Columbia Pipeline Group Reaches 99.5 Percent Reliability

Systemwide integration enabled by Rockwell Automation technologies saves $2.3 million in maintenance and downtime

Background

Changes to the oil and gas industry in the United States have put pressure on transmission companies to optimize their systems, add flexibility and respond more quickly to a fluctuating industry landscape. While many companies in the industry have been struggling to change, others have been more forward-thinking in applying new technologies.

Columbia Pipeline Group (CPG) recently modernized its operational environment by implementing a modern distributed control system to improve reliability, gain better insight into its production data, and ease maintenance.

The company saved approximately $2.3 million from reduced maintenance costs in one year, showing that gas transmission companies can reach over 99 percent reliability while running at 100 percent capacity.

Challenge	Modernize the operational environment to improve reliability, gain better insight into production data, and ease maintenance.
Solutions	Virtualized PlantPAx distributed control system shares information across facilities and up to executive level. High-availability, virtualized servers from Stratus Technologies, a member of the Rockwell Automation® PartnerNetwork™ program, reduce physical hardware space and likelihood of downtime.
Results	Reached 99.5 percent reliability at 100 percent capacity. Provided information to the Enterprise Analytics group to make business decisions based on real-time and historical data. Saved approximately $2.3 million in maintenance costs in 2014.