The modern way for manufacturers

It may be the case that current process automation and safety assets are performing adequately, but an underlying question is whether the plant is performing to its full potential and can it continue to do so?

Siemens believe that systems deemed cutting edge will not currently be able to deliver the technology benefits that recent developments have turned into a reality.

Ageing legacy technologies are increasingly difficult and costly to operate and maintain as the complex design of legacy systems is often based on outdated technologies making them problematic to change and slower to respond to market trends.

Siemens examined three areas that make an argument as to why plant operators should assess the suitability of the plant’s current status and its potential to deliver future operational and security requirements.

IT infrastructure

The IT industry has increasingly shorter product lifecycles on equipment, driven by a need to be more flexible, work faster and process larger volumes of data. 

Obsolete PC and server hardware and limited support for legacy systems create real risks as plants balance the operational requirements with investment into IT infrastructure.

Traditionally, distributed control system (DCS) vendors had more control around the development lifecycle of an IT operating system with, indeed, many organisations developing their own product to be used exclusively with their DCS platform. 

‘Off the shelf’ products have allowed greater flexibility with end users and DCS vendors benefitting from R&D investment and the resulting developments in technology and functionality provided by the IT industry. 

The trade-off for both the end user and the DCS vendor is the short lifecycle of an operating system in comparison to the life of the production facility and DCS product. 

IT security

The worlds of IT and manufacturing continue to become more integrated within the process automation market.  As a result, the significant rise in the threat and occurrence of a cyber-attack is now an issue facing many manufacturing organisations.

Typically, IT from an automation perspective, has received less focus and investment than the business system operational IT platform.

Legacy operating systems and hardware provide tough challenges in terms of being able to maintain a secure plant and often result in a requirement to modernise the IT critical to the automation of the process.

Defining and implementing the necessary steps to ensure that plant systems are safe and secure against cyber threats that could halt expensive production and invoke reputational damage is increasingly moving up the priority list for plant operators.

Protection of investment and lifecycle service strategy

The operation phase of a process plant constitutes a significant share of the overall life cycle cost over a typical 15-20 year asset of a plant control system.

As such, the requirement for modernisation services provides investment protection and has a significant impact on the operations of an organisation. By adopting a plant modernisation strategy such investment can be protected.

The assurance that comes with control systems such as PCS 7 offer a ‘future proofing’ approach so that legacy issues and risks are a thing of the past. 

It has required lifecycle guarantees built in so that manufacturers can follow a managed approach to plant modernisation aims and objectives. 

Lifecycle services provide a guaranteed method of ensuring that all significant software updates and phased IT infrastructure refreshes can take place as part of the operational costs of the manufacturing plant and this approach will ensure a secure and updated system can be maintained throughout the asset lifecycle.