While preparing for our ISO 27001 compliance audit after 6 months of our 2 MTPA Alumina Refinery operations in Abu Dhabi, we decided to take stock of current controls for our Operational Technology (Automation (DCS) and Manufacturing IT) network.
We started our Al Taweelah Alumina refinery project in 2015, with design guidelines in sync with ISA SP99/IEC 62443 for our Process Control and Information Systems (PCIS).
Our suite of solutions started with-
L1/2 :DCS controls, PLCs and Safety Systems.
L3: OTS, APC, Alarm Management, IAMS, Wireless
L3.5: Industry 4.0 aligned solutions like PIMS, LIMS etc… delivering a range of applications and use cases. Enablers: Analytics, RPA, Remote Access.
With over 300 users ranging from CCR operators, engineers, licensors, suppliers, management staff,..– maintaining, managing and securing our OT domain started becoming a Herculean task.
As part of our ISO27001 compliance audit, we realized that our approach is very reactive and we discussed opportunity to re-use solutions available in the IT world and adapt to our OT world.
By tailoring commercial solutions to meet our use cases, we are aiming to realise the following benefits:
-Compliance to network management best practices
-Adoption of IEC 62443 and NIST SP 800-82
-Improve availability by continuous monitoring and taking preventive actions
-Just in time reporting and alerting thereby reducing response time for corrective actions
-ISO27001 audit compliance for user management
Holger Grotheer (Presenter)
DCS Manager
Emirates Global Aluminium
Holger Grotheer
Manager – DCS, Emirates Global Aluminium
Holger has worked for supplier like Siemens and operating companies like Aurubis (Germany), Aluminium Oxid Stade (Germany) and EGA.
He has a total of 31 years of experience – 2 years with Siemens and 29 years with operating companies. 19 years as Instrumentation and DCS department leader.
Holger’s expertise is across the entire process automation landscape including field-instrumentation in the implementation and operation of traditional solutions like DCS, PLC and ESD.
Giovanni Djotiko (Presenter)
DCS Safety Systems & System Maintenance Engineer
Emirates Global Aluminium
Giovanni has worked in Industrial Automation for more than 9 years. He previously worked for Honeywell Process Solutions providing site support services for Alcoa Alumina Refineries. In his current role as DCS Safety Systems & System Maintenance Engineer at Emirates Global Aluminium (EGA), he is engaged in refinery DCS, PLC, PIMS (MES) & Safety Systems.
With a academic background in Electrical Power Engineering, Giovanni's expertise also includes LIMS, Weighbridge, Virtualization and Microsoft solutions and applications.
Giovanni has a passion for Volunteering and plays Football and Volleyball in his spare time.
Karthik Sitaraman (Author)
Senior Manager - DCS and PIMS
Emirates Global Aluminium
Karthik has worked for suppliers like Honeywell, Invensys and operating companies like QAFCO and EGA. Karthik has a total of 26 years of experience - 13 years with suppliers working in a wide range of roles involving project, program and operations management; 13 years heading up the OT projects and operations for a fertilizer complex QAFCO, Qatar and Alumina refinery at EGA, UAE. Karthik’s expertise is across the entire process automation landscape in the implementation and operation of traditional solutions like DCS, PLCs, ESD, MES, OTS, APC, Alarm Management, Asset Management, and emerging solutions like Industry 4.0, cybersecurity, edge computing and IIoT applications. Karthik has the ability to view projects from customer and vendor perspectives, thereby managing and mitigating project and operational risks.