April 2015

STATE OF TECHNOLOGY REPORT

Operator
Interface
Aligning people, technology and
procedures for optimal performance.
 Operator Interface

Table of Contents
Introduction
Operator Effectiveness: The Case for Investment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
The State of Operator Effectiveness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

Principles
Best Practices for Operator Interface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Perfect Fit: Operator Performance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

Technology in Action
Can Operators Hear the Fieldbus Music? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
Is Your HMI Going to Get Touchy? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Rationalizing and Refocusing on Alarms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
Operator Performance Gets Better . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26

Perspectives
The Control Room of the Future: A Smarter Reality . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
Operators Get What They Deserve . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37

Advertiser Index
Advantech, http://www.advantech.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
EZAutomation, http://www.ezautiomation.net . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Red Lion, http://www.redlion.net . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Pro-face, http://www.profaceamerica.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

2
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Operator Effectiveness:
The Case for Investment
Is It Any Wonder that Operators’ Inability to Act Capably and Confidently Is Responsible
for an Enormous Loss of Productivity, Money, and Even Life Across Industry?
By Keith Larson
I
t happens every day in thousands of plants around the
world. Operators report to work, eager to contribute to
their companies’ success – but often find the deck stacked
against them.
In an all-too-typical operations center, human factors
rank as afterthought at best, with little attention paid to traf-
fic patterns, operator station ergonomics and even less to
user interface design. Operators may be oriented to “nor-
mal,” steady-state plant operations, but are ill-prepared to
deal with abnormal situations when they arise. This in-
cludes scheduled shutdowns and start-ups that today happen
at increasingly infrequent intervals. And, all too often, the
information operators need to make quick, intelligent de-
cisions does not exist within the operations environment—
requiring operators to juggle walkie-talkies, telephones and
other system interfaces at the precise moment the process
demands their undivided attention.
Is it any wonder that operators’ inability to act capably
and confidently is responsible for an enormous loss of pro-
ductivity, money, and even life and limb across industry?
Indeed, research indicates that nearly 80% of unscheduled
production downtime is preventable. And half of this is due
4
Operator Interface
to operator error. The monetary costs of this failure in the
petrochemical industry alone are estimated at $20 billion
per year.
In addition to avoiding downtime, damage, injury and
environmental emissions, the lost opportunity cost due
to operators functioning at less than peak effectiveness
looms large. In an exclusive joint research project by Con-
trol magazine and ABB across Control’s global database of
process automation professionals, respondents agreed that
operators have an outsized potential to impact quality and
economic performance metrics (see “The State of Opera-
tor Effectiveness”).
From Frying Pan to Fire
Clearly the need—and potential payoff—for more effective
operators is enormous and intuitively understood. But rather
than reversing course and simplifying operators’ tasks, in-
dustry has only ramped up the pressure in recent years.
Satellite control rooms are giving way to central operations
centers as companies struggle to improve financial perfor-
mance by increasing the utilization of operations resources.
And at greenfield processing sites around the world, plants

and units that once operated in a standalone fashion—with
dedicated control rooms, interim holding tanks and buffer
capacity—now are built as integrated mega-plants with intri-
cate unit dependencies that must be understood, controlled
and optimized in real-time. In the end, fewer operators are
responsible for more functional areas, more interconnected
processes and more sophisticated control strategies.
Further complicating matters, experienced Baby Boomers
are retiring in droves, and companies find it harder than
ever to recruit and retain qualified individuals willing to
devote themselves to a career in their “grandfather’s control
room”—without ready access to the information and
collaboration tools they need to succeed, and scarcely a nod
to modern principles of ergonomic and human-centered
design principles.
The Four Pillars of Operator Effectiveness
Fortunately, an array of best practices and technologies is
available to help operators perform to their potential despite
escalating complexity. At the core of them all is a fundamen-
tal shift in philosophy that places a considered evaluation
of the operator’s needs, abilities and limitations—including
their individual characteristics—front and center in the de-
sign process.
As with other user-centric design endeavors, the essential
goal of operator effectiveness measures is for the technology
to effectively “disappear,” so the operator can quickly gather
and assess input, collaborate as necessary, and steer the pro-
cess through turbulent patches or unanticipated conditions
as smoothly and intuitively as possible.
ABB, the global leader in automation and power technol-
ogy, is at the forefront of this new way of thinking, bringing
together the necessary technology and business practices
as four essential disciplines, each of which is described in
greater detail in the articles that follow:
Plant system integration: Raw data and other inputs must
be transformed into actionable information in context—eas-
ily viewed, listened to, or otherwise sensed in an integrated
5
Operator Interface
environment regardless of source. The challenge is to provide
seamless access to multiple sources of information, but at the
same time not overload the operator with irrelevant data.
High performance human-machine interface (HMI): The
user interface must be intuitive and allow the operator to man-
age views dynamically and efficiently. A high performance in-
terface supports situation awareness through how information
is displayed as well as abnormal situation handling through
advanced filtering and consolidation strategies.
Human factors and ergonomics: Just as manufacturing
processes are designed to be carefully controlled and ma-
nipulated to achieve desired outcomes, high-performance
control rooms and operator stations must be designed from
the beginning with operator performance in mind.
Integrated simulation environments: The global airline
industry boasts an enviable safety record, due in no small
part to the extensive use of training simulators. Should we
provide any less for our process pilots? High fidelity simu-
lator training is all about ensuring operator competence
and instilling confidence, especially in situations seldom
encountered in the course of routine operation. Integrated
simulation environments further leverage the graphics and
logic developed for the control system itself, providing a
more realistic, easily maintained simulation environment.
The potential benefits of an integrated approach to opera-
tor effectiveness are essentially the flip sides of all the prob-
lems already attributed to less well equipped operators. All
have to do with improved decision-making: When operator
effectiveness rises, so do productivity, efficiency, asset utili-
zation, safety, environmental compliance—and profits.
Keith Larson is group publisher responsible for Putman Media’s manufacturing
automation titles Control, Control Design and Industrial Net working. Corporately, he
also ser ves as vice president of content across Putman Media’s other magazine titles.

The State of Operator Effectiveness
Operators Can Influence Plant Performance Significantly
By Keith Larson
I
n order to gauge current industry views on operator effec-
tiveness,  Control  together with  ABB conducted in Janu-
ary 2012 a reader survey across Control’s email database
of process automation professionals. Survey respondents ac-
knowledged the potential for operators to significantly influ-
ence plant performance, as well as an ongoing need to im-
plement measures that would make them more effective in
their jobs. Other data from this exclusive study is included
throughout this special report.
When asked to what extent better prepared operators
could positively influence key performance metrics, respon-
dents placed significant accountability in the hands of the
operators.  Operators not only have a big impact on availabil-
ity, equipment damage and personnel safety, but can play
a big role in quality, environmental and economic perfor-
mance as well (chart), according to survey respondents.
Equipment damage and personal safety
Product quality performance
Plant availability/utilization
Economic performance
Environmental performance
0% 20% 40% 60% 80%
Little impact Significant impact
Potential Operator Influence on Plant KPIs Is Enormous…
But an overwhelming majority of survey respondents also
confirmed the increasing scope of board operator responsi-
bilities, with more than three-fourths indicating a growing
Operator Interface
workload (chart). This trend indicates an already urgent and
growing need for companies to do all they can to make their
operators more effective in their daily tasks.
In terms of survey demographics, a total of 123 responses
were received from a range of process industry verticals, includ-
ing chemicals manufacturing (27%), mining, metals and mate-
rials (11%), oil and gas production (10%), life sciences and phar-
maceuticals (10%), electric power generation (10%), food and
beverage manufacturing (9%), pulp and paper manufacturing
(8%), petroleum refining (7%) water and wastewater treatment
(5%) and engineering services (4%).
Increasing significantly 27%
Increasing somewhat 48%
Decreasing significantly 2%
Decreasing somewhat 3%
Staying the same 19%
...Yet the Scope of Operator Responsibilities Continues to Increase
And while other world regions are represented in the study,
the majority of respondents (85%) were from North Amer-
ica; 8% were from Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA);
6% from Asia; and 2% from South America. The majority
100%
of respondents’ titles were engineering related (62%), with
maintenance (9%), operations (9%), administration (7%),
technician (7%) and unspecified (7%) titles also represented.
Keith Larson is group publisher responsible for Putman Media’s manufacturing
automation titles Control, Control Design and Industrial Net working. Corporately, he
also ser ves as vice president of content across Putman Media’s other magazine titles.
7
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 Operator Interface

The Eye for Plant Operators’ Eyes

Best Practices for Operator Interface Make Sure We See What We Need to See
By Doug Rothenberg

T
he plant operator has an extremely valuable and import- scene, all of the process control system (PCS) manufactur-
ant responsibility: managing the real-time performance ers started a race to see who could use the most appealing
of a capital enterprise easily worth hundreds of millions and exciting colors to flash in front of prospective buyers.
of dollars. We ask operators to shoulder the burden of every- What was missing from all of this new technology was the
thing that goes wrong during their watch, all without any the answer to the question of what the video display should
recognition when nothing does, and precious little—and do and how best to do it.
that mostly blame—when it goes wrong, and they manage
to manage. Within their area of responsibility and authority, Physical Display Architecture
they must be able to view every control loop, most sensors, We know that more screens are as necessary as more in-
most pieces of equipment and most of the supporting utili- formation is displayed. Figure 1 shows a recommended ar-
ties, and then adjust as appropriate. chitecture. There are enough screens so that most tasks, in-
The failure to maintain situational awareness has been cluding monitoring, can be viewed at the same time without
present in almost every disaster event that was not the result requiring switching displays on a screen, much like a panel
of a spontaneous, complete surprise. No one wants an acci- wall. The locations are arranged so that related information
dent. But accidents and disasters happen. We now know to is naturally located.
a high degree of certainty that they happen because those
Figure 1. The recommended architecture for operator displays.
in charge of ensuring that they don’t aren’t aware of critical
events as they are happening. They fail to know the situa- Trends
Alarm Trends
tion. They are unaware of what is really going on, what is summary (for (for tuning
operations
likely to happen, or what isn’t happening that they think is. or or upset
or quality
history monitoring)
As pointed out in my forthcoming book, Alarm Manage- control)

ment for Process Control, from Momentum Press, this situ-

ation can be significantly improved by good operator inter-
face design. Operator Working Working
screen screen
advisory 1 2
Evolution of the Technology
The video display unit seemed to represent a significant step
forward when it replaced panel boards. Actually, it was a step
forward in technology and a step backward in operator sup-
port. But it was the evolution of displays, not their intrinsic
faults or limitations, that led us down the wrong early paths.
Once the faceplate barrier was broken, so to speak, the world The choice of which resident displays to locate on which
of graphic design opened up. As soon as color made the screens is made so that those requiring close interactions

9

are center and lower. Note that in Figure 1 the two work-
ing screens (1 and 2) are located at the bottom center and
right. Here is where the operator would be monitoring spe-
cific control points and related variables, or he or she may be
intervening to manage an abnormal situation or other event,
say by altering a controller setpoint or moving a valve. Close
at hand (bottom row at left) would be other screens with ad-
visories to assist the operator. For example, the screen could
provide assistance as needed to augment the operator’s cur-
rent activities. This assistance would show procedures, pro-
vide relevant background analytical data, alarm diagnostic
assistance data and the like.
The screens that provide more global information are
located above. As a package, the displays on these screens
complement the operator’s role of observing and managing.
At top left, would be the screen dedicated to the alarm sys-
tem. The screen at top center provides overview information
on how well the process is working. This aids the operator
working to ensure the plant doesn’t go astray. The operator
may also be working on process improvements. The screen
that supports improvements is located at upper right.
New Operator Screen Design
What you see here depicts a best practice for graphical
operator screens. It was developed based on the work of the
authors listed in the sidebar, “More About HMI Best Prac-
tices.”  Note that color is used only for information—to point
out the unusual or abnormal.
1. Shaded grays are used to delineate the operator’s arena
of responsibility.
2. Contextualized icons focus on what’s normal and
what’s not.
3. A hierarchy of view provides
      a. Critical information only at overview,
      b. Robust details and causality at the secondary
view(s),
      c. Support and guidance at the tertiary view(s).
Consequently, what the operator now gets is a powerful
10
Operator Interface
tool that focuses attention and encourages efficient naviga-
tion to what’s he or she needs to see and attend to without
the overhead of “clicking to oblivion” that we always find in
conventional personal software.
IT’S ALL ABOUT THE BARS
In the 1970s, VideoSpec from Foxboro used deviation diagrams
to illustrate complex, interrelated situations. These diagrams con-
sist of a series of bars representing production steps, process
sequences or the processing order of the plant, from material (or
energy) entry into the operator area to exit. The height of each
bar shows how far away it is from a proper target—the expected
value of the particular attribute needed for long-term, effective
production. The beauty of such a display is that, even if this is the
first time you have seen one, you can easily spot abnormalities
anywhere and everywhere in the plant. For more on how devia-
tion diagrams work, go to the extended version of this story at
www.controlglobal.com/0908_HMI_DevDiag.html.
Coding Schemes and Icons
Icons are powerful codes meant to be in-your-face obvious.
This is the stuff that speeds up understanding and mini-
mizes confusion. Icons both evoke a meaning and confirm
that what is evoked is correct. While it might seem to be re-
dundant, such redundancy is important.
Figure 2. Context icons indicate either normalcy or a pending
abnormal situation.
150+ ˚F
Normal Abnormal
 Operator Interface

Icons are more than placeholders and announcers of

warnings. They also communicate status. Take icons like
the thermometer-like icon shown in Figure 2. We call these
context icons. They serve as indicator measurements of nor-
malcy or pending abnormal operation. Looking at the left
icon in the figure, note that all that is visible is the shape (a
temperature), a range (the white vertical box) and the cur-
rent measurement (the blue bar about halfway up the range).
The displayed temperature is within its normal range. In
the right icon, our temperature is abnormal. It is clearly too
high. First, the normal range box now has all of its abnor-
mal areas identified, from slightly abnormal to grossly so.
We see that the current value, again a simple blue bar, is in
a red area. Red means trouble. Something is clearly wrong
here.  To reinforce this message, the current actual value is
displayed against a red background. It all suggests abnormal. Figure 3. A best practice for displays is to show all process elements
in gray. Color is used for information only.
Overview Level
Now, let’s put all these elements together. Illustrated in Fig- Note the selection of key input variables at the left margin.
ure 3 is a best-practice overview level display. Notice that These are “produced” by others at the enterprise. While not
all of the process elements are represented by neutral gray. clearly depicted, the graphs of each input variable are con-
This is what we expect. Process elements are placeholders. textualized in a manner similar to the icons. Their degree
They’re only there to show causal relationships and where of normalcy significantly affects the production within our
things are okay or not. Arrangement conveys causality. operator’s area.
Color is used for information only. Okay, there is the legacy Next, we see the entire operator area of responsibility laid
video inset for the flare camera! It always needs to be in view. out with all key internal variables identified by context-bear-

MORE ABOUT HMI BEST PRACTICES

Corbett, D. Legg. Man Machine Interface. Litwin Process Automation, Houston, Texas, 1990.

“Effective Operator Display Guidelines,” ASM Consortium,http://www.asmdashboard.com/, 2002.

Hollifield, B., D. Oliver, I. Nimmo and E. Habibi. The High Performance HMI Handbook. PAS. http://www.pas.com/. Houston Tex., 2008

“Human Machine Interface.” NAMUR Standard AK 2.9. www.namur.de/ Potsdam, Germany.

“Process Plant Control Desks Utilising Human-Computer Interfaces–A Guide to Design, Operational and Human Interface Issues.”
Engineering Equipment Materials Users’ Association (EEMUA) Publication 201. www.eemua.co.uk/ London, 2002.

11

A GOOD CONTENT AND DESIGN EXAMPLE
A very good example of the ability to observe and understand
complex interrelated situations can be illustrated by a deviation
diagram, developed by the Foxboro Company for a product called
VideoSpec. (See Figure 4, below). The order of the bars reflects
the major production steps, process sequences, or processing
order of the plant from material (or energy) entry into the operator
area to exit. Time does not appear anywhere on the diagram.
The diagram is a representational construct of the whole of a
plant and its relationship within itself and to its operational goals.
It is constructed by first listing the major plant processed entities
from entry at battery limits (from outside or another portion of
the plant) to exit from battery limits. Adjacent bars mean that the
Figure 4
ing icons. Anything wrong will easily show up. Finally, ob-
serve the key product variables at the right margin. If these
are okay and the process is okay, there should be confidence
that the enterprise is okay. Where things are not, they show
up directly and clearly.
Do ASM-Style Displays Work?
Sound like good ideas? Luckily, tragic incidents happen
rarely, so very few plants that have employed the new
designs have had one. With the new design, they are even
less likely to see one at all. So we don’t have actual case
histories to demonstrate this. As a surrogate, carefully
designed simulations were prepared and experienced
operators used to work them. (See Errington, Jamie and
12
Operator Interface
entities they represent are functionally (if not physically) closely
related in their processing steps. A bar to the left of another bar
means that the one before comes before the one after in the
normal “flow” of production. For each bar, the height shows how
far away it is from a proper target. A “target” is not normally the
related controller setpoint. Rather, the target represents the ex-
pected value of the particular attribute needed for long-term ef-
fective production. Right on target would be a bar of zero height.
Values higher than target would be a bar height above zero, val-
ues below target would be a bar below zero.
Now we get to the part about what the diagram is intended to
illustrate. Even if this is the first time ever looking at one, you can
easily spot anywhere and everywhere there is abnormality in
the plant. A single or isolated strongly deviating bar (at position
5 for example) means that something is clearly is “wrong,” but
its effect is strictly localized, for example, a failing transmitter
that is not a part of a control loop. Groups of noticeably deviating
bars (at positions 25 through 29 in our example) suggest that a
broader area of the process is abnormal.
With a glance, the observer has a broad overview of the entire
process, and if a good job was done selecting the variables to
display, a good understanding of the overall process. It is a sim-
ple, yet powerful, visual agent! It’s only one of many.
Peter Bullemer, “Advanced Operator Interface,” Human
Centered Solutions,http://applyhcs.com/: 2008.)
The overall statistics from this test are very encouraging.
In general, those using the ASM type displays were twice
as fast in managing and almost 40% again more accurate.
Even more revealing, those using the ASM displays were
four times faster at early event detection.
By combining good human-factors engineering and years
of experience with graphic displays, we’ve made significant
strides forward from the big steps backward we made when
we abandoned the panel wall. The plant operator gets the
tools needed to do the job. 
Dr. Rothenberg is principal of D-Roth Inc., w w w.d-roth.com, a subject mat ter exper t in
alarm management and operator interface development.

Perfect Fit: Operator Performance
Enhancing Operator Performance Means Tailoring the Right Combination of Situation-Aware Dis-
plays, Rationalized Alarms, Ergonomic Consoles and Field-Capable Interfaces. Here’s How Users
Maintain Operator Effectiveness
By Jim Montague
E
ver since people first started using labor-saving tools,
they’ve gladly accepted whatever occupational difficul-
ties and hazards that came with them. Just as getting
blisters from digging with a shovel is still way better than
scratching the earth with bare hands, operating today’s huge
mining shovels and trucks or running deep-sea oil drilling,
extraction or distribution facilities is better than each of the
old methods they replaced. Who cares if the control room
is cramped, poorly lit and spits out cascades of nuisance
alarms? It’s still better than what went before, right?
Too true, but the eternally innovative spirit that inspired
all these great tools, automation and controls in the first
place is never completely comfortable or satisfied because
it never really switches off. That’s why engineers are always
trying to find new and better solutions, and why formerly
separate methods of improving operator performance in
process control continue to be perfected, but also are start-
ing to merge into a unified whole that’s tailor-made to better
suit the needs of each user and application.
For instance, training is getting out of the classroom to
include more realistic simulations; SCADA software and
HMIs are using situation-awareness principles and alarm ra-
tionalization to build more effective displays; consoles and
control rooms are improving ergonomics and even adding
balance and aerobics; and field-based interfaces are adding
more network pathways and Internet links, as well as tablet
PCs, smart phones and wearable components. Bring your
own device (BYOD) seems to be going on everywhere, and
this presents a bunch of new opportunities and new prob-
lems to solve.
14
Operator Interface
New Applications, Better Education
Because so many process applications are retooling or add-
ing units to handle new or more varied products, even vet-
eran operators are finding they need some added training
along with the rookies. However, everyone is learning their
instruction can come in some new, unexpected, multimedia
forms and use more real-life input.
For example, China National Petroleum Corp.’s 40-year-
old Qingyang Petrochemcal Co. recently added an oil re-
fining facility that can process 3 million tons of products
per year, and it implementedABB’s Freelance DCS, which
consists of 19 pairs of redundant AC 800F controllers
to manage 12 processes and auxiliary systems with
approximately 10,000 I/O points. This DCS also includes
four engineering stations and 32 operator stations with
intuitive interfaces, networking via 100-Mbps, fiber-optic
Ethernet, and communications via Profibus PA/DP, HART,
Foundation fieldbus and Modbus protocols. It uses redun-
dant process control stations, network connections and
power supplies to ensure safe production.
However, because this was a new refinery and many
of Qingyang’s operators were unfamiliar with their new
equipment, ABB also provided its operator training sys-
tem (OTS) as part of its project delivery, so the staff could
quickly learn their new systems and equipment, avoid er-
rors and achieve steady operations. Based on Qingyang’s
individual requirements, ABB didn’t stop with the OTS
and also extended Freelance’s standard soft controller func-
tions and added customized functions and corresponding
interface software.

Reinforcing Awareness
Besides using training devices linked to actual control-
ler tasks and data for better instruction, operators also are
benefiting from improved displays and greater use of situ-
ation-awareness recommendations and strategies. However,
even though many higher-resolution displays and support
tools are available, sometimes operators need to make a cul-
tural change before they can really begin to embrace and
use them, says Jason Wright, PlantPAx system marketing
manager atRockwell Automation. “Many operators tell us
they want their new displays to look just like their old ones,
which means their user experience and effectiveness won’t
improve. So we’re trying to convince users to apply some
new HMI strategies by presenting them as a workforce solu-
tion and implementing them with the least impact to ex-
isting systems. This is why our recent PlantPAx Sequencer
3.0 release has display elements and a library that are much
easier to program and deploy. They also show performance
targets, operating ranges and histories, which give operators
better context and intelligence. And these elements also re-
main in synch over time, so they’re easier to track in the fu-
ture, which also aids acceptance.”
Roy Tanner,  ABB’s  800xA product marketing manager,
adds that, «More people are catching on to the value of
using high-performance graphics and situation-awareness
tactics. Luckily, where only big oil and gas, chemical and
power companies used to be able to afford high-performance
graphics and address situation awareness, these days even
small water utilities and other small companies can use
them and gain better situation awareness, too.»
Stan Devries, senior director of software solutions archi-
tectures at Invensys Operations Management, which is be-
coming part of  Schneider Electric, explains, “We need to
rethink training to include in-class, on-the-job and regular
refreshers, instead of the usual training for a new project
before start-up, and then neglecting it later. We’ve found
cases where it took eight years of traditional training for op-
erators to reach error-free status, but using established met-
15
Operator Interface
rics could reduce that time to 1.5 years. This training is also
important in pulp and paper, refining and other industries
where operators can go seven years between shutdowns and
overhauls, so many operators have never started their appli-
cation up from zero.
“Effective training based on best practices is also crucial
because more operators are becoming at least partially re-
sponsible for business performance, so they’re trying to de-
clutter their displays. This means focusing on quality alarms
and grade-change alerts, but operators also want to know at
the console about broader situations that their applications
are in. They also want quick look-backs at previous batches
to help show next steps, assist situation awareness, and avoid
undesired situations or make the most of good situations.”
To help these efforts, Invensys maintains a Situation
Awareness Library that works in conjunction with its new
Foxboro Evo process control platform and Wonderware In-
Touch software. The library’s polar plots, spider charts and
other indicators also are combined with Invensys’ Dynamic
Performance Measures consulting service, which takes a
process unit’s existing economic, quality and efficiency
measures, then develops new targets and measures operators
can use to make better decisions.
“The library works with our new InTouch 2014 software
and Wonderware System Platform 2014, and gives operators
a better context for their information instead of just show-
ing them values, which they report is allowing them to find
significant issues about 40% faster,” says John Krawjewski,
Invensys’ product management director for HMI and super-
visory control products.
Organize, Supervise, Optimize
Of course, one of the best ways to improve operator—and
manager—performance is to provide an overall view of the en-
tire facility and its processes before drilling down to individ-
ual applications or equipment. These big pictures remind us-
ers of the full scope of their responsibilities, especially at shift
changes, and helps put subsystems and individual applications

into a more understandable context, particularly in relation to
their upstream and downstream processes.
For instance, India’s state-owned  Gail Gas Ltd.  in New
Delhi includes all aspects of the natural gas supply process
from exploration and production to distribution and
customer service. It operates two major liquefied petroleum
gas (LPG) pipelines, Jamnagar Loni and Vizag Secun-
drabad, which move gas to bottling plants, and it runs seven
natural gas pipelines across India with a total length of more
than 10,700 kilometers.
Previously, Gail’s operators used telephones to manually
collect operations data for each regional pipeline. How-
ever, because its operators and administrators were having
increasing problems managing so many different SCADA
systems for their LPG and natural pipelines, Gail recently
decided to install one centralized SCADA system for all of
them, and integrate it with all future pipelines that were ei-
ther under construction or planned.
After investigating several solutions, Gail selected Fast/
Tools SCADA software from  Yokogawa Electric Corp.,
Yokogawa Electric Corp.
THE BIG PICTURE
Figure 1: Gail Gas Ltd.’s main master station and back-up master station
use Yokogawa Fast/Tools SCADA software, high-availability comput-
ers, and history, client and zonal servers in a triple-redundant config-
uration to ensure 24/7 access to data from regional gas management
centers running seven natural gas pipeline networks across India.
16
Operator Interface
which also designed and implemented a system architecture
suited to Gail’s existing pipeline network and able to inte-
grate with its expansion requirements.  Consequently, Gail
and Yokogawa replaced the pipelines’ former networks and
equipment, installed their new, unified SCADA system and
integrated many types of remote terminal units (RTUs) and
hundreds of individual devices in just 15 months, ending in
July 2012.
The new SCADA system is in a main master station
(MMS) that houses all of Gail’s primary SCADA servers,
which are located at the National Gas Management Center
(NGMC) in Noida. This system was also installed at a hot
back-up master station (BMS) in Jaipur in case of a disaster.
Along with implementing Fast/Tools, Yokogawa installed a
high-availability computing (HAC) solution that uses his-
tory, client and zonal servers in a triple-redundant configu-
ration (Figure 1). From their terminals in the central control
room, operators can view operations data 24/7 for all of their
regional pipelines.
Each regional gas management center (RGMC) also has
a Fast/Tools-based HAC that uses dual-redundant, front-end
processor (FEP) servers for continual monitoring and con-
trol. Thanks to this redundant design, operations and main-
tenance data from the field also is uninterrupted, and oper-
ators, production engineers and analysts at the NGMC have
real-time, visual access to information needed to run their
nationwide network. In fact, Gail reports system availability
for its entire pipeline network has increased to 99.5%, which
ensures a steady supply of gas across India.
In addition, all of Gail’s pipeline networks have been in-
tegrated with a gas management system (GMS), so opera-
tions data can be used directly for gas allocation and billing.
Email and short message service (SMS) notification of crit-
ical alarms are supported, which allows authorized person-
nel to access the new SCADA system from anywhere with
an Internet connection.
“This is the largest SCADA system ever commissioned
by Gail,” says S.K. Agrawal, Gail’s deputy general manager.
 Operator Interface

“Work on our new SCADA system included integration of ap-

proximately 400 RTUs of eight different makes. Besides im-
proving operations and maintenance, centralized SCADA
has substantially reduced our capital expenditures and oper-
ational expenditures. All the new pipelines coming up in the
next 10 years will be integrated with this SCADA system.”

Right in Front of Your Face

Because humans take in more than 90% of their informa-
tion about the world through their eyes, the most crucial de-

Honeywell Process Solutions

vices for improving operator effectiveness are still HMI dis-
plays and screens. Fortunately, black-background, cluttered
and overly colorful screens have been giving way to simpler,
less distracting displays with prioritized colors and concen-
tration on the most important data values and alerts. These
improvements are largely thanks to the work of the Abnor-
mal Situation Management Consortium, Center for Opera-
tor Performance and PAS Inc. Many suppliers are following
these recommendations for situation awareness, hosting
displays on higher-resolution screens, and even offering
HMIs that are large enough for several operators to work
together when needed.
Stuart Andrew, product manager for  Honeywell Pro-
cess Solutions’ Experion Process Knowledge System (PKS)
HMIs, reports his firm just spent about a year observing and
working with operators as part of its Operator of the Future
Initiative to find the most effective and ergonomic condi-
tions for them to work in, and redesigned its consoles as a
result. The latest Experion Orion console and collaboration
station will be released in mid-2014 (Figure 2).
“A key change in our console is that, where we used to have
multiple small screens, Experion Orion will now have one,
large, 50-inch, continuous work surface,” says Andrew. “This
will allow operators to lay out, display and combine information
in front of them in the most effective way for each application.  same multi-touch, pinch-and-zoom and sweeping features on
Operators will no longer have to rotate between different
screens when checking overviews, alarms, etc. Some opera-
tors also reported that using Windows and a mouse wasn’t as
OBSERVING OPERATORS
Figure 2: Following a year of studying operators in their control
rooms, Honeywell’s Experion Orion console and collaboration station
incorporated a more ergonomic design, larger and more flexible
display surface, pan and zoom navigation, and ambient alarm lighting.
quick and responsive as their former touchscreens and touch-
pads, so the new Orion will also have a touchpad component.”
Likewise, Tanner adds ABB recently launched its 800xA
Collaboration Table, which allows several users to examine
an application and KPIs at once. It also uses some 3D visu-
alization gained from gaming technology to illustrate those
KPIs. “This could be especially useful to shift supervisors as
they go through their day or when making sure everyone is
on the same page at shift changes,” adds Tanner.
Besides size, resolution and comprehensive indicators, op-
erators also want the same manipulation capabilities they
have on their smart phones and tablet PCs. “Users want the
their display screens that they have on their smart phones,”
says Jeff Payne, automation controls product manager at Au-
tomationDirect. “That’s one reason why we developed and

17

launched our Point of View HMI/SCADA software about six
months ago. It has drivers for many PLC families, uses many
thin-client functions to give users greater access to their data,
can be accessed via mobile clients or web browsers, and is
able to scale onto any tablet PC or smartphone.”
Of course, this mobility means more interfaces are mak-
ing their way out into the field, but some operators are even
trying to take more experienced eyeballs along with them.
To aid this impulse,XOEye Technologies makes eyeglasses
with a 5-megapixel camera, LED lights and audio speakers,
which enables an operator to show colleagues back in the
control room exactly what he›s seeing in the field.
Rationalize, Record, Recreate
One of the most important ways to improve the performance
of process control operators is to rationalize the streams of
nuisance alarms produced by many applications, but decid-
ing on which alarms are significant and require action and
which aren’t important and can be safely ignored is typically
a complex, lengthy and labor-intensive process. These proj-
ects are worthwhile, but they usually require a dedicated team
of engineers, so many small organizations can’t afford them.
“One of InTouch’s new features is Alarm Aggregator that
allows users to place information about alarms into meta-
data areas. It then generates alarm counts, shows where
they’re occurring and on what devices, reduces them to four
levels of severity, and shows only critical alarms in red,” says
Invensys’ Krawjewski. “This means anyone, regardless of
their skill level, can use these tools.”
Andrew Brodie, Fast/Tools marketing manager in Yok-
ogawa’s control instruments division, adds that Fast/Tools’
Alarm System Performance Analysis (ASPA) option can as-
sist operators by evaluating alarms in its Alarm Master da-
tabase, determine which are bad actors, and help users an-
alyze their existing applications more deeply by comparing
performance before and after changes are made.
“Operators can add a chronological date range, point
it at their alarm database, and ASPA will work with Yok-
18
Operator Interface
ogawa’s historian, which is proficient at gathering alarm
data and identifying alarm trends,” explains Brodie. “For
smaller facilities, we also do alarm rationalizations as
part of our Advanced Decision Support service. We help
benchmark current situations, develop an alarm philoso-
phy document, and help phase in an improvement plan.”
Brodie adds that Fast/Tools V.10 was just released, and it has
an event-based recording tool that can document all moves
and mouse clicks in an application, find out what’s been done
wrong or right during a certain period, and retain targeted
recordings of golden batch episodes that can be used later for
training. Looking outside the process, Fast/Tools also has a
Collaboration Decision Support Center, which aggregates
and displays data sources external to the application but still
relevant to it (Figure 3).
Yokogawa Electric Corp.
OUTSIDE INDICATORS
Figure 3: The collaboration center in Yokogawa’s Fast/Tools software
aggregates and displays outside information sources, such as weath-
er or energy prices, on its HMI screen to help operators make more
informed decisions.
Rise and Walk
Beyond being mobile in the field, some developers are en-
couraging operators to be more mobile and active at their
desks in the control room. Some facilities have exercise equip-
ment next to their control rooms, and some developers are
making consoles, desks and chairs that allow operators to
stand as well as sit while they’re working. Honeywell’s Andrew
 Operator Interface

adds, “Control room operators are still working many 12-hour

shifts, but their roles are changing from manipulating and op-
timizing processes to hitting economic targets, and this can
add a lot of stress. As a result, ergonomic designs are adding
sit/stand modes to many workstations, so operators can avoid
the health dangers of sitting all the time.”
For instance,  Connexus Energy Group  is a customer-
owned energy cooperative in Ramsay, Minn., that serves
126,000 members in seven counties north of the Twin
Cities. Its operations control center recently needed new
consoles as part of an upgrade to a new SCADA system to

improve communications with its substations and reduce
response time to outages.
Besides enabling all communications functions at each
console so operators wouldn’t have jump from station to sta-
tion, Connexus also wanted adjustable-height consoles to fit
its differently sized operators and reduce their neck and back
Winsted
GET UP, STAND UP.
Figure 4: Operators in Connexus Energy’s control room are using
Winsted’s sit/stand consoles to adjust their HMIs and workstations to
any height that’s most comfortable throughout their shifts.

aches from craning to see stacked-up monitors. So the util-

ity adopted Ascend Sit/Stand consoles from Winsted Corp.,
which allow Connexus’ operators to raise and lower their
workstations to whatever level is most comfortable (Figure
4). “What we didn’t anticipate is that operators are leaving
their consoles in the stand position as the default,” says Nick
Loehlein, Connexus’ systems operations leader. “We’d as-
sumed the standing position would be the exception rather
than the rule, but they’re standing during their night shifts.
If they want to sit, they take a tall chair and maybe sit for a
half an hour, and then they stand right back up again.”
Smart Everywhere
Because so many operators, engineers and managers are prac-
ticing BYOD in their facilities, many suppliers are scrambling
to offer apps for the flood of smart phones and tablet PCs com-
ing onto some plant floors. Most of these apps are enabled by
the HTML 5 standard that allows their graphics to scale up or
down, and fit on different-sized displays.
Mario Mitchell, electronics product manager at  Parker
Hannifin Corp., reports his company recently launched iOS
and Android versions of its Remote Manager app, which can
control its Factory Display and Express HMI software. “With
just an IP address and a password, operators and managers
can view their operations and control processes, see critical
information and alarms, and even turn devices on and off.”
While its IntelaTrac mobile, data input devices have been
available for years, Invensys recently relaunched its Smart-
Glance industrial mobile reporting app, which delivers se-
cure, on-demand access to graphical reports from any opera-
tions data source via mobile devices. Meanwhile, its InTouch
Access Anywhere software also uses HTML 5 to show all indi-
cators and controls on any device with a web browser.
Tanner reports that ABB is beginning to explore eye-track-
ing technology and augmented reality tools to further en-
hance its interfaces. He adds its augmented reality efforts,
such as overlays for displaying temperatures, trends and
alarms, can be examined by looking up the 800xA symbol
at the Apple iTunes Store. 
Jim Montague is the E xecutive Editor at Control and Control Design.

19

Can Operators Hear the Fieldbus Music?
Operators May Not Care Much about How Our “Machines” Deliver Information, What They Care
About Is the Devices Work Properly and Deliver the Right Information
By John Rezabek
A
fter your fieldbus project is installed and commissioned,
and it’s time to start up the facility, how will it be differ-
ent? Chances are, if we’ve done our job, no one should
notice that the automation infrastructure is fieldbus; that is, the
start-up should progress just as if it were a conventional facility.
There will be some tuning of control loops required, just as
with a conventional system. There will be some impulse lines
that need to be purged, or a DP transmitter that needs to be ze-
roed at operating pressure—a little different for the technicians,
perhaps, but from the point of view of operations, the same.
Start-up can be a tense time as licensors, process engi-
neers and project managers anxiously await the verdict on
their design and implementation. It’s the worst time for the
measurement and control infrastructure to be any kind of
distraction or sideshow. We want to be perfect, and when we
are, they don’t even know we’re there, rather like the back-
ground music in a drama.
Consider the term HMI, or human-machine interface.
What exactly are these machines with which our operators
interface? They interact with our “machine” for sure—these
days almost certainly a using a Windows box with some re-
al-time graphics capabilities and connectivity to the other
machines that constitute our DCS, including field devices.
But the real operator interaction is with the process.
I suppose you could say a hydrocracker or reformer is a
machine, and such processes have plenty of machines such
as compressors, pumps and valves routing process fluids
through vessels and pipelines. But our operator’s ultimate
interface is with a process, not a machine. If operators don’t
manipulate the process to produce saleable product—hope-
fully making something more useful and valuable out of
something less useful and valuable—then their mission is
a failure. The more all the machines just do their job, the
more effective the operator can be at keeping the plant safe,
reliable and productive. A bit paradoxically, the controls spe-
20
Operator Interface
cialist strives to deliver measurements and automation trans-
parently, and stay out of the limelight.
Our profession supplies the process’ “nervous system,” if
you will, providing most of the operator’s sense of its condi-
tion. They might hear a little fieldbus music playing when
they wonder, “Did the control valve move when I asked it
to?” Digitally integrated control valves report their position
feedback in real time, and if you’ve taken pains to show this
on your HMI (recommended), they can see nearly imme-
diately; “I’ve clicked the up-arrow twice and nothing hap-
pened,” which in turn validates why a flow hasn’t changed.
More music might play for them when a flow exceeds its
calibrated full scale, but keeps on indicating a valid flow, in-
stead of saturating at 21.7 mA. They may not hear it at first,
but fieldbus brings a whole distinctive layer of data valida-
tion. Every device plays a relentless refrain of “I’m here. I’m
happy. I’m communicating, and my measured value Y (as
a floating point value in engineering units) is valid at time-
stamp X ±1 millisecond.” An array of conditions that could
indicate a measurement is questionable or “bad” are moni-
tored and updated with similar rigor. Where fieldbus devices
provide an interface to the process, each instance is imbued
with a layer of diagnostics and intelligence designed to pro-
vide a more truthful and reliable version of reality and to in-
stantly inform us when there’s a fault.
Operators may not seem to care much about the nuances
of how our “machines” deliver information. But when they’re
spending a tense 12 hours guiding the process through the
straits of some challenge like extreme weather or an unan-
ticipated feed change, relying on “one version of the truth”
can mean the difference between safe harbors and follow-
ing a siren-song into the rocks. Operators want to know their
instruments aren’t lying to them. That’s the tune they like.
John Rezabek is a process control specialist for ISP Corp., Lima, Ohio.

Is Your HMI Going to Get Touchy?
Multi-Touch Is Moving From Smart Phones and Tablets to Process Plant Displays
By Dan Heber t
W
ell, multi-touch is here now in some products, with
many more to come. “Our new paperless recording
systems employ a two-point resistive touchscreen
technology with pinch in and out, and touch-and-swipe ac-
tions,” says Steve Byrom, product manager for data acquisi-
tion atYokogawa Corporation of America.
“When viewing a trend display, an operator can zoom
in or out along the time scale by using a two-finger pinch
action. This changes the scale in proportion to the pinch
motion, and it replaces the old method of selecting a zoom
function and tapping buttons incrementally,” adds Byrom.
The swipe function allows operators to review trend his-
tory by simply touching the screen and swiping in the re-
verse direction of the trend. Length of data playback is pro-
portional to the swipe actions. Operators can also move
trend scales and digital displays around the screen by touch-
ing and dragging them to a new location,” explains Byrom.
“Two-point touch technology also supports handwritten
text recognition for inputting messages and batch informa-
tion. Overall, two-point touch technology condenses mul-
tiple touch-and-click operations into a single fast swipe ac-
tion,” concludes Byrom.
In addition to special-purpose components such as paper-
less recorders, an important process application for multi-
touch will be Windows-based operator interface hardware
and associated software applications such as  HMI,  alarm
management  and  asset management. According to Louis
Szabo, business development manager for  Pepperl+Fuchs,
here are the design parameters for a multi-touch Win-
dows-based system.
The touchscreen technology must be capable of multi-
touch, and the hardware and driver for the touchscreen tech-
nology must transmit the information as a human-interface
device (HID), not a mouse input. The combination of
driver, touchscreen and hardware must pass both Windows
Logo Kit and Additional Qualification tests.
The operating system must interpret the information as
21
Operator Interface
HID. In a  Windows  environment, only Windows 7 and 8
have this capability. XP and Vista recognize touch as mouse
inputs only. The application software must be compatible
with multi-touch so that it can distinguish a swipe or zoom
and act on the gesture.
Lisa Garrison, the managing director for human factors en-
gineering at Acuite, describes how multi-touch could be used
in a  control room. “Operators don’t like to type, therefore
drag-and-drop gestures for building procedures or managing/
creating batch recipes are potential applications. For example,
an operations team could pull in all the required equipment
information, task status, personnel activity and safety checks.
This information could be mapped to a physical representa-
tion of the plant, and the team could then zoom in and ex-
pand the view as needed. This could all be displayed on a
large screen so several people could see and work with the
view, as well as smaller screens for individuals to build and in-
teract with smaller subtasks or areas,” explains Garrison.
Another supplier sees additional applications for multi-
touch. “An operator could use one hand to open up a menu
while using the other to set parameters, eliminating the
need to jump back and forth between sub-menus,” observes
Robert Muehlfellner, the director of automation technology
atB&R Industrial Automation.
“Multi-touch will allow operators to get where they need
to go faster since complex menu layers can be eliminated.
Handling lists is also simplified since the operator is able to
simply scroll through them without having to rely on narrow
scrollbars,” notes Muehlfellner.
“Faulty operations caused by accidental contact can be
avoided by requiring a second button to be pressed simulta-
neously with the other hand before a certain action can take
place. While this won’t completely replace fail-safe two-
hand operation, multi-touch technology can be used in to
prevent critical operating steps from being carried out unin-
tentionally,” explains Muehlfellner.
Dan Heber t is senior technical editor for Control and Control Design.

Rationalizing and Refocusing on Alarms
Projects to Logically Renovate Alerts and Alarms in Large Applications Can Benefit from Seeing
More Clearly into Their Processes with Improved HMI Tools
By Jim Montague
K
nowing what you’re looking at is the most important thing,
but a sharp focus can help you get there. Defining, orga-
nizing, prioritizing and understanding alerts and alarms is
one of the most critical jobs in process control. However, per-
haps because so many applications are isolated, inadequate and
dangerous alarm practices can persist for years. Sometimes it’s
too few useful alarms, but more often it’s floods of duplicate
and unnecessary alerts that were thrown in for compliance and
convenience’s sake rather than ensuring safe operations.
The solution begins with an inventory of processes and
alerts, but it continues with assessing and prioritizing alarms,
incorporating more helpful database software and HMIs,
and training staff to follow these improved procedures.
For instance, Vale’s Copper Cliff nickel smelter in Sund-
bury, Ontario, runs two flash furnaces, which take in 4200
tonnes of dry solid charge (DSC) ore powder per day, and
flash-smelt it into nickel matte product, sulphur gas for fuel
and iron slag. However, several years ago, engineers in Vale’s
Ontario division started an alarm rationalization project be-
cause the two furnaces were generating more than 17,000
alarms per day on average, most of which weren’t understand-
able to the operators, and which didn’t lead to useful action.
“Previous rationalization projects tried to reduce alarms,
but always ended up adding more,” says Gerry Seguin, Vale
Ontario’s senior automation specialist. “Then a consultant
from the Engineering Equipment Materials Users Associa-
tion came in for a seminar; gave a report on consequences
that really hit home; and showed the alarms weren›t the
operators› faults because they hadn›t been given the tools for
their job. After that, we were able to get financing, resources
and people, including bringing back two pensioned
operators full-time to go over all alarm interactions.»
22
Operator Interface
So Vale Ontario implemented EEMUA’s Publication 191,
“Alarm Systems--A Guide to Design, Management and Pro-
curement,” and  ISA’s  ISA 18 alarm management standard;
evaluated and reduced alarm system loading on the two flash
furnaces, and redesigned its alarm systems to assist operators.
Vale also partnered with Invensys, and adopted its PAS Alarm
Management Software database, which works with its exist-
ing Foxboro I/A Series process control software to download
approved alarms to the application’s field controllers.
As a result, alarms on Copper Cliff’s two flash furnaces
dropped to a daily average of just 66, which exceeded
EEMUA’s average alarm rate benchmark for steady op-
eration. “We also researched to ensure that operators had
enough time between alarms and trips to respond effec-
tively,” adds Seguin. “Since the initial project in 2007-08,
all new alarms go through an alarm manager to make sure
they meet the criteria we’ve laid out, which is like a risk as-
sessment chart that evaluates likelihood, criticality and po-
tential damage, and sets priority levels.”
Seguin reports that Copper Cliff is continuing to improve
its alarm and HMI philosophy and rationalization process
and is applying it to other areas of the smelter, including a
new replacement nickel converting unit it will commission
this September.
Pull Pointer Out of Panel
Similarly, DTE Energy’s Greenwood Energy Center (GWEC)
in Avoca, Mich., has been upgrading its DCS from a 1990s-era
Westinghouse Distributed Processing Facility (WDPF) system
and lightbox displays to ABB’s Process Portal A (PPA) 800xA
DCS, but first decided rationalize and reorganize several
thousand alarms and related devices and software.

“Previously, many of our DCS alarms weren’t rational-
ized. They were just characterized as high or high worse,
and so we had a lot of noise and chattering alarms that were
only fixed occasionally,” says Kip Dobel, senior engineer in
GWEC’s Engineering Support Organization. “In fact, op-
erators determined unit status by the different volumes of
alarms and not actual alarms. Some also found interesting
ways to silence nuisance alarms, such as jamming a pointer
in their board. Pages of alarms would scroll by on a unit trip,
making it very easy for an important alarm to get lost in all
the noise.”
Located 60 miles north of Detroit, GWEC is an 800-mega-
watt “peaker” oil and gas plant, which helps power the grid
when demand is high. This means it ramps its electrical pro-
duction up and down more than other plants.
To focus on important alarms and eliminate chatter, Do-
bel reports that GWEC began migrating from WDPF to PPA
800xA in 2010, and installed Matrikon’s Process Guard software
to help with post-event unit trip analyses. PPA 800xA included
customer libraries, seven operator consoles, three engineering
work packages (EWPs), domain and 800xA controllers, and
AlarmInsight operator assistance software for 800xA, which
grew out of collaboration by ABB and Matrikon. GWEC also
runs OSIsoft’s PI historian software to  document high-priority
alarms and check on operating devices.
Document and Bring in Veterans
“We had about 6000 analog I/O points, and this meant
dealing with about 10,000 decisions just to rationalize
alarms and alerts from our analog signals,” explains Dobel.
“We wanted to give our operators an alarm system that would
provide timely, accurate information to assist in operating
the powerhouse in a controlled manner; employ Matrikon’s
Alarm Manager management of change (MOC) software
to handle the rationalization; set up and execute an alarm
rationalization scheme following EEMUA 191’s principles;
and provide rationalization data to the operators’ consoles.”
Dage adds, “Previously, we were putting Band-Aids on the
bleeders in our alarm system, but we weren’t completing the
23
Operator Interface
documentation needed. This was the first time we did full
documentation.”
Dobel added that GWEC also hired a senior software en-
gineer from Matrikon to help get its three-month, $250,000
alarm rationalization project started; hired some retired op-
erators to help; and set up a dedicated Alarm Rationalization
Room to present component data, trace alarm profiles and
facilitate hashing out the most logical and efficient ways to
reorganize and reassign them.
“If you haven’t done a rationalization project before, we
recommend you hire an external expert to help, but make
sure you check their credentials and bring them in for a trial
week to see if they can do what you need to get done,” adds
Dobel. “Also, using retired operators was helpful because
they walked down the system and traced many devices and
alarms, but it was also a mistake because we  needed to get
more of our current operators involved too. A good rational-
ization team should have a panel board operator, a DCS
expert that knows all the logic blocks in the systems and
how they relate to the alarms, instrument technicians, and a
scribe to keep everyone on track.
“The rationalization room got everyone on the same page.
A lot of tribal knowledge had built up in our processes, and
we needed to eliminate it by standardizing on common best
practices. So, it helped to talk about what was bringing us to
certain alarm situations.”
The rationalization team started with GWEC’s I/O tag
list and the plant’s piping and instrumentation diagrams
(P&IDs). “We found we could sort the tag database however
we wanted, but we learned it was better to take the P&IDs and
rationalize the whole system,” says Dobel. “You have to ask
questions like, ‘What flow do I need here?’ or ‘What level do
I need here?’ The aim is to avoid unnecessary double alarms,
but it can take a long time do them--sometimes three or four
hours to reach consensus on one alarm. You have to get your
subject matter experts (SMEs) for the process on speed dial.”
Help Operators Do Their Jobs
GWEC also used AlarmInsight software to present alarm
 Operator Interface

profiles and operating data to its operators in a more concise
and less text-heavy format. “Besides delivering important
alarms, we tried to give our operators assistance beyond the
routine and obvious tasks, and help them with things they
might not think about at 3 a.m. So we focused more ratio-
nalizing some of these unusual events.” says Dage. “For in-
stance, we found we rarely used Level 2 and Level 3 alarms,
so we began to discuss the reasons why, and document our
alarm philosophy.”
Likewise, to optimize its own alarm system,  Compañía
Mega recently held joint workshops withHoneywell Process
Solutions, and implemented its Alarm Configuration Man-
ager (ACM) software. ACM was integrated with the plant’s
existing process control system, Honeywell’s TotalPlant
Solution (TPS), and implemented recommendations from
EEMUA 191. Mega is a joint venture between the Dow
Chemical Co. and Brasoil Alliance Co., which provides hy-
drocarbon feedstocks to Dow’s Bahia Blanca site in Argen-
tina and has two gas plants linked by a 600-km pipeline.
In short, Compañía Mega and Honeywell used ACM and
EEMUA’s guidelines to:
• Standardize the alarm process by defining a plant alarm
policy, so all staff operates with the same quality of alarms.
• Dramatically reduce the number of alarm activations re-
quiring operator intervention.
• Provide peace of mind to operators by not overwhelming
them with unnecessary alarms.
• Improve the response time of operators to verify incoming
alarms and make decisions when an alarm is activated.
appreciation for human-factors engineering and the best
ways to convey information to the operators, so they can
respond appropriately.
“Using ISA 18.2 as a guide, we’ve expanded the Alarm
State Model in our PlantPAx 3.0 software to include three
distinct alarm suppression states,” adds Wright. “The previ-
ous two were ‘suppression by design’ and ‘disabled or out of
service,’ and now we’ve added a third for granularity called
‘shelving,’ which allows alarm suppression with an auto-
matic timeout.”
Seeing More Clearly
HMIs also can give operators a better understanding and
chance to respond to alarms and performance changes.
For example, system integrator One-Step Automation in
Niverville, Manitoba, builds automation systems for grain
handling and processing, but these users want HMIs they
can use anywhere to get real-time feedback on bin levels,
motor failures and alarms, surge hopper levels, and the abil-
ity to control shutdown processes.
“Much of the equipment in seed processing facilities is
Photo courtesy of Opto 22

• Reduce human error in the management of alarms, avoid-

ing unnecessary production stops, equipment failure,
vents, etc.
This concern about alarm rationalization is gathering
steam. Jason Wright, market manager for PlantPAx soft-
ware at Rockwell Automation says, «We›re seeing a mind
shift, especially in the process industries, about alarms
EASILY UNDERSTOOD INTERFACE
and HMIs. Historically, alarms were driven just by know-
Figure 1: The vertical, analog-style indicator and sliders in Opto 22’s
ing the process and following the critical elements. HMIs groov platform allow uses to create interfaces that can be more quick-
layouts followed PIDs. Today, HMIs are driven by a greater ly understand and responded to by their operators.

24

driven by variable-frequency drives (VFDs),” says Arlin
Friesen, One-Step’s automation specialist. “Clients want to
adjust motor speeds based on the quality of product they
see coming off the processing equipment, and they want to
monitor product quality with live camera feeds.”
Consequently, Friesen used  Opto 22’s  groov platform
and its web browser without plug-ins to build One-Step’s
own operator interface that can be used on PCs, tablet PCs
and smart phones. “This allows  our users to control VFD
speeds using groov’s adjustable buttons or sliders, while the
interface also displays live product flows via IP cameras on
their equipment,” adds Friesen.
While groov doesn’t have direct alarm capabilities yet, us-
ers can add whatever alerts or alarms they want when building
their interfaces. Also, groov and its optimized displays (Figure
1) are based on HMI best practices for building screens with
prioritized data, minimal graphics and muted colors.
On the HMI hardware side, Red Lion Controlsreports its
new Graphite operator interface panels include cast-alumi-
num construction and full-color touchscreens, and combine
a range of plug-in modules with protocol conversion, data
logging and web-based monitoring and control. The plug-
ins reduce development and commissioning time compared
to traditional systems, which typically use an HMI paired
with separate I/O, PLCs and other controllers, and require
more programming and configuration (Figure 2).
Photo courtesy of RedLion
ALUMINUM TABLET HMIS
Figure 2: Graphite operator interface panels have cast-aluminum con-
struction and full-color touchscreens, and combine a range of plug-in
modules with protocol conversion, data logging and web-based
monitoring and control.
25
Operator Interface
Management and More Documentation
Back at Greenwood Energy Center, Dobel explains that
management buy-in and commitment were crucial to
GWEC’s alarm rationalization project, not just for funding
and resources, but to give the team the authority to make ra-
tionalization decisions and require operators stick to them-
-even though there are some exceptions. “For example, if
your facility had a historical event, has to meet an EPA re-
quirement or must carry out a particular management re-
quirement, then these just have to be done,” adds Dobel.
In all, Dobel, Dage and their colleagues spent about eight
hours a day for three months hashing out alarms. “That was
too much, so we’d recommend a schedule of doing ratio-
nalization in the morning and then gathering information
in the afternoon,” says Dobel. “So far, we’re done with ra-
tionalizing alarms for 80% to 85% of our I/O components,
and we’re also still working on the logic for our smart alarms
and maintaining the existing alarm system. And we’re still
meeting once a week to do more rationalization. In fact, on
his own, John triaged that last 20% of our alarms and made
them Priority 4, so operators can assign priority levels later.
“Alarm rationalization includes many different devices,
but the basic questions for each are always the same: ‘Do the
operators need to know about this alarm?’ and ‘What are the
consequences?’ adds Dage.
Dobel adds, “After documenting your alarm rationalizations,
it’s also important to be consistent with the rationalization rules
you come up with, and as you build those rules, you need to
document them too. And get started doing alarm rationaliza-
tion now. Don’t wait for an incident or accident.”
Besides continuing its rationalization efforts, GWEC and
the team are doing more continuous improvement, and have
set up another whiteboard to aid communications between
operators, IT and other players on items to work on. For ex-
ample, it lists the Top 20 alarms each week and addresses
the bad actors behind them, which has already reduced the
number and severity of these alarms.
Jim Montague is the E xecutive Editor at Control, Control Design.

Process Automation Operator
Performance Gets Better
Prioritized Data, Simpler Displays, Human-Factors-Designed Equipment, Fatigue-Reduction Ef-
forts, Alarm Planning and Other Tools Can All Improve Situational Awareness and Operator Perfor-
mance. So How Much Do You Need of Each?
By Jim Montague
J
ust as there are many ways to improve process controls
and automation, there are many useful ingredients that
go into improving operator performance. And, just like
mixing up a nutritious fruit smoothie or protein shake, the
best recipe for optimal operator performance means finding
the tools and methods you need most and will suit you best.
These components include better prioritized data and
alerts, simplified displays and software, improved ergonom-
ics, targeted training and simulations, new policies on alert-
ness and physical fitness, and numerous software tools and
proactive procedures. All can help enhance operator perfor-
mance and improve the safety and productivity of process
applications, and lately they’re being followed by a bunch of
other helpful tools and software.
For instance, Dave Strobhar, chief human factors engi-
neer at the  Center for Operator Performance, reports it’s
testing the semantic procedure analyzer (SPA), which is
learning software that recognizes and flags terms, updates
all applicable documents and makes it easier for operators
to organize and update routine and emergency procedures.
SPA was developed by Penn State University with contribu-
tions from center members  Chevron  and  Yokogawa Corp.
of America. The center also just developed its display met-
rics toolkit (DMT) that lets operators measure their perfor-
mance with different graphics, which can help them cre-
ate better tools for individual applications. “We now have a
range of tools and methods for evaluating performance, so
operators and managers can more easily develop the best
solution for them,” says Strobhar.
Collaboration Aids Simplification
One of the best ways to improve operator performance is to
26
Operator Interface
get the operators involved early in designing solutions that
can meet the specific needs of their applications.
“When we implement interfaces and control systems, we
get the operations guys on the team developing the graph-
ics as soon as possible,” says Keith Jones, president of sys-
tems integratorPrism Systems Inc. in Mobile, Ala. «So after
we program the PLCs and DCSs and bring their data to
the HMIs, about 80% of the input on what those displays
should include and how they should look has already come
from the operators. Once operators get some real input on
changes they become very proud of them.»
Despite these potential benefits, Jones adds there can still
be a lot of reluctance to change by older, entrenched opera-
tors when Prism is asked to upgrade brownfield applications.
“We’ve seen some really horrible HMIs that pack as much
information and color onto one screen as possible. This
was done because HMIs and screens used to be a lot more
costly, but they make it very hard to pick out what’s import-
ant,” explains Jones. “This is why we began following and
preaching the  Abnormal Situation Management Consor-
tium’s principles on prioritizing data and using minimalist-
style graphics and quad-display systems. But even though
monitors are cheaper and more effective now, it›s still hard
to sell operators on them, and management doesn›t want to
increase their burden or add more training.»
Jones reports that some HMI software can allow users to
keep the look of their old, custom screens, but this can make
them harder and more expensive to upgrade in the future,
so it’s better to make the jump to common, standard HMI
function blocks and configuration tools, such as Siemens In-
dustry’s Simatic PCS 7 and HMI Plus software. “If we can
convince a user to change to standard HMI, then we can

begin to clean up the graphics and do training on them,”
says Jones.
Jones adds that PCS 7 has conversion tools for migrating
tag databases and hardware-defined tasks from old PCs and
unsupported software to new systems, which can greatly re-
duce the costs of HMI and DCS upgrade projects. “We can
even leave some old hardware in place and run it in parallel
with a new HMI system for awhile,” explains Jones. “Then,
if mistakes are made, we can make a punch list and check
them by comparing the old and new systems.”
Enhancing the HMI
If one of the best ways to aid operators is to fix what they’re
looking at, are there common recommendations for improv-
ing those screens and other HMIs? No doubt.
“Poor basic control performance is rampant, including
poor tuning and poorly maintained valves,” says Bill Hol-
lifield, principal alarm management and HMI consultant
at PAS Inc. and co-author with Hector Perez of the High-
Performance HMI Handbook. «This is like sending a
race car driver out on the track with lousy brakes. Neither
the operator nor the process can perform well with poor
basic control. Fortunately, many alarm systems are being
fixed, and alarm management has become well-accepted.
However, alarms are a small part of the overall operator
HMI, and so high-performance HMIs based on new
principles for creating screens are needed to correct poor,
widespread and ingrained HMI practices. A proper HMI
increases operators› situation awareness and their ability to
detect and successfully resolve abnormal situations.»
See Also: The Eye for Plant Operators’ Eyes
Hollifield adds that PAS recently worked with theElec-
tric Power Research Institute  to proof-test these high-
performance HMI concepts at a large coal-fired power plant
using several operators and a full simulator. «The tested HMI
included proper hierarchy and embedded knowledge, and
we found that operator results were better when handling
significant abnormal situations,» adds Hollifield. “Besides
showing useful information instead of just raw data, displays
27
Operator Interface
should be designed in this hierarchy that provides progres-
sive exposure of detail. Displays designed from a stack of
schematic designs will not have this. They’ll be ‘flat’ like
a computer hard disk with one folder for all the files. This
doesn’t provide optimum situation awareness and control.
A four-level hierarchy, including operation overview, unit
control, unit detail and support and diagnostics displays,
is desired. For example, Figure 2 is an operation overview
from a large power plant. We often hear, ‹But it doesn›t
look like a power plant!› Correct! Does your automobile
instrument panel look like a diagram of your engine? The
display is designed so important abnormal conditions and
alarms stand out clearly.» [A whitepaper by PAS on these
high-performance HMI principles and the EPRI project is
located at http://tinyurl.com/a8tdjln.] 
Graphic courtesy of PAS Inc.
OPTIMAL OVERVIEW
Figure 2: An optimized overview of a large power plant doesn’t look
like an abstract graphic of a power plant. Instead, PAS uses prioritized
trend data and human-factor principles to make important abnormal
conditions and alarms stand out clearly.
Holistic Human Factors
Besides improving HMIs and displays, enhancing per-
formance also means assisting the physical eyeballs view-
ing those screens—especially when their owners’ attention

falters and they get tired. Limiting work hours and poten-
tially dangerous fatigue has long been mandated for airline
pilots, first responders, truck drivers and other professions,
but it’s not as well-known or established in many process op-
erations—where many managers and operators rely on too
many overtime hours and consecutive workdays.
To remedy these dangerous situations, the U.S. Dept. of
Transportation’s Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety
Administration’s  latest rules took effect in September
2012, and they require pipeline operators to use display
graphics that employ human-factor designs; reduce operator
fatigue by limiting consecutive hours and days worked to
a more normal weekly schedule; establish thorough alarm
procedures; document and learn from incidents; and pay
fines up to $1 million or more per violation, according to Ian
Nimmo, president of User Centered Design Services Inc..
“More process facilities are investing in control room man-
agement  (CRM) and human-factor principles, and they›re
taking countermeasures against fatigue, such as deploying
24/7-style chairs, brighter lighting and better temperature
control, providing exercise equipment and enforcing regular
breaks,» explains Nimmo. “They’re also monitoring hours
worked by operators and calculating the relative risks of inci-
dents, which is going to force some to hire more staff. Besides
providing more human-factors graphics, process managers
also need to conduct a risk assessment to make sure their op-
erators can handle the number of alarms they’re going to get.
Then, they need to take a holistic CRM approach, evaluate
the roles and responsibilities of their operators and define ex-
actly what they’re supposed to do in specific situations, includ-
ing normal and abnormal operations and in emergencies.”
Curing Computer Clutter
While software and computers of all types are indispensable
to manufacturing in general and process control and auto-
mation in particular, the downside is an increasingly im-
penetrable jungle of software applications and packages that
don’t share data fast enough or allow operators to access in-
formation they need to make crucial decisions. Fortunately,
28
Operator Interface
some solutions are coordinating different types of software
and bringing them into more manageable formats.
For instance, Waterford Township’s Dept. of Public Works
(DPW,)  uses many types of process control, maintenance,
documentation, asset management and enterprise software
to operate its water collection, distribution and wastewater
systems, which cover 36 square miles in Michigan and serve
about 75,000 residents. The water system pumps and treats
about 8 million gallons per day of groundwater from 20
wells at 12 plants and 100 remote sites, and the wastewater
system maintains 300 miles of sanitary sewers and sends the
township›s wastewater 30 miles away to Detroit for treatment.
Bill Fritz, PE, Waterford’s public works director, reports
that the water/wastewater systems operate hundreds of pumps,
valves, actuators, water quality and other equipment, which
are monitored by more than 1200 I/O points and networked
via Modbus TCP/IP, a high-speed Ethernet backbone with
twin servers, and remote radios and 100 live-video security
cameras at its pumping stations. All of this data comes into
an unmanned cubicle, where it’s been managed by GE In-
telligent Platform’s (GEIP) Proficy iFix software, and then re-
ports, e-mails and alerts are pushed out to DPW personnel on
their laptops, tablet PCs and smart phones.
Also, about two years ago, Waterford DPW added Proficy
Workflow software, which automates more processes, serves
as an electronic user manual, and performs exception-based
reporting, which notifies users of problems so they don’t
have to go find them. For example, the department built al-
gorithms and templates to indicate if pairs of pumps are al-
ternating correctly at 62 of its pumping stations. This allows
Proficy Workflow to provide alerts when the pumps aren’t
synched properly, so individual visual checks by the opera-
tors aren’t required anymore. 
“It’s been our goal for years to get as many applications as pos-
sible onto one platform, so we don’t have to call up so many dif-
ferent types of software,” says Fritz. “But we wanted more than
snapshots of what’s going on, so we’re installing new Proficy Vi-
sion software, which brings all our separate software programs
into one customizable dashboard, and allows us to bring up

and quickly scroll through all our individual programs that we
couldn’t see all at once before. Now our office managers and 56
field staffers can view water operations on the SCADA system,
HVAC data, vehicle locations and status, security camera feeds,
work orders and other information at the same time (Figure 1).
So if there’s a water main break, they can trace it with GIS, iso-
late it faster, check affected pump rates and tank levels, find the
closest person and vehicle, tell operators which valves to close,
and get specification data into the right hands more quickly.”
Don Busiek, GEIP’s general manager for manufactur-
ing software, adds that Proficy Vision was just released in
January, and while it renders several types software on one
screen, its counterpart Proficy Mobile software will allow us-
ers to access SCADA data on tablet PCs and smart phones.
“This all about understanding how operators navigate and
what they need, and then coming back and providing the
right data to them at the right time,” says Busiek.
Training, Software and Other Tools
Apart from all the displays and technical solutions, another
of the best ways to empower operators is still good, old, thor-
ough, in-class or on-the-job training, which is often aided by
online curriculum and simulations.
For instance, to prepare for commissioning and start-up on its
Angel platform on western Australia’s Northwest Shelf, Wood-
side Energy Ltd. recently decided to use UniSim operator train-
ing simulator from  Honeywell Process Solutions  to instruct
operators how to run its Experion C300 Process Knowledge
System (PKS) and quickly diffuse potentially unsafe situations.
In fact, Woodside reports employing UniSim before commis-
sioning prevented at least five process trips.
“The Angel training simulator was identical to our real
Angel control room panel and enabled our operators to prac-
tice on the new C300 system,” says Dustin Taylor, Wood-
side’s process engineer. “We also used UniSim Design to
model the process, which provided dynamic process behav-
ior for training our panel operators. UniSim increased the
competence and confidence of our staff when dealing with
unsafe scenarios, plus we reduced the number of trips.”
29
Operator Interface
Photo by Bill Fritz at Waterford DPW
PRIORITIZED PROCESSES
Figure 1: A staff member at Waterford DPW consults several operat-
ing platforms at the same time, including water/wastewater process
controls and security cameras, with help from GE Intelligent Platform’s
Proficy Vision and Proficy Workflow software. 
Andrew Ogden-Swift, director of technology strategy at
Honeywell Process Solutions, adds, “There are several ap-
proaches to training operators including classroom, on-the-
job and using standard and custom simulators. The key to
proper simulation is defining the competencies needed for
operators to perform their roles effectively, while designing
training solutions to achieve required competencies.”
Similarly, Glenn Goldney, global programs manager
for  Rockwell Automation’s  Global Workforce Solutions
(GWS) division, adds that, «Operators have been a very
neglected population. Not only is there a widespread skills
shortage, but their job descriptions are hard to define be-
cause of their multiple crafts and roles, and even those exist-
ing job descriptions are changing rapidly. This is why train-
ing is more important than ever for developing and retaining
talent. This is why GWS also helps users segment their job
structures and redistribute some responsibilities, so everyone
can be more effective. For instance, we recently helped Aly-
eska Pipeline Service Co. develop a custom job interaction
and e-learning solution for operators at its emergency,
back-up power plant in Valdez, Alaska, which serves transfer
facilities at the end of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline.»

Likewise, AES Wind Generation, a subsidiary ofAES
Corp. in North Palm Springs, Calif., recently installed 49
of Mitsubishi Heavy Industry’s (MHI) 1-megawatt wind
turbines at its Mountain View IV wind farm and imple-
mented  Iconics’  Genesis64 SCADA system and Hyper
Historian, which are networked via open protocols such as
OPC, take in data from Modbus TCP/IP and MHI CNET
interfaces and provide AES› operators with immediate and
aggregated data for monitoring and reporting. Genesis64›s
global aliasing function also allowed the wind farm›s staff to
configure controls for one turbine and then quickly import
the same I/O and other settings in the other 48 turbines.
“Many operators are increasingly overwhelmed with data
because each is typically being asked to manage more sys-
tems,” says Russ Agrusa, president and CEO of Iconics Inc..
“Operators must be able to integrate disparate information
and software into standard, common interfaces. They need
tools that can dig through “big data” and allow priority alerts
to bubble up to the top.”
Seeing in the Future
Naturally, as most human endeavors migrate to tablet PCs
and smart phones, some even cooler tools are beginning to
pop up to aid operators. One of these futuristic, collabora-
tive tools is Mobile Voice and Video from  Emerson Pro-
cess Management. This wearable, video-conferencing sys-
tem allows field operators to point a hands-free camera at
problematic equipment, and confer with technical experts
at a distance (Figure 3). It was developed with components
from AudiSoftand Frontline Communications.
“Mobile Voice and Video has full, high-definition video,
but it also makes voice communications a priority,” says Neil
Peterson, Emerson’s senior wireless marketing manager.
“This means it can switch to fewer frames-per-second video
based on available WiFi or cellular bandwidth to keep con-
ferences up and running.”
Jim Montague is the E xecutive Editor at Control and Control Design.
30
Operator Interface
Photo courtesy of Emerson Process Management
SEE WHAT I SEE
Figure 3: A field technician equipped with Mobile Voice and Video
from Emerson Process Management can capture and transmit live
video of device’s he working on to experts at a distance, and get
real-time feedback about correct procedures and actions to carry out.
BETTER INTERFACES = BETTER OPERATORS
There are a few basic steps needed to upgrade human-machine
interfaces (HMIs) and their software, so they can contribute more
fully to helping operators and their applications. Keith Jones, pres-
ident of system integrator Prism Systems, reports these are some
of the most crucial:
Involve operators up-front, discuss why an upgrade is important,
secure buy-in and allow input on planned changes.
Decide on what HMI platform to use and seek proficiency in it by
aligning with a system integrator and supplier partners.
Renew focus on overall business goals, understand required
operations and define or redefine displays and graphics functions
to best serve those tasks. For example, don’t make displays that
merely recreate P&IDs, but instead evaluate the manufacturing
process to determine what operators truly need to know, ask them
what screens they use most and build HMIs based on that data.
Draft a project team and then cross-pollinate by sending at least
one person from the end-user’s side to the system integrator’s side
and vice versa.
Hold regular visits and face-to-face and WebEx meetings to up-
date participants on the project’s progress, and seek new input.
Develop HMI project scope, plan and acceptance schedule, in-
cluding layout, graphics placement, navigation procedures, alerts
and alarms, user identification and other security requirements.

The Control Room of the Future -
Smarter Reality
The Control Room of the Future Will Put a World of Science-Fiction Tools at Operators’ Fingertips
- but They’ll Only Be Effective if Designers, Engineers and Operators Jointly Plan Ahead and Use
Them to Serve Practical, Functional Needs
By Jim Montague
“D
o we do it the old, reliable way, or do we challenge our-
selves to demonstrate new technology and use continu-
ous improvement?”  That was Kevin Dahm’s question.  erations, enlisted a consultant, Human Centered Solutions
Dahm, a principal engineer in the Major Enterprise Proj-
ects (MEP) division at DTE Energy (www.dteenergy.com), re-
cently faced this issue while adding control room architecture
to the flue gas desulfurization (FGD) equipment and controls
on each of the four 800-megawatt, coal-fired units at its Mon-
roe Power Plant  near Detroit. The FGD process scrubs power
plant emissions by using limestone slurry as a reagent to con-
vert SO2 in the flue gas to a gypsum byproduct, which is then
available for use in drywall, instead of ending up as landfill.
Adding FGD technology to Monroe’s four units also required
significant control integration within the existing control room
footprint. “An early, in-house design used space within the ex-
isting Unit 3 and 4 control room to co-locate the FGD control
room,” says Dahm. “However, plant operations and the project
team had a significant learning opportunity and developed les-
sons learned based on two years of Units 3 and 4’s FGD oper-
ating experience. We recognized that we had one last chance
to get the design correct and incorporate DCS capabilities, ad-
vanced technology and human-factor best practices into Units
1 and 2’s design. This final design is planned to sustain the
plant for the next 30 years of operating life.”
As a result, Dahm, his project team and plant operations
developed a decision document and criteria that focused
on a centralized, combined FGD control room philosophy,
which included all four unit-specific FGD controls, as well
31
Operator Interface
as all common equipment shared by those plants, such as
conveyors, air and water systems. The team worked with op-
(HCS, www.applyhcs.com), and ABB (http://us.abb.com) to
specify its 800xA DCS control system.  The team worked
on control room design, appropriate HMI colors, lighting,
monitor locations and followed ISA’s (www.isa.org) 18.2
guidelines for alarm management and situational aware-
ness. HCS is one of the 14 members of the 20-year-old Ab-
normal Situation Management Consortium (ASMC, www.
asmconsortium.net).
However, they weren’t out of the old-control-room wilder-
ness just yet.
New Gizmos, Persistent Problems
As the design debate at DTE Energy shows, there are sev-
eral tectonic shifts shaking the world of control room design
as its inhabitants strive to embrace the future:
• Many smaller and formerly separate control rooms are
merging into larger, centralized “control and collabora-
tion centers;”
• New interfaces and networking are allowing operators to
perform more control room-type tasks remotely and move
operators further away from their process applications,
which can help improve safety;
• Tablet PCs and other handheld interfaces are allowing op-
erators to take more control room data and functions into
the field; and

• More accessible and voluminous data and more power-
ful software are enabling modeling and simulation to get
much closer to real-time optimization.
These earthquakes in control room design and capabilities
are enabled and driven by the same faster, cheaper data process-
ing and networking that’s transforming most process control
applications and other industries. However, even though smart
phones, tablet PCs, 3-D displays, closer-to-real-time simula-
tions, video game-style interfaces, “augmented reality” devices
and other new tools are becoming available to help in the con-
trol room, they can’t substitute for a complete assessment of an
application’s requirements thorough planning before construc-
tion, and meeting the functional needs of its operators.  trol and collaboration centers that are growing up, designers
Think, Plan, Then Build
While it’s logical to think that industrial facilities should be
built around their operators for maximum efficiency, such
has not been the case throughout history. Manufacturing
structures, including process applications, were all built
around big-ticket equipment, and operators and technicians
were thrown in as an afterthought. Even now, most control
rooms are built first, many screens are added and optimum
arrangement is considered last—if at all.
“Builders try to arrange their large screens so people can see
them, so they’re usually driven to theater-style displays with-
out thinking about the best ways to support control room ac-
tivities,” says Dr. Peter Bullemer, a past principal investigator
at ASMC and senior partner at HCS. He and his colleagues at
ASMC stress that new and renovated control rooms must seek
to meet the cognitive and physical needs of users and support
their ability to stay alert and aware—even though users don’t
want to change from what they had before.
“Preference doesn’t equal a performance requirement,”
adds Dr. Dal Vernon Reising, also a past principal investi-
gator at ASMC and senior partner at HCS. “Operators used
to want dark control rooms and black-background screens,
and today they want to sweep their hands over software ob-
jects on huge flatscreens, but neither means they’re getting a
32
Operator Interface
sense of where their process application is actually at.”
To create a better control room, Bullemer adds that build-
ers must start with the functions and needs of their operators
and how they interact, and capture those requirements in
their designs. “If you’re building a control room, we say that
you have to start from the inside out,” says Bullemer. “You
have to first understand the operators and what they need
on their consoles, and then arrange those consoles based on
how they collaborate.  Then you define who the operators
interact with and prioritize who needs to have access or be
next to the control room. Finally, you branch out to the rest
of the facilities and the building. And, in the unified con-
need to think even more about individual user tasks, inte-
grating formerly separate roles and effective workflow.” 
Clusters and Collaboration Centers
Perhaps the biggest evolution in control rooms—and the best
indication of their future direction—is this recent gathering
together of previously separate control rooms into joint con-
trol and collaboration centers with added space for field op-
erators, contractors, managers and other visitors—and even
nearby, dedicated conference rooms for strategy meetings.
For instance, Borregaard (www.borregaard.com) re-
cently worked with User Centered Design Services Inc.
(UCDS,  www.mycontrolroom.com) and Honeywell Process
Solutions (http://hpsweb.honeywell.com) to improve effi-
ciency and collaboration, as well as cope with a 30% work-
force reduction, by consolidating eight control rooms into one
at its pulp and paper plant and biorefinery in Sarpsborg, Nor-
way, just south of Oslo. Efforts to revamp the control room be-
gan two years ago, and the new facility opened last summer.
Previously, like most legacy control facilities, Borregaard’s 
former control rooms had a patchwork of control systems with
traditional instruments, DCS panels, PLCs and some black-
screen PCs that had accumulated over 30 years. However,
they weren›t well integrated; most of its processes had no
common optimization strategy; and it wasn›t using much

of its data to improve its operating intelligence. Because its
processes couldn›t be shut down, Borregaard worked with
UCDS to redeploy its staff and implemented Honeywell’s
Experion PKS controls in pieces, implementing its standard
DCS and PLC interfaces and server boxes.
“Some operators, especially those in the chlorine plant,
were very concerned about migrating to a unified control
room,” says Ian Nimmo, president of UCDS. “So we all
looked at what was needed to bring each process to a safe
state. Next, the operators were allowed to throw every obsta-
cle and scenario they could at the new control system plan,
pick holes in each other’s design, and this gave them enough
confidence that their attitudes changed. We also organized
OPEN SPACES
Figure 1: Operators control Borregaard’s pulp and paper processes from their new, spacious, well-lit control room, which has dedicated confer-
ence, support, exercise and visitor areas at the back. 
33
Operator Interface
the staff into dedicated inside control operators and dedi-
cated outside field operators to close gaps and reduce run-
ning back and forth,” explains Nimmo. “Now, they have a
beautiful, well-lighted control room, server rack room across
the hall and a vision for the next 20 years.” (Figure 1)
Likewise, the Linde Industrial Gases division (www.
linde-gas.com) of Linde Group AG reports it’s established
the first of several large remote operations facilities for
more efficient, centralized control of its air-separation
plants in Germany, Austria, Switzerland and the
Netherlands. Linde’s goal is to eventually control all of its
plants worldwide with just eight remote operation centers
(ROCs). In fact, Linde reports that in the year since its
Courtesy of Borregaard and User Centered Design Services
 Operator Interface

ROC project started, its initial plants in Schkopau,
Hamburg, Salzgitter and Basel have been integrated, and
are now being controlled from its headquarters in Leuna.
It plans to add another 70 facilities gradually.
Each ROC will provide all the local HMI functions of
Linde’s remote process control systems via terminals, which
will reduce time-consuming and costly on-site assignments,
and help coordinate maintenance and shutdowns. Mean-
while, special functions such as automatic load control (ALC)
and linear model predictive control (LMPC) allow continu-
ous plant operation within optimum working ranges, which
also boosts productivity and saves energy. These plants use
Siemens Industry’s (www.siemens.com) Simatic PCS 7 to au-
tomate their air-separation and gas production.   a conference room in mid-January to create a mock control
“The local personnel still look after the plant on the day
shift,” explains Dr. Joachim Pretz, Linde’s ROC manager
in Leuna. “Metaphorically, the operator and local engineers
are the aircraft crew, and the ROC is the tower, which is
manned 24/7 with air traffic controllers.” Consequently,
each ROC’s operator watches over five air separation units
with two monitors each.
Show, Don’t Tell
Unfortunately, even after planning ahead to design a us-
er-centered control room, unexpected snags can still pop
up. For example, after seeking input from a cross section of
operators, the FGD project team at DTE Energy proposed
a model for final review and approval. However, decisions
of this type typically need a broader level of engagement for
final approval and sign off. In this case, the team was confi-
dent in its development work, but the higher-level operations
committee questioned some recommendations.
“It felt like back to the drawing board,” says Dahm, who
quickly developed and deployed an experiment and counter-
measure to compare designs for the control room. “I took over
room,” explains Dahm. “To make it realistic in size and feel,
we hung up sheets to establish wall space and dimensional
correctness. We built ¼-in. plywood console sections, copied
ABB’s graphics onto foam board for displays, and this gave us
life-sized models of each control room design (Figure 2). The
operations committee members reviewed the mock-ups, and
were given tape measures, staplers and tape to modify the de-

REALITY-AIDED DESIGN
Figure 2: To compare
old and new control
room designs, engi-
neers in DTE Energy’s
Major Enterprise
Projects division
hung bedsheets, cut
1/4-inch plywood and
pasted up HMI and
display graphics. This
allowed operators to
physically com-
pare the traditional,
cramped horseshoe
design (left) with a
Courtesy of DTE Energy

more open, user-fo-

cused design (right)
that places control
stations on opposite
side, and provides
dedicated workspace
for other staffers. 

34

signs. They were able create an enhanced version of the proj-
ect team’s design that would be acceptable to everyone.”
By using this simple, low-cost countermeasure, the teams
aligned their thinking and reached a best alternative solu-
tion that combined of a lot of new and some old thinking
into a collaborative, positive plan. Dahm’s design facilitated
this outcome, in which operations could observe firsthand
the real issues surrounding performance-related dilemmas
and human factors. These included openness, visibility, er-
gonomics, lighting, access and overall workflow.
“So, in the end, operations’ leadership accepted our modi-
fied plan, and we now have a human factors-compliant con-
trol room,” he adds. The new user-centered FGD control
room is scheduled to be built at the Monroe plant during
July and August of this year.
Simulation and Virtualization
Another toolset sure to be crucial in future control rooms is
closer-to-real-time simulations to help manage and optimize
process applications. For example, DuPont (www2.dupont.
com) has been using advanced regulatory control (ARC)
applications and its rigorous modeling and simulations for
many years, but lately some DuPont engineers have been us-
ing rapid prototyping methods to help choose, implement and
gain model-predictive control’s (MPC) benefits in smaller ap-
plications where it makes economic or operational sense. To
aid these efforts, DuPont is using the recent integration be-
tween Aspen Technology Inc.’s (www.aspentech.com) aspe-
nOne APC software and its Hysys dynamic modeling and
simulation software to refine and increase its smaller-scale
MPC implementations by 450%.
“Basically, this capability facilitates appropriate use of
MPC in more applications, which is part of DuPont’s best
practices and Six Sigma approach,” says Phillip “Dave”
Schnelle, principal consultant in DuPont’s Process Dy-
namic and Controls group. “Rapid prototyping is part of our
application development flow for APC. It allows us to screen
APC applications and answer the question ‘ARC or MPC?’
We run Aspen APC on our central server in Wilmington,
35
Operator Interface
Del., and hook it up to data sources, such as Aspen’s stan-
dard InfoPlus.21 (IP21) historian, at any of our plants world-
wide via a process data connection. We can mock up and
prototype MPC applications connected to real process data.
We can then show operations: ‘This is your plant on your
current controls, and this would be your plant on APC.’
“Rapid prototyping helps us make the ‘go or no go’ deci-
sion. We can quickly test and train on the concept; transfer
ideas to the operators; develop MPC models; and do it all
without spending a lot upfront. Once we know a project will
succeed, much of the design has already been done, and we
have most of the application already to go.”
Likewise, Barrick Gold Corp. (www.barrick.com) is using
MiMiC simulation software from Mynah Technologies LLC
(www.mynah.com) to help it develop “virtual plants” that op-
erate several applications at its new Pueblo Viejo goldmine in
the Dominican Republic. MiMiC replicates the actual Del-
taV controls and I/O components of several major ore process-
ing subsystems, which can be used for training, testing and
production evaluation. This lets Barrick’s operators test pro-
cess reactions without impacting the real facility, which can
save huge amounts of energy, labor and materials.
“Many process industries are getting more interested in
simulations because traditional testing and evaluations are
too cumbersome, time consuming and costly. And, using sim-
ulations to test logic and control strategies can find major is-
sues before they ever reach the plant, instead of six months af-
ter the factory acceptance test (FAT), which can be 100 times
more expensive,” says Martin Berutti, Mynah’s president and
COO. “Future control rooms are going to use a lot more of
these tools, and they’ll be more highly automated and regu-
lated. So, operators will have to man up to higher technical
levels, manage more workers in the field and move from us-
ing just primary data such as sensor readings to also handling
metadata about the quality of those readings.”
To give power plant operators some of this new training,
the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DoE) National Energy
Technology Laboratory (NETL) and its Advanced Virtual
Energy Simulation Training and Research (AVESTAR)
 Operator Interface

Center (www.netl.doe.gov/avestar) are

providing simulation-based training by
deploying a first-of-its-kind simulator
for an integrated gasification combined
cycle (IGCC) power plant with CO2
capture. Based on Invensys Operations
Management’s (http://iom.invensys.com)
SimSci-Esscor Dynsim software, this dy-
namic, high-fidelity simulator provides
realistic training on IGCC plant opera-
tions, including normal and faulted oper-

Courtesy of Invensys and AVESTAR

ations, plant start-up, shutdown and pow-
er-demand load changes.
In its next phase, AVESTAR will incor-
porate Invensys’ EyeSim software to add
immersive, 3D, virtual reality to the train-
ing experience. This will extend training
beyond the control room and allow field
operators to perform manual functions,
such as opening or closing valves, or start CUTAWAY COLUMN
or stop pumps from anywhere within the Figure 3: Trainees at the Advanced Virtual Energy Simulation Training and Research Center can
IGCC plant. wear a stereoscopic headset or eyewear to enter a virtual environment, move freely throughout
Wearing a stereoscopic headset or eye- its simulated 3D facility, use gamepads to interact with plant equipment items, and experience
visual training scenarios, such as this operating distillation column.
wear, trainees enter a virtual environment
that allows them to move freely throughout the simulated 3D Relocatable Modular Standard, to reduce costs, risks and
facility to study and learn various aspects of IGCC plant op- the environmental footprint of its in-situ thermal develop-
eration, control and safety. Using gamepads for navigation, ment, and is working with Rockwell Automation’s (www.
users can interact with plant equipment items, activate trans- rockwellautomation.com) Global Services Division and its
parent views, display pop-up trends and experience equip- PlantPAx process automation system. 
ment sound effects, malfunctions and visual training scenar- “For our facility model, we needed an advanced, inte-
ios (Figure 3) grated process and motor control system that would monitor
Besides simulating processes, some users are even repro- multiple SAGD sites from one central location, now and as
ducing their control rooms in virtual formats. For instance, we expand,” says Brian Harrison, Grizzly’s engineering vice
Grizzly Oil Sands (www.grizzleyoilsands.com) in Calgary, president. As a result, Grizzly will build a shadow control
Alberta, Canada, is using improved, steam-assisted gravity room founded on a virtualized computing environment at
drainage (SAGD) produce more than 5000 barrels of heavy its Calgary headquarters to monitor and control current and
crude oil per day in the first phase of its Algar Lake Project. future oil sands sites across northern Alberta.
However, to make its SAGD process more efficient, Griz-
zly has developed an innovative facilities model, Advanced Jim Montague is the E xecutive Editor at Control and Control Design.

36

Operators Get What They Deserve
Our First 25 Years Chronicle the Rising Role of the Operator in Defining the Human Interface
By Paul Studebaker
I
n January 1989, an article on computer-based control
room design was our first to acknowledge the importance
of operator performance. “Closer lighting design and con-
trol becomes necessary as the operator’s field of vision nar-
rows from control panel indicators and graphic displays to
computer graphics and CRT/keyboard control,” we wrote.
Control room colors and noise are important elements of
the operations environment We noted that operators were
spending more time sitting: “With the advent of computer
control, operators become increasingly sedentary…readabil-
ity of the panel or graphic from the console must be ensured
because the operator is now much less likely to leave the
control station and stand 3 feet from the panel face.”
As chronicled in the accompanying timeline, over the en-
suing 25 years we expanded (and expounded on) our recog-
nition of the operator’s critical role in productivity, reliabil-
ity, efficiency, knowledge management, innovation and of
course, safety. Obviously, the entire automation and control
system only exists to support the operator’s task of running
the plant as well as humanly possible.
Over the decades, Control continually pressed the fron-
tiers of operator interface technology and visualized an ideal-
ized future, where the respected, fully trained and informed
operator could quickly and easily spot potential equipment
problems before they reduced production, run the process to
maximize customer satisfaction and company profitability,
minimize energy consumption and environmental impact,
keep everyone safe, and still be home in time for dinner with
his or her family.
Recent years have seen amazing advances in the opera-
tor’s environment and sphere of control. HMIs are using sit-
37
Operator Interface
uational awareness principles and alarm rationalization to
improve operator decisions, while reducing response times.
Consoles move and lighting changes in response to oper-
ators’ physical dimensions, moods and operating modes,
from smooth running to high alert. Field-based interfaces
support tablets, smartphones and wearable components so
operators can stay in control and in touch with each other,
field-based personnel, remote experts and their knowledge
bases at all times.
Simulation software enables operators to train virtually
on the operating plant, and are aided to identify potential
problems and opportunities rapidly by artificial intelligence,
condition-monitoring and decision-support packages. The
future will increase the power of these packages with more
sensors, more powerful data analysis and better presentation
of information when and how the operator needs it.
“The eternally innovative spirit that inspired all these
great tools, automation and controls in the first place is never
completely satisfied because it never really switches off,” says
Jim Montague, executive editor. “That’s why engineers are
always trying to find new and better solutions, and why for-
merly separate methods of improving operator performance
in process control continue to be perfected, but also are
starting to merge into a unified whole.”
Paul Studebaker is chief editor of Control.