Migration Why, When and How

Migration Why, When and
How???
Author – K. Ravimurthy
Industrial Automation Advisory Services
Driving business results through innovation

Table of Content
MIGRATION WHY, WHEN AND HOW???? .......................................................................................... 3
WHY TO TECHNOLOGY UPGRADE OR MIGRATE? ........................................................................ 3
OPTIMIZATION FOR BETTER PERFORMANCE ................................................................................................. 3
MAINTAINING THE LEGACY SYSTEM AND CATERING TO OBSOLESCENCE ISSUES .......................................... 3
COST AND AVAILABILITY OF LABOR ............................................................................................................ 4
INTEGRATION OF VARIOUS SYSTEMS............................................................................................................ 4
MEETING GLOBALIZATION CHALLENGES OF COST, EFFICIENCY AND TIME TO MARKET ................................ 4
WHEN TO MIGRATE................................................................................................................................. 5
HOW TO MIGRATE? ................................................................................................................................. 6
PHASED MIGRATION .................................................................................................................................... 6
COMPLETE REPLACEMENT........................................................................................................................... 6
SYSTEM UPGRADE ....................................................................................................................................... 7
KEY TO SUCCESSFUL MIGRATION PROJECTS ............................................................................... 7
PROJECT EXECUTION ................................................................................................................................... 7
TRAINING AND IMPLEMENTATION ............................................................................................................... 7
GUIDANCE FOR SUPPLIER SELECTION........................................................................................................... 8
RECOMMENDATIONS .............................................................................................................................. 8
RECOMMENDATION FOR MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY ................................................................................ 8
RECOMMENDATION FOR SUPPLIERS............................................................................................................. 9
Contact – Shreyas.automation@gmail.com / Ravimurthy@yahoo.com

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Migration Why, When and How????

Migration is a big question among the manufacturing industry and
answer is very delicate. Migration of the old control system to new one
is something, which is required for the growing business. However if
proper planning is not done Migration would be as painful and as
inevitable as death or paying taxes. However, good news is unlike
dying and paying taxes, you will be better off after a control system
migration than ever before.
However if the migration planning, and implementation is not done

properly then the migration could be more troublesome then paying
taxes. If the phases are not completed in-time and with proper effort
then there can be chances wherein the entire migration process could
back-stab the organization. With successful migration approach entire project will bring in much
needed competitive edge to the manufacturing process and to organization.
Why to Technology Upgrade or Migrate?

Why technology upgrade is primary question and the answers are many;
• Optimization for better performance
• Maintaining the legacy system and catering to obsolescence issues
• Cost and availability of labor
• Integration of various systems
• Meeting globalization challenges of cost, efficiency and time to market demands
Optimization for better performance

In today’s dynamic market condition it is very important for manufacturing industry optimize the
productivity and increase efficiency. However, systems installed 20 years back were having basic
theme of bringing in computers to integrate manufacturing process and do not have capability of
optimizer and performance enhancement functions. Today in the era of technology and business
centric manufacturing, it becomes imperative to bringing in new proven technology to enhance
the plant performance by real time process optimizers.
Today’s manufacturing industry should have solution’s that integrate plant process control and
information systems with both plant and corporate business systems. Instead of a traditional
information system, it is very much necessary to recognizing the value of a unified information
and application software system. A unified system reduces the problem of data exchange and
synchronization and houses information in a central repository shared by all business
applications.
In addition, integrated system architecture allows operators to connect to other systems and
applications external to the plant in order to get the business-type data and information needed to
maximize investments and deliver the most competitive end product.
Maintaining the legacy system and catering to obsolescence

issues
The system which was installed 20 years back was latest at that time, however with the passage
of time maintaining the old system is troublesome. Sometimes the legacy system becomes
bottleneck for the operation and maintenance. Current technological trend makes it even harder
for the system to be maintained in a cost effective manner.

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Many of the technologies which were installed 20 years back is obsolete and hard to find supplier
who can maintain the system and which may even lead to unplanned downtime. One must realize
that the shutdown cost of any plant is $600,000 per day and which amount to millions of dollar
loss in a year. If a boiler goes for shut down, it would take any 7 to 10 days to restart and same is
true for reactor shutdown also.
It is very important for plant owners to decide whether to work with the legacy system and face
obsolescence issues or migrate to newer technology.
Cost and availability of labor

Performance
Disruption Point Cost and availability of the labor is one more major issue
d
in the manufacturing industry today. Limiting the
an
rk e
td
em discussion to a pure cost analysis for a moment, a plant
Ma
must weigh the cost to acquire, train and retain labor
gy
lo
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gy
against the cost of purchasing and maintaining

te
olo
nt
hn
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automation technology. In industrialized nations where

ec
Cu
t
tive
labor is scarce, this analysis is increasingly favoring

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Dis
migration of legacy system as the preferred solution.

Time (years)
Integration of various systems

Legacy system was proprietary in nature wherein both hardware and software used was closed to
suppliers, result is the integration issues. Currently large numbers of plants who are using the
legacy control system are still facing issue of integrating them to the safety and other system.
Plant has varieties of control such as burner management system, coordinated master control,
compressor control turbine control, drives control, which is basically logic oriented control schema
leads to usage of Programmable Logic Controller (PLC). With the closeness of the legacy system
it becomes difficult to integrate the third party devices into the control system.
Meeting globalization challenges of cost, efficiency and time to

market
In this era of globalization, competitiveness and ever-changing market dynamics, manufacturers
are focusing on how to improve product quality and cost efficiency. The major enhancement
required is towards;
• IT and factory control becoming integrated
o Rolling out ERP (focus on supply chain integration)
o Regulatory Mandates
• Cost into “second wave” of driving productivity of manufacturing plants
o Looking to reduced cost and increase profitability
o Plants are efficient today; however, significant annual waste still exists
• Flexibility in Moving to new, “healthier” products will require new
o Processes and smaller batches
o Rapid re-configuration of automation equipment
Reduced time to market is also a challenge in the current economy. Proper production
management and production planning system must be in place to meet the pent-up demand.
Many manufacturers are using contract and distributed manufacturing practices to be locally
present. However, to maintain quality manufacturers need to have automation technology, which
will bring consistent quality globally. If the quality is not up to the mark then organization will face
wrath of product recall, which could cost them millions and also brand image will also take
beating.

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When to Migrate
This is a big question, however last section has answered the need for migration. Clue for
migration are;
• Increased maintenance cost
o High Cost of Legacy System Operation and Upgrades
o The legacy or the upgraded environment does not facilitate flexibility and agility
• Difficulty in getting or retaining resources who can operate, maintain and enhance the
system
• Reduced plant efficiency & productivity and eroding margins
• Increased number of unplanned plant downtime
• Obsolescence issues
• The vendors future strategic roadmap is not conducive to the manufacturers well-being
• Integration issues while plant expansion
• Manufacturing process control system integration with the business system
• Long time to market for new products
• Increasing energy costs
Challenges Impact of Challenges

• Unplanned down time
• Unpredictable performance
Age of Installed
• Loss of Production
Base
• Schedule Slippage
• Unable to meet customer commitment
• Lower scan / cycle time then design requirement
Performance
• Challenges while production expansion & changing product property
Capability of
legacy system • More rejections and more rework
• Impact on time to market
• Integrating existing system with new system
Up-gradation • Business layer integration issues
and integration • High cost of integration
• Flexibility and availability
• Component Failures
• Network failures
Reliability • Loss of production
• Frequent Failures
• Un-controllable and un-predictable down time
• High Cost of Legacy System Maintenance
Maintenance • Higher cost per unit production
• Legacy or the upgraded environment does not facilitate flexibility and agility
• Inability to adopt to rapidly changing technology
Technology
• Challenges with the upward integration and openness
• Non-availability of the product support due to obsolescence
Support and • Non-availability of trained resource for system support and enhancement
availability • Challenges with knowledge transfer and retention
• Non-availability of spares / repairs

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How to Migrate?
Once need is finalized on when to migrate it is very important to understand various migration
strategies and its pros & cons. Key to successful migration and best strategy to be adopted
depends on product, age of the plant, age of the System, upgraded or not etc. this could be
ascertained during assessment phase, it is recommended to engage third party assessor for un-
biased assessment.
The migration strategies are;

• Phased Migration
• Complete Migration
• System Upgrade
Phased Migration
Phased migration approach allows system migration in gradual steps, replacing the HMI or a
particular unit first. Once this is completed, the end-user can take advantage of solutions for
improving operations and safety. The rest of the system can be replaced over several years.
Phased migration approach demands high level of system, industry, and project management
knowledge. The supplier must have detailed knowledge of legacy system and new offerings and
also have good knowledge of the industry and domain knowledge.
Advantages Disadvantages
• Provides time for end-users to get accustomed

• Discomfort in terms of integration issue
to newer platform
of one unit to other unit
• Allows gradual path for technology refresh
• Operators will require to be multi-
• Reduces the risk of unseen complications
functional
halting the migration midstream
• Parallel operation of various systems in
• Migration in one area often provides you with
the facility with different tools and tackles
more spares for another area, allowing more
for proper operation
time to evaluate the next move
• Ensuring downward compatibility
• Faster return on investment
Complete Replacement
Complete replacement allows the entire system to be replaced at once during a planned outage.
In some cases, hot cutover can be used to minimize system downtime and ensure seamless
integration of current control assets.
• Allows the system hardware and software to be replaced
totally • Larger shutdown period
• New functionality for entire plant • Higher training cost
• Advantages of enhanced technology • If functions and features are
• Increased efficiency and productivity totally different then operator
• No integration issues effectiveness will reduce
• Lowering Engineering cost • Large total cost of ownership
• Faster adoption and elimination of technology bottleneck

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System Upgrade
System upgrade allows an upgrade of critical system components at the end-user’s own pace.
The automation contractor must be committed to retaining the value of existing systems and
continuing to offer parts and support for the legacy platform. Replacement of the legacy Plant
Automation with a new hardware and software environment happens generally from the same
vendor. Care must be taken to ensure that the new environment is downward compatible to the
legacy control applications. This is usually a run-time environment change.
• Discomfort in terms of integration issue of one
• New Hardware and software
unit to other unit
environment is created
• Operators will require to be multi-functional
• Provides time for end-users to get
• Parallel operation of various systems in the
accustomed with newer platform
facility with different tools and tackles for proper
• Allows gradual path for technology
operation
refresh
• Ensuring downward compatibility
Key to Successful Migration Projects

Stake holders might have selected best breed solution and right approach is identified, however
the project could still be a failure if the implementation is not done properly. Project management
experience is essential, since execution timing and budgeting only allows for a very small margin
of error. Nonetheless, the person doing the project needs to have the right skill level to get the job
done. Migration projects will be successful only if proper collaborative approach is put-in place
between all parties concerned.
Project Execution
Project execution methodology plays a critical part in determining the success of such programs.
Capturing the requirements comprehensively from all people at various levels forms a major part
of the strategy. The methodology adopted needs to provide means to extract “years of knowledge
base” present in the user community. Having captured the requirements, these need to be
presented in a way that is easy to understand and validate by the plant. This document (generally
documented as Functional Design or Requirement specifications) many a times turns out to be a
living document when the value of documentation is realized by the plant.
Training and Implementation

Thorough validation and training is very important function of any system and technology upgrade
strategy. An important factor is that upgrade works as intended to
prevent any waste and untoward disruption of the plant. Proper
deployment of upgrade strategies is incomplete until the training and
validation functions are completed.
20 years back during the inception of control system it was impossible

to train people without having the system installed. Training used to be
performed in the demo suite which is available with the vendors and
not in the plant environment. The dependence on the physical
hardware delays the training and due to time constraint training always
used to be inferior

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However, today with simulation and other operator training facilities training tools have become
easily accessible. The dynamic simulators virtually validate any plant operations and control
philosophy. Today’s simulators it is easier to perform design validation and improvement on the
actual design. Similarly training of the operator is also more effective and efficient in the system
and technology upgrade. Virtual training exercise allows the operator learn quickly on operating
the plant in safe, reliable and effective manner. Simulators allow operator to create abnormal
conditions also and solve the issue, by doing so operator will learn on how to manage the plant in
emergency situation. Greater exposure to such simulators will help operator to gain confidence.
Guidance for Supplier Selection

Today systems features and functionality is more or less similar with the entire supplier, however
following few points to be checked while selecting the right supplier;
• Openness of the system for your specific needs
• Ability to protect current automation investment and propose upgrade and migration path
that still offer value
• Provide value added hardware replacement path
• Provide flexibility of the operation
• Provide the control functionality of existing platform and lead to greater operator gain
o Provide easier operation and greater control functionality than existing system
• Easier Engineering tools
o Provides direct conversion of existing graphics
o Control database conversion tools
• Accommodation of advanced applications such as L3, L4 and L5 automation layers
• Offers easier third party integration by providing built-in drive or pre-installed gateways
• Offers effective training simulators and also validating tools of the designed functionality
• Provide path-forward of support and future evolution of the system
o To provide at least 20 years of hardware and software support plan
• Good references of usage of similar upgrade elsewhere
Recommendations
Recommendation for Manufacturing Industry
Effective migration and upgrade philosophy requires greater deal of understanding of legacy
system, good program management and effective planning, without which migration will not be
successful. Manufacturing industry leaders must put migration strategies as part of their business
goals and achievement plan. Migration strategy must be built based on the open system,
interoperability, good industry & domain skills and re-use engineering practices.
Manufacturers must realize the optimal timeframe to keep the existing system and up-keep to
provide optimal performance levels as desired by process technologies. Manufacturers Need to
realize that every electronic and technology has its own end-of-life and end-of-support period.
Rather than prolonging the stay of aging asset need to look for technology refresh in most
optimum way enabling production equipment to provide maximum benefits.
While strategizing migration manufacturer must look at collaborative approach and having a
independent automation solution partner who could transform the business goals into reality. The
large pool of instrumentation resources that used to be available in the plant is no longer
available. Plant leaders need to work on the core competency and improve the product quality
and cost efficiency in this era of globalization, competitiveness and ever-changing market
dynamics.

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Manufacturers need to validate the design by using right simulators that effects corrective action
and prevents any productivity loss or disruption due to migration. Thorough validation and training
is very important function of any system and technology upgrade strategy. An important factor is
that upgrade works as intended to prevent any waste and untoward disruption of the plant. Proper
deployment of upgrade strategies is incomplete until the training and validation functions are
completed.
Recommendation for Suppliers

Suppliers are producing the next generation automation products; however, the need is to
understand how to support the current and legacy products. It is understandable that business
has to follow some changed strategy with the accumulation of new and legacy products. Old
products must be put off the shelf; however, it is very important to communicate the message in
right form. Supplier need to understand that the manufacturing industry leaders know that none
can provide 20 or 25 years support in the current dynamic technological world.
Migration itself is a tricky solution, question of TCO, ROI and Lifecycle benefit will come along the
bid stage and answer must be convincing at each phase of migration plan. Suppliers should
engage third party consulting organization to ascertain that the right strategies put in place in-
terms of customer centric value recognition tool, object oriented assessment tool & reporting tool
and also the lifecycle benefit tool. These tools will provide educate the manufacturing industry
leaders about the benefits of the next-generation products and solution. While selecting the
consulting organization they must do due diligence on whether or not they have required domain,
industry and solution skills. One more shift from the conventional sales methods would be to
engage the consultants for site assessment and report, this paradigm shift in the sales approach
will bring reaping benefits to both suppliers and end-users.
Some of the suppliers are engaged in solution-centric selling approach; however, end result is
promoting their products which meet customer’s minimum-bid-specification. While, providing
best-in-class solution suppliers also need to understand challenges of the manufacturing industry.
Suppliers should put considerable effort in knowing the actual pain points of the manufacturing
industry and prior to providing solution.

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Driving business results through innovation

Contact – Shreyas.automation@gmail.com / Ravimurthy@yahoo.com