HIMA, provider of automated safety offerings, presents a comprehensive digitalization strategy at the User Meeting of Process Automation Specialists (NAMUR) in Neuss, Germany to support skilled workers. In the process industry, the safety concept and the regular proof of safety are prerequisites for the operating license of a plant. The obligations of operators in the planning and operation of safety devices are correspondingly extensive, according to HIMA.
"Functional safety systems are moving from a marginal position further and further into the center of plant automation," says Jörg de la Motte, CEO of HIMA, in a press release detailing his remarks at the event. "In the past, safety systems were in place, occasionally shut down plants and provided sparse information about the 'why' due to meager data transmitted via simple interfaces. We see that this is changing due to the trend towards digitalization."
To ensure that the original safety function is not impaired, security measures are extremely important. Manufacturers must therefore create an appropriate security environment in addition to security certification, according to HIMA. At HIMA, this reportedly includes the development of software according to defensive design principles and the encapsulation of safety systems in a "security environment" whose boundaries are secured by firewalls. Within the security environment, physically separate interfaces are used for different tasks.
In order to simplify the life cycle management of safety equipment, HIMA, together with its strategic partner Mangan Software Solutions, developed an offering (Safety Lifecycle Manager, SLM) that replaces tasks relating to safety equipment that were previously manually performed with automatic data collection and automated evaluations. This facilitates standards-compliant operation and increases efficiency, according to HIMA. Recurring tasks for functional safety are defined once and their temporal and content-related implementation is then automatically monitored.
Read the press release at: www.hima.com
