Main News
The Value of Alarm Management
Automation Projects, Challenges, and How the Operator Became Alarmed: In the photo you can see Ian Nimmo standing with a Polyester Fiber Bale dating back to the 80’s when this young engineer faced many uphill battles; some you all may relate to. Like most projects they come with unique challenges. Automating processes were the…
Read MoreWorkshop Coming Up in Prescott, AZ
Control Room Evolution
It never ceases to amaze me when I walk into a control room and see environmental conditions that are contributing to poor operator situation awareness. A vast majority of our present-day control working environments are a result of evolving a room that was based on 1950s design technology. Some of the control room renovations we…
Read MoreField Operations With Ian Nimmo
Field operations is about making sure people do things correctly the first time. We look at the quality of what the operator does, what activities they do, how they work as a team. We are taking best practices that have been identified and applying them, helping you fix problems before they begin. Field operators and…
Read MoreGap Analysis with Ian
In this video, Ian discusses gap analysis. Businesses need a good philosophy before they can begin, and gap analysis can be applied in different areas. Compare what your company has with the international standards and begin to understand what the problems are, identify the gaps, and come up with a plan to fix them. The…
Read MoreBest Practices and International Standards
Best Practices and International Standards with Ian Nimmo. While no one person can define what best practices are, we can look at research from the past 30 years and find best practices. Best practices can be found in international standards, guidance documents, and communication in the industry regarding what’s not working versus what’s working very…
Read MoreOperator Training Development
Operator training development with Ian Nimmo. We must identify roles and responsibilities, then put together job performance profiles. This helps us identify what skills are needed in order to do the job. Looking at every aspect of the job, we then create a program for new people coming into the industry as they progress through…
Read MoreWork Team Design
Ian Nimo discusses Work Team Design. User Centered Design Services has developed an assessment methodology that compares the current operations Work Team Design to industry Best Practices. Our review includes the Work Group Structure, the Work Group Interaction, and the Management Structure and Philosophy. Our process can be applied to current staffing at a site…
Read MoreControl Room High Performance HMI
Ian Nimmo discusses control room high-performance HMI. Most people only use HMI, resulting in over-using colors, glaring screens, and information being displayed incorrectly. Our retention is focused on how an operator detects a problem. We want to be able to detect the moment we leave normal operation. We need to define what is off normal,…
Read MoreAbnormal Situation Management
Ian Nimmo discusses Abnormal Situation Management. From a production perspective, how do we keep processes within normal operating limits and how do we determine normal operations? Abnormal situation management is when a process begins to function outside those limits, and an operator must step in to help the automation system. Today, HMI tools are needed…
Read MoreJoin us July 13th in Houston Texas
On July 13th, Chris, Steve W., and I will be hosting a 1-day event in Houston, Texas. There, we will provide a tour of the latest control room furniture options, demoing sit-stand features and a smart keyboard for the operator to access multiple networks with a single interface. We will explain our 6-Step Methodology for High-Performance Control…
Read More6 Step to Achieve High Performance Control Room
Image 1 This is a 6 Step methodology where each step, starting with number 1, feeds into number 2, and so on. After each of the 5 steps are complete, all the information and design changes are rolled into step 6! This is an integrated methodology that promotes high-performance operations in the control room. …
Read MoreStaffing Studies
Ian Nimmo discusses how workload staffing studies are becoming increasingly important in the industry and looks at the economics of business models post COVID. In the past, time and motion studies were used to analyze staff efficiency, but that no longer works. After gathering this information, we can get a good understanding of the operator’s…
Read MoreMinimizing Risks & Consequences of Organizational Changes
“We have 8 control room operators. The union says we need 8, but we believe we only need 6. So, we outsourced a staffing study to measure the workload of each position to see if we could consolidate a few positions into a single position and where those responsibilities could be absorbed. This project was…
Read MoreSituation Awareness
Ian discusses situational awareness. Most people believe situational awareness is knowing what is going on around you at all times. But there’s more to it. It’s knowing what was going on around you 30 minutes ago, what happens 30 minutes from now, etc. This gives the operator the complete picture. A control room provides a…
Read MoreManagement of Organizational Change
Management of Organizational Change with Ian Nimmo Management of Organizational Change (MOC) has been a challenge in today’s workplace and has been a major contributor to most accidents. However, the United States Regulator OSHA has issued a Process Safety Management requirement and spelled out what is expected of industry and how to comply. Many companies…
Read MoreOther Resources from UCDS
Control Room HMI Design
President and CEO of UCDS Ian Nimmo discusses the history of HMI (Human Machine Interface) Design. He explores the evolution of HMI starting back from the processing industry when operators used analog instrumentation on control panels, all the way to describe the benefits of modern HMI today. The ultimate goal of HMI today is…
Read MoreConsolidating 2 or More Operator Positions into 1 Position
Don’t change workload without knowing the risks: We are often asked to identify where operator responsibilities can be moved from one position to another. In some cases, clients believe they can combine 2 operator positions into one. We have discovered some positions can be consolidated in specific units in the plant. Keep in mind, you…
Read More24/7 Operation Control-Rooms are Starting to look like Mission Critical Operation Centers!
“Technology Alone Cannot Replace the Human Factor – Not Today” Under the best of circumstances (in the right plant) the automation system should steer the process to the best operating condition and keep things humming along. The safety system, is there to prevent incidents like a release or burst. Between these safety layers is the control…
Read MoreControl Room Staffing Studies
In this video, Ian Nimmo discusses how staffing studies are becoming increasingly important in the industry. In the past, time and motion studies were used to analyze staff efficiency, but that no longer works when an employee uses an automation system. Staffing studies consist of collecting data on the physical amount and complexity of equipment…
Read MoreOperator Management
Apart from the operator user interface and control room or field environment, is operator behavior and management, known as Conduct of Operations. This is a system of improving human performance to ensure that every task is performed correctly, every time, even when nobody is watching. This is accomplished when you put documented standards in place…
Read MoreOperator Centered -Situation Awareness- Control Rooms
This is a perfect example of a control room that was designed for situation awareness. The operator workload was analyzed to know how to balance the workload evenly and to make sure they had the right number of operators in the room. Alarm management was implemented and the displays were designed using Level 1 and…
Read MoreHappy Thanksgiving
Thanksgiving 2020 As we reflect on 2020, we find ourselves tremendously grateful for our customers and the opportunities we have to help so many. We hope that you find moments in this holiday season to experience the same. We are thankful for you. Happy Thanksgiving from all of us at UCDS.
Read MoreWarning: Non-Process People are Designing Control Rooms
Let’s talk specifically about control room design for a minute. We continue to see major problems in the control room, from poor lighting, number of and placement of screens, screen sizes, room layout, traffic flow, noise, and distractions. One of the biggest issues is screen stacking and too many screens. These problems continue to happen,…
Read MoreControl Room High Performance HMI
UCDS President and CEO Ian Nimmo explains what High Performance HMI is and why it’s important. It’s about the operator’s ability to be performant in resolving abnormal situations. Nimmo explores the four different levels that must be set for the hierarchy of an HMI system. Your attention should be focused on the ability for an…
Read MoreHP Situation Awareness Displays Work!
It’s important to test your display designs and check results. Ultimately with any project we want to see an improvement in operator performance. That is why we call our displays High Performance Displays. During a study of traditional P&ID displays versus HP displays, we found that operators could detect a problem – before the alarm activated,…
Read MoreLevel One Operator Display Explained
This is a very simplified explanation of what a properly designed level one display can do. For ease of understanding, we performed an operator task analysis to identify the most important information that was scattered on many different displays and we combined that information into a simple list. The idea, is turning critical operator data…
Read MoreOperator Display Navigation (let’s clean it up)
We analyzed the number of moves an operator makes as he navigates from display to display, a common practice during start up and when troubleshooting abnormal situations. The operator is looking for information on multiple screens. In this scenario, the operator viewed 28 screens during a start up, looking for information that is scattered on…
Read MoreVideo Presentation By Ian Nimmo: Operator Centered Control Rooms
Operators – alarms, displays, screens, glare, fatigue, distractions, training, data overload, etc…how do we manage control rooms and improve performance? Check out this recent video: https://register.gotowebinar.com/recording/recordingView?webinarKey=7776801068881362699®istrantEmail=csalera%40mycontrolroom.com smaddox@mycontrolroom.com / www.mycontrolroom.com / 512 630 3401
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