OPERATOR SUPPORT SYSTEMS FOR NEW KINDS OF PROCESS OPERATION WORK

Operation support systems have traditionally been operator support sys tems, designed and built to aid the traditional monitoring-oriented in dividual operator in his or her work. Focus has been mostly on the nat ural science and engineering aspects of the problem, addressing functi ons such as fault detection, alarm Altering, diagnosis, estimation and optimization of the physical process. These are necessary, but not su fficient, aspects of productive operation support systems for the futu re: In the process industry there are strong incentives for a change t owards integration of shift- and daytime work, and towards integration of operation and maintenance functions. As a result, the nature of pr ocess operation work is presently changing from being decomposed indiv idual functional jobs, towards collaborative efforts through self-suff icient shift-teams. These shift-teams must be multidisciplinary to be able to perform their jobs. Now, the operators' work is becoming a mul ti-task job rather than proficiency in a set of fixed and well-defined tasks. Individual and organizational learning and development are bec oming key expectations which the new kind of operating organizations h ave to face. An important concern in this new and rapidly changing sit uations, is to design and implement a suitable operation support syste m, and how this is to be accomplished. This paper addresses one indust rial case, and describes how the above challenges have been approached . The case is a hydrogen peroxide plant located in western Canada whic h organizes the production according to the characteristics described above. This plant has also implemented an integrated information syste m. The organization emphasizes the importance of creating arenas for l earning during both design, implementation and utilization.