The 8 Rules for Successful Controls Implementations

A project team for an overseas grassroots LNG plant struggled for months attempting to develop a comprehensive series of control schemes for a vital plant utility unit. Having no success, the EPC and DCS Vendor eventually turned to an experienced Process Control Engineering Consultant for help. In a matter of a few days, a conceptual design was developed and approved, followed by detailed design and testing within a virtual environment. The design was then successfully implemented at site, along with numerous enhancements to address unexpected instrumentation and process design issues.

Upon completion of commissioning, the utility systems, as well as the balance of the plant, was run in fully automatic control – something that had not been experienced since the plant was originally commissioned.

Using this real-world situation as a backdrop, this presentation illustrates the practical application of the “8 Rules” and how it provided Operations with the handles and situational awareness they needed to reliably control the plant. It also illustrates how a creative solution avoided the main issue that stymied the project team: a documented DCS “feature”.