QCA Systems Ltd. has been providing Industrial Electrical, Automation, and IT services to clients in various industries for over 30 years. Operating with the support of approximately 80 engineers, designers, drafters, technicians, specialists, managers, and administration staff, QCA is able to deliver cost effective, efficient solutions, supporting a wide variety of products.
- Triple amount of potash and coal shipped out of terminal
- Standardized operational philosophies
- Virtual testing prior to commission
- Project finished early and under budget
- Surpassed tonnage goals
Meet Terris Onyema, a systems engineer with QCA Systems. The company is a member of the Rockwell Automation PartnerNetwork™ and specializes in bulk materials handling. QCA provides automation solutions to a variety of industrial manufacturers in the Pacific Northwest, including ports, mining and other infrastructure-related projects. Neptune Bulk Terminals, a global shipper of potash and coal is a QCA client based in Vancouver, Canada.
Challenge
“Neptune Bulk Terminals came to us, first, to improve throughput by almost threefold,” Terris explains. “And because they’re such a major player, its critical for them to minimize downtown and to keep equipment running while upgrades and new equipment commissioning are underway.” That’s right. The customer wanted to improve throughput by three times but have limited downtime as they performed upgrades. What a challenge!
Solution
Early Engagement Helps Create Alignment
QCA was engaged at the start of the project, a decision Terris says contributed to its success.
“It was great to come in early to lay out an overview of what this is and what we were going to do,” he said. “First, we sat down with the vendors to implement interfacing standards across the site to make an overall idea of what was going to happen,” Terris says. Next, they defined “operational philosophies” which provided guidelines for how equipment should run on its own and within the system. “This provides a good way for anyone who's in electrical design, automation, or information systems to be able to work on their systems individually as well as having sure that everyone was on board with what we were trying to achieve.”
Virtual Testing Prior to Commissioning
Because QCA was involved early, they were able to begin equipment and system testing before commissioning even began. “We did in-house factory and off-site testing that we showed to the client before any of the major commissioning sessions were done,” Terris explains. “This proved to the customer and to us how efficiently the commissioning process was going to go and how the system was going to run once everything was up and running.”
In addition to streamlining the commissioning process, the upfront equipment and system testing meant that install and site testing could be completed quickly, with little disruption to regularly scheduled production.
Result
Ahead of Schedule and Under Budget
The proactive approach resulted in the project being finished early and within budget. “Neptune has bridged and even surpassed their tonnage goals with high equipment availability,” Terris says.
Next up for QCA and Neptune is moving from reactive to predictive and preventive maintenance using Rockwell Automation’s FactoryTalk® InnovationSuite.
“We’re creating virtual models of the equipment with anomaly engines that track and monitor anomalies and can predict when equipment could have a possible failure,” he explains. “It’s great to have all these Rockwell Automation tools available to help reach and even surpass our clients’ goals.”
Published November 30, 2023
