No more alarm overloads
Delivering the necessary alarms to the right person, at the right time, is key

A widespread issue in manufacturing plants is alarm overload. As formerly independent systems are integrated for more effective operation by fewer operators, each operator has to monitor an increasingly wider area and consequently deal with more alarms. Without rigorous alarm rationalization, alarm flooding becomes a serious problem, increasing the risk of accidents and environmental damage.
A number of fundamental guidelines, such as EEMUA No.191*, help operators to reduce the number of alarms, but practical tools are still in short supply. Yokogawa therefore proposes a new approach to alarm management based on the new CAMS concept. It combines practical bottom-up solutions with fundamental top-down improvements, helping customers achieve the goal of safe and agile plant operations.

The company recently announced the launch of Consolidated Alarm Management Software for Human Interface Station (CAMS for HIS), according to Yokogawa the world’s first alarm management solution to utilize the Consolidated Alarm Management System (CAMS) concept. “Experts from Yokogawa have been developing a new approach to alarm management in line with the company’s VigilantPlant vision for creating a practical and sustainable environment where operators can see clearly, know in advance, and act with agility,” says Yoshihiko Kuono, a marketing communications manager with Yokogawa in Japan.

According to Kuono, the CAMS concept embodies this new approach and helps customers avoid potential safety and environmental incidents caused by alarm overload. It also enables customers to improve operational efficiency under normal conditions, freeing the operators from tedious repetitive tasks and allowing them to focus on true process concerns.

What CAMS enables

CAMS is practical, and has an immediate effect. It accepts the fact that the sources of alarms are proliferating, while engineering time and resources in the process industries remain limited. Rather than relying solely on rigorous top-down alarm design and redesign, Yokogawa has created a practical, overarching real-time alarm management system that delivers the right information, to the right people, at the right time. CAMS for HIS, the latest product to be released by Yokogawa, embodies the CAMS concept.

In real time, CAMS for HIS integrates the acquisition of all alarm and event (A&E) data, including that from subsystems; normalizes and reclassifies this to eliminate incompatibility; allows users to add useful alarm attributes such as user names, alarm purposes, and allowable time before action; groups the consolidated A&E data and removes redundant alarms; suppresses nuisance alarms; and enables the operator to focus on important alarms through filtering, sorting, eclipsing, shelving, and load shedding.

Through these innovative functions, CAMS for HIS arms users in the process industries with an unprecedented capability to implement a real-time consolidated alarm management system with bottom-up flexibility. According to Yokogawa, this is a new solution to an old problem that brings to mind the story of the Egg of Columbus. “This new product also helps customers implement the top-down approach to alarm design by defining good alarms with attributes such as purpose, consequence, and priority,” Kuono emphasizes.

Yokogawa urges customers facing alarm flooding situations in their plants to introduce CAMS for HIS. The new system will also benefit those who are looking for alarm management capabilities that go beyond the current generation of DCS alarm systems. Customers planning to consolidate their control rooms and design their alarm system to comply with the EEMUA guidelines will benefit from this product’s practical and immediate solutions. n