Are your operators prepared in the event of an abnormal process situation?  

Do they know how to actively (and appropriately) respond to alarms?

Mitigate your facility’s risks by providing your operators with training opportunities that improve user confidence and decrease response time to abnormal situations, resulting in using your workforce’s time more effectively.

How, you ask?  By empowering your operators by providing them hands-on experience with your specific control system in an isolated/controlled environment, simulating an array of abnormal scenarios that you can’t effectively achieve on-process – and doing so conveniently at your facility or one of Champion’s nearby locations.

STEP 1:  IDENTIFY RISK AREAS & PRACTICE RESPONDING

Take a minute to imagine any or all “worst case” scenarios your facility could one day face – that if not handled properly could result in a Health & Safety event, equipment failure, or simply a loss of production.  It sounds pretty ominous!  But it doesn’t have to.  Knowing what these situations are is the first step to mitigating risk and effectively responding – without hesitation and without panic.

Your scenarios typically don’t need to go so far as a “doomsday apocalypse” – often something as simple as a failed sensor or an unrecognized alarm could present risks with untrained personnel.

This is where Champion comes in – to create a “twin” of your control system and operating environment.  In this simulated environment, we can introduce any number of scenarios, teaching first how to identify the risk and then how best to respond.

STEP 2:  STOP “SNOOZING” THAT ALARM

We’ve all done it from the comfort of our bed – “snoozing” that daily alarm for “just a few more minutes.”  Regularly doing the same with control system alarms may be an indication you are due for an assessment by one of Champion’s Alarm Management specialists – but that is a topic for another day!

Training your personnel how to properly identify, evaluate, and respond to alarms and responding to abnormal situations in your facility is a big part of mitigating risks.  Using the same example of your control system “twin,” Champion can effectively train users based on your process environment.  Each possible abnormal scenario can be triggered in a no-risk environment – with users learning in each case how to respond to an abnormal situation in a timely or correct manner.

STEP 3:  WORK SMARTER, NOT HARDER

Training your workforce shouldn’t be a major undertaking – it should be a well-coordinated, preplanned, and efficient use of your personnel’s time.  Champion values these goals for all clients, whether providing on-site training at your facility or at one of our strategically located facilities.

• Do you have new personnel or a new facility?
• Is your existing facility undergoing a control system upgrade?
• Do your technical personnel want more flexibility to perform system updates and modifications?

There are plenty of scenarios in which your workforce may benefit from Champion-tailored training solutions for operators, maintenance, and technical personnel. Whether getting everyone up to speed on a new system, comparing changes between a legacy and new system, or learning how to stay agile in the onsite maintenance & updates your site might require – reach out to our sales team for more information on all of the training solutions we can offer. 

Champion’s goals are to maximize your facility’s safety, efficiency, and overall performance.

“My old control system is still hanging in there. How can I justify a costly replacement to management?”

This is an age-old question, to which many believe: “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”  However, when it comes to Industrial Control Systems (ICS), this approach is often the riskier and costlier route for facilities.

The answer lies in Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) – a method of engineering, economic, and financial analysis.  TCO aims to consider all of the direct and indirect costs related to a product over its lifetime. The TCO of your car isn’t just the purchase price, but all the related costs over the time you own it:  gas, financing, insurance, maintenance, depreciation, and more. The same approach can be applied to a control system over its lifetime.

For Industrial Control Systems, these “hidden” or often overlooked costs include:

Maintenance

The cost of maintaining legacy systems grows exponentially with age.  This is due to increased routine problems, along with added system complexity from customization and changes. Over time, updates become more time-consuming and costly.

Talent

In parallel with maintenance costs, talent costs are much higher on a legacy system.  Not only are the costs exorbitant in man-hours, but unlike on newer systems, they often require skill sets that are expensive and difficult to find.

Support

As proprietary legacy systems reach a point of limited or discontinued vendor support, the costs of support begin to soar.  Tie this to increasing talent costs for external support, longer support response times, and – dare we say it – interruptions in production that affect your bottom line at its core.

Compliance

With industry regulations continually changing, the cost of keeping legacy technology in compliance can be burdensome.  Even more costly are the risks of noncompliance, with penalties or fines adding to your Total Cost of Ownership.

Lost Revenue Potential

Without newer features such as mobile data access, or the ability to gather and act via analytics tools, your plant operates on inefficient processes, lower production output, and results in a dwindling bottom line.

Implementing new technology can bring a wealth of benefits, from risk reduction and meeting heightened regulatory standards to better decision-making and improved efficiency.  Technology of today enables facilities to be more agile, innovative, and cost-effective in an ever-evolving climate.

Concerns of process interruptions can most times be eliminated using well-planned migration approaches, and increased security can alone make the switch a worthwhile investment. Champion’s Certified Cybersecurity Experts are trained in the latest ISA/IEC 62443 standards for Cybersecurity, ensuring your new system benefits from the most current, comprehensive safeguards.

At some point, legacy technology becomes a barrier to daily operations, business stability, and overall growth.  By knowing the true cost of running legacy systems, industry leaders can see the clear ROI of embracing new technology and its upward-driving effects on your bottom line.

Want to learn more about Champion’s Legacy Migration Solutions?

E-Mail us for more information, or to schedule an appointment with one of Champion’s specialists.