Alarm management has become increasingly important since the introduction of Distributed Control Systems and the proliferation in alarms. Although cheaper to install, alarm quantity in a plant has become a serious concern.
Standards bodies and engineering communities, such as the ISA, EEMUA, and NUREG, have defined the needs and problems relating to alarm and safety management. Matrikon, the market leader in alarm management, is a contributing member and dedicated to meeting the needs and required solutions identified in these communities. Industrial Technology Systems Ltd (ITS) is part of the Matrikon's Partner/Reseller Programme.
“Alarm Management has evolved well beyond identifying bad actors and managing the changes to alarm configuration,” said Jeff Gould, Matrikon’s Vice-President, Products. “Lean work forces and regulatory requirements to track and manage changes have created a need to streamline all alarm and safety related processes.”
Matrikon Alarm Manager is one of the most widely installed alarm management systems, currently installed in over 2,500 sites across the world, including a large number of major oil and gas companies, such as BASF, Bayer, BOC, BP, Chevron Texaco, ConocoPhillips, DuPont, Honeywell, Huntsman, Pfizer Inc., Shell, Total, INEOS, DOW and NOVA Chemicals.
Matrikon Alarm Manager collects and stores all alarm and event data, automatically generating web-based, standards-compliant Key Performance Indicator reports that give an accurate snapshot of a plant’s existing alarm system performance. By reducing alarm floods and improving alarm quality, it improves reliability, production, safety and working conditions whilst also reducing costs.
An attraction of Matrikon Alarm Manager is the low cost technology adoption using Microsoft Internet Explorer™, Microsoft Excel™ and process data tending packages such as AspenTech’s InfoPlus.21.
The primary features of the product are:
- Alarm & Event Analysis
- Management of Change
- Dynamic Alarming
- Operator Training
- Early Event Detection
- Downtime Reporting
- Low Cost of Adoption
Matrikon™ Alarm Manager V4.2, now available, features the following new modules:
Matrikon Alarm Manager Enforcer monitors alarms, tuning, and other related control system parameters and in the event of improper configuration, notifies and upon approval, sets the control system to the designed setting.
Alarm Manager Enforcer:
- Eliminates the need to manage multiple systems
- Provides an audit trail of all the changes and approvals
- Reduces the engineering effort to manage the control and alarm management systems
Matrikon Alarm Manager Custodian is a control room logbook designed to manage and track alarm inhibit and safety system override management.
The UK Health & Safety Executive’s Hazardous Installations Directive states: "Logic systems are likely to incorporate provisions for overrides, for which there should be suitable management control arrangements. Procedures should be available which detail the operation of the protective system including, override management (authorisation, security, recording, monitoring and review of overrides, reset requirements)."
Alarm Manager Custodian is designed to address the HSE requirements for override management with the following key abilities:
- Simplify the monitoring of plant overrides
- Simple navigation via web browser
- Remote access potential to log book from any location worldwide and from any number of users
- Automatic audit trail
- Perform analysis and run reports
- Operational improvements for the site personnel
In addition to the above add-ons, Matrikon has extended its analysis capability to include an Operations Analysis Package, aimed at leveraging the wealth of information contained in events and provides tools for incident reviews, post trip analysis, interlock validation, and more.