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American Water HeaterIndusoft Technology Heats Up Production
• Using the drag-and-drop paradigm,AmericanWater Heaterdesigned an applicationto monitor and controlthe ventilation systemin weeks rather thanmonths.
• Manufacturingengineers successfullycoupled the ventilationsystem to 17 tempera-ture systems through-out the plant.
• Within a few months,more than 100 differentcontrol points will alsobe monitored, enablingthe coordinatedmanagement ofproduction ratesand downtime.
InduSoft Web Studio is assistingAmerican Water Heater, headquarteredin Johnson City, Tennessee, to streamlineprocesses throughout its plant.
BackgroundHot running water. Most of us take it for granted and giveno thought whatsoever to what life might be like without it.American Water Heater Company is one of the leaders in thecontingent that makes that simple luxury a reality.
Located in Johnson City, Tennessee, American Water Heateremploys more than 1,000 people and prides itself in constantlyfinding new and innovative ways to lower cost and improve
efficiency for consumers. And when they decided to upgrade thetechnology of their manufacturing facility, they looked at a numberof high-tech SCADA and HMI vendors and then chose InduSoft.
The ChallengeWhile good ventilation is important, many manufacturers do notmake the connection between ventilation and other operationalprocesses. An astute observation, however, caused the managementstaff to rethink that fact.
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John Dreher, Manufacturing Engineering Manager for thecompany noticed that the ventilation system was having problemsbecause it was controlled by manual switches throughout the plant.“It was common knowledge that anyone working on the plantfloor routinely turned on and off the ventilation system at theirdiscretion. That type of unsupervised operation is not only un-necessarily expensive it can induce equipment problems duringcold weather.”
Dreher’s comment refers to the fact that the ventilation systemworks in two modes: heating and cooling. In cooling mode, fansand air make-up units are used to provide airflow and to deliverfresh air to the plant floor. This requirement is extremely importantgiven the type of equipment that is typically running in the plant.
In cold weather, though, the ventilation system must also heat thecirculating air for the comfort of employees, and the air make-upunits are therefore equipped with burners. This feature can beproblematic if users don’t properly operate the system.
According to Dreher “In spring and fall, the weather here canchange on a dime. What we found was that a quick temperaturedrop outside would often motivate someone in the plant to switchthe system from cooling to heating without first turning off the airmake-up units. To change from cooling to heating, the fans must
A global view displays temperatures at critical pointsthroughout the plant.
Controls for specific ventilation points are available withthe click of a mouse.
be off for at least two minutes while the burners heat up, otherwisethe burner will fail. This type of failure would occur without anynotice to supervisory personnel.”
The predictable result was that the ventilation system wouldcontinue to run until someone noticed that the heating systemwasn’t working and send someone to investigate the problem.In the meantime, employees were inconvenienced and productivitywas affected. Dreher understood that what was needed wasan automated system to properly control ventilation andtemperature—and to properly operate the system. But Dreherwent a step further.
He saw this potential solution as an excellent pilot opportunity forautomating dozens of systems throughout the plant on a phasedbasis. “Obviously the ventilation system is too important to con-tinue managing as we had—but it was also an interesting exercisein how to automate critical processes. If we could successfullymonitor, and centralize the management of the ventilation system,why not apply that paradigm to say, our press controls, whichhappen to be Internet ready?”
With its built-in Web-ready design, InduSoft Web Studio wasuniquely positioned for just such a phased approach to automatingsystems across the plant.
The SolutionUpon acquiring InduSoft Web Studio, the first thing AmericanWater Heater noticed was the speed and ease with which a systemcould be designed and implemented. Using the drag-and-dropparadigm, Manufacturing Engineer Rebecca Sweeney was ableto design an application customized to monitor and controlthe ventilation system in weeks rather than months.
“I’ve worked with other HMI/SCADA configuration systems,but by comparison, InduSoft is ahead of the curve.” says Sweeney.“I was impressed with how easily I picked it up and how intuitiveit was to use. And when I did have questions, InduSoft wasvery generous with their resources. They understood what wewanted to accomplish and partnered with us to make surewe were successful.”
Using InduSoft Web Studio, Rebecca and her colleague, NathanTimbs, another of American Water Heater’s ManufacturingEngineers, successfully coupled the ventilation system to
17 temperature systems throughout the plant. Sweeney offeredthat “I was able to create an application that visualizes the entireplant and monitors temperatures in key areas that were troublespots before. And in the event of a burner or other air makeupfailure, an alarm is set so that the appropriate individualcan be notified—a must have for something as critical as aventilation system.”
She also notes “InduSoft didn’t solve the problem of managingthe ventilation system. What their product did was give us a wayto make us more productive, by allowing a machine to monitora very critical system in a holistic way.”
She went on to say “Now instead of wasting time wonderingwhy the system isn’t working—which was almost always becauseof human error—we can program it using the InduSoft-basedapplication. Supervisors and plant floor operators and engineerscan focus on the things that they are hired to do and can be goodstewards of the other equipment they need to do their jobs.”
Alarm codes alert supervisors to ventilation errors and log them for future review.
UNITED STATESSales, Marketing, Engineering,and Support3445 Executive Center Drive, Suite 212Austin, Texas 78731Phone: 877-INDUSOFT (877-463-8763)or (512) 349-0334Fax: (512) 349-0375Email: [email protected]
BRAZILSales, Marketing and EngineeringAv. Engenheiro Luís Carlos Berrini,962 - 8° andarSão Paulo, SP - Brazil - 04571-906Phone: (+55) 11 5505-0093Fax: (+55) 11 5505-1672Email: [email protected]
GERMANYSales and SupportBruchsalerstrasse 18D-68753 Waghaeusel, DeutschlandPhone: (+49) 7254-952841Fax: (+49) 7254-952843Email: [email protected]
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The ResultThe project has been a success, enabling supervisors throughoutthe plant to monitor the ventilation system in the entire facility.They can also drill down and view details in specific areas,enabling them to ensure a safe and comfortable environmentfor employees.
It has also supported the plant's management model that emphasizessupervisor collaboration. According to Sweeney “The application isnow being used as a platform for supervisors to communicate with
each other about issues for which they have responsibility—but ina larger context. As more monitoring and automation systems comeonline, there will be more opportunity to communicate about othermore critical issues.”
Rebecca went on to say “Within the next few months we’ll bemonitoring more than 100 different control points. This capabilitywill enable the coordinated management of production rates,downtime, and a host of other variables that simply weren’t asvisible to us before, with any meaningful detail.”
