How to Enhance

Production and Safety

for Process Industries
 Contents
1. Industry Challenges 3
1.1 Constrained Worker Resources 5
1.2 Operational Safety 7
1.3 Operational Consistency 10
2. An Introduction to MPA 12
3. MPA to the Rescue 15
4. Identifying MPA Opportunities 22
5. Implementing MPA 24
6. Summary & Next Steps 25

2
 Chapter 1

Industry Challenges
Process industries face numerous challenges keeping health, safety, and
environment (HSE) at the forefront, an aging workforce, improving equipment
availability, maintaining quality, and increases in operator workloads. Distracted
operators make mistakes, especially during transitions, and operational error is the
single biggest reason for unscheduled shutdowns. In this chapter we will take a
closer look at some of these challenges and how procedures play an important
role. First lets clarify what a procedure actually is.

It seems that procedures may not be the first thing that comes to mind when thinking about process
automation. Still, they play an important role at any industrial plant or factory, and though we like to refer to
the process industries as being largely continuous, most continuous processes actually have multiple
operating states. Process manufacturing is constantly in flux, and because of this, procedures exist. In
fact, the entire world of process operations is governed by procedures.

What is a Procedure?
Procedures are best described as pre-set
tasks that are consistently completed in a
specific order so as to achieve the desired
result. The automation of these
procedures bridges the gap between the
process control systems and plant
operators by augmenting operator actions
with electronic Standard Operating
Procedures (SOPs) that are integrated
with a Distributed Control System (DCS).

Whether you are initiating a startup,

shutdown, grade change, or are in the
middle of a maintenance turnaround, your
plant is governed by procedures and
transitional states that can either run
smoothly and provide you with superior
plant performance, a safe and orderly
start-up/shutdown, or, they can cost you in
terms of unplanned shutdowns, incidents,
lost production, and lost opportunities.

Fig. Typical depiction of continuous process with

procedures for each operating state or phase.

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 Manual, prompted and automated procedures, and the problem
of Spaghetti Code

Today, operational procedures can be lumped into three primary categories: manual procedures,
prompted procedures and automated procedures. These operational procedures are typically
implemented as manual procedures in written form, either electronically or on paper. More often than
not, there is no way to verify that the procedures actually executed were, in fact, consistent with the
prescribed standard operating procedures (SOPs) for the process. We trust the operators to be
consistent. But is that always the case?

Many industries have been using prompted or automated procedures for some time, especially
the batch industries, such as life sciences, and food and beverage production. In the continuous
process industries, however, prompted and automated procedures are not the established way of
operating. Operations such as starting up and shutting down a refinery unit for instance, are often
considered to be a craft or an art form that relies heavily on experience and knowledge of the facilitys
operational and maintenance staff and its historical method of operation.
This is not to say that automated procedures are unknown in the continuous process industries.
Many companies have implemented sequence logic that allows procedures to be automated. However,
these have been done largely in an ad hoc framework using custom programming methodologies that
can become cumbersome when the time comes to upgrade the automation infrastructure. This ad hoc
approach also carries a high cost of ownership, since the custom logic has to be maintained by the end
user. Changes made to the code over time can create a tangled mass of 'spaghetti code' that can be
impossible to translate and maintain.
To make it even more complex, many end user companies in the process industries today are
the result of mergers and acquisitions. Along with that comes the multiple system platforms and
inconsistent code implementations that have accumulated over the years. Clearly, this is not a
sustainable way to operate and is likely to affect your operations in at least three ways, related to:

1) Constrained Workers Issues 2) Operational Safety 3) Operational Consistency

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 Skilled workers are retiring. Before
addressing a solution to the problem of
1.1 Constrained Worker Resources
spaghetti code, we will address three
major challenges many industrial
Are you concerned about senior operators retiring? Believe it
companies are facing, starting with an
or not, a plant regularly depends on the skill of a single human
aging workforce. According to an Ernst
& Young study, one of the common being for the execution of manual procedures. Or, if youre lucky,
challenges all verticals within the oil your site might have a small group of operators. In such cases,
and gas sector currently face is, quality and success depends on those key individuals doing a good
planning for the sustained availability of
job, which may not be a problem as long as the key men or women
a competent workforce over the next
five years. A serious challenge,
are around and know how to perform the procedure. However,
especially since we know that many given the demographic problems with aging workers and hard to
plants and factories are relying on find replacements, this type of dependence is becoming ever more
experienced operators for dealing with perilous.
the procedures. Could your journey to
Finding experienced personnel is a big challenge for the
operational excellence be threatened
by an aging workforce that is retiring?
process industries. The retiring wave of "baby boomers" in North
America and the shortfall of qualified engineers in Asia and other
parts of the world are creating a skilled labor shortage which is
driving growth in demand for services and more sophisticated forms
of automation.

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 In a 2009 interview, an executive at a major refining
company stated they had lost 2,500 years of experience
recently when 100 operators retired at one site, each with an
average of 25 years of experience. As further evidence, a
team at a major chemical company analyzed their plant
demographics and found one of their largest plants would lose
75 percent of its operating staff to retirement by the end of
2009. Another major refiner has to fly its experienced people
to various sites all over the USA to augment the existing
workforce during start-ups and another has to contract back
retired workers to do unit startups because they do not have
The skilled labor shortage was the
enough people left on site that know how to do these
main topic throughout the speeches
procedures. This vision of the future from 2009 is todays during the IHS World Petroleum
reality. Conference. Steve Pryor, ExxonMobil
Many firms continue to operate with lean technical Chemical CEO and keynote speaker,
staffs, yet the level of technological complexity is increasing. said that a large portion of the rising
The timely flow of information, data, and knowledge is more cost of projects in the United States is
important than ever in the process industries. This downward due to the skilled labor shortage.
trend in staffing and the increased demand for accurate, real
According to the majority of the
time information will translate into additional systems and
speakers at the Platts Rockies Oil and
higher, more sophisticated levels of automation being applied, Gas Conference in Denver, labor
including Modular Procedural Automation. The smaller, less shortage is the biggest challenge that
experienced workforce that exists must be empowered with faces them right now as well. David
new technologies and workflows that can transfer knowledge Pursell, Managing Director and Head
on demand. of Securities of Tudor, Pickering, Holt
& Co., spoke of the lack of skilled

Changing Workforce Demographics from 2000 to 2010 welders, in particular. He discussed

how that resource shortage was the
60% real issue with the United States
52% onshore supply growth.
50%
40% According to an Ernst & Young study,
30% one of the common challenges all
21% verticals within the oil and gas sector
20%
currently face is, planning for the
10%
sustained availability of a competent
0% workforce over the next five years.
-10%
-20% -10%

Number of People 35 to 44 Number of People 45 to 54

Number of People 55 to 64 Source: US Bureau of
Labor Statistics

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 Operational Safety. Besides challenges
related to workforce issues, another
primary challenge for industrial industries
is (operational) safety. Environment and
safety issues are major topics on a global
scale. In addition, there are increased
risks of accidents, and the need to
ensure safety and environmental
stewardship to actively prevent industrial
accidents from occurring is significant. If
accidents do occur, the expectation is to
prevent their impact from spreading
externally. Unfortunately, there are
several recent examples to show that
safety remains a constant challenge and
must become the highest priority for any
company or industry.
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1.2 Operational Safety
There is increased emphasis on health, safety, and
environment in today's process plants. Accidents continue to occur
in many manufacturing facilities even after the installation of safety
systems and other precautions that were initially considered
adequate.
Operational safety still depends primarily on operators. Many
operators for instance, when confronted with an abnormal situation,
are faced with paralyzing information and alarm floods. It can be
difficult to sort through all the noise to get to the right data and
make a good decision in a crisis.
Several major incidents in the past few years were caused in
part by plant personnel not following proper operating procedures
while under pressure. Operators and maintenance personnel are
human. It is human nature to interpret the same written procedure
slightly differently and perform them a little differently too, especially
under pressure This variance can lead to degraded, inconsistent
performance, abnormal situations, and even worse, a catastrophe.
For each of these incidents that occur due to poor procedural
operations, there are probably ten near misses.
7
 Infrequent operations, transitions and abnormal situations

Plants are especially vulnerable during abnormal operation states. Thus, many safety incidents
occur during infrequent, transitional, or abnormal situations. A potentially dangerous (and abnormal)
situation might occur when an infrequent operation has to take place, but key individuals are not
available, leaving inexperienced operators to follow inadequate or incorrect instructions. Something can
get out of control and quickly lead to undesirable outcomes such as equipment damage, environmental
release, injuries and/or fatalities. (Source: ISA-106 and Concepts of Procedural Automation).
There are three broad operational procedures involving transitions: start-up, shut-down and unit
state change. The unit state change includes transitions like grade changes, production rate changes,
process equipment switches, feed changes, etc.
Safety statistics show the majority of incidents not related to outright mechanical failures happen
during abnormal situations, primarily unit startups and shutdowns. Prime examples are the Kern Oil
Refinery that occurred during a crude unit startup and the BP Texas City disaster that took place
during a raffinate splitter tower startup. Unfortunately, such incidents did not stop after 2005 and many
more examples continue to occur much too frequently even today.

Modular Procedural Automation eliminates the inconsistency

introduced by new hands.

Marius Rautenbach, Safripol

A study by J & H Marsh &

McLennan shows that the
examination of major incidents
by the average loss per incident
indicates that operational error
represents the largest average
dollar loss.

Source: J & H March &

McLennan, Inc.

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 Operators Under Stress
Operators today can be under huge
amounts of stress that will have an impact on their
responses to abnormal situations. Under normal
operating conditions, the operator can apply their
training and basic knowledge successfully. At the
first sign of a fault, the operator is capable of
acknowledging the event and responding
accordingly. As the situation begins to deteriorate,
the ability of the operator to effectively respond
deteriorates rapidly.
A widespread issue in manufacturing plants
is alarm flooding. As formerly independent
systems are integrated for more effective operation
by fewer operators, each operator now has an
ever increasing scope of responsibility a wider
area to monitor and consequently more alarms to
deal with. Without rigorous alarm rationalization
efforts, alarm flooding becomes a serious problem
and increases the risk of safety and environmental
incidents.
Old knowledge is not lost to due natural migration of older
employees.
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Operational error is the single biggest
reason for unscheduled shutdowns. Procedure
based recovery from abnormal situations is faster
and more reliable than recovery based on random
operator knowledge even from expert operators.
Effective operational consistency can be
seen day-in and day-out within high-risk industries
like nuclear power or aviation, where the
consequences of an accident can be so
catastrophic that the importance of consistent
reliability raises itself to a very high level. These
high-reliability organizations nearly always achieve
error-free operations due to their strong
operational consistency.
Quintin Kruger, Safripol
Fig. Despite technology
advancements, incidents during
startups and shutdowns
continue to be a significant cost
factor for plants. Source: Energy
Practice of Marsh Ltd. 2012.
9
 Do all of your shifts perform at high
levels? What is your strategy for
handling abnormal conditions?
How do you manage Transitions, Start
Ups, and Shut Downs? Research has
shown that the largest reason for
unscheduled downtime is operational or
human error, which accounts for
approximately 42 percent of the
unscheduled shutdowns in the process
industries. Of that 42 percent, 16 percent is
directly related to procedural error. One of
the major concerns in plant operations is
how to reduce its operation costs so that
the profit is optimized. The industrial plant
operations are fully automated with
process control systems; however, startup,
shutdown, load/grade changes, and other
non-routine works are largely done by
manual operations. So, how do you
maintain consistent operation and achieve
maximum operational throughput?
10
1.3 Operational Consistency
Even though the last three decades has brought advancing
automation solutions to continuous process industries - including
remote actuators on valves, PID controllers, distributed control
systems (DCS) and centralized control rooms - the fact remains that
most continuous process plant operators still perform most
procedures manually.
Many operation efficiencies can be further improved by
automating these non-routine operations as much as possible. In
petrochemical and chemical industries like refining, the overarching
objective is to improve utilization, which cannot be achieved without
reducing unplanned downtime.
When researching the role of operators in the Refinery of the
Future, several major operating companies concluded that this can
be addressed first by empowering a higher level of situational
awareness - one that enables flawless intervention by exception and
relieves operators of manual tasks, freeing time for more value
added activities.
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 Infrequent Operations
Infrequent procedural operations can be automated, but
they often aren't. There are several explanations for this, some
technical, while others relate to human nature.
Some companies simply don't consider it worth the effort
because the operations happen so infrequently. Is it necessary
to automate something that happens once a year and can be
handled by a qualified operator? While the answer might seem
simple, it is becoming more complicated every day. Will key
operators be available next time? And, programming tools for
old control systems do not make the process any easier. Also, if
writing the code to automate a procedure is a complex and
expensive undertaking requiring specialized skills, it probably
won't happen.
Then again, if a given procedure is not well documented,
how will the engineer responsible for writing the code be able to
program it? Without a clear sequence of steps, there is no
possibility of creating the right code. Additionally, if the engineer
designing the procedure is not available to work with the
programmer, there is little chance for anything to be
implemented correctly. If operators are not fully convinced of the
accuracy and reliability of an automated procedure, they tend to
put everything in manual and do it themselves.
It's not hard to find examples of operators taking matters
into their own hands, and its one of the reasons why control
strategy improvement programs will often fail.
Startup & Shutdown
Safe and efficient startup and shutdown of a
distillation unit is critical to its overall operation.
Startup frequency can vary, from once every day
to once every five years. If startups occur often,
they can occur on different shifts, and the time
and skill of the operator on duty can determine
the efficiency of the startup. If startups occur at
longer intervals, companies run the risk of not
having experienced personnel available to run
and oversee the startup. There have been cases
where companies have had to bring operators out
of retirement to restart a unit after a shutdown.
One key item in the shutdown procedures is
recognizing that a shutdown might not be
scheduled. System problems or severe weather
such as approaching hurricanes can require a
shutdown of distillation operations with very short
notice. As with startups, on-shift operating
personnel might not have the most experience in
shutting down a system.

Operational Consistency
Years ago (industrial) automation involved hand valves and a few field mounted pneumatic
loops, but this grew to a few hundred single loop controls and indicators on large boards, then to
several hundred loops and indicators on single or small clusters of single-monitor Operator Consoles
to todays large centralized control rooms. These control rooms have groups of Workstations, each
with multiple monitors. This evolution also affected the role of an operator. In the past, a single
operator was responsible for managing an environment of perhaps less than 50 items, now a single
operator may have hundreds of loops and thousands of indicators to cope with. The proficiency and
effectiveness of operators remains a serious concern for Operations Management, as technology has
changed the visualization of the process facility and driven up the scope of responsibility of an operator
to include 100s to 1000s of loops. As mentioned earlier, the large number of devices requires a
considerable attention span under normal conditions, but become a greater concern under the stress of
a disturbance or abnormal situation. To maintain situational awareness and consistent operation within
such an environment, is a challenge, especially when abnormal situations occur.

11

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 Chapter 2

MPA Introduction
To deal with some of the challenges described in the pervious chapter, consider
Modular Procedural Automation (MPA). It is a solution that captures operators
knowledge and best practices and ensures procedures are consistently employed
throughout the manufacturing process. Using the capabilities of MPA, plant
operations, engineering, HSE and management can be more confident that the
correct procedures are being followed. MPA is a clear path to operational
excellence in the process industries.

Modular Procedural Automation (MPA) is not new, nor is it some theoretical concept. It has
existed for many years, mostly in batch and semi-batch processes, but also in continuous processes by
some early adopters. It is all about automating specific tasks in a process that typically require a lot of
manual intervention from operators, to avoid the problems that can originate in manual intervention.
There are real benefits in its
application to batch and continuous
processes, and even a casual
examination shows multiple
opportunities. Procedural automation is
beneficial not only in chemical and
petroleum processing, but in any
process with sequential operations.
Procedure automation has therefore
been applied to a wide range of
processes from offshore platform
operation to cracking furnaces to
processing nuclear materials.
Procedures exist in all processes. Sometimes they are written down on paper, sometimes kept in
digital form in a document control system, and sometimes they just are in somebodys head. Well-
written procedures enable safe, consistent operations. In fact, for some industries, written procedures
are a legal requirement. However, having procedures and actually following them are often different
things. To maximize the benefit of any procedure, it must be faithfully followed day in and day out.
Thus, the basis for the main benefit of procedure automation: it enforces adherence to the procedure.

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 ISA 106 Standard - ISA 106 Standards
Committee creates a standard for
procedure automation for continuous
process operations. Its purpose is to
develop standards, recommended
practices, and technical reports on the
design and implementation of
procedures for automating continuous
process operations See more at:
www.isa.org
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Modular Procedural Automation
MPA is a consultative methodology to document and
automate procedural operations in continuous processes. MPA is
a proven methodology that captures, documents, and implements
procedural knowledge gathered from the operational staff. It is
modular and ensures standardized implementation to increase
flexibility, reduce operation costs, and promote repeatability and
re-use.
Procedures are best described as pre-set tasks that are
consistently completed in a specific order so as to achieve the
desired result. MPA bridges the gap between the process control
systems and plant operators by augmenting operator actions with
electronic standard operating procedures that are integrated with a
DCS.
Modular Procedural Automation eBook 13
 Today there are more
powerful Basic Process Control
Systems. As more pieces of process
equipment are merged into larger
and more complex control
implementation modules (and
equipment implementation modules)
additional layers of abstraction are
added.
If no integration is applied to
a pump with its block valves, each
device needs to be addressed as a
separate entity, and the pump start
procedure needs to address which
valves need to open first and when
to start the pump. If the pump and
its valves are automated as an
equipment implementation module
and all the automation is embedded
in it, the procedure does not need to
know the type of pump, the valve
setup for a specific pump or even
the procedure to open valves and
start the pump.
The procedure only needs to
request that the pump be started
and all the necessary basic control
is executed in the equipment
implementation module. As a result
the valves will open in the correct
order and the procedure will be
much simpler. Manual procedures
may be made smaller and simpler
by automating parts of the
procedure through creating
equipment implementation modules
and control implementation
modules.

(source: ISA-TR106.00.01 Procedure Automation for

Continuous Process Operations - Models and
Terminology - link)

MPA is an efficient and sustainable solution and has fulfilled

our expectations. It enables the operator to spend more time on
intelligent tasks, in addition to observing the constant or step-
by-step changes to these parameters. We have seen return on
investment in less than a year.

Dr. Mosler, Production Manager, Evonik Industries

.

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 Chapter 3

Procedural Automation to the

Rescue
Modular Procedural Automation offers several advantages to plant operations and
contributes to achieving operational excellence. Operational excellence isnt
necessarily an endpoint for an organization; rather, it is an ongoing journey. It
focuses on minimizing and managing downside risks while maximizing an
operations performance and shareholder value. Along the journey, multiple
factors play a role. In this chapter we will outline the main benefits of MPA.

Automating procedures enforces consistent operation of the process, resulting in improved

quality and higher throughput. Operators are able to operate with fewer errors and delays, creating
maximum utilization. Procedure automation also contributes to safe operations by reducing the
opportunity for operator error. Procedure automation is also a great tool for knowledge retention, and
having well-documented procedures and automating those procedures greatly improves personnel
transitions
The implementation of an MPA solution reduces the likelihood and frequency of human error in
plant and refining processes. By capturing existing best practices from experienced operators and
then automating and integrating those best practices into the control system infrastructure, mistakes
can be drastically reduced by providing operators guidance in real-time. Certain procedures can be fully
automated and require only operator supervision.
By enforcing best practices and guiding operator
actions, MPA increases safety margins, energy
efficiency, process yields and product quality.
Modular applications also enable standardization of
procedures across the plant and business
enterprise, which in turn reduces the time required
to maintain procedures, increasing staff efficiency
and effectiveness.

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 Top 6 Benefits of Modular Procedural Automation

1. Improved safety performance

Automating procedures and utilizing state
awareness for alarm management reduces the
workload on the operational staff during abnormal
conditions. This enhances situational awareness,
enables more effective responses to abnormal
conditions, and reduces the probability of human
error.
2. Operator knowledge retention
Automated procedures can be used to retain the
knowledge of the process. This is especially
important for procedures that may not be executed
frequently or routinely.
4. Operational effectiveness & improved
situational awareness
Automated procedures can be prepared for potential
disturbances, reducing the time to return operations
to desired steady state conditions. MPA also
reduces the time an operator spends carrying out
repetitive tasks and enables them to focus on
process optimization and avoidance of abnormal
conditions. And, as knowledge and best practices is
captured into automated procedures, the resulting
documentation and code can be used as material for
training new operators on the process and shorten
the time needed for them to become effective.

3. Increased production 5. Reduced operator errors

Operations may benefit by achieving faster, safer
and more consistent startup and shutdown
operations of processes by automating the
procedural steps. Automated procedures can also
aid in maintaining maximum production rates,
minimizing recovery time and avoiding shutdowns.
Furthermore, most plant processes require staff to
process transitions from one condition to another
during normal operating conditions. Automating
procedures enables operations to accomplish
transitions with reduced variability and in less time.
Automating procedures enables operations staff to
standardize their operating procedures. A
standardized approach both reduces the likelihood
of human error contributing to abnormal conditions
and also lessens the time required to recover from
abnormal conditions.
6. Management of change
A structured, modular approach to procedural
automation minimizes production change control
costs.

Through a MPA solution, we were able to eliminate product

variation and maintain consistency in its operations by reducing
off spec products during transitions. The net result was an
increase in process efficiency and reduction in operating costs.

Engineering Manager, Safripol.

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 MPA is like having your best
operators all day, every day. Many
Capturing Knowledge
procedures are not well documented.
Most plants therefore depend on the Capturing operational knowledge is important. MPA provides
knowledge of those few skilled a methodology for the captured knowledge to be documented,
operators who know how procedures
distilled into best practices, and implemented in reusable and
are to be performed, sometimes in
accordance with documented
repeatable procedures. Without this ability, captured knowledge is
instructions (assuming they exist), and not well managed and simply becomes information on a shelf that is
sometimes following the "right way" in not utilized. Or worse, the knowledge is not captured and is lost
spite of what the instructions say. As a
when the operator leaves or retires.
result different operators may practice
them differently. Part of automating
such procedures is determining the
best practices and incorporating those
approaches, so they will be followed
consistently.

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With MPA, Operators Are Never
Alone. Regardless of the reasons, the
control rooms of the western world do
not seem to be as well-manned as
those of 20 or 40 years ago. To
address this situation, MPA can be
used to transfer the knowledge and
experience of the best remaining
operators, engineers and technicians to
new operators. This makes new
operators more effective and efficient.
When MPA is correctly implemented,
no operator needs to start, run or stop
an operating unit alone.
Enhancing Safety with MPA
Many operators, when confronted with an abnormal situation, are
faced with paralyzing information and alarm floods. It can be difficult to
sort through all the noise to get to the right data and make a good
decision in a crisis. Procedure based recovery from abnormal situations
is faster and more reliable than recovery based on random operator
knowledge even from expert operators.
Modular Procedural Automation could also stop abnormal events
from happening in the first place. Several major incidents in the past
few years were caused in part by plant personnel not following proper
operating procedures, while under pressure. It is human nature for
different people to interpret the same written procedure slightly
differently and perform them a little differently too. This variance can
lead to degraded, inconsistent performance or abnormal situations.

Modular Procedural Automation can also help in the development of the safety lifecycle. It is a method or
procedure that provides the means to specify, design, implement, and maintain safety systems in order to achieve
overall safety in a documented and verified manner. Modular Procedural Automation can help implement the
procedures required to developed safety lifecycle management in the same way it can help execute transition
changes and other functions in the plant.

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 Accidents that could have been mitigated by MPA
The BP accident occurred in 2005 in an
isomerization unit. When the lone operator
came on shift, he had just a single line of
input in the log book from the previous
operator: "Starting up the Isom Unit.
A very large burden seemed to fall
BP Texas City upon a single operator
(2005) Restructuring following the merger
resulted in a significant loss of people,
expertise and experience
An explosion and fire led to the fatal injury of
seven employees when a nearly forty-year-
old heat exchanger failed during a
maintenance operation.
During the unit startup, The U.S.
Chemical Safety Board (CSB) concluded
that Tesoro did not correct the history of
Tesoro Refinery fire hazardous conditions or limit the number
(2010) of people involved in the hazardous non-
routine startup of the heat exchangers.
Because of the re-occurring leaks and the
need to manually open a series of long-
winded valves that required over one
hundred turns by hand to fully open, a
supervisor requested five additional
workers to help.
In 2007, four people were killed and 13
others were transported to the hospital when
an explosion occurred at T2 Laboratories
Inc. during the production of a gasoline
additive called methyl cyclopentadienyl
manganese tricarbonyl.
T2 Laboratories, The CSB report describes a lone board
Chem. Explosion operator, who did not know what to do
when the water jacket's water supply
(2007)
failed. He called off-site engineers for
help, and they rushed to the plant, but
reached it too late.
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With MPA, the following would
have been possible:
The operator would have had on-
screen information regarding all of
the steps that the previous shifts
had taken
A safety warning could have been
provided on-screen regarding the
overflowing of the raffinate splitter
tower
Out-of-date procedures would have
been updated
The MPA software could have shut
the unit down in time to avoid the
explosion
Implement Mitigation
implementation tracking MPA
used for correlating data with
different mitigation implementations.
Document single Operator and
Multiple Operator procedure in MPA
to prompt operators on proper
procedures, and use of protective
gear, verified coordination among
personnel, verified process readings
Automate Emergency Response
horn and emergency support
requests.
Prompts could have been provided
to the board operator regarding the
backup water supply;
Corrective action steps for this type
of condition could have been semi-
automated with prompts; or fully
automated as automated flowrate
and valve changes; and
The software could have set off
evacuation alarms.
The knowledge of the plant's most-
experienced people could have
been provided via MPA
19
 Transitions inherently increase the risk
Operational Consistency & MPA
of disruptions that can lead to incidents
and production downtime. Research Start-ups and shutdowns need specific skills and are one of the
indicates that nearly 80% of production biggest sources of risk in a production process. Effective grade changes
downtime is preventable. And half of
and transitions can provide a source of competitive advantage for
them is due to operator error. The
monetary costs of this failure in the manufacturers if they are done consistently, in other words: the same
petrochemical industry alone are way every time. Operational consistency helps maximize production
estimated at $20 billion per year. In rates, minimizing recovery time, and avoiding shutdowns. If shutdowns
addition to avoiding downtime,
do occur, operations can still benefit by achieving faster, safer and more
damage, injury and environmental
emissions, the lost opportunity cost consistent startup and shutdown operations of processes by automating
due to operators functioning at less the procedural steps.
than peak effectiveness looms large.

A major chemical company, at the 2011

ARC Forum, explained how automating
cleaning procedures decreased the
length of the shutdown. It led to a 16%
increase in profit.

20 Modular Procedural Automation eBook www.yokogawa.com/us

 MPA Application Examples

Automation of High-density
Polyethylene Grade Change

Olefin Plant Reactor Switch

Automation of Crude
Switch Operation

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 Chapter 4

Identifying MPA Opportunities

As with any engineering project, time spent on defining the scope on the front end
will pay off later in the project. But based on the experience gained by executing
thousands MPA projects, there are some additional details that should be
considered before starting with MPA. In this chapter we will share some of these
lessons learned and help you with identifying the top MPA candidates at your
plant or manufacturing facility.

Which procedures should be automated? Before answering this

question, be aware that automating a procedure requires a review of the
current procedures and in some cases this step will mean that some of the
current procedures need to be updated. Often this alone is a big step
forward, and if well-documented and verified procedures exist for the
process, you have a solid foundation. Automating procedures also requires
an engineering design, including implementation and testing. Another
lesson learned is that youll need operator acceptance. It is extremely
important for all operational areas to be involved in this activity. The
operations staff must have buy-in to make the project a success. After all,
they run the plant. Unless they recognize a benefit from procedure
automation, MPA will be underutilized. It is highly recommended to have an
experienced operator assigned to the project.
Furthermore, base the decision for MPA upon what your business justification is where is your value?
Possible criteria could be: risk reduction or safety improvement; consistent operations; critical or low
frequency procedures like startups and shutdowns; complex procedures, opportunities for improved
profitability, as with transitions; and last but not least, highly repetitive and low value tasks performed by
the operator to free them to increase their situational awareness and to perform higher value work.

Identify business criteria goals, how you are going to

measure Value or Success

Prioritize potential projects based on the defined values

Automate/semi-automate business or safety critical state

changes. And choose your level of automation based on
your operational experience for the given situation.

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 What are your MPA candidates?
Looking at your site, where to start? Besides knowledge
capture, there are four real categories for you to consider. The
four categories are related to: safety; production critical areas;
high level and frequent manual operations; and troubleshooting
or managing abnormal situations. Only start with the last one
after looking considering the first three areas, because this is
likely the hardest one to implement and may require the help of
a MPA consultant.
Safety & Environment risk reduction areas
Process state change that has high risk of explosive fluid
emission
Production or business critical areas
For example: Start-up/shutdown of offshore wells
Frequent, highly manual transitions
Grade changes, feed changes, operator managed PID Loop
Troubleshooting/managing abnormal situations
Highly valuable but most difficult to implement. Requires
deeper analysis among operations and engineering
FIG. Typical MPA targeted procedure by industry
23
www.yokogawa.com/us Modular Procedural Automation eBook
Automating PID loops- Choose a high-
frequency operation of moderate complexity
for your first automation. After calculating
your MPA potential for safety + production
and business critical areas in your plant, a
next step can be to look at your PID loops
because in a transition period or during a
grade change, operators often put loops in
manual control in order to push the loops a
little bit harder. If you find these kind of loops
in your plant, you can let MPA become the
supervisory control over top of these PID
loops and achieve the same or better results
as an operator does manually. MPA can
more consistently prevent manually controlled
PID loops from going out of control and even
get more consistent control results because
you are no longer depending on the
operator's experience level in loop control
and tuning. Start with prioritizing identified
PID loops based on profit/loss calculation,
and automate prioritized PID loops in cases
where operators have best practices. One
controller loop that is well tuned or in a well-
managed state of operation can save or
generate $50,000 to $100,000 (USD) per
year. High savings can be achieved by
standardizing loop control that provides
stability over a wide operating envelop and
across multiple shifts.
23
 Chapter 5

Implementing MPA
In the previous chapter we explained what to look for identifying MPA
opportunities. Next step is implementing MPA. An important lesson that MPA
vendors have learned is that if MPA is not made as easy as possible for operators,
then a project isnt likely to be successful. As a result, operator friendly software is
important. In this chapter we will highlight a methodology for implementing MPA.

You might think implementing MPA is easy. After all, standard operating (SOP) procedures may
already exist at your plant. As it turns out, most SOPs are based on stable operations. The reality is, that
for abnormal situations operations often rely on the experience of your senior operators. Part of
implementation is capturing that knowledge. Vendors like Yokogawa provide expertise on knowledge
engineering required to capture knowledge and transfer it into automated procedures.
As already mentioned, MPA methodology begins with an examination of the procedures chosen for
automation. At Fractionation Research Institute (FRI), a Yokogawa customer in the United States, during
the first step of the MPA methodology, the procedure evaluation process, uncovered that many of the
procedures were not actually written down in logical order, or correct with regard to values. The common
practice was to use the procedure as more of a guideline than an actual procedure. This allowed for
variations in actual startup and shutdown efficiency. As a solution MPA captured the best practices
(know-how) of the senior operators for use by all the operators. The figure below represents the difference
between the two in a flow diagram.
Procedural flow diagrams for the startup and shutdown procedures were created in order to
capture the evaluation resultscompleteness, logical order, correctness, steps to be automated, and sub-
procedures to be modularized. The procedural flow diagrams were converted into automated procedures.
The FRI subject matter expert and the Yokogawa consultant reviewed the automated procedures to
validate logic and completeness.
Testing on the procedures was
performed in Offline Mode
(disconnected from the process
control system), in Trial Mode
(read only from the process
control system), and Normal
Mode (read from and write to the
process control system). The
testing allowed for final
adjustments of the procedures
before they were placed into
operation.

24 Modular Procedural Automation eBook www.yokogawa.com/us

 Chapter 6

Summary and Next Steps

MPA helps you standardize and automate your procedures. Its all about capturing
your best operators know-how and implementing that as a standard operating
procedure in your plant to guide all operators. Instead of having just a check-list
that youre training your operators on, you should look to automate that wherever
possible to have the most reliable and consistent outcome. With MPA implemented
its like having your most experienced operators on hand at all times.

1. MPA is about improving production performance and safety

2. Use MPA to help make your plant more productive through consistent, safer operations.

3. Look for MPA applications:

Safety & Environment issues.
Lost Production opportunities
PID Loops in Manual mode or with high operator changes

What can Yokogawa do for you?

Consulting Site Visit Comparative Effective Analysis
A next step in your orientation towards a MPA Yokogawa systems provides Comparative
solution is a Consulting Site Visit. You can request Effective Analysis (CEA) - a built-in system
this consult from Yokogawa. It will include: performance monitor. Among the items that CEA
reports is which loops are in MAN mode most often
o Identifying opportunities for improvement (major and which loops have the most operator changes
pain points) associated with them. These loops can be targeted
o Methodologies and templates for: for modular procedural automation. These same
Site visit pre-work measures can be analyzed on other systems but it
Plant walkthrough takes more effort because most other systems either
Interview checklists with: do not automatically collect this data or it is not
Management reported in an easy to analyze format.
Operations Yokogawa can work with customers to
Other functions configure their systems to collect key factors for
Initial review meeting/ on-site report analysis and we can assist in guiding the customer to
o Assist in ROI calculations focus on specific loops and in creating automation
o Prioritize and recommend best solutions modules for procedures that mimic operator action for
managing single loops and critical transitions.

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www.yokogawa.com/us Modular Procedural Automation eBook 26