AN UPDATE ON
PROCESS AUTOMATION
STANDARD ISA 106
ISA has released a new technical report on automating
>> ISA recently released Technical Report ISA-
TR106.00.01-2013, Procedure Automation for
Continuous Process Operations — Models and Terminology.
This Technical Report is the continuous-process cousin to
the well-known ISA Standard ANSI/ISA-88.00.01-2010 -
Batch Control Part 1: Models and Terminology. It provides
nomenclature and a framework for developing automated
procedures for continuous process plants.
Why was this document issued as a Technical Report
(non-normative) instead of a Standard (normative)?
First, the committee undertook the effort as a survey
of the current practices in the industry rather than as a
dictate of “what to do.”
Second, the committee found wide variations in the
names used at different layers of the plant equipment
hierarchy from industry to industry. Rather than pick a
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continuous process operations. We examine the
framework and nomenclature it provides
for developing automated procedures.
By Dale E. Reed, CAP, Senior Project Engineer,
Rockwell Automation, Architecture and Software
particular name set, as ISA-88 did, the committee presents
in the Technical Report a table showing the variability in
naming, giving various process sectors leeway to automate
along their preferred structure and using their naming
conventions (see the table on page 26).
One common terminology didn’t exist on which to
standardize. The models presented use a particular nam-
ing, but there’s lots of room left for users to interpret and
modify the models to suit their purposes.
Finally, the committee didn’t want to have the effect
of non-normative examples, such as the phase state
model in ISA-88, becoming de facto industry standards
against which vendor offerings are judged. This leaves
vendors the freedom to provide a range of tools of
varying complexity (or better, simplicity) to automate
processes.
FEBRUARY 2014 | THE JOURNAL 25
 Chemical
ISA-106 Company Oil Refinery Platform Example 1
Enterprise Enterprise
Site Site Site
Plant Plant Complex
Plant Area Area Plant
Unit Unit Unit
Equipment Equipment
Device Device Device
Note: Empty cells mean there is no consistent term for the model level or that the level is not formally recognized.
ISA-TR106.00.01 uses the Physical Model names on the left throughout the TechnicalReport, but makes clear that the naming varies across industries –
and that’s okay. The Technical Report also shows the corresponding names from ISA-95 (enterprise management systems) and ISA-88 (batch control systems).
(From ISA-TR106.00.01-2013, Table 7; bold lining and highlighting added. ISA-TR106.00.01 © Copyright 2013 by ISA, used with permission.)
Automating Batch vs. Continuous Processes
A fundamental difference between automation of batch pro-
cesses and automation of continuous processes is how the
automated procedures start and end. For a typical ISA-88
batch procedure, the equipment starts idle, receives batch
ingredients or a batch from a prior unit, does some process-
ing, then transfers the batch to the next unit and ends up
ready for the next batch. By the nature of producing finite
batches, the procedure is necessarily “closed-ended.”
Procedures for continuous processes are different. They’re
intended to simply move the process from one state (com-
monly called a “mode of operation”) to another.
For example, an automated start-up of a distillation unit
might need to take the column from a cold idle state to a
heated state. A second procedure might take the column from
the heated state, begin product feed, and take the column to
an operating state.
>> Rockwell Automation Serves on
ISA Standards Committees
Rockwell Automation participates in several ISA standards
committees, taking on a leadership role as needed, to
ensure that the company is providing the tools needed for its
customers in the process industries — batch and continuous
— going forward.
FactoryTalk® Batch is a tool for automating complex
batch processes. The Logix Batch and Sequence Manager
provides a simpler framework for smaller batch processes.
In addition, the simple sequencer introduced in the Plant-
PAxTM process automation system Library of Process Objects
in release 3.0 provides a powerful, yet simple tool for
providing open-ended automated sequences at all physical
levels for the continuous process industries.
26 THE JOURNAL | FEBRUARY 2014
Offshore Oil Offshore Oil Paper
Platform Example 2 Industry ISA-95 ISA-88
Field Enterprise Enterprise
Platform Platform Site Site
Package Mill Area Area
Work
Cell
Center
Work Unit Unit
Equipment
Module
Control
Module
Yet another procedure might be activated when a surge
or flood is detected in the column to alleviate the condition
and bring it back to an optimal steady state. And, of course,
there might be multiple procedures to take the column back
to a heated-ready state, then to a cool shutdown state.
Procedures might cascade down through the physi-
cal hierarchy, from the enterprise to the site and on
down through the plant and plant area to the units and
equipment, and even to devices such as transmitters,
pumps and actuators.
For example, the site might have a procedure to
follow for shutdown and evacuation in the event of a
natural disaster such as a hurricane or tsunami. Parts
of the procedure might be executed by people from
written checklists, while other parts of the procedure
may be automated to a lesser or greater degree.
The shutdown of the distillation column above might
be fully automated, but other procedures for taking the
plant to a safe state ready for evacuation might be fully
automated or have parts automated, might be done
with online checklists or other electronic guidance,
or might be performed manually from paper. ISA-
TR106.00-01-2013 provides the framework for under-
standing how to make automated and non-automated
procedures play nicely together.
The Work Continues
Future work for the ISA 106 committee includes Techni-
cal Reports on work practices for choosing, designing,
developing, testing and commissioning automated proce-
dures, development of example procedures and more.
Rockwell Automation Process Solutions
www.rockwellautomation.com/go/tj10pr
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