News & Knowledge

We’re your source for automation news. Keep up with the latest industry updates and E Tech employee spotlights, as well as tips and guidance from our manufacturing experts.

| September 12, 2023

E Tech Group to Attend 2023 Annual ISPE Boston Area Chapter Product Show

E Tech Group will attend the 32nd Annual International Society of Pharmaceutical Engineering (ISPE) Boston Area Chapter Product Show and Career Fair at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, MA September 20, 2023, 11:00 am – 6:30 pm. West Chester, OH – E Tech Group, a leader in providing high-quality automation, control, and engineering services for industrial clients, announced today that they will be displaying their oligonucleotide automation demonstration at the 2023 International Society of Pharmaceutical Engineering (ISPE) Product Show at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, MA September 20, 2023. E Tech group will be taking over the hall: you’ll be able to find E Tech Group on both sides of the convention due to the recent acquisition of E-Volve Systems. You can find E Tech Group at booth W69 and formerly E-Volve Systems at booth E110. The E Tech Group team will be providing information around our IT/OT risk assessments, a helpful tool in addressing and mitigating issues at facilities. On the other end of the hall, still bearing E-Volve Systems logos and banners, E-Volve Systems will showcase their capabilities for oligonucleotide automation, an industry facing many opportunities for automation, in a featured demo. Attendees can learn how E Tech Group can help a batch process that is currently manual and facing inconsistency issues become a more efficient and safer process. “E-Volve Systems, an E Tech Group company, is excited to once again be showcasing our expertise at the ISPE Product Show. We look forward to highlighting our experience with automating what was once a manual process in oligonucleotide manufacturing, connecting with our peers, clients, and new faces. Joining E Tech Group earlier this year we have expanded our capabilities and reach becoming a major player in the industry across North America. This is an exciting time in our company and in the … Continued

| September 6, 2023

S88 Specs, Part 1 of 3: An Introduction to the S88 Standard

Where did the S88 Standard for Batch Control Systems Stem From? In the world of industrial automation, the S88 standard, also known as ANSI/ISA-88 or Batch Control, plays a vital role in providing a universal framework for the control and automation of manufacturing processes. Developed by the International Society of Automation (ISA), the S88 standard offers a structured approach to designing, implementing, and maintaining batch processes. For those who are new to the S88 standard and want to delve into its applications across various industries, this three-part blog series will serve as a guide to understanding the fundamentals of the S88 standard, its benefits, and an overview of its working principles. What is the S88 Standard for Batch Control Systems? The S88 standard provides a comprehensive and modular methodology for designing, implementing, and managing batch processes in industries such as pharmaceuticals, chemicals, food and beverage, and many others. It establishes a consistent and structured approach to defining the equipment, control strategies, procedural operations, and information systems required for effective batch process automation. Within the ISA-95 framework batch systems adhering to S88 standard are identified as Level 2 systems. They are subordinate to Level 3 MES systems and achieve process control through interaction automation and control systems (ISA-95 Level 1 and 2). In practical terms, S88 system, a batch control application executes recipes. A recipe is a sequence of operations containing multiple recipe phases. Recipe phases interface with the physical plant equipment through equipment phases typically executed by PLCs. Applications of the S88 Standard in Industrial Automation While the S88 standard was originally developed for batch processes, its applications are not limited to specific industries. The versatility of the standard enables its adoption in a wide range of fields. In general, automation system builders may benefit from using the S88 concepts even … Continued

| August 18, 2023

How to Ensure Useful Data Extraction from a PI Historian System

Data is an ever-present and growing benchmark in all industries. However, sometimes it may feel like it’s cloaked in mystery. There’s often a question of, why is collecting process data important? You then start to go down the rabbit hole trying to answer…..How do you get data out of your equipment? How do you decide what to collect? After assessing the previous questions, how do you test, and if necessary, validate that all of that data is being collected as expected? Understanding a holistic approach to data collection and validation from an AVEVA PI Historian System can help provide a high-level, big picture understanding to the importance of process data. With more than 10 years’ experience as a group engineering manager, Matt Martin has a depth of experience with integrating AVEVA PI Systems within sites of various sizes – here’s what I’ve learned: Why is the Importance of Data Increasing? The “why” question is the easiest one to answer. Everyone can agree that in the era of modern manufacturing, extracting data from your manufacturing processes is critical to a business’s success and ability to grow. This includes every level of production and management: Provides the operator at the plant floor level the ability to adjust and better control the manufacturing process on the fly Allows engineers better insight into trends and behaviors of the overall process to improve designs from both a throughput and efficiency standpoint Produces KPIs (key performance indicators) for managers and executives to assist in their decision making Having large representative data sets is becoming even more important with the advent of AI and more specifically machine learning. Allowing these technologies access to your systems data helps identify patterns, overall system behavior, and correlations that were previously near impossible for the human eye to uncover. Now, How … Continued

Implementing a Hybrid SCADA Solution Using PlantPAx 5.0 & 4.10

E Tech Group developed a hybrid SCADA solution for a BMS in a biopharma co-packing facility utilizing two different controllers and operating systems that would operate in unison, allowing the facility to ramp to full operation at a critical juncture and to incrementally upgrade as needed.

The Project: Ramp Up Vaccine Production in the Height of the Pandemic

At the height of the pandemic, a biopharma co-packing facility that was working to complete a greenfield facility needed to ramp up production and shipment of the COVID-19 vaccine to meet growing demand.

Because they were producing lab-generated material intended to be used on human beings, it was critical to have all measures in place to remain within ISA-88, ISA-S95, and ISA-101 standards, a part of which would contain a suite of industrial facility management systems.

E Tech Group was contracted to integrate a control system that would manage and monitor events and alarms within both GMP and non-GMP regulated portions of the building management system (BMS), process automation system (PAS), and air handling units (AHUs).

The Challenge: Crossed Lines of Communication Complicate Completion

Racing to get a pharmaceutical automation system operational at the height of a global pandemic – one that needed to remain within a number of industry standards while producing and shipping a lifesaving compound to medical professionals everywhere – presented no shortage of challenges.

Many of those stemmed from the escalated timeline they were forced to maintain. With less time for preparation and review, the overall solution wasn’t as well planned out as it could have been and left this project open to a number of change orders and revisions.

This continued to be further exacerbated by the number of decision makers involved at every stage, which proved almost counterintuitive due to the number of approvals needed to move through each step.

One of the larger challenges encountered was the detailed design still needed to develop specific sequencing within the process and integration of vendor-supplied skids, contributing to the scope of work not clearly being defined. The skids were asked to be a Rockwell-based solution with Ethernet communication, but BacNET was supplied by numerous other vendors outside of the Rockwell offering. BacNET Addressing was also not provided with submittals, so it was challenging to easily retrieve information needed, only further impacting the scope of work that was constantly changing dependent upon what was in our control vs skid control.

Even when all moving parts were aligned, the largest challenge directly impacted by the pandemic would be the delay in supply chain coupled with the escalated timeline that resulted in only being able to get a portion of the equipment necessary to complete the project. Start to finish, this project required quick thinking and adaptation on the part of our team. They got down to the work of designing a custom control system solution that would be robust and complete despite all the obstacles.

The Solution: Build a Full Automation Solution with Half the Parts

The client wanted to utilize an off-the-shelf control system to avoid any black box solution where they would be locked out, unable to independently troubleshoot or to be dependent on an outside team to provide service. They ultimately landed on Rockwell Automation’s PlantPAx Distributed Control System to monitor the Building Management Systems and alarms across the facility.

While the control system was easy to acquire, the aforementioned supply chain issues impacted the accompanying hardware. They originally planned on utilizing PlantPAx 5.0 with Process Controllers, but our team was only able to acquire four of the ten required and had to supplement the remaining with six standard PLC controllers, which were not compatible with PlantPAx 5.0, but were compatible with PlantPAx 4.10.

PlantPAx 5.0 integrates the functionality into the controller firmware whereas PlantPAx 4.10 is utilized by the import of AOIs. While the implementation of the PlantPAx versions was different and carried two different alarm scopes, they possessed enough similarities that they could be configured to work within the same system.

Utilizing both Rockwell Automation PlantPAx products allowed our team to develop the hybrid SCADA solution utilizing the two different controllers, creating a uniform solution that could be used to monitor alarms and events through one HMI user experience:

The Specs: Scope of Work & Control Solution

2.6 Engineering Services: Electrical Design

2.6.1 Design and supply (1 ea) PLC & HMI panel for the BAS, BMS, PAS & PAC Control Hardware:

(3) Allen Bradley standalone single racks to include the following:
- Allen Bradley Power Supply
- Allen Bradley CompactLogix 5380 Controller, 3MB
- (AR) Allen Bradley 5069-(IF8/IB16/OF8/OB16B)
(1) Allen Bradley standalone single racks to include the following:
- Allen Bradley Power Supply
- Allen Bradley CompactLogix 5380 Controller, 3MB
- (AR) Allen Bradley 5069-(IF8/IB16/OF8/OB16B)
(1) Allen Bradley STRATIX switch
Internal illumination with auto on/off switch when control panel door open/closed
Main power disconnect in front control panel doors
UL 508A Label
72x60x12, NEMA 12
Conform to current NFPA 70E requirements
Separation and protection of voltages above and below 50 Volts

2.6.2 Design and supply (2 ea) Remote I/O & HMI panel for the BAS, PAS, BMS & PAC instrumentation & packaged equipment system integration:

(1) Allen Bradley standalone single rack to include the following:
- Allen Bradley Power Supply
- (AR) Allen Bradley 5069-(IF8/IB16/OF8/OB16B)

(1) Allen Bradley STRATIX switch
Internal illumination with auto on/off switch when control panel door open/closed
UL 508A Label
48x36x12, NEMA 12
Conform to current NFPA 70E requirements
Separation and protection of voltages above and below 50 Volts

2.6.3 Design and supply (9 ea) PLC panels for the AHUs:

(1) Allen Bradley standalone single rack to include the following:
- Allen Bradley Power Supply
- Allen Bradley CompactLogix 5380 Controller, 1MB
- (AR) Allen Bradley 5069-(IF8/IB16/OF8/OB16B)
(1) Allen Bradley STRATIX switch
Internal illumination with auto on/off switch when control panel door open/closed
UL 508A Label
48x36x12, NEMA 12
Conform to current NFPA 70E requirements
Separation and protection of voltages above and below 50 Volts

The Results: Success & Scalability Driven by Necessity

The developed and implemented automation integration solution allowed this facility to reach full production capacity at a pivotal time when there was absolutely no room for delay. E Tech Group’s team overcame numerous challenges, any of which on its own could have delayed progress. In the end, our system integration engineers were able to deliver a fully functional solution that left room for incremental upgrades as the client saw fit.

This solution not only allowed the client to continue moving through their project without being limited by the lack of available components, but this new control system can be scaled across any organization that may want to incrementally upgrade from PlantPAx 4.10 to 5.0 without tackling an entire facility at once for any number of reasons…..available budget or funding, manpower, etc.

E Tech Group supports industrial clients across North America with advanced control system solutions that reap tangible results: increased throughput, quality, proficiency, and capabilities, all while remaining adaptable, scalable and sustainable for future growth.

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