TekSolv

Goals

  • To reduce the amount of time to deploy new projects
  • To maintain highest level of environmental safety and engineering services
  • To establish a technology standard that integrates all TekSolv applications

Challenges

  • The multiple platforms and software products in place were not integrated and offered no technology standard
  • Customers had to rely on stagnate or latent data to understand water levels or what fugitive emissions were present
  • The safe and reliable collection of data in real-time information was difficult due to the remote locations of customer work sites

Results

  • Deploying new projects now takes only a matter of minutes/hours instead of days
  • The system’s object-oriented design facilitates significant cost savings in overall system programming and preserves the company’s technology investment
  • Data can now be accessed from any device at any time from any location
 

``In terms of ROI we look at man-hours, and the man-hours that we invested to deploy a new project now takes only a matter of minutes, maybe a few hours, rather than a few days.`` - Jason Reed, Director of Information Technology

Background

Newark, Delaware − Safe and reliable monitoring, management and tracking of remote industrial assets is difficult in almost any industry. However, for the most secluded of oil/gas and water/wastewater monitoring installations, it can be almost impossible – that is unless you’re using the industry’s most advanced industrial software solutions from AVEVA.

For TekSolv, having a sophisticated and reliable equipment automation solution is its top priority to ensure the highest level of support for its customers that must constantly monitor ground tanks, water transfers, pipelines, leak detection, and impounding.

TekSolv is a multifaceted company that caters to almost every aspect of support for the oil exploration and water/wastewater management industries and continually strives to grow with its customers’ needs. With an environmental safety and engineering focus, their HydroWatch and TekNet solutions have been designed to support a broad range of oil exploration and water monitoring activities.

The HydroWatch water management technology system allows for quick deployment of critical water tracking hardware with integration into real-time management software. Utilizing existing flow meters, level sensors, and other monitoring equipment permits the integration with existing infrastructures, and provides a system that visualizes processes, analyzes system data, automates functionality, and distributes real-time data to decision makers, operators, and supervisors.

TekNet is a connected intelligent gas-detection safety sensor system that protects people, products and the environment for drilling, fracking, and production operations for shale gas exploration companies. It also is setting the standard for continuous real-time monitoring for fugitive gas emissions. Both function efficiently in remote and rugged locations where there is no effective communication or available electrical power.

“Prior to the development and implementation of the TekNet and HydroWatch applications, our customers had to rely on stagnant or latent data in order to understand what type of water management levels, or fugitive emissions were present at their workplace sites,” said Adam Micun, Vice President of TekSolv. “On-site drilling can cost up to $35,000 per day, so having the most up-to-date information is vital to ensure the success of these projects, and to protect the overall investment.”

Integration with AVEVA applications enables TekNet and HydroWatch to effectively gather vital information and communicate critical data via any format TekSolv customers choose, either through email, text messages, weekly reports, or daily reports. Whatever customers want is what TekSolv delivers.

Customer Service 24/7 Hotline Critical to Customer Service Success

Quick and easy access to information is key to the daily successful operations of TekSolv customer well sites. With software from AVEVA, technicians can easily access operations data from any device at any time to support the company’s unique 24/7 call center.

“Whether it is something as simple as a low battery or a sensor that needs replacing to a significant event that requires us to dispatch a TekSolv crew to the location, we often know about and have taken care of the issue before our customer even becomes aware of it,” said John Mouser, TekSolv President.

Teksolv core3

Single, Integrated Software Platform Streamlines and Improves Operations

Using AVEVA System Platform, TekSolv customers benefit from a single, scalable software platform that functions as an operating system for industrial applications. AVEVA System Platform provides an efficient and flexible method of developing, deploying and maintaining the software applications used to manage and improve critical operations of oil/gas drilling and water/wastewater sites.

“Some of the problems we had in the past were due to the various platforms and multiple software pieces that were in place,” said Jason Reed, Director of Information Technology at TekSolv. “The reason we decided on AVEVA was because of its single platform approach that could address all of our needs.”

AVEVA System Platform features an object-oriented environment which allows TekSolv engineers to rapidly create and deploy new systems, as well as enables them to easily modify current applications and deploy changes to existing systems.

“AVEVA software makes it easy for TekSolv to create solutions using already existing templates, saving time and money in operations management,” said Phil Wood, Senior Applications Consultant with Wonderware North.

By providing common services such as configuration, deployment, communication, security, data connectivity, as well as people collaboration, System Platform allows TekSolv to build a single, unified “Plant Model” that logically represents overall processes, physical equipment and industrial assets, even legacy systems. This capability makes the design and maintenance of these systems more efficient and more flexible.

The Plant Model also gives essential context to customer data, greatly assisting with diagnostics and troubleshooting, as well as providing valuable system documentation throughout the system lifecycle.

“With AVEVA System Platform’s unique object-oriented design, we are able to easily organize templates, graphics, and data historians enabling us to build systems that can be changed in the field with a few easy clicks,” said Dan Connor, Software Engineer at TekSolv.

AVEVA System Platform features an object-oriented environment which allows TekSolv engineers to rapidly create and deploy new systems, as well as enables them to easily modify current applications and deploy changes to existing systems.

“AVEVA software makes it easy for TekSolv to create solutions using already existing templates, saving time and money in operations management.” – Phil Wood, Senior Application Consultant

Teksolv core2

User-Friendly, Intuitive Graphics and Display Enhance Operator Success

To accurately display overall operations in a user-friendly, actionable format, TekSolv uses AVEVA InTouch. AVEVA InTouch Human Machine Interface (HMI) software is an open and extensible Supervisory HMI and SCADA solution that enables companies to quickly create standardized, reusable visualization applications and deploy them across an entire enterprise without having to leave the office.

Improving real-time visibility into processes, InTouch greatly enhances operator effectiveness and increases control of processes to simplify and enforce standardization and change management.

Working in conjunction with AVEVA InTouch is AVEVEA InTouch Access Anywhere in both TekSolv’s TekNet and HydroWatch applications. InTouch Access Anywhere allows TekSolv’s customers to view real-time information using a secure Web browser that’s accessible from any device ranging from mobile phones and tablets, to desktop computers.

“The features of AVEVA truly enhance the capabilities of TekNet and HydroWatch, enabling these two key products from TekSolv to provide safe and reliable data collection and real-time information in the remotest of oil and gas and critical water tracking installations,” Connor said.

“The features of AVEVA truly enhance the capabilities of TekNet and HydroWatch, enabling these two key products from TekSolv to provide safe and reliable data collection and real-time information in the remotest of oil and gas and critical water tracking installations.” – Dan Connor, Software Engineer

Accurate, Reliable Data Acquisition Improves Management of Processes

Data collected from remote installations is securely and effectively housed in AVEVA Historian, a high-performance process historian which is capable of storing huge volumes of data generated from these industrial sites. Historian easily retrieves and securely delivers information to desktop or mobile devices, enabling TekSolv operators to analyze processes anywhere at any time.

AVEVA Historian combines advanced data storage and compression techniques with an industry-standard query interface to ensure open access to all process, alarm and event data. It also enables faster, more informed decisions while keeping TekSolv team members up to date on operational performance.

“Our AVEVA solution is unique because we have hundreds of remote nodes that must function independent of one another, but at times also work together as a much larger project. AVEVA software enables this functionality,” said Jason Reed, Director of Information Technology at TekSolv.

The combination of AVEVA industrial automation software solutions provide tremendous costs savings to TekSolv by preserving their engineering investment, and enhancing the company’s capability to duplicate processes as new client sites are added to the network.

“The functionality and elegance of TekNet and HydroWatch would not be possible without the help of AVEVA,” Micun said.

These fully integrated information management systems offer a self-sufficient all-inclusive solution that provides TekSolv customers with power, data, and the ability to communicate the required data to customer sites very efficiently and easily via any device they choose.

“The ROI we’ve achieved so far has been impressive. Regarding man-hours, the time invested deploying a new project now takes only a matter of minutes, maybe a few hours rather than a few days.” – Jason Reed.

Teksolv core1