Pretty much all of industry relies on PLCs for effective and reliable control. But many legacy systems are old, and newer PLCs have more punch and indeed offer better cost of ownership. It sounds simple to replace old PLCs, and it may be so.
But consider that you are running a critical process and simply don't have the time to waste while 'experts' play with possible solutions. This article makes the case for seamless upgrading of PLC systems, and hence the complete control system, and is based around experience gained with the Siemens Simatic S5 to Simatic S7 upgrades taking place on many plants...

To read more download this article click on the download PDF button below.

A migration from the obsolete COROS SCADA to Simatic WinCC HMI was performed for Mittal Steel's plant in Saldanha. Two HMI systems were created: one to interface to a PLC process bus and one to a Simadyn-D process bus. The migration was performed by manually generating SCADA graphics generating tags through AS/OS compile and SPE for the respective systems. The entire project was made accessible through Simatic Manager in order to follow good engineering practice guidelines. Siemens option packages Simatic Audit, Connectivity Pack, Dat@Monitor and Logon were also engineered for the system...

To read more download this article click on the download PDF button below.

A new control system based on PCS7 was to be implemented in a brewery in Timisoara, Romania. Due to the client's requirements Simatic Batch was recommended as a method through which full operator control of the control system is provided with minimal direct interaction with the low-level control logic. The implementation of Batch through the course of the project and the current use of Simatic Batch is evaluated in this report.

To read more download this article click on the download PDF button below.

The development is a building to house WesBank and certain FNB consumer divisions. The building is an example of best-of-breed, environmentally friendly development.

Several measures have been taken to ensure that, once completed, the building is super-energy efficient. The lighting management is completely automated using Beckhoff Building Automation products. The parties involved were: Claassen Auret Incorporated, the consulting engineers on this project; A to Z Electrical, the main electrical contractor; Systems Automation & Management (SAM) as the system integrator for the lighting control in this building.

Control Architecture: 24 Beckhoff CX9000 Embedded PCs managing the entire DALI lighting solution through 150 KL6811 DALI master terminals. The main goal was to allow code re-usability as well as flexibility for easy changes to the building design, as well as the energy efficiency of the entire system...

To read more download this article click on the download PDF button below.

Increasing Plant and Workforce Efficiency, using Data Management & Version Control Software.

Industrial plants are becoming more automated at an alarming level and for this reason; the level of skilled staff is increasingly put under pressure, to manage the automation and associated control software.  With these systems becoming more complicated, the control software is constantly being blamed for plants tripping and outages. How do we ensure that we minimise these trips, speed up the disaster recovery times and release our technician and engineers from mundane tasks such as backing up software while increasing plant availability?...

To read more download this article click on the download PDF button below.

Power utility companies need to accurately measure the power produced and used by their power stations on a 24/7 basis. The energy metering and data acquisition system (Emdas) has been a standard for Eskom over the past 15 years, and was recently redeveloped using the latest technology available...

To read more download this article click on the download PDF button below.

Project implementation and integration of the PPRust concentrator.

To read more download this article click on the download PDF button below.

Preservation of value thanks to step-by-step migration: At its high-tech Saldanha factory, the steel giant Mittal Steel South Africa Ltd. is benefiting from the advantages of a process visualisation with SIMATIC WinCC. For the hot strip production and the rolling mill of the plant, the Human Machine Interface SIMATIC WinCC Specialist SAM implemented two easy to operate and efficient visualization system based on this highly flexible Siemens SCADA software – tailormade and very economical.

To read more download this article click on the download PDF button below.

Werterhaltung dank schrittweiser Migration: Der Stahlriese Mittal Steel South Africa Ltd. profitiert in seinem High-Tech-Werk Saldanha von den Vorteilen einer Prozessvisualisierung mit SIMATIC WinCC: Der Human Machine Interface SIMATIC WinCC Specialist SAM realisierte in der Warmbandproduktion und im Walzwerk der Anlage zwei komfortable und effiziente Visualisierungssysteme auf Basis der hochflexiblen Siemens SCADA Software – maßgeschneidert und sehr wirtschaftlich.

To read more download this article click on the download PDF button below.

Systems Automation & Management (SAM), preferred system integrator for large projects, this year celebrates its 20th year of success in business. During the years the company has developed an enviable pool of experience in control systems and associated industrial IT that has enabled SAM to become more than a system integrator, ensuring its success in high profile prestigious projects...

To read more download this article click on the download PDF button below.

Is your plant a mixed bag of different manufacturer legacy PLCs that are not networked? Would you like to upgrade to the latest control system
functionality? The author's company has invested several years of research and completed several plant migrations to the latest technology with
zero downtime and at a fraction of a complete upgrade cost. This article considers a phased approach to upgrade your system in a cost efficient way.....

To read more download this article click on the download PDF button below.

The high output demands placed on ore/coal mining operations, coupled with the advancements to rail infrastructure and technologies, necessitate that mines automate their loading stations with the latest control and automation technology......

To read more download this article click on the download PDF button below.

Systems Automation and Management (SAM) was founded in June 1988 and has grown to a complement of 60 people, comprising mostly technical and engineering staff with six administrative personnel and nine panel builders....

To read more download this article click on the download PDF button below.