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CRISIS OR OPPORTUNITY?

Wednesday, October 6, 2010

Uncertain Future?

Let’s see now: housing prices collapsing, real estate market faltering, rising unemployment, bank failures, looming threat of global inflation and astronomical national debt. Yes, one could easily imagine the worst happening.

Well, what do you do? Sit on your blessed assurance and hope for the best? You could. If you do, be sure of one thing, the future will run over you.
No doubt some time in your life you heard about the Chinese symbol for “crisis”. Two separate symbols, one for “danger”, the other for “opportunity”, together represent “crisis”.

Crisis: Danger + Opportunity

Okay, no doubt you recognize the danger. So let’s move on to the opportunity.

Opportunity Galore

Commodity speculators, the folks who drive the cost of energy, anticipate $300/barrel oil that, some say, leads to $8/gallon gasoline. What does it mean when “gold bugs” forecast $5,000/ounce?

As energy cost increases, so does our value to our customers.
It’s time for fresh ideas and creative thinking, if American enterprises are going to thrive in uncertain times.

Due to inevitable inflation, everything will become more costly. Deferring decisions to become more energy efficient is not the good choice. Now is the time to prepare for the future. When the future arrives, it will just be too late for the business owner or property owner who failed to think strategically.

Some of the most successful American companies around today were birthed during the Great Depression.

He Who Hesitates is Lost

Call me today, or send an email. Let’s work together to overcome rising energy costs and higher taxes. Allow me to apply my 36 years of experience in energy management and building controls to help you meet your goals.

John N. White
Rockwall Controls Company, Inc.
(972) 771-3514
john@rockwallcontrols.com

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Orphaned No More – Revive Your EMS/BMS/EMCS

Thursday, September 9, 2010

“Bird’s Nest on the Ground”

Bird’s nest on the ground: a term so cliché, but prevalent among large contractors and factory branch offices. What does it mean?

When a controls contractor wins a contract for a large system, the contractor hopes to create a long-term source of profitable revenue through a dependency spawned by proprietary features of the new building control system.

Can You Relate?

A Familiar Story

One New Jersey client, a pharmaceutical company, has grown over the years. When first constructed, a factory branch office installed a highly proprietary and fully integrated system that monitored and controlled HVAC (heating, ventilating and air conditioning) equipment, life safety systems (fire alarm), asset protection (security alarms) and patrol tour (roving watchmen).

As it goes with technology, the contractor introduced newer products and methods over subsequent years, as the owner remodeled and added buildings. Along the way, a stand-alone fire alarm system replaced the older equipment. Newer technologies made obsolete the patrol tour subsystem. After some years the HVAC subsystems greatly expanded, but advanced methods and newer equipment made obsolete those ancillary services.

Year by year, the controls contractor raised the annual cost of the service agreement, never accounting for the abandoned non-HVAC equipment. As a consultant for the owner, we researched the service agreement and evaluated its pricing structure. A subsequent report forced the contractor to substantially reduce the annual cost of the service agreement.

A Better Way

What if you could cut the annual cost of maintenance, would you do it? How so?

Bear with this second anecdote. A county courthouse in Texas became equipped with a proprietary building automation system, a DDC system (direct digital control). Aside from the fact that proprietary system was poorly designed, it was also susceptible to frequent damage by power line surges and spikes – most often when thunderstorms passed through the area.

The building maintenance staff wearied of costly service calls and sought help. We came to the rescue with an energy-saving performance contract.

In this case, since the equipment was misapplied, it was necessary to replace it. We evaluated 120-volt power supplies and designed appropriate electrical surge protection.

Over the years (ten, as of Sept. 2010), we have been called upon for only a very few service calls, none prohibitively costly. Beforehand, a $3,000 (minimum) service call followed every thunderstorm that danced through town.

Financial payback was two-fold: a short payback due to energy conserved and a greater payback due to practically no emergency service calls – the latter, alone, paid for the retrofit.

Summary

Occasionally, only system replacement yields the owner a trouble-free, reliable, accurate building automation system.

Most of the time, we can re-deploy existing assets, enhance with a little advance technology and holistically commission the system end to end and in concert with associated mechanical equipment and systems.

Invitation

Are any of the above scenarios familiar to you? Perhaps you feel trapped with your building automation system. Don’t give up, we can probably help and do so economically. What do you have? Honeywell? Johnson Controls? TAC/Schneider? Barber Colman? Trane? American Auto-Matrix? Delta Controls? Reliable Controls?

Is It Time To Cut Costs?

If we can’t help, we don’t charge. Call us today to make an appointment.

Call (972) 771-3514 or send an email request to info@rockwallcontrols.com

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Control Systems Protocols

Sunday, August 29, 2010

Protocols

One manufacturer touts its protocol of choice as “open”, while another, deploying products that use a very different protocol, likewise declares its products “open”. Yet, their products cannot communicate one with another. What’s the story, here?

What Are Protocols?

By definition, communications protocols are “rules determining the format and transmission of data”. Because a transmission media serves as transport of data, companion hardware rules come into play.  Transmission media include unshielded twisted pairs (UTP), coaxial cables, shielded twisted pairs (STP) and radio waves.

Public vs. Proprietary

Protocols are either in the public domain or are proprietary to a private manufacturer. This discussion covers protocols widely used in building automation and control systems. Moreover, this discussion of necessity incorporates the idea of “open systems”. Open systems do not always feature open protocols, and vice versa.

Protocols in the public domain and deployed in building control systems include

MODBUS

BACnet

Lon Mark

Sedona Framework

JCI N2

Which protocol does Rockwall Controls favor? We are “protocol ambivalent”, but we are passionate about “open systems”. It’s all a matter of which combination of products results in the best, most reliable “open system”.

What Makes A System Open?

Control systems products, hardware and software, manufactured to communicate via one or more public protocols AND distributed through an unrestricted open marketplace describe “open systems”.

Numerous manufacturers ship products that use open protocols, but sell through franchised contractors.  An atmosphere of competition exists naturally between contractors. The franchisee depends on his/her proprietary advantage and, therefore, suspiciously guards his/her marketplace. Therefore, a franchise holder most often will refuse to sell product to his/her competitor.

The role of a wholesaler is to distribute products and provide local technical support of those products. While his/her territory operates under a franchise agreement, marketing goals encourage him/her to enlist and equip qualified contractors. Key to sustainability is multiple choices for after-market services. If the original installer successfully delivers excellence, by all means, stay with the contractor for after-market care. On the other hand, if the final product is less than excellent, you want options and open systems give you options. Franchised contractors can hold you hostage.

How Does a Building Owner Assure an Open System?

We use Tridium JACE platforms, running Niagara Framework to build open systems that fully integrate control systems components, regardless protocols, to operate seamlessly and reliably.

Which Is The Better Protocol?

The goal of Rockwall Controls is to provide problem-free, low-maintenance, reliable systems that never suffer obsolescence, due to introduction of new technologies that replace current products. The key is the adoption of standards that transcend the evolution of technologies.

Autonomous processing, the quality of a control system that “pushes out” programming and functionality to the lowest possible level, contributes to the aforementioned goal. At the time of this writing, LonMark profile products lead the pack, but others are following along.

Over recent years, competing manufacturers have touted LonMark over BACnet, and vice versa. Large sums of money have been invested to promote the virtues of one protocol over the other. But, Rockwall Controls remains neutral, in this respect. Whichever answers the problem – which products operate on a peer network – guide our choices.

An emerging technology, Sedona Framework, seems to make a giant leap well beyond the two competing protocol “giants”. One new product we now use employs Sedona Framework as an operating platform as it readily ignores the protocol issue by offering on-board LonWorks, BACnet, MODBUS and IP protocols – all at the same time.

The exciting feature of Sedona is its “open source” architecture that removes all limits to product development.

Which Protocol Should I Choose?

None. That is a task best left to professionals, like the system integration experts at Rockwall Controls Company, Inc.

Got a Problem With Your Proprietary Building Automation System? Call on the experts. Call on us to turn your “manual-mation” system into an automation system.

The BEST Question – Aren’t all the above described protocols “open”?

Ah, glad you asked. In a word – no.

One major manufacturer sells its LonMark products as LON and as non-SNVT. This company maintains a proprietary lock on the system by turning off one layer of the LonMark protocol, leaving the customer at the mercy of the manufacturer.

Another manufacturer sells its top-level controllers as BACnet over Ethernet – translation: it’s a proprietary form of BACnet. An open product, an open system, allows products of other manufacturers to be attached to the BACnet bus and communicate directly. This particular manufacturer requires a “gateway” module that permits third-party BACnet over IP products to communicate.

Still other manufacturers program and commission their products with proprietary software – this alone locks up the system.

You can depend on Rockwall Controls to work with these proprietary manufacturers to break their proprietary lock on your business.

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Construction Format

Thursday, October 22, 2009

Building owners follow either of two construction formats: what I call the AIA Form and Design-build. My intent is to differentiate between the two formats, not to disqualify one or the other – each has advantages over the other. In the two cases, local authorities having jurisdiction require compliance with applicable codes, laws and ordnances.

AIA FORM

Under the AIA Form, a hierarchy of architects, engineers, general contractors, construction management firms, contractors and subcontractors work together (not always as a team) to provide all necessary materials and services to construct or renovate buildings. In general, the architect acts as the owner’s agent to design a structure that meets the needs of the owner and satisfies his budget constraints. Engineers draw up detailed plans; write specifications and review materials and methods submitted by the contractor team.

Its weakness, from my point-of-view, is the low-bid selection of contractors. Competition between contractor specialists drives them to seek lowest cost materials and lowest cost labor. Occasionally, contract awards will go to incompetent or below par firms. For this reason, owners require performance bonds to fund a replacement contractor and payment bonds to prevent the levy of liens on the finished property. A secondary weakness manifests long after the project ends – deficiencies in performance or utility. Under this form, if poorly managed, the owner ends up in a ‘finger-pointing’ situation – unresolved problems linger, often for years.

Its strength, from my point of view: it is the better choice for large, complex structures that require a high degree of project coordination with hundreds of suppliers and contractors to finish the building on time and on budget.

DESIGN-BUILD

Under this format, the owner interacts with only one entity – the design-build contractor whoDSC04839 assumes all responsibility for project design, cost management and final performance. Usually, the design-build contractor has working relationships with long-time suppliers and skilled subcontractors. This contractor often has in-house design staff and/or long-time working relationships with architects and engineers.

Its weakness, from my point of view, can be under-estimated costs. On the other hand, in order to most efficiently manage the project, the design-build contractor often interlaces his projects to keep craftsmen busy and cash flow positive.

Its strengths, from my point of view, can be many, for the smaller commercial and residentialDSC04838 projects.

  • Single point of responsibility

  • Best match of skills and knowledge for the project

  • More cost efficient than AIA Form on small projects. Design, permits, materials, labor, commissioning, and after market service usually all handled by one phone call.

  • No ‘finger-pointing’ between design staff and contractors

  • Design-build contractors usually specialize in particular types of projects, and, consequently, know how to get the job done on time and on budget with the least complaints from the owner.

  • The design-build contracting team knows the capabilities and weaknesses of teammates, thereby minimizing or preventing gaps in the overall project.

In a broad sense, the design-build contractor is more of a long-term service provider than the AIA Form contractor teams. This contractor depends heavily on referrals by satisfied customers – upholding a good name is paramount.

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