December 2006

In this issue

	Conferences
	Classes
	Trick of the month: Reverse ROI or LONI (Losses on Non Investment)
	To contact us

Conferences

"Lime Kiln Control Strategies" by Martin Emond and Serge Naud

"Exploiting Process Historian Data to Improve Process Performance" by Michel Ruel
PAPTAC 2007,
International paper week 2007
To learn more...

Coming classes and seminars

Seminar on Process Optimization and Performance Assessment Techniques Using PlantTriage
January 22-23, Houston, TX

Seminar on Advanced Tools in Process Control
January 24-26, Houston, TX

Seminar on modern control methods
January 30-February 1, City to be determined, Mesico

Detailed Loop Analysis with ExperTune
February 26-28, Clearwater, FL

ExperTune Advanced Tools
February 28-March 2, Clearwater, FL

See our calendar for 2006

This month's tip : Reverse ROI or LONI (Losses on Non Investment)

What is the cost of not using the available tools to reduce costs and increase profits?
What is the cost of not optimizing?
What is the cost of not using performance supervision?

From the boardroom to the floor

From the boardroom to the floor, use the large amount of data that is available in your systems to improve:

• Management decisions;
• Engineering design and modifications;
• Production (quantity and quality);
• Maintenance (intervening where it is needed and where efforts will be efficient);
• Operation and results.

Put under scrutiny short term KPI's (e.g., loops in abnormal mode or not in service) to ensure that long term performance remains close to objectives (e.g., energy costs, yield). Performance supervision software will convert data into diagnostics and results.

Below are some examples to explain this concept.

Energy costs and chemical additives costs

High variability, oscillations and faulty equipments require an excessive use of energy while performance supervision software allows saving energy and reducing costs.

Energy costs and chemical additives costs

High variability, oscillations and faulty equipments require an excessive use of energy while performance supervision software allows saving energy and reducing costs.

Improve yield and through output

Identify the weakest points in your process; debottleneck your process and pinpoint areas where economic performance is low.

Do you have an optimization plan?

"When Xstrata (Raglan division) adopted its optimization strategy, Top Control joined the team as a partner. Top Control's contribution allowed obtaining recurring annual savings of more than $7 million.
How can a company afford to do without Top Control's services?"

- Claude Jacob, plant superintendent, Xstrata (Falconbridge), Raglan mine

Do you need more time? Are you overwhelmed with too much to do?

Save time by better focusing your efforts on the areas that need more attention - loops that need tuning and equipments that need maintenance. Quickly pinpoint problems and diagnose them using root/cause analysis. Identify parts of the process that need design or modifications. Get to know where your operators interfere with the process and do the work that DCS's should do.

Unplanned shutdown

When was the last time a valve or transmitter caused an unplanned shutdown? What is the cost of an unplanned shutdown? How many of these shutdowns could be prevented every year?

Planning your resources: use them where they are really needed

Performance supervision software can be used to uncover failing pump seals, faulty transmitters, problematic valves, fouling heat exchangers, improper repairs, process-upset sources, controller tuning problems, and process-behaviour changes.

How many valves are pulled out of the line during a planned shutdown?
How many of these valves really need maintenance?
What is the cost of reactive maintenance compared to proactive maintenance based on data analysis with performance supervision software?
Where should maintenance be concentrated today?

How to calculate what your plant is missing?

Energy costs
Our experience taught us that you can achieve a 1% reduction when optimization is done and when all cycling is removed. To be conservative, let's use 0.5%. If your plant is spending $10,000,000/year, this corresponds to $50,000/year. For most plants, a similar amount can be used for chemical additives savings.

Improve yield and through output
This could vary but again, 1% is realistic. To be conservative, let's use 0.5%. This will probably represent over $250,000/year for a typical plant.

Unplanned shutdown
Each unplanned shutdown is costly. Using the right tools can allow you to reduce the number of shutdowns by 33%. If your plant has one unplanned shutdown every month - using an average of 3 hours at a cost of $20,000 gross profit per hour - 4 unplanned shutdowns avoided will result in savings of $240,000/year.

Better planning
What is the cost of doing maintenance when it is not needed? In a survey done last year (click here to see this survey), we found that 30% of valve maintenance was not necessary. At $1000/valve and 100 valves/year, $30,000 is spent every year.

If you analyze your numbers, you will find that:

• Total benefits are huge, representing millions;
• Total investments for a performance supervision system vary from $100,000 to $300,000;
• R.O.I. can be calculated in weeks;
• The benefits lost while you are buying the system (making the decision, planning, purchasing and installation) represent much more than the investment needed for putting a performance supervision system in place!

To contact us

	Lévis's office	+1 (418)834-4321
	Pointe-Claire's office	+1 (514)695-3492
	Hartland's office	(877)867-6473
	Toll free	(877)867-6473
	Email	info@topcontrol.com