Windsor Utilities Prepares for the Future of Plant Control with Help from Rockwell Automation SCADA System

Process solution from Rockwell Automation helps plant bolster track-

and-trace capabilities while wirelessly controlling applications

Background

In May 2000, public attention in Canada focused on the tiny town of

Walkerton, Ontario. Half of the town’s 5,000 residents were sick and some

were dying. The symptoms all pointed to E. coli, a bacterium easily spread

by contaminated water.

After insisting for days that the municipal water supply was safe,

operators of the town’s treatment system fi nally admitted to negligence

and falsifying reports. Seven people eventually died because farm run-off

had tainted one well and no one within operations had stopped it.

While the Walkerton crisis in 2000 was an isolated incident, it prompted

legislative reforms culminating in Ontario mandating Drinking Water

Quality Management Standards for the larger water operating authorities

within the Province.

Fast forward to 2009 and several best practices have been identifi ed that

now serve as benchmarks for water utilities throughout Ontario.

The Windsor Utilities Commission was the fi rst water utility in Ontario to

gain full scope certifi cation validated by the Canadian General Standards

Board for both water distribution and water production.

Since 1935, the Windsor Utilities Commission has been providing safe

and reliable water. The Commission supplies water to 72,000 businesses

and homes in Windsor and sells bulk water to the towns of LaSalle and

Tecumseh. Its primary focus has been water treatment and distribution,

Solutions

SCADA System• Redundant Allen-Bradley ControlLogix

controllers, FactoryTalk View and

FactoryTalk AssetCentre, software

for plantwide process control

• ControlNet allows for seamless

communications between

ControlLogix controllers

Manufacturing Intelligence• FactoryTalk VantagePoint and

FactoryTalk Historian SE software

provide reporting, trending,

data collection and data storage

Intelligent Motor Control• Allen-Bradley CENTERLINE motor

control centers provide soft starting

and stopping of continuously run

motors and variable speed for

pump control

Services and Support• Commissioned drives for fast startup

with onsite services

• Network validation services

Results

Improved Uptime• Reduced risk of errors by automatically

tracking and tracing data.

• Increased uptime by preventing

production problems with visibility

to real-time data

Enabled for Future Growth• Prepared to address goal

of improving pumping effi ciency

with power monitoring

Revised Control Room

leading the way in terms of treatment technology

and having been recognized as an industry leader in

ozonation and most recently, the Drinking Water Quality

Management Standards (DWQMS).

The Windsor Utilities Commission’s innovations encompass

far more than ozonation and quality management systems,

today, the Windsor water treatment plant is one of the

most technologically advanced in Canada, thanks to John

Stuart, chief operating offi cer, his team and their partners

at Rockwell Automation.

Challenge

In early 2010, Stuart and his team recognized that their

single process controls were reaching the end of their

lifecycle and needed upgrading. Rather than waiting for

a problem to occur, they sought a solution that would not

only bolster the system’s tracking and tracing capabilities,

but reduce the risk that a single-source failure could

cease their operations. This meant the Windsor Utilities

Commission needed a fully redundant supervisory control

and data acquisition (SCADA) system with intelligent motor

control and networking to improve system diagnostics.

“If the plant had kept its original control system and had

lost an I/O card, such as the one running the dosing pumps,

the control system would fail to add chemicals to the water,

which would have compromised the water quality,” Stuart

explained. “In a redundant system, two processors and

associated I/O cards would have to stop working for such

a failure to occur. With the Walkerton incident fresh on

everyone’s minds, we were better off safe than sorry.”

In addition to improving its tracking, tracing and

redundancy capabilities, the plant wanted a system

that could address three key areas.

1. Historical data collection. With its old SCADA system,

WUC manually recorded data every hour, at the risk of

human error. The new system needed to provide on-

the-spot report creation of historical production data.

2. Knowledge transfer. Many of the plant’s operators

were nearing retirement. WUC wanted to retain their

knowledge by distilling it into an automated process.

3. Employee fl exibility. Stuart and his team wanted to

invest in a wireless platform that would allow a single

operator to use a handheld, portable tablet to control

the system. With a wireless system, an operator would

be free to roam the plant with controls in hand. In turn,

this would provide WUC with staffi ng fl exibility so it

could rely on one operator per shift, rather than two.

Solutions

With a long-standing history of collaboration, the Windsor

Utilities Commission looked to Rockwell Automation

to develop a strategy to keep the facility on the leading

edge of the water utility sector. The Rockwell Automation

Systems and Solutions Business (SSB) team provided

a variety of project management services that were

instrumental in ensuring the correct hardware, software

and overall SCADA system suited the need of WUC.

The two companies teamed up with ONYX, a system

integrator and Insyght Systems, consultants, to upgrade the

SCADA system and assist the Windsor Utilities Commission

in implementing wireless tablets for plantwide control.

To address the outdated controllers, ONYX installed

Allen-Bradley® ControlLogix® programmable automation

controllers with redundant powers supplies (PACs), from

Rockwell Automation. The Rockwell Automation SSB team

assisted in the design of the control panels and supervised

their installation. The PACs are fully integrated to help the

operator access plantwide production information with

real-time visibility of: water quality, as well as trending

loads, levels, clarity, and alarms, ultimately allowing for

better plant management.

To improve tracking, tracing and reporting capabilities,

ONYX installed FactoryTalk® VantagePoint software from

Rockwell Automation. FactoryTalk VantagePoint software

provides unifi ed access to virtually all plant information

sources. By tapping into the data gathered by FactoryTalk

Historian software, FactoryTalk VantagePoint software

provides visibility into historical production data by

putting the information into context through Web-

based reports. These reports provide role-appropriate

visualization of high-level desktop dashboards. Prompt

reporting capabilities will facilitate WUC staying ahead

of regulations and allowing real-time changes to plant

processes, ultimately avoiding downtime, fi nes or worse.

To further improve operations, ONYX and Rockwell

Automation integrated additional information software

products. FactoryTalk Asset Centre change-management

software enhances security through a set of asset-centric

tools that document and record all changes made to

production on a role-based, password-based system.

FactoryTalk View Supervisory Edition human-machine

interface software supports distributed-server application,

allowing for maximum control over plant information.

“Our operators customized the FactoryTalk View SE

software to match the unique needs of our operations,”

Stuart said. “Being able to capture our operators’

knowledge in this new SCADA system was invaluable.”

Redundant Control System

The Windsor Utilities Commission replaced conduits

and wires from each I/O with ControlNet™ networks

to help reduce wiring and installation costs, increase

reliability, and enable point-to-point management and

troubleshooting. ControlNet is also utilized to transmit

electrical information, bus voltage, motor data and

network security to operators using the proven

Common Industrial Protocol (CIP™).

Allen-Bradley CENTERLINE® low-voltage motor control

centers (MCCs) provide the controllers with soft starting

and stopping of the continuously run motors and

Allen-Bradley PowerFlex® AC drives provide the variable-

speed motors with energy savings on pump loads.

Allen-Bradley IntelliCENTER® software connects the

MCCs with the rest of the plant, providing real-time

diagnostics and MCC documentation to help maximize

MCC and related equipment performance. In addition,

medium-voltage softstarters were installed in the

synchronous and nonsynchronous motors and medium-

voltage PowerFlex AC drives replaced the step-up,

step-down antiquated drives.

In addition to providing the products necessary for a

plantwide control system, Rockwell Automation also

supported WUC with a variety of services. Through

comprehensive network validation, Rockwell Automation

engineers verifi ed the installation and operation of the

Windsor Utilities Commission’s new network. This ensured

that the system was consistent with current functional

requirements and that WUC could hit the ground running

after migrating to the new control system. Engineers also

provided on-site training services to all WUC operators.

“From architecture and software system design, to I/O

mapping and management of control activities, the

Rockwell Automation SSB team was critical in ensuring

this project was a success,” Stuart said. “The team’s phased

approach allowed for zero production loss, which was an

important objective for WUC.”

With a robust SCADA system in place, the Windsor Utilities

Commission was able to complete its ultimate goal of

moving to a platform that enables the use of wireless,

tablet-based controls. Stratix Industrial Ethernet Switches

provide secure integration with the enterprise network

so employees can confi dently use the wireless device

without fear of outsiders hacking the system. Operators

are now free to make rounds and take samples anywhere

in the plant without the risk of missing an alarm because

they were not within earshot of the control room.

Results

Commencing in 2009 WUC undertook a two-year program

to replace its aging SCADA system that controlled the

production and distribution of potable water within the City

of Windsor. The conversion to a new PAC system included the

necessary improvements to ensure the safe operation and

effi cient use of resources at the water production facility. All

programming was standardized to ease troubleshooting and

future expansion of the control system.

The new control and information system was

commissioned in early 2010 and completed under

budget in January 2011. The Windsor Utilities Commission

became the fi rst water provider in Ontario to use wireless

tablets for plant control, and in August 2011, the plant

transitioned from two operators per shift to one. The new

system also eliminated the risk of single-source failure

and has helped reduce the risk of reporting errors by

automatically tracking and tracing plant data.

Improved real-time control helps reduce downtime

since operators can now proactively fi x problems as they

arise. When an issue does occur, the tablet allows WUC

operators to work directly with maintenance professionals

at the source of the problem, rather than communicating

commands over a phone or radio from the control room.

“Migrating to a robust SCADA system was a team eff ort, and

we could not have done it without Rockwell Automation,

ONYX and Insyght Systems,” Stuart said. “From the products

to project management and service support, Rockwell

Automation was with us every step of the way.”

As for the future, WUC plans to integrate its laboratory

information management system into the FactoryTalk

VantagePoint software and also utilize the new control

system’s power monitoring capability to improve plant

pumping effi ciency. The ability to determine the most

effi cient fl ow rate will allow plant management and staff

the ability to optimize the backwash and chemical process

dosing by 2013.

The results mentioned above are specifi c to Windsor Utilities’ use of Rockwell Automation

products and services in conjunction with other products. Specifi c results may vary

for other customers.

Publication WATVP-AP011A-EN-P – November 2011 Copyright © 2011 Rockwell Automation, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Printed in USA.

Allen-Bradley, ControlLogix, CENTERLINE, FactoryTalk, IntelliCENTER and PowerFlex are trademarks of Rockwell Automation, Inc.ControlNet is a trademark of ControlNet International, Ltd. CIP is a trademark of ODVA.