Highlights from the 2007 HUG Symposium

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Videocast: Cyber security interview with Kevin Staggs
Kevin Staggs, Honeywell global security architect, sits down with Walt Boyes, editor-in-chief of CONTROL, to discuss the changing security landscape for process control systems.

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Videocast: Dramatic efficiency, quality improvements for Canadian papermaker
This videocast from the Process Automation Media Network shows how Catalyst's Elk Falls integrated paper mill on Vancouver Island in British Columbia uses advanced control and optimization techniques to eke out multimillion savings while simultaneously improving product quality. Dwight Anderson, senior process controls engineer, explains the flexible optimization technologies from Honeywell are helping Catalyst respond with agility to changing business conditions.

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Worsley Alumina designs luxury suite for control room operators
"We love to see our operators in action, just like our sports teams. We love them when they do well. We get frustrated with them when they make mistakes," said Arnold Oliver of the Worsley Alumina refinery in Western Australia. "Unfortunately," he added, "the similarity ends there. We don’t take the same kind of care of them that we do of our sports heroes."

In an attempt to take better care of operators and ultimately improve process efficiency, Worsley management challenged its process control group with this task: Create an environment where process operators can perform optimally.

To meet the challenge, Worsley developed the Advanced Process Management concept, which included a centralized control room, better alarm management, new simulation facilities and implementation of advanced process control strategies. The project was implemented by an integrated team of Honeywell, Worsley and design consultants.

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How Shell E&P assesses and addresses control system security risks
Closely tied to Shell’s current Smart Field initiative--to continuously optimize oil and gas production and recovery--is the company’s drive to ensure security of its global assets, began Dan McDougall of Shell Exploration and Production in his address this morning to the Honeywell User Group Americas 2007 Symposium.

"Enterprise IT security doesn’t work unless everybody follows the same rules from Brunei to the Gulf of Mexico to Europe," he said. "But in the process control domain, we have more flexibility because we have that firewall between the process and the corporate environment."

In order to better communicate the relative importance of control system security to asset managers, Shell links its security assessments to the overall issue of technical integrity, McDougall explained, including risk assessment and management; defense-in-depth, with accountability at the asset level; and embedded audit and review processes.

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System migration plan features on-the-fly control network split
At one of Tuesday’s “Lunch and Learn” sessions at HUG Americas 2007, Eric Lau of Petro-Canada and Sigurd Imgrund, project manager for Honeywell, told the story of a control network split and system upgrade at Petro-Canada’s Edmonton, Alberta, facility. A complex project at best, this one was complicated by the fact that Petro-Canada needed it done while the refinery was up and running and while other construction was taking place on the site.

The Edmonton refinery has been growing rapidly over the last two years and needed to expand its capacity. At the same time, Petro-Canada decided to convert its operations to 100% oil sands, or synthetic fuel refining. In addition, the company needed to build a foundation for further control system migration from Honeywell TPS to Experion PKS.

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