Cegelec addresses the control room ergonomic aspects using advanced computerised tools
Cegelec's departure from the Alstom group last year represented Europe's largest leveraged management buyout, at þ750 million ($659 million).
The newly independent engineering/construction services company works in many sectors, but views oil and gas projects as a prime growth area.
Some 12 per cent of Cegelec's turnover currently comes from the oil and gas industry, with sales to this sector of 360 million Euros. Cegelec is also a strong player in the Gulf region, where it employs more than 800 people in this field.
Based near Paris, Cegelec has operational bases in 31 countries and a worldwide staff of 27,000. Cegelec engineers and implements hi-tech systems and packages in its sectors of specialisation, with a broad know-how in instrumentation, control systems and SCADA, power generation and distribution, telecommunications, HVAC & Electromechanical. Cegelec offers a complete spectrum of services, from audit and feasibility study to turnkey projects and start-up and maintenance services.
One of Cegelec's Comsip Division core businesses is modernisation. The essence of most of modernisation projects is the installation of a new generation, high performance control systems, along with an upgrade of the field instrumentation. It is then possible to easily apply advanced control, optimisation strategies and information technologies. The framework of the projects also address factors such as safety, environment and ergonomics.
Modernising the automation is arguably the most effective way of improving plant operations, in terms of investment and time needed to carry-out the job.
But many key factors must be addressed to ensure that this critical operation is a complete success. Cegelec has acquired a considerable experience in this field.
As plant automation systems can now be constructed with many different architectures, thanks to more powerful communication networks, to the use of field buses and to the increasing inter-operability of equipment, the question of the location and function of control rooms comes systematically to the forefront.
The human factor - using a high degree of automation in a new facility is not the only way of optimising plant operation. An extensive ergonomic analysis, aimed at ensuring maximum operator efficiency within the new automation environment, is performed. This analysis spans both the architectural aspects of the building and the definition of the man-machine interfaces. Training is also a priority, which Cegelec addresses with the 'Catex', its specialised training centre near Paris which provides some 250 training sessions a year.
A flawless transfer - eliminating all risks of losing production capacity, as well as ensuring the protection of both workers and equipment, the transfer operation from the old to the new automation system is often a daunting challenge, when information processing spans hundreds of thousands of data items, when the new equipment has to be installed and transferred in the control room without hindering the existing plant operations. Right from the outset of the project, transfer specialists must establish a step by step strategy and a meticulous procedure, study safeguards and fall-back actions, and establish a sequence of operations according to the plant's operating characteristics. The ITS group of Cegelec can deploy on site more than 200 engineers trained on the special software tools 'CISCOM', in-house developed to safely carry out the commissioning and transfer operations.
Expertise on line - a modernisation operation demands cross-multidisciplinary expertise in many technologies and an in-depth knowledge of processes and operating conditions. It is based on a meticulous project development methodology. In addition it requires large specialised resources to cover any stage of the project, providing the flexibility and responsiveness required by an operation on a running plant.
For more than 30 years, from the Middle East to any region of the world, Cegelec's Comsip Division has performed more than 450 modernisation projects, including more than 100 major retrofits. In the Gulf, Bapco, Adnoc, KNPC, Adgas, Zadco, Gasco and many others have already relied on Cegelec experience.
