Automation systems and the control they provide can be among the most valuable investments industrial companies can make. But the experience over the past 25 years demonstrates that these investments have not lived up to expectations. Industrial companies make huge investments replacing an older automation system with a state-of-the-art system without realizing much, if any, economic improvement. This has led to industrial companies redirecting investments to other areas that have shown measurable financial improvements. The good news is that this does not have to be the case. Automation systems are technically capable of driving huge financial returns for industrial companies, often paying for themselves in well under a year. But for this to happen several critical changes need to be made in procurement processes, project management and execution processes, real-time control, and performance measurement. This presentation will explain the barriers that have been hindering potential financial gains over the past 25 years and the simple remedies that will enable automation and control systems to realize huge economic returns.

ISA Calgary Show conference delegates are encouraged to take advantage and enjoy a full lunch before venturing into the exhibition area to explore the latest innovations and network with fellow attendees. Lunch is included with a three day ISA Calgary Show conference pass

Companies who adapt to adverse situations using the best available technology will build resilience for the future. The use of online platforms to source equipment and services is a key tool in the instrumentation sector whose use will only continue to grow in the future. Projects are already seeing the benefits of online sourcing and these tools will provide a competitive advantage in the future instrumentation industry.

The Instrumentation sector is facing a new operating environment in the coming years and supply chain resilience will continue to become a key part of business success. The old methods of ensuring supply of equipment and services, mainly through personal networks and face to face communication will continue to diminish as experience leaves the industry, and increasing mobility allows them to work remotely in different regions. This changing demographic, coupled with the shift away from globalization to a multi-polar world will create a geo-political environment which will increase challenges to have a smooth flow of services and equipment to the locations to be instrumented. Equipment and service platforms are currently operating and have yielded increased efficiency in instrumentation and communication operations, and the coming years will see a dramatic increase in the use of online platforms for the supply of industrial services and equipment.

The use of online platforms in the oil and gas industry enables industry professionals to reach beyond their personal business network to a broader range of suppliers. The internet has allowed almost any company to place information online, but industry platforms collect and organize the data so it is relevant and useable for the specific use cases in industry. Instrumentation projects in Europe and Canada have benefited from the use of online platforms to source both services and equipment to reduce non-productive time and costs. As the industry faces increased challenges, companies open to using alternative methods will have innovative tools available to provide a competitive advantage.

This paper explores a culture shift in Industrial Control System security engineering. As the landscape of cybersecurity risks evolves within the Industrial Control space, the engineering community grapples with the right approach to architectural design and deployment of security technology. Malicious parties have capabilities to manipulate certain design features of existing OT architectures to cause disruptive effects. It is paramount to manage these risks to ensure safe and reliable operation.

The conventional engineering process to develop an industrial control project starts with conceptual design and development of requirements. As the design progresses, vendors are selected, architecture is finalized, and procurement starts. Prior to commissioning and start-up, the system goes through factory and site testing.

If security has not been considered during this process, it becomes very difficult to add it after construction, while the facility is in operation. Security upgrades performed during operation become risky because interruptions to networks may impact production. In some cases, a shutdown, or turnaround, may not be scheduled for years.

Let us consider an approach where security is defined as a requirement during conceptual design, and security controls are built in like any other requirement. Security professionals would be involved from the earliest stages, advising the project team. While defining requirements, test procedures can also be written and communicated to all vendors, so expectations are clearly defined.

In this new paradigm where Cyber Informed Engineering (CIE) is included throughout design, configuration, commissioning, and start-up of an Industrial Control System, security takes an important role and is no longer an afterthought.

Join us for a focused panel discussion on the critical topic of talent acquisition and development in Alberta's evolving industries. Our panel will tackle key themes such as immediate hiring needs, effective recruitment strategies, nurturing talent through development programs, and enhancing industry engagement. We'll also explore innovative approaches to attract skilled professionals to Alberta and discuss ways to continuously develop skills to meet industry demands. Don't miss this opportunity to gain valuable insights and contribute to shaping the future of talent in Canada.

In this presentation, we explore the implementation of an enterprise-scale Energy Management Information System (EMIS) at your facilities with the focus on monitoring energy usage, swiftly detecting unusual consumption events, and reducing overall energy consumption. We will cover the digital infrastructure requirements, functionalities, features, and foundational improvements needed for a successful EMIS deployment with measurable results. Additionally, we will delve into the potential expansion of the EMIS digital infrastructure to automate workflows related to carbon emission tracking, carbon offset credit validation, and carbon intensity monitoring. We will also discuss how the right technology can support your organization in aligning and complying with external standards and regulations surrounding energy management and carbon accounting. As part of our presentation, we will highlight the industrial deployments of these solutions and the value generated.

The world of cyber security is currently in a state of insecurity. Nation state attacks are more prevalent than ever in both time of peace and war. Security threats and control technologies have been evolving faster than we can handle, govern, and regulate them. Disconnect between academia and industry are widening faster than we can identify relevant body of knowledge to fill this gap. Hence, right skilling and up skilling are getting more challenging for students and professionals. The hope of this talk is to provide better understanding for all to make Canada safer and more secure FASTER.

Asset-intensive industries like oil & gas, mining, energy and utilities use complex equipment such as rotary, compressors, haul trucks, and turbines in their day-to-day operation. Any unplanned downtime or major unforeseen equipment failure negatively impacts production, which affects the organization’s financial performance. However, increasing instrumentation (“smart technology”) of equipment and infrastructure and wireless communications are enabling organizations to acquire volumes of asset performance data and become proactive in monitoring the condition of these assets.

Furthermore, analytics are enabling organizations to develop sophisticated models of asset performance, predict component and equipment failure and assess the health of in-service equipment. Driven by predictive analytics you can now detect even minor anomalies and failure patterns to determine the assets and operational processes that are at the greatest risk of problems or failure. Advances in analytic algorithms enable organizations to identify signs of possible failure well in advance of previous methods. What-if analysis allows an organization to investigate potential scenarios to determine the most appropriate (economic, efficient, safe) means of responding to pending equipment failure. Automated decision management can then recommend the best action to take in anticipation of equipment problems.

This session will explain how the capabilities of Predictive Maintenance and Quality solution are being used by oil & gas, mining, energy and utility organizations worldwide to integrate relevant equipment data, including real-time, build models that predict maintenance needs, monitor asset performance, provide timely alerts, and recommended appropriate actions. These integrated capabilities allow these organizations to deploy limited resources more cost effectively, maximize equipment uptime and enhance quality and supply chain processes.

Use-case examples:
Predict the failure of a monitored asset in order to fix it and avoid costly downtime
Identify the root causes of asset failure to take corrective actions
Minimize product quality and reliability issues to meet customer delivery schedules
Others...

Recently, security incidents caused the shutdown
or obstruction of the Industrial Control System (ICS) which supports compromising of Information Technology IT- Operation Technology (OT) communication and it is an opportunity for
attackers to take control of the OT network and disrupt the Plant Operation. Lets take an incident as example, a cyber attack incident in one of the world biggest refinery in Saudi Arabia in which hackers launched malware that was sent to not only shut down the power plant but cause an explosion. The only reason why the tragedy did not happen was a small mistake in the malware code. The malware of this scale was possibly state sponsored
since it needed a lot of sophistication and mastermind
involvement. Even though the plant did not explode, it showed how cyberattacks may cause real physical damage. It alerted all firms and encouraged them to review their cybersecurity efforts.

We are writing this paper, based on the above incident. Information Technology (IT) based Information Systems and OT-based control systems are different in lifecycle, operation, monitoring, and maintenance and basic technologies such as Programming Languages and Communication Protocols. To understand how IT security and OT security differs, one have
to understand the motivation of cyber-criminals to target such systems. IT hackers want valuable information, whereas OT hackers want physical disruption. In an OT facility, hackers often
use unprotected IoT-enabled equipment as a trail of breadcrumbs to lead them to a central control system. However, IT hackers cannot control the equipment settings and functions to the extent that OT malware can. OT security aims to protect physical assets,
including equipment, products, and people, while IT security focuses on protecting data and how it is used. For instance, an advanced OT cyber security system can stop a whole operation as soon as a piece of equipment disappears, giving management plenty of time to repair the problem and identify its sole cause.

Machine learning methods have the potential to ‘learn’ complex physicochemical processes from large, properly prepared data sets. These models can be used to leverage historical data to drive better process decisions. Custom machine learning models of the coagulation process were developed and deployed at a drinking water treatment plant serving over 100,000 people in western Canada. This presentation will discuss the project, including model development, piloting, and integration with the plants operational system, and the results of the first full year of operation.

Model preparation included using various data selections, processing techniques, and model architectures. Coagulation is a complex process impacted by several physical, chemical, and operational conditions, and modelling required significant domain knowledge. The models underwent a desktop assessment using process data and yielded promising results, including a 24% reduction in coagulant chemicals needed to meet treatment objectives. Models were subsequently tested full scale at the water treatment plant in May – June 2022. During the testing period the models provided coagulant and polymer dose recommendations during both stable and rapidly changing raw water conditions. During stable conditions the models helped operational staff to reduce the coagulant chemical used while exceeding treatment objectives. In rapidly changing, poor raw water conditions the model provided immediate adjustment recommendations that helped maintain excellent treated water quality. In February of 2023 the models were integrated with the plant’s supervisory control and data acquisition system using edge computing hardware with no internet connectivity to avoid increasing the cyber attack surface of the water treatment plant.

Results of the first full year of implementation have included a 21% reduction in coagulant chemicals used, equating to approximately $260,000 in chemical savings and 230 wet tonnes less chemical sludge being produced and sent to the landfill. More important than the cost savings, the models have helped operational staff adapt proactively to rapidly changing raw water conditions and protect public health through consistently providing clean drinking water, regardless of the raw water conditions. The water treatment plant has also won awards in western Canada for producing the best testing water, all while using model recommendations.

Due to the critical nature of drinking water treatment, significant risk mitigation strategies were used to deliver this project. A review of these strategies will be shared, as well as work that is being undertaken to assess the transferability of the technology to other facilities.

The International Society of Automation created the ISA/IEC 62443 standard for OT cybersecurity. OT cybersecurity is at a precipice, becoming the major target for bad actors. ISA has the resources to help industry with the tools, training and certifications to combat this thorny problem. This presentation will review the resources that ISA can bring to industry and some directions that OT cybersecurity in Canada could go. Assuming the upcoming Bill C26 (Critical Cyber Systems Protection Act (CCSPA) Part 2) gets passed, there could be legal liability for breaches and has requirements for monitoring, reporting and securing critical infrastructure. Legacy industrial control systems (ICS) lack security and are sensitive to change. ISA/IEC 62443 is the critical infrastructure cybersecurity industry standard adopted by CSA. What’s now, new and next for ISA/IEC 62443 will be reviewed.

Join us for an engaging happy hour networking mixer where speakers and ISA Calgary Show conference delegates are invited to enjoy complimentary beverages and delve into the fascinating insights gained from the days sessions.