How next-generation HMI SCADA solutions are enabling monitoring and control of operations anytime, anywhere

Dispatches from AVEVA World 2023

Posted: December 19, 2023

When I started my career over 25 years ago as a control engineer in the semiconductor manufacturing industry, I was first introduced to the world of HMI SCADA solutions.  At the time, I remember being really impressed with what was possible with the software, but I also remember how complex it was for me to get my control projects implemented while I waited on programmers and system developers to create and deploy the monitoring and visualization applications and interface with all the different data sources that I needed to implement my control solutions.

While it’s been almost two decades since I worked directly in manufacturing, I have kept tabs on what is going on in the industry through my role as an Industry Marketing team leader at AVEVA. Recently, as I attended AVEVA World 2023 in San Francisco, our global user conference which brought together nearly 2,500 customers, partners, analysts, and product and industry experts, I was struck by how much has changed with HMI SCADA solutions in recent years.

As I attended some of the two dozen dedicated sessions at the event on HMI SCADA solutions, our customers shared how they are leveraging the latest innovations in AVEVA^TM InTouch HMI, AVEVA^TM System Platform, and the associated solutions that comprise AVEVA^TM Operations Control. With these solutions, customers can efficiently visualize their operations, empower operators to make informed decisions, and seamlessly scale their systems as their business grows.

The revolution in HMI SCADA solutions

There really has been a revolution in how HMI SCADA solutions are developed and deployed. The results are having a significant business impact on everyone from small single-site operations and OEM machine builders, to massive, multi-site operators all over the world.

Gone are the days of long lead times and complex programming. Now, a low-code/no-code revolution is allowing as much as a 60% reduction in application creation time without any scripting. “Build once, deploy anywhere” design principles using responsive SVG and HTML5-based graphics enable 100% reusable content across any device and OS.  This revolution is resulting in a massive acceleration in the time to value on projects as control engineers can now quickly give operators the insight they need into real-time processes and scale their systems with ease across their entire organization.

HMI SCADA customer stories from AVEVA World

Here’s just a small sample of customer presentation highlights from the event:

• Armstrong World Industries:  The Pennsylvania-based provider of ceiling and wall solutions for the design and construction of commercial buildings and residential spaces shared how they leveraged AVEVA InTouch HMI web client to empower decision-making and ensure the digital health of its processes. By tackling the challenges of lack of visibility into operational data at the locations where it was needed as well as integrating IT and OT together in one solution, Armstrong reported that after deploying the web client across 15 production operations in 6 plants, it could achieve results such as a 21% reduction in changeover time and a 0.25% reduction in product wastage.

• Ashghal :  The public works authority of Qatar shared how they leveraged AVEVA System Platform as the focal point to orchestrate many different systems as part of their emergency response solutions in Doha.  As Qatar prepared to host the FIFA World Cup, Ashghal needed to quickly integrate all business and OT systems using AVEVA System Platform’s GIS-aware capabilities and developed express workflows to interact with sub-systems in crisis situations.  The project resulted in a 42% improvement in contractor response time and a 68% reduction in active alarms. Post-event comprehensive report generation was reduced from 24 hours to under five minutes!

• Maple Leaf Foods: The Canadian carbon-neutral food manufacturer is a great example of a company that continues to diligently execute on its digital vision since 2016. Maple Leaf’s heritage site built upon its existing industrial software investment to leverage Industry 4.0 technologies like IoT and AI for advanced analytics. By integrating Braincube with their AVEVA HMI/SCADA/MES solutions for machine learning, the project quickly resulted in an increase of gross profit by 10-12% by reducing waste across eight use cases.

• Tetra Pak: A global food processing and packaging solutions company, Tetra Pak has now adopted the model-driven architecture of AVEVA’s HMI/SCADA/MES stack to develop and offer PlantMaster™—a scalable, templatized solution for plant automation and information management as part of its services portfolio for the food & beverage industry.

• Genentech: The Vacaville site of this California-based biotechnology corporation is a long-time user of AVEVA System Platform and our batch management solution for its large-scale bioreactors. The scope of the new project sought to extend this capability to the smaller, lab-scale bioreactors within the Seed Train and Small Volume Media Prep operations whose batch records were paper-based. The project resulted in higher first-time quality as well as annual savings of over $170,000 by eliminating paper tickets.

It's always great to hear how our customers are using our industrial software, and I found it particularly gratifying to see how some of our latest innovations in HMI SCADA solutions are changing how the industry creates, deploys, and reaps value from monitoring and control solutions while addressing some of the challenges I faced in my own manufacturing career.

If you are interested in more stories of how our solutions are connecting our industrial communities and enabling the drive for more sustainable industries, please visit our archive of not only our most recent event presentations but thousands of other stories of digital transformations from prior events.