Challenge

When process engineers and others at Tiwest’s mine in Cooljarloo, Australia, needed to examine historical data, they faced a long and labor-intensive process. Often, the engineers could not navigate the IT infrastructure well enough to access the data themselves, and their requests for assistance sometimes went unmet because the data could not be found. The company clearly needed a better way to store and access its historical data, and the solution needed to fit the company’s tight budget restrictions.

Solution

The company implemented an OPC Hub and Spoke solution, with several enabling technologies. The solution transfers data from the mine’s remote locations to a central repository, where engineers easily access it using MatrikonOPC Excel Reporter. The solution also depends on MatrikonOPC Tunneller and MatrikonOPC HistoryLink for communication, MatrikonOPC Buffer for remote data collection, and MatrikonOPC Desktop Historian for data archiving.

Results

•     Cost of solution was significantly less than corporate historians

•     Saves time by making plant history faster and easier to access

•     Solution was easy to install, configure, and maintain

•     Improves monitoring and reporting on processes and production