Deutsche Bahn AG, one of Europe’s largest transportation providers, operates railways that carry more than 1.8 billion passengers per year throughout Germany and neighboring countries. The company also moves 78 billion tons of freight annually. All service and rail stations are maintained by DB Stations & Services, while DN Netz provides the track infrastructure. The company faced the challenge of efficiently washing different types and shapes of trains, including the modern bullet train. The washing system needed to accommodate any train and ensure every part of the train is washed. Another challenge was that all trains are electric power and, under most circumstances, water and electricity do not mix. Since all trains need to enter and exit the washer under their own power, the water used in the washing application needed to be treated so it would not be conductive.

Dynastar aimed to update the automation capabilities of its Sallanches location, a 28,000 square-meter facility producing over 300,000 skis per year. Its objectives for this project was to reduce energy consumption related to its manufacturing process, as well as implement a global visualization interface. The company wanted a system that could rationalize the use of production equipment as well as provide warnings of hardware failure. At the time, the company was running Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2 with multiple Web clients, as well as SQL Server, in addition to Excel, for its database needs. Its existing manufacturing system was comprised of TREND and Honeywell devices, in addition to hundreds of other tags, all of which required an easily integrated automation solution. The French ski manufacturer required a supervisory product that could allow product managers to set, view and make use of real-time availability requirements of workshops and equipment.

E.ON Trend s.r.o., a subsidiary of the global power and gas company E.ON, is responsible for electricity generation and heat production and distribution mainly for households in the Czech Republic. The company operates six hydro-powered electrical plants with a total output of 30 MW. These plants are monitored and controlled by a central control station located up to 100km away. E.ON was looking for a solution to replace the Promotic Microsys system, with requirements for data redundancy, real-time alarm notification, and superior graphics. They needed to centrally monitor and control their remote hydro power plants and bring all power generation together.

ENSTOR, a subsidiary of Iberdrola Renewables, is a company dedicated to the storage of liquid natural gas. With facilities including both depleted reservoirs and salt caverns, ENSTOR maintains five repositories throughout North America, and is currently developing two more sites. The company leverages its various gas storage and hub service facilities to provide customers superior transfer access between major pipelines as well as rapid injection and withdrawal storage capacity. In ENSTOR’s facilities, the control system uses PLCs and gas flow computers that monitor and control a variety of compressors, gas meters, valves, dehydrators, and safety equipment to manage natural gas injection, withdrawal, receipt and delivery. Each location has a dedicated control room where operators monitor and control both storage plant and pipeline interconnection points.

Microgy, a subsidiary of Environmental Power Corporation, develops facilities to efficiently and reliably produce clean, renewable gas from agriculture and food industry wastes. The company uses anaerobic digestion, where methane-rich biogas is extracted from waste to produce electric power, helping farms and businesses responsibly manage the wastes they generate. The company operates in four renewable energy facilities across the United States' Western and Midwestern regions. The challenge was to monitor and control systems at these facilities, provide real-time monitoring and control, and convey data from remote locations to a corporate location in Tarrytown, New York.

The Federation Tower in Moscow, Russia is set to become the tallest building in Europe, and Europe’s first “Supertall” building. The complex is divided into two towers with a shared podium with a combined floor area of 423,000 square meters. The building automation and security systems in the West Tower are being handled by the ARMO Group, a building systems, automation, and management firm also located in Moscow. Construction on the Federation Tower began in 2005 and will be complete in 2013. ARMO Group is assisting with the JCI Energy Smart Buildings and automation network in the West Tower, handling over 21,000 data points spread amongst 1,600 automated devices and using more than 20 digital integrations.

Fort Collins Light & Power had a number of specific goals in mind before upgrading its SCADA system. The SCADA software itself needed to support five substations and 2,600 data and control points using OPC communications standards. The HMI would need to interface with multiple applications including system power quality and security, to name a few. Fort Collins also planned to establish a dedicated GIG Ethernet fiber loop to each of its substations, as well as to the utility’s Drake Water Reclamation Facility, to provide a high-speed secure data highway for SCADA and future applications such as distribution automation. The utility also planned upgrades to all substation remote terminal units (RTUs) and power quality meters (involving both hardware and software).

FuelCell Energy, a world leader in the development and manufacturing of high temperature hydrogen fuel cells for ultra-clean electric power generation, required a robust, secure Human Machine Interface (HMI) to monitor and allow remote control of the company’s power plants as standalone systems. They initially worked with a system integrator partner, then customized their resulting solution before finalizing project development on their own. The company needed a system that could provide alarm management and online functionality, allowing operators to be alerted during alarm/event conditions for immediate acknowledgement and action. The system also needed to be web-enabled for ease of use and remote monitoring/control throughout the company.

The large-scale Russian energy provider has had basic direct digital control (DDC) for many years. Working with its system integrator, RVS, the firm initiated a major optimization effort, with a preference towards utilizing the latest software technology while simultaneously ensuring integration with a wide variety of data sources. The firm sought a solution that could handle the data from four thermal power plant (TPP) production branches (each with approximately 5,000 I/O points) as well as from its executive office. An additional major need of the plant was to provide a uniform, insightful user interface to all operations and levels of management. The company required dashboards that could provide needed insight in order to drive immediate improvement actions. The site also sought a major upgrade in its reporting capabilities. Prior to considering this upgrade, a legacy data historian from OSI PI provided limited visualization and report capability, but could not provide the depth of information available.

The Vessel Traffic Centre of Hong Kong Marine Department monitors and regulates all ship movements within Hong Kong waters. Over one thousand big and small ships enter into or sail from the port of Hong Kong daily. The volume of traffic that transits Hong Kong waters to and from the ports at the Pearl River Delta increases annually. At any one time, there are over three hundred ships moored within the harbor. The Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre, which is also under Hong Kong Marine Department, is responsible for coordinating all search and rescue operations within the Hong Kong maritime rescue responsible area, which is about the entire northern part of the South China Sea, up to the west coast of the Philippines on the east and up to the 10 degree Latitude on the south. The traffic monitoring equipment and the telecommunications equipment of both centers have recently been upgraded.

Hyderabad, the capital city of the state of Andhra Pradesh in India, is a rapidly growing urban area with a semi-arid climate and a rainfall of 75 cms. The city faces a premium on water during the hot dry months, with a respite from the heat and relative water scarcity coming during the monsoon season, which typically lasts from late June to early October. The Hyderabad Metropolitan Water Supply & Sewerage Board (HMWSSB) has been tasked with ensuring a reliable source of water and waste treatment for its citizens. The board is also involved in other water-related projects including rainwater harvesting and water bottling/canning. The board sought assistance in automating its water supply/sewer facilities and contacted Nish Automation who, in turn, recommended ICONICS’ industrial automation software solutions, specifically the company’s GENESIS64 suite that integrates with new 64-bit computing machinery and the latest operating systems from Microsoft (including Windows Vista® and Windows Server® 2008).

Hydrovision Ltd., a leading manufacturer of Remotely Operated Vehicles (ROVs), required a new scalable control system for their ROVs, sub-sea tooling, and other custom tooling applications. The specifications demanded a PC-based system running under a Windows operating system and meeting open standards like OPC. The system needed to be scalable, maintainable, easy to modify after implementation, and economical. The company also wanted a system that would allow their customers to make their own modifications to the machines for different tooling or use applications.

The Manx Electricity Authority (MEA) in the United Kingdom was facing a challenge with the proliferation of different SCADA systems. Each system operated uniquely, making it time-consuming and costly to train operators and keep them updated on system changes. The MEA was responsible for the generation of electricity across the Isle of Man and ensuring the full commercial potential of the UK-IOM subsea power cable. The MEA decided to look for an integrated enterprise-level SCADA solution to streamline their efforts. They wanted a solution that could integrate their entire key infrastructure across multiple sites, allow easy expansion for future capacity, and provide a seamless switchover with parallel running capability of the old SCADA applications as a backup.

SEA, the company that manages both the Malpensa and Linate airports in Italy, required an HMI/SCADA solution for an in-house data trending application to assist operators with determining the number of baggages processed in defined intervals. The involved system consists of two hot backup servers and 11 clients, used for monitoring the state of the HBS and EBS systems. One server runs ICONICS AlarmWorX™32 (with alarm logger), ScriptWorX™32 and DataWorX™32. Both servers handle client security (aligned between the two servers by means of a script) and can switch automatically if a failure is detected on the primary, or on demand by an operator.

LUKOIL, a major international oil and gas company, was planning to build a new datacenter in its Moscow office. The company required an HMI/SCADA system that could provide maximum security and performance of datacenter utility systems while also ensuring high energy efficiency. The datacenter computer rooms were to include over 100 server racks, each designed with a capacity of 17kW of power. The company also required 24/7 control capability for its utility systems. LUKOIL wanted an HMI/SCADA system that could provide estimates for the datacenter rooms’ technological and climatic metrics and could quickly acquire status information for all nodes of power and cooling/air conditioning systems. As the planned datacenter was to include approximately 5,000 data points, LUKOIL sought an HMI/SCADA solution that easily centralizes functional mode management for utility systems.

Loudoun Water, a utility company in Virginia, was seeking ways to improve its industrial processes. It determined that high-performance 64-bit computers and applications, including a feature-rich, easier-to-use, 64-bit version of its ICONICS software, GENESIS64™, would increase efficiency. However, the utility would need a newer operating system to support the upgrade. The utility’s HMI/SCADA system was based primarily on GENESIS32™ by ICONICS, installed in an environment with 15 client computers running the Windows XP operating system connected to servers running the Windows Server 2003 operating system. Microsoft SQL Server 2005 data management software supports the HMI/SCADA applications by supplying them with information gathered in real time from the utility’s industrial environment.

Longmont United Hospital, located in Longmont, Colorado, is a world-class healthcare facility that is rated among the top 10% of hospitals for patient experience in the United States. In January 2000, the hospital opened a five-story patient tower with new private rooms and soothing environments for patients and their families. The hospital is committed to providing compassionate care, which is reflected in its building management system. However, as healthcare has advanced, Longmont United has had to expand and update its facilities. This has required the hospital to upgrade to the latest innovations in building automation and monitoring solutions.

The Lincoln Wastewater System (LWWS) in Lincoln, Nebraska, needed a comprehensive solution to ensure the proper collection and treatment of current and future wastewater flows in an environmentally sound and cost-effective manner. The system comprises 970 miles of sanitary sewer lines, 14 pumping stations, and two municipal treatment plants, handling up to 23.5 million gallons of water per day. The challenge was to install a system that could control all manual and automatic aspects of each process, including raw water pumping, flow dispersal, aeration basin dissolved oxygen monitoring, return activated sludge flow set points/rates, and effluent flow disinfection/totalization. The system also needed to control solid waste removal from the treatment facility. In addition, the system had to be secure and allow managers to monitor any functions that the operators monitor.

A Large International Integrated Energy Company (LIIEC) with over $100 billion in annual revenue is a global energy enterprise developing vital energy resources in over 180 countries around the world and is a world leader in oil exploration and production. The USA-located, ICONICS-managed oil field has in excess of 3,000 drilling wells that are using WebHMI™ software to monitor oil well performance, production analysis and maintenance operations. The challenge was to deliver data from any LIIEC Business Unit facility in the entire Western US area to any user anywhere within the LIIEC Intranet. In the West Coast Business Unit, there is a total of six major oil fields with numerous facilities controlled by Modicon and A-B PLCs.

The Kista Science Tower complex, located in one of the most dynamic IT regions in the world, was faced with the challenge of having an open infrastructure where all monitoring and control could be looked at as a single system. The complex houses several high-profile tenants and spans six buildings, with the tallest spanning 32 stories. The challenge was to ensure that all systems and controllers had a common platform for communication. This included the KONE elevators, lighting, HVAC, and the windows blinds for the Kista Science Tower. The complex also needed a system that could connect to any OPC server throughout the Kista Science Tower, including communication to the KONE OPC-DA server running on Linux.

Leciva, a.s. Pharmaceutical, the largest Czech pharmaceutical company, needed a system to meet their high recording requirements for documenting every aspect of their production process to meet GMP (Good Manufacturing Practice) standards. They required a system that provided extensive security measures, audit trails for operators, reliable logging of all production data, operational sequence checking, and traceable alarm and event history recordings. The system also needed to meet their process documentation, production data collection, and report requirements to meet their GMP standards.

Lake Cities Municipal Utility Authority had an aging infrastructure system that needed help from top to bottom. Upgrading the system was one of the organization’s biggest priorities, so that they could better maintain it. A large portion of LCMUA’s budget at the time was being spent on call-outs, false alarms and failing equipment, so the authority sought solutions to reduce these related costs. One effort involved replacing their older SCADA system. The pre-existing system was actually a combination of three competitor products, which ended up providing LCMUA personnel with three different sets of operating data. In addition to requiring a unified solution for their new HMI/ SCADA, the authority also required one that could handle Distributed Network Protocol (DNP3) communications and interface with existing Servelec Technologies Tbox combined PLC/RTU hardware installed at every lift station, pump station and elevated storage tank in their system.

KHS Maschinen, a market leader in the deployment of Aseptic Cold Filling (ACF) applications for the beverage market, was looking for a solution to control its applications and machines and to visualize the entire ACF process. The ACF process allows for fruit juices to be filled into PET bottles at a temperature of only 68 Deg F (20°C), eliminating the need for preservatives and improving product quality. However, this process required a sophisticated solution for scalability, graphic capabilities, and modularity for machine control and visualization.

Keokuk Municipal Water Works, serving over 4,800 customers, is responsible for providing its residential, commercial, and industrial customers with a high-quality and reliable water supply. The Water Works service area, 105 miles of pipe within a 20-square-mile area, includes the entire incorporated area of the city of Keokuk, Iowa. Additionally, the water system serves two small private water systems outside the Keokuk corporate limits. The challenge was to monitor all functions of the plant, from analytical equipment to Rotork Valve: control, monitor, alarm, trend, etc. The system needed to connect to an Allen-Bradley Series 5 and MicroLogiX PLCs, Prolinx Hart Multiplexer, Rotork Valve System, Hach Analytical Equipment, Toshiba Drive Systems, and Rosemount Field Devices.

The new Kazan Metro required a unified control and visualization system for its operation. The objectives for this solution were the management and security of integrated systems including Train Dispatch and Control, Antiterrorist Protection, Power Systems/Uninterrupted Power Supplies, Fire Safety, Groundwater Pumping and Tunnel Monitoring. Challenges facing Kazan Metro developers included cost-control, adaptability/expandability, and communications/data management reliability.

The International Iberian Nanotechnology Laboratory (INL) in Braga, Portugal, required a comprehensive, state-of-the-art HMI/SCADA system to handle its building management. The complex is divided into a hotel for resident researchers and the main building, where clean rooms, laboratories, high accuracy areas and administrative offices are located. The application involved deploying an ICONICS integrated Building Management System, paying special attention to the clean room and high accuracy and laboratory areas, as well as to the critical process systems. Critical areas such as clean rooms and high accuracy labs don’t allow any downtime for the HVAC system, because most of the experiments carried out in these zones are expensive and take a long time. Should any failure occur while an experiment is being carried out, it would have to be started from the beginning, implying additional and unacceptable costs. On the other hand, the HVAC system for these areas was designed to work 24 hours a day and 365 days a year. In addition to the temperature, humidity and pressure data monitoring and collection for the certification of the clean rooms, it was an additional challenge to control the temperature in the high accuracy rooms with a required accuracy of ±0.1ºC.

Kazakhstan’s railways, incorporated into JSC National Company Kazakhstan Temir Zholy (KTZ), combines about 14,000 kilometers of rails with 700 stations. The amount of cargo and passenger traffic grows every year, inevitably leading to higher electricity expenditures. Electricity usage reform and increasing prices for energy resource are common everywhere. Therefore, implementation of an Automation System of Control and consumption for Energy (ASCUE) for the rail node was seen as a necessity. The railways need the system for real-time electricity monitoring to minimize energy use and ensure an optimum relationship between costs and the volume of work and services.

InSinkErator, a division of Emerson Electric Co., is the world’s largest manufacturer of food waste disposers and instant hot water dispensers. As part of their continuous improvement efforts, InSinkErator was looking for a way to increase their productivity and efficiency. They decided to improve efficiency within their existing buildings and identified the need to provide management with visualization of manufacturing problem areas. By closely monitoring and analyzing overall equipment effectiveness (OEE) and Key Performance Indicators (KPI), InSinkErator could implement improvements to its production processes.

IDRA Presse, a leading producer of Pressure Die Casting Machines, had the requirement of sampling process parameters on their Pressure Die Casting Machines at 10,000 cycles/sec and needed a software system to have the ability to collect real time data at those rates. They used an external sampling system with real time operating software. This system was connected through an Ethernet link with ICONICS software using an OPC Server on a PC, where TrendWorX32 trends the data collected. This data was then sent via a LAN to a centralized database for final evaluation and storage. IDRA selected ICONICS to provide them with state-of-the-art injection press machine monitoring and control after evaluating nine other suppliers including Intellution, Wonderware, WinCC and RSView. IDRA replaced their existing Orsi Cube system with the GENESIS32™ HMI Software suite.

Merrill Lynch, a globally recognized financial management and advisory company, required a monitor and control solution for their building campus in Hopewell, New Jersey. The campus consisted of twelve buildings, including office buildings, assembly buildings, and parking garages. The company aimed to manage every aspect of the building complex, including HVAC, Lighting, Energy, Security, Fire, and other Energy Smart Buildings. They also utilized ice plants as a cost-efficient method for building energy management, freezing water at night when electricity is cheaper and melting it during the day to cool the buildings. This 'time shifting' of energy usage was designed to help reduce the energy bill.