Automation

• SCADA/automation architecture design and implementation
• Cloud based SCADA architecture design and implementation
• PLC/PAC/RTU/RPU/DPC programming and configuration
• RTAC programming and configuration
• Development of PLC standards
• HMI/SCADA programming and configuration
• Historical data retention and archiving
• Development of SCADA & HMI standards
• Development of process control narratives
• System integration, data integration, operational data management systems and integrated control
• SCADA training
• Enterprise integration and operational efficiency, real time control
• Business practice synchronization
• ISA 18.2 alarm management design and implementation
• High performance HMI design and implementation
• Data reporting and management solutions
• IoT solutions
• Digital twins – road maps, planning, design, and implementation support

• Piping and instrumentation diagrams
• Instrumentation plan and specifications
• Instrument control panel / PLC panel design
• Instrument selection and specification
• Installation details
• Loop drawings
• ICP/PLC panel FATs
• ICP/PLC I/O check and commissioning
• Safety circuits and interlocks
• Custom control circuit design
• Field deployment, testing and troubleshooting
• Control system standards
• Design and implementation of the smart device / smart MCC /sSmart instrumentation device level network

• SCADA system master plans and business cases
• IT master plans and business cases
• SCADA needs assessment, road maps, and upgrades
• SCADA governance
• SCADA disaster recovery and business continuity planning
• SCADA program management
• IT assessment and upgrades
• Technology obsolescence planning
• Value engineering
• Asset inventory, assessment and planning

• Data room/server room layout and specifications
• IT/OT network design, configuration, implementation and testing
• LAN/WAN network infrastructure design
• Ethernet, fibre, Wi-Fi, cellular, radio, copper design and testing
• Server specification and configuration/deployment
• Firewall specification, configuration and deployment
• UPS sizing and rack design
• Control room design and management
• 24/7 on-call support services
• IoT solutions
• MQTT applications
• API interfacing
• Database development and data management
• Data governance
• Data validation

The core elements of any automation system are the controllers, as they provide real-time data collection and calculations to maintain the process in a safe state within the desired operating limits.

Our expert team has experience with a wide range of control platforms from individual loop controllers through to fully integrated distributed control systems.

Controllers need to have a way of interacting with humans for monitoring, archiving and control through the changing of set points and control objectives. The Human Machine Interface (HMI) is the window into the system. Therefore collecting, displaying and reporting process information in a way that is intuitive for operators is an important element of any control system.

HMI’s do more than help control the process. HMI’s are also used to notify operators of abnormal situations or incidents, usually by generating alarms. However, if not implemented and managed correctly, alarms can become a problem that lowers operator effectiveness. ISA 18.2 Alarm Management programs are used to provide guidance on prioritizing and monitoring the effectiveness of alarms. Integrating intelligent device information with system information helps ensure that the right information gets to the right person at the right time – every time. CIMA+ can assist in the development and maintenance of alarm management programs that are in compliance with relevant national and international standards.

Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) systems are used in almost every industry and utility. As a multi-discipline EPCM, CIMA+ is involved in all of these sectors – implementing SCADA systems to monitor and control a wide range of distributed processes in the municipal sector (water and wastewater), , industrial sector (mining, oil and gas), energy sector (substations, wind and solar farms, battery energy storage (BESS), and renewable energy) and transportation sector (highways and roads, ports and marine, airports and aviation, rail, and intelligent mobility systems). Because SCADA systems enable communications with remote and widely distributed devices, communications and protocol standards, such as the DNP3 and IEC61850 specifications developed by the power sector, are an important element of any implementation. Consistent with our “best in class” culture and due to our knowledge in this area, as well as the need for a wider range of consistency in SCADA practices, CIMA+ is taking a leadership role in the development of new international SCADA standards.

Most SCADA systems include archiving capabilities through integrated process historian software. These historians not only provide a repository for the collected process data, but they also allow for off-line access to this information for the preparation of various production and troubleshooting reports to improve operational effectiveness. Our knowledge of configuration and integration for a variety of OPC Servers including OPC DA, OPC A+E, OPC DH, and OPC UA help bridge the transfer of information across disparate systems. Our teams are also well versed in a variety of more advanced computer science concepts such as data structures (including several different database types and schemas), algorithm design, data modeling, user case analysis, large scale software architecture among, and various programming and scripting languages. CIMA+ does more than install and configure historians; we securely integrate them into your business system, including configuration of associated reports and event capture snapshots of critical systems.

Safety systems, whose requirements are driven by international standards, play an important role in plant automation and control systems, are the final Independent Protection Layer between your process and a potential safety incident due to equipment failure. The demand for Safety Instrumented Systems (SIS) continues to grow and is one of the most rapidly expanding segments of the control system market. In addition to the requirements for Safety Systems being driven by the process design and HAZOP / Risk Analysis process, the adoption of CAN / CSA-B149.1-05 “Burner Management Systems” in most jurisdictions in Canada, means gas fired heaters must now use CSA certified controls and be installed in accordance with the code, including the logic solver. CIMA+ has expertise on staff, including functional safety engineers as well as trained HAZOP / Risk assessment facilitators, to assist with all stages of the safety system process from the original analysis and design to the implementation of the required work orders / maintenance practices needed to maintain the system integrity. This applies to the implementation of relay-based systems as well as full-scale logic solvers integrated into the balance of plant controllers and historians.

Having intelligent industrial networks all communicate with each other seamlessly can be challenging, especially in the electrically noisy plant environment. The devices can range from individual field devices through remote input / output racks to distributed controllers and associated network appliances across a facility. All these devices must not only be able to connect to each other with the correct combination of physical media (wired, wireless, fibre), they must also be configured to share information in the correct protocols or languages. CIMA+ has in-depth understanding of how the interactions between media and protocol can affect overall system performance. We use this knowledge to help you design new systems, troubleshoot and optimize existing systems, or migrate from legacy systems to more robust higher-capability replacement architectures. The final step in the integration of systems is the connection to and sharing of resources with a facility’s IT networks. CIMA+ can bring expertise in from our IT team for this aspect of any system, as well as the associated server rooms to house all the required equipment. Staff members have been verified by independent third parties as certified LON integrators and Foundation Fieldbus Professionals.

A control system is only as good as its ability to communicate with field devices. Though often overlooked, the field devices, transmitters, and final control elements (valves / actuators / motors / pumps / etc.) are a critical part of any control system. If they are not properly selected, sized, and specified, the information on which the process is being controlled will be inaccurate, and the ability to reliably adjust and manage the process will also be compromised. Our automation team is familiar with all the major sensing technologies and their application, as well as the selection and sizing of field equipment assemblies and starters such as VFDs, as final control elements. Field installations often require compliance with different electrical area classifications and, depending on plant practices, with the associated form of protection. CIMA+’s team of engineers are familiar with all forms of protection including intrinsic safety, (IS), galvanic isolation, explosion proof, XYZ purging, as well as many of the unique protection requirements associated with fieldbus systems such as FISCO.

In many cases, this protective equipment needs to be mounted in an enclosure or panel. Not every device is directly connected to a control system. The signals often connect to local panels, which can be as simple as a junction box or full control panels with local HMI integrated into the plant control systems. Regardless of the panel complexity, it must be suitable for the area and location for which it is installed, and meet the required electrical area classifications, ambient condition requirements for temperature and humidity, all while balancing the size of the panel with the need to perform maintenance on the elements it contains.

At their most basic level, control systems and their signals are used for control and monitoring purposes —maintaining the plant at a specific operational set point. However, the true benefits from this investment are achieved with the development of applications to optimize the process across multiple control loops, multiple process equipment, or operations, as an example to maximize the production of a product at minimal energy or blend multiple streams to a desired composition. Our experts can help with the development of these applications, from gathering the data to create the model, to coding of algorithms, and then tuning the final application, such as the specialized controls associated with a turbine or environmental control system. Many advanced control applications require input from process analyzers to identify one or more individual stream components or physical properties. As is the case with field sensors, selecting the best-sensing technology for responsive repeatable measurement must also be considered in all applications. Furthermore, a process analyzer measurement is only as good as the sample is representative of the process itself. The sample system determines where and how that sample is collected. CIMA+ has a Certified Specialist in Analytical Technology on staff, as well as a suite of tools used to verify the sample collected arrives at the analyzer in a timely and unaltered state. Environmental monitoring systems are crucial in terms of a facility’s license to operate. Continuous Emission Monitoring Stations (CEMS) are now being required on increasingly lower emission sources, while environmental monitoring stations to track ground level measurements around and outside the facility need to be connected to the necessary internal and external reporting systems—all of which can be integrated with the historian or Laboratory Information System (LIMS) to automatically generate the necessary reports for regulators.

CIMA+ goes beyond providing engineering services. We back the solutions we design with on-site support that includes all aspects of field execution from Factory Acceptance Testing (FAT), Site Acceptance Testing (SAT), Site Integration Testing (SIT), through to verification of field installation accuracy documented with a formal test report based on testing results, and point by point commissioning, including redlines for all project drawings. Members of the CIMA+ design team are available to help resolve any discrepancies that may arise during project execution, assist with answering questions, and capture changes to documentation in preparation for the “as-left” and “as-built” drawings. Our ISO 9001 procedures support projects are well-documented and all revisions are systematically tracked, in order to prepare accurate “as-built” drawings and associated documents, including program code, databases, and graphic files in electronic format suitable to ensure they reflect actual post-project plant conditions