Regarding MTTR and MTTF of DCS control systems

Checking that is no longer useful; for almost any well-known system, metrics such as MTTR and MTTF (1/MTBF) are quite impressive. When bidding, taking these metrics into account is practically meaningless. Are these indicators audited by third-party organizations? The most classic control systems from these manufacturers, such as TPS and CS3000, have been around for only about a decade or so; their MTBF is often claimed to be 20 years, 30 years, and many ESD models even claim a MTBF of 50 years. What’s the point? . . Instead of focusing on these, you’d be better off keeping an eye on the project. Have the manufacturer send someone suitable to be in charge of your project. The level of project engineers has a far greater impact on a project than those theoretical, abstract metrics.

I feel the same. So, how exactly can we ensure the quality of manufacturers of automatic control instruments?

Every team has those with high skills and those with lower skills; I hope the debugging for your project is not done by someone incompetent. These days, well-known manufacturers are slightly better in this regard; they generally don’t send inexperienced workers straight to the site for debugging. At least they assign an experienced worker to guide them. . . The worst part is the age range of 25-26; just 2 years after graduating. Let me share some experience: I have worked on 2-3 projects, participating in the debugging process. When it comes to experience, I’m actually still a long way from being proficient. If I say the skill level isn’t good, it seems like they know everything that should be known. Let’s say it’s at an average level. In fact, I’m still a long way away from being a senior project debugging engineer. Those who are half-drunk yet still think they’re doing fine – that’s the most terrifying. . . For example, Yokogawa has seen too many staff changes recently. Since Yokogawa’s systems are relatively simple, Little Japan has said that they won’t stop anyone from leaving. . . This led to a large number of young elites leaving. While I can’t say that the rest are all the old, weak, sick, and disabled, it’s true that those who remain are people who can’t get by without Yokogawa, or who won’t be able to function properly outside of Yokogawa. There are also some who are indeed very experienced and highly skilled. . . But these are all extremely rare. As soon as debugging starts, some incompetent person shows up; again, as soon as debugging begins, another incompetent person shows up. Although we are all coming along step by step in an era of amateurs, we are a responsible foreign-funded enterprise. Having competent and qualified staff is a basic issue of business ethics. One can’t rely on past achievements and reputation to get by for every project; they can’t use those to deceive people, then just deal with things casually when it comes to debugging. . . ----Is it always polyethylene? Yokogawa has done a lot in this area and is very experienced; what about oil refining? Yokogawa has also done a lot there and is highly skilled in that field as well. Yokogawa may do a lot of work, but it’s not necessarily the Yokogawa engineers in charge of your client’s project that are doing the most work. . . Experience in process tuning and system debugging requires years of accumulation and development. The actual situation of each project also varies; even for the same polyethylene processing adjustments, factors such as design issues, problems on the part of the client, installation-related issues, or issues related to subcontractors can result in Project A being easy to adjust while Project B is difficult to adjust. . . You don’t know either who among the system suppliers is more skilled and who is less skilled, so sometimes it’s also difficult to be the client side. It’s like flipping a coin – the chances of getting heads or tails are equal. . .

Well-known systems that can meet those average time between failures and average time to repair failures depend mainly on the level of understanding that the staff has regarding the system’s software, hardware, and operational requirements.

For some manufacturers, the lifespan is fixed and is generally over 10 years, and the same is true for domestic manufacturers. For others, it is calculated using formulas based on the required cards and CPUs.