SCADA/ Controls

Our professional engineers provide the knowledge and experience

to ensure successful SCADA Controls solutions.

Many of the major challenges encountered within control systems result from a lack of understanding between engineering and control system teams. By representing both interests, at HECO we ensure the SCADA controls system and operational needs of a project are addressed at the same time the rest of the project is designed. We can provide on site contractor technical management if needed and assist with system testing and commissioning.

We start at the foundation, by reviewing your existing network capabilities. Then we consider your must have requirements and your nice to have requirements. We develop P&ID and SFDs to ensure the system control requirements are COMPREHENSIVELY defined, allowing the contractor to include all requirements.

Automation Engineering is a vital part of today’s water and wastewater management as it promotes streamlining of processes and reduction of waste, which can lead to a more cost-effective and efficient system.

HECO has developed a PLC and HMI standard development process to ensure the right activity occurs at the right time in the design.

From project initial concept(s) to completion, our professional engineers provide the knowledge and experience to ensure successful project solutions.

There are 6 potential aspects to any controls project:

Engineering – Determining the active components and how they function together to form a system
Network – Wherever you want to access your system information, you’ll need your network to reach there
Panel Design – Items to be packaged together and wired prior to project mobilization
Field Wiring – Work to be performed on site
Controls Programming – Configuration of the control devices to function as required
HMI/SCADA (supervisory control and data acquisition) – Operation, Monitoring, & Data Acquisition

A complete set of documentation ensures all these aspects are defined:

One-Line Power Distribution Diagram
Control System Schematic
Control Panel Layout
Network Diagram
System Functional Description (SFD)
Piping and Instrumentation Diagram (P&ID)
Instrumentation Layout

We make sure complete documentation is created for ALL the Members of the Project Team, and this documentation is cohesive, ensuring your contracting team is working in unison, all driving to the same vision with little to no delay:

Electricians
Panel Builders
Network (IT) Specialists
PLC Programmers
SCADA Developers

ON HMI/SCADA is one of the key aspects of your control system and the one most overlooked at the early phases of a project.

If you do not answer these questions early in the design process, instrumentation and actuators may not be accounted for in the design:

What do you want your screens to look like?

How do you want to control your system?

What aspects are adjustable, what items are fixed?

Are there specific failures you want detected and annunciated?

We will discuss your vision on how the system will be operated, and how your management team will be able to obtain USEFUL data from the information generated by the control system. By identifying the expectations early, we eliminate the risk that the physical design restricts the capability of the SCADA system. Our integration experts can help you work through your desired improvements, and operational requirement to ensure all questions are answered and accounted for in the system design.

Letting a control system programmer design your system at the end of a project guarantees that you will get the most complex and expensive system possible, regardless of your actual requirements.

The best way to design an effective control system and its associated SCADA (Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition) interface is to start discussing your needs at the engineering phase of your project.

It takes a lot of work to perform a comprehensive automation design, but the value of using these systems and the data that is provided by them proves it is worth it!

An Automation Engineer sets up the automation of a manufacturing [or other] process. These processes govern the operation, productivity, and delivery of the work to be done. The aim is to streamline the process and make it as efficient as possible while still maintaining high quality and adhering to internal protocols and external regulations.

With cross-industry perspective we apply best practices and innovative solutions to maximize your efficiency and operations. Our engineers can take a project from design through startup and commissioning ensuring a 100% complete trouble-free control system.