Quality Assurance

What is a "high quality" automation system?

IPACT has a simple answer to this question: it is a system which minimizes its cost (maximizes its value) to the customer over its lifetime.  The cost/value of an automation system can be broken down as follows:

The initial cost of the system - the "price tag"

This cost is one of the smaller of the costs of the system.  It is certainly much smaller than the sum of all the other costs/values.  It is also the easiest to identify, and therefore it sometimes commands attention that is out of proportion to its impact on total cost over the life of the system.

The cost of starting the system up

This cost is directly related to how well the system functions at startup, which in turn depends on how well the system was designed and tested.  Making many changes to the system at startup is costly, but that cost is often dwarfed by the loss of production at the facility being automated.  How much does it cost for the facility to be down or crippled for a shift?  A day?  A week?

The cost of maintaining or adding to the system

This cost depends on how well the system was designed, and how well the system was documented. Well-designed and documented systems are many times less expensive to troubleshoot, change, or add to than poorly designed or documented systems.  Frequently, poorly designed and documented systems are completely replaced when even modest additions are required, rather than to cope with the difficulties of changing them.

The value the system adds while in service

This value should well exceed the system "price tag" almost by definition; otherwise the automation system would not be economically justifiable.  The value an automation system adds depends primarily on how well the system requirements were defined, how well the system was designed, and the ability of the systems integrator to understand the process and provide the best possible automation/control solutions.

What does IPACT do in order to provide high quality automation systems?

The definitions above drive IPACT's methodology for providing high quality automation systems: identify and document system requirements, add value with expertise, complete a structured design before beginning implementation, document completely, and test thoroughly.

Identify system requirements "up front"

IPACT is a firm believer in identifying system requirements in some detail before starting design or implementation.  To accomplish this, IPACT engineers learn about the customer's process through visits and discussions with the customer's engineers, operators, and other potential users of the system. Early operator/user involvement leads to better initial acceptance of the system, smoother startups, and fewer changes.

Document system requirements - Structured Analysis

Once identified, system requirements are documented using either Yourdon methodology (data flow diagrams, mini-specs, etc.) or Sequential Function Charts (i.e. "Grafcet").  Review of these documents with the customer can insure that there is mutual understanding of the details of functional requirements before design begins.

Going beyond the requirements - adding value with innovative solutions

IPACT has very wide experience and substantial expertise in both automation and control solutions.  This frequently enables us to provide solutions that our customers are not aware of and therefore could not "require" in the initial system specification.  Examples: Providing a unique link from a VAX computer to a PLC local area network which makes the VAX look like another PLC to the LAN; formulating an innovative control strategy to greatly increase the life of a customer's large positive displacement pumps.

Structured Design

The next step in an IPACT automation project is structured design.  A structured design is a functional decomposition of the system, and translates the "what" specified by structured analysis into "how".  This insures that the system code and/or logic is built on a  well-ordered "skeleton" of functional segments and data structures.

System Documentation

Structured analysis and design lay the foundation for a well-documented system, as the analysis document and particularly the design documents become part of the permanent system documentation.  For maintenance personnel, the design documents are important as they allow them to understand the "forest" before working on any "trees". Beyond these documents, IPACT provides well-comment code with headers and complete logic rung (or logic network) comments on all its automation systems.  Installation and demolition, panel elevation with bills of material, I/O drawings and system nodal or system communication block diagrams can be provided as driven by the needs of the project.

System Testing and Process Simulation

Testing or "debugging" code or logic before putting it to its intended use is the rule rather than the exception in the automation world. IPACT is not content to stop at this level, however, and uses complete system tests along with process simulation in order to insure the smoothest startup possible for the customer.  Frequently, these system tests are done by jointly authoring, with the customer, an Acceptance Test Procedure (ATP) document early in the project life cycle.  Once the system is ready, a Factory Acceptance Test (FAT) is held at IPACT's facilities to witness the system performing the ATP.  Even if the customer does not require a formal FAT, IPACT runs its own internal version to insure the system is performing properly before delivery.

There may be certain portions of a process automation/control system that can be tested without the process "attached", but a total system test cannot be complete without a process to control.  Since duplicates of the target process are rarely available, IPACT uses various types of process simulation to provide a realistic and thorough test of the system.  Both commercially available simulation packages and custom simulations (both hardware and software) have been used by IPACT to "stand in" for the process during system tests.

Maintenance and Operator Training

Customer training by IPACT can take on many forms and is usually steered by the needs of the customer.  When project implementation calls for a hardware platform unfamiliar to the customer’s maintenance personnel, training topics may cover system hardware capabilities, PLC software instruction set usage and typical trouble shooting techniques.  For a customer knowledgeable in a particular hardware platform, training may take the form of application specific, system configuration and software construction techniques and discussions in functional operation of the system.

IPACT believes that operator training is essential to the success of a project.  IPACT’s goal in operator training is to give the students a solid understanding of the system’s purpose and capabilities, how to manipulate the system using HMI’s or other operator devices and the meaning of the various process and system alarms and warnings.

Specialized training documents for maintenance personnel and operators are always supplied and are tailored to the specifics covered in the training courses provided.

Integrated Process Automation & Control Technologies