Time and time again, companies who make an investment in the Canary data historian and trending software solutions see great returns on their investment. An independent oil and natural gas company made a $22,500 investment in the Canary data historian and Axiom trending and analytic software and saved over $250,000 through monitoring and improving the efficiency of their equipment.
Another large independent oil and gas company declared the Canary Enterprise Historian a “game-changer” after using it as a centralized data repository for all regional SCADA systems monitoring well production. Now, they can more quickly react to market conditions. In other industries customers have better peace of mind, like a cheese processing plant in Wisconsin. They now have a better understanding of their process and spend less time troubleshooting by giving their engineers a data historian that easily can review events that occur during off hours. Canary Axiom trending and analytical tools are very easy to use, and require little training. If software tools are difficult to use, data can be overlooked and not acted upon. Not the case with Canary process data trending products.
A small municipality used Canary process historian and trending software to generate EPA reports in minutes with a few keystrokes. They now save three days of reporting labor per month and consider Canary software an essential tool in running their plant. Beyond easy reporting, they rely on the Canary data historian system to see the internals of their system and easily make advanced insights from the historical data.
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| Click above to see an AxiomView waste water display |
A large water and waste water utility in Florida has recently used the Canary process data analytic tool Axiom to uncover a major problem. After experiencing a large pump failure, a plant engineer reviewed the historical data to determine whether the problem was caused by mechanical failure or operator error. He determined an operator had reduced the level of a tank, put the system in a manual mode, and then had forgotten about it. The pump ran dry and was ruined, which cost the city over $25,000. As a result of this oversight, the PLC was reprogrammed to protect the pumps from future incidents. This same utility also improved its relations with the environmental agency by using annotations within the trending software Axiom. The annotation feature in Axiom allows the operators to quickly and easily write time and data stamped notes directly directly into the data historian. When special situations occur such as the recalibration of equipment, operators annotate the event and make permanent record of the occurrence. When the environmental department conducts an inspection and see the abrupt data change, they can also see the annotation associated with that data change. This helped foster a better business relationship between the utility and the environmental agency as the agency felt they could trust the data as being accurate, having been documented within seconds of the occurrence.
Canary clients save thousands of dollars in potential fines by having accurate trending and reporting software and a reliable data historian. For pipeline clients, the Department of Transportation (DOT) requires that a minimum of three years of operational information be stored. How that information should be stored is decided upon by the pipeline company and the federal regulations are very vague. The best way to protect themselves is by collecting more information than is required by the DOT; this includes information like amps, valve status, etc., that might determine root cause. This additional information can often result in no fine or reduced fines. Pipeline companies also successfully leverage the Canary data historian and trending software to better monitor their process and increase efficiency. Downtime is one of the greatest causes for profit loss. By comparing historical data to live process data, pipeline engineers can more accurately predict machine failure and drastically reduce downtime. The Canary data historian is also often used by the pipeline company's energy management personnel to collect energy information so they can better negotiate rates with the power company.
Companies rely on Canary Labs data to determine root cause as equipment failure or operator error, and to make the necessary corrections to prevent future failures. Cordova Electric in Alaska has recently utilized the Canary data historian to troubleshoot a main bearing on a hydroelectric turbine. They quickly replayed the event surrounding a high temperature alarm using the trending analysis software Axiom, and they cost-effectively determined the cause of the alarm and resolved the problem. This one incident saved them over $22,000. They also saved another $19,000 using the Canary data historian to provide accurate data needed for a hydro analysis study. Cordova estimated that the $750,000 cost of automating two hydroelectric plants was recovered within three years and Canary Labs software was determined to be the key component in the savings derived from the automated system. The finance manager for Cordova also uses the Canary software to negotiate their rates with their power company.
A large independent oil producer uses Canary software to collect and monitor fleets of hydraulic fracking equipment in near real-time for effective decision making. This information is available at the corporate level and organized to be viewed from both a production and asset perspective. Various collected values can predict potential failures that can lead to costly downtime on the order of thousands of dollars per hour. Pump efficiency is also measured and can indicate when the pump is not being operated correctly. This allows corporate personnel to take corrective action before serious damage to the pump is done. Historical data is used to determine which equipment has the highest failure rates, and helps in the redesign of certain equipment for longer life, less downtime and fewer failures.
"If the user can’t find the information they need in time to influence their decisions, you have failed", says the Senior Analyst of Process Control.
Mountain Cement in Laramie, Wyoming, utilizes Canary data historian and trending software to provide real-time environmental compliance data trends and rolling averages. This has greatly simplified data management and reporting activities for the plant. Canary software has provided innovative real-time techniques for tracking quality control and production, resulting in increased productivity and equipment reliability. The bottom line, the software helps to ensure a safe work environment for employees.
No matter what industry, no matter how many sites and collection point, the value of collecting process data and story it tells is absolute. There is no faster way to increase efficiency and reduce downtime than to effectively employ a data historian equipped with easy to use trending and analytic tools.
