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SCADA, Do we really need to know everything?

 David Rivas
Mechatronics Engineer
IT Technician


"Stats” is a common word today, one that we hear often in this IT era. Ever since the first Industrial Revolution and over time, many have looked into ways to use this flow of information in an effort to achieve an ideal, one which every Industry Leader would like to have… CONTROL. But where is this ideal headed? One of the first signs can be found in production-line machinery control, where control systems were adapted to regulate velocity and production volume.


But what are we trying to say? At the beginning of the Modern Industrial Era, controls we know today were non-existent. There were machines that did men’s work without any signs of fatigue, until one day, out of the blue (as usual) something went wrong and a critical failure arose. And unless you had a knowledgeable maintenance crew that was experienced in this particular kind of machines and with similar issues, and able to identify and solve the problem, valuable hours, days and weeks-worth of production were lost. These empirical research experts would go to the factory with one goal on their minds: to fix it quickly! They would inspect the machine, check for known failures, sometimes realizing they would need special tools which they didn´t have with them; they would get spare parts were needed, and prayed that their solution would fix the machine for some time. This brought praise to the man that was capable of such a repair, and sometimes, even recognition in the workplace.

Fortunately, today we do not have to go through those situations. This is where applications come in, like the one we mention here in the title. SCADA (Supervisory Control And Data Acquisition) applications take IT and interconnectivity technologies and apply them to production line equipment, so that said equipment can then ‘inform’ its current functioning state. The provided data then allows an operator, possibly working remotely from the production line or even outside of factory, to adjust parameters that control motors, CNC, alarms, or to modify any process such as opening valves, thus having some control over the production line process. Henry Ford would only dream of this kind of control!

A SCADA application must fulfill some basic requirements, which are common for any kind of industry.

  • Open architecture
  • Easy communication
  • Simple installation

In other words, when installing applications such as SCADA, you are aiming to obtain a system with an open layout, that can be adjusted over time in keeping with the Company´s changes and contingencies that may arise. The application´s interconnectivity, both with other equipment in the network and equipment operators, should be fairly easy to use. In other words, any user should be able to recognize, understand and handle data from a screen, and any terminal connected to the network should be able to recognize a given order or parameter. Simple interfaces are also developed to make the application more user-friendly, so that operators are not required to learn anything complex in order to be able to use it, and also to make it simpler to modify or extend the application´s installation. The future is now, and in fact, we now can have access to common failure scenarios to try to avoid them, and come up with known solutions by means of the use of SCADA application systems. Real-time stats help us make decisions that promote production progress despite having an equipment problem, and to find the root of the failure or contingency. And in many cases, these application systems actually help avoid unpleasant and irreversible surprises, which stop production and negatively affect the Company.


Finally, and to answer the question on the title, the truth is we do not need to know everything in order to run a production line, but it has been demonstrated that control over production lines depends on our knowledge of them, and the more we know the better, in order to take appropriate action in a timely manner.

However, this is not by far the end of the subject. Current SCADA application solutions are being implemented in a user-friendly format called the Internet of Things, also known as Industry 4.0. But we can touch on that subject on another occasion.


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