor operators and technology is increasingly leveraged to close the resulting gaps. This is not unique in history although it may seem that way due to the current media deluge surrounding business intelligence and general-purpose visibility software that makes life easier, smarter, and generally more efficient.

Industrial software is again playing a leading role in the current intelligence revolution. Inductive Automation didn’t invent floor supervisory (SCADA) software, nor did they invent the first responsive, general-purpose web software. However, their current offerings certainly do marry these concepts together in a way that hasn’t existed in industry before. Since 2010 their award-winning Vision Module has enhanced the experiences of factory floor users everywhere, easily connecting complex factory controllers to databases, alarm and reporting systems, and intuitive visualization tools. This product is robust, proven, and works very well for users “inside the industrial network” of many facilities. Today this is coupled with the newer Perspective Module which is an equally powerful tool for use in mobile-responsive applications. For situations where a user may be “outside the industrial network” or simply need to utilize a variety of hardware platforms like PCs, phones, or tablets, Perspective provides an ideal solution.

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Ignition Perspective® Module

Human-machine interface (HMI) vendors have been promising a utopia based around web-based technologies for over two decades. The prospect of simply providing a web address to anyone within an organization that leads to a fast-loading, full-power supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) system has been on most factories’ wish list for a long time. After all, internet page tools and functionality have far outpaced advancements in SCADA software over the same time. The advancements seem to leap forward every time someone reloads a page, with new widgets and tools available almost daily. When coupled with hardware developments like high contrast screens; enhanced touchscreen operations; and capabilities like Bluetooth, accelerometers, geolocation, and more; a flexible, web-based option has been coveted.

What many casual users fail to understand about HMI solutions is exactly how tightly the software is connected to the factory floor controllers. This connection via high-security networks, VPNs, and masks, can be tricky to navigate, particularly when the architecture is intentionally complex to provide security for the systems. Further, most people don’t realize the architectural complexity of software that link to sometimes multiple databases and remote data sources, where gigabits of proprietary information streams into and out of the SCADA application. It has been the responsibility of the integrators of these solutions to protect would-be users from themselves in a lot of applications. Poorly developed programs could create vulnerabilities to the operation of equipment, expose floor workers to potential risk, and possibly allow trade secrets to escape into cyberspace.

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ECS Helps Private Labeler Spring Into Action

When opportunity knocked for a midwestern US private label condiment and sauce manufacturer, their relationship with ECS Solutions, Inc. (ECS) helped them to excel. Success in private-label food manufacturing is often a matter of being able to accept new projects when a chance arrives to expand or acquire new business. Raw capability is a driving factor, but modern manufacturing is not necessarily built on having volumes of idle capacity sitting and waiting for the next project to arrive. These endeavors frequently spawn from a quick flex in schedules, skillful leverage of less-than-optimized equipment, and/or an effective change in technology. Sometimes entirely new operations must rise from nowhere in a seemingly unachievable timeframe, as was the case with ECS’ client.

When this midwestern manufacturer was presented with a chance to land a series of large contracts with a well-known label they quickly pressed all their assets into action to create an entirely new red sauce kitchen. Long lead time items were ordered with less-than-optimal information available. Equipment that could be reused from their local storage cache was inspected, tuned up, and prepared for deployment. Their existing relationships with local contractors allowed them to begin infrastructure preparation immediately and quickly move into detailed piping and wiring. Perhaps most importantly, their relationship with ECS allowed them to quickly assess the project and create a framework so that budgets could be established and bids obtained. It was quickly evident that a fully integrated solution from ECS was not only possible but that it would be integral to long-term success because it would allow for as much effective automation as reasonable, thus minimizing the number of new operating staff members to run the system once complete.

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Systems Integrator Extends Packaging OEM’s Reach

Modern packaging plants want tightly integrated line solutions that run their array of products with fewer operating personnel and the easiest possible means for equipment maintenance. Buyers increasingly purchase large-scale packaging solutions from a single vendor with the expertise to deliver these applications. This presents challenges to equipment OEMs, many of whom offer a few niche or high-level equipment with a menagerie of complimentary machines. Many project suppliers are chosen based on their proven ability to handle a specific, complex operation around which the line is anchored, and the additional machines become part of the overall project by default.

It is generally not feasible for focused machine OEMs to also provide the broad-reach solutions required to fully integrate these complex lines. The breadth of staff required to achieve the expertise for detailed machine control along with the adjacent line operations and IT connections would be unbearably expensive for most machine builders. This is especially true because fully integrated options are not part of every option, so OEMs end up with some of their highest-end staff idle on many of the simpler applications that they tackle. These extended solutions frequently come via a dedicated line systems integrator. ECS Solutions (ECS) is a systems integrator that has delivered a huge variety of manufacturing solutions for more than 45 years including highly integrated packaging lines.

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