Reduced field commissioning time using AMS Suite

AMS Suite will enable Syncrude Canada to significantly reduce commissioning time for 10,000 field instruments on a major project, to optimise construction effort on a production expansion in Alberta

Emerson Process Management has received an order from Syncrude Canada for an extensive asset management system based on the Emerson online AMS Suite: Intelligent Device Manager.

The AMS Device Manager will be used in the expansion of the Syncrude production facility at Fort McMurray, Alberta.

The order follows a successful pilot application of AMS Device Manager at Syncrude where the investment paid for itself several times over.

The AMS Device Manager will connect nearly 10,000 HART field instruments, and will contribute to a reduction in the time required to verify their operational readiness.

Gil Hurtubise, a consultant to the Syncrude expansion project, described the impact: "We won't have to do all those time-consuming point-to-point wiring checks.

With the AMS Device Manager, we'll verify the operation of each instrument, do one check on each control loop, and that will be it.

Based on previous experience, I estimate this procedure will cut instrument commissioning time at least in half, which will amount to significant savings for Syncrude".

"The commissioning phase is critical to schedule and cost.

We are pleased that the Syncrude pilot application has verified the time savings that we've worked to deliver with AMS Device Manager," said John Berra, president of Emerson Process Management.

Syncrude Canada is the world's largest producer of crude oil from oil sands, and the largest single source producer in Canada, currently supplying 13 percent of the national petroleum requirement.

The Syncrude Upgrader Expansion (UE-1) project is expected to increase crude oil production by about 100,000 barrels per day using their proven process for extracting bitumen from the oil sands that lie in huge deposits in northern Alberta.

Local support for the project is provided by Spartan Controls, the local Emerson business partner in Alberta.

Because the AMS Device Manager communicates online with HART field instruments, including many Emerson products, it is the ideal tool for checking out new instrumentation during construction.

The AMS Device Manager uses standards-based software to interface with HART enabled field instruments.

Instrument commissioning and loop-checking can be done in a few minutes by one person from a central location, whereas in the past personnel were typically required to walk through and climb around a plant under construction to find each instrument and confirm its wiring - a time-consuming task in plants with thousands of field instruments such as at Syncrude.

Pierre Tremblay, Syncrude Area Integration Leader for Process Automation, commented on commissioning savings: "The AMS Device Manager software enables us to reduce the amount of time required to verify that new instruments are in the right place, are properly configured, and are operational, something that has been very time intensive in the past".

Operational savings from ongoing use of AMS Device Manager will arise after commissioning.

"Once the new plant goes into operation, this system will be one element of our predictive maintenance program that is expected to result in more savings for the company," Tremblay said.

"By providing better information about the condition of our equipment, we will be able to maintain or replace equipment as needed - not on some pre-determined schedule that has nothing to do with its operating condition".

AMS Device Manager is fully integrated with the Emerson AMS Suite: Asset Portal that unifies data on the condition of mechanical equipment, process equipment, instruments and valves, and automates the flow of information to those who run the business.

Through the AMS Asset Portal, managers can view current and historical data on the condition of all their critical production assets to expedite decision-making.

AMS Suite is an integrated family of applications for predictive maintenance, performance monitoring and economic optimisation.

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