Brock Solutions attended the Edwin C. Tifft Jr. Water Supply Symposium hosted by New York Section American Water Works Association on September 18th – 19th in White Plains, New York.
During the Utility Technology session, Brock Solutions’ Dave Haller and Veolia North America’s Gary Trapnell presented how we planned and executed a zero-downtime SCADA and PLC upgrade for the Veolia-operated Hinckley Water Treatment Plant in Utica, NY.
Below is a recap that outlines the key details from their presentation, including an overview of the project, the strategies employed for success, and the results accomplished.
The Challenge:
Executing a Zero-Downtime PLC Upgrade
The Hinckley Water Treatment Plant was looking to upgrade their PLC and SCADA systems, but due to the need to continuously operate and supply safe drinking water, no shutdown time was available. This necessitated the need for a cutover approach that would minimize risk and support uninterrupted plant operations.
Brock’s Approach:
Employ a Multi-Faceted Strategy to Ensure a Seamless Cutover
After understanding the existing control system and operations requirements, Brock Solutions developed a three-part strategy to enable the upgrade to take place without interrupting treatment plant operations:
- Build Operations Buy-In: Ensuring that operators were consulted, engaged, and ready to take over the new system on day 1 was critical to the project’s success.
- Leverage Simulation to Reduce Risk: Leaning on Brock’s history as pioneers in the real-time control simulation space reduced risk by proving out system behaviour in realistic scenarios.
- Plan for Success: Developing a fully detailed, socialized, and customer-validated sequence of events allowed the cutover to proceed smoothly and without any process interruptions.
The Outcome:
Minimal Impact to Operations, Maximum Success
The strategy Brock Solutions developed and employed allowed the cutover to be completed with zero process deviations, zero water-quality impacts, and zero regulatory compliance issues. The Hinckley Water Treatment Plant operators have been running the plant with the upgraded system for three years since the upgrades took place.
“Brock’s unique approach and strategies for this upgrade allowed us to achieve a zero-downtime cutover, and prepared our operators to effectively take over the new system from day one.”
– Gary Trapnell, Regional Vice President – New York, New Jersey at Veolia North America
To learn more about Brock Solutions experience in the Water & Wastewater industry visit Water & Wastewater or contact us today.
About Brock Solutions
Brock Solutions is a global industrial automation, engineering software, and professional services company with industry expertise in Manufacturing, Transportation, and Utilities. Our solutions empower customers to access data, transform operations, and drive performance and efficiency, while reducing costs and risk.