Automate
SCADA development and system integration
A SCADA system is a plant's memory and its early warning system. We design and build supervisory systems that operators actually trust — with an alarm philosophy that reduces noise instead of adding to it, a historian designed for the questions you will ask later, and clean integration paths to everything above.
The problem
A SCADA screen nobody looks at is worse than no SCADA at all
Hundreds of alarms a shift, most of them meaningless. Screens laid out like a P&ID rather than around what the operator is doing. A historian recording everything at one-second resolution that nobody can query. The system becomes wallpaper, and then a real alarm arrives and nobody reacts to it.
- 01
Alarm floods during a trip — dozens of alarms from one root cause
- 02
Operators acknowledge alarms reflexively without reading them
- 03
Historical data exists but answering a simple question takes a specialist
- 04
The SCADA runs on an unsupported operating system nobody wants to touch
- 05
Reports are exported to Excel and reworked by hand every month
What we build
Concrete deliverables
Nouns, not adjectives. This is what actually gets handed over.
- 01
SCADA architecture and design
Server topology, redundancy, network segmentation, client strategy, licensing plan, and a tag and asset model that will still make sense at three times the current size.
- 02
Screen and graphics development
Hierarchical screens — plant overview, area, unit, detail — built around operator tasks. High-performance graphics conventions: grey process, colour reserved for abnormal conditions.
- 03
Alarm rationalisation
Every alarm justified: what it means, who acts, how urgently, and what happens if it is ignored. Alarms that fail those questions are removed or demoted.
- 04
Historian and reporting
Retention and resolution designed around the questions you will actually ask, plus scheduled and on-demand reports that do not require an Excel step.
- 05
SCADA migration and upgrades
Moving off unsupported platforms and operating systems with graphics, tags, history and alarm configuration carried across, in phases.
- 06
Integration upward
OPC UA, SQL and REST paths from SCADA into MES, ERP, cloud analytics and mobile dashboards — the step that is usually missing.
How it works
The technical path, step by step
Where the engineering decisions actually get made.
- 01
Operational review
We sit with operators during a shift. What they watch, what they ignore, what they write on paper, and what they wish the screen told them.
- 02
Model the plant
An asset and tag model with consistent naming, so a new line can be added later by instantiating a template instead of rebuilding screens.
- 03
Alarm philosophy
Priorities defined by consequence and response time, deadbands and delays set to eliminate chatter, and a documented rationalisation record per alarm.
- 04
Build and test
Screens, scripts, history configuration and reports built and tested against a simulated or offline PLC before touching production.
- 05
Cut over and train
Phased commissioning, parallel running where practical, operator training, and a review after the first full production cycle.
Protocols & technologies
Specifics, because vague answers cost you money later
Chosen per site according to what is installed, not according to what we would prefer to work with.
| Technology | Where it is used | Engineering note |
|---|---|---|
| OPC UA | Primary SCADA-to-controller interface | Typed, secure, self-describing. Preferred wherever the controller supports it. |
| OPC DA / classic | Legacy systems | Still widespread; usually tunnelled rather than exposed across networks. |
| Modbus TCP / RTU | Third-party devices and meters | The universal fallback for equipment without a native driver. |
| Ethernet/IP, Profinet, S7 | Native controller drivers | Chosen per installed base for performance and diagnostics. |
| SQL Server / PostgreSQL / time-series DB | Historian and reporting | Relational for transactional and batch records; time-series for process history. |
| MQTT / Sparkplug B | Publishing to cloud and mobile | How SCADA data reaches dashboards outside the plant without exposing the SCADA itself. |
| REST / OData | MES and ERP integration | The clean, documented boundary between plant and business systems. |
Brownfield
Upgrading a live SCADA without losing history
SCADA migrations fail when they are treated as a big-bang replacement. We run the new system in parallel with the old, migrate history rather than abandoning it, cut over area by area, and keep the previous system available until operators have confirmed the new one through a full production cycle including a shutdown and a start-up.
Works with
- Siemens WinCC and WinCC OA
- AVEVA / Wonderware InTouch and System Platform
- Ignition by Inductive Automation
- Rockwell FactoryTalk View
- GE iFIX and CIMPLICITY
- Open-source stacks where licensing is a genuine constraint
Use cases
What people actually ask us for
Each one is a situation followed by the outcome it produces — not a feature list.
Unsupported operating system
NowSCADA running on an OS that no longer receives security updates.
AfterMigrated to a supported platform with graphics, tags and history preserved.
Alarm flooding
NowA single trip generates sixty alarms and the operator learns to ignore all of them.
AfterRationalised alarm set where every alarm has a defined action and a justified priority.
Multi-site supervision
NowThree plants, three SCADA systems, no consolidated view.
AfterA common tag model and a supervisory layer above all three, without replacing any of them.
Compliance reporting
NowBatch or environmental reports assembled manually each month.
AfterAutomated report generation from the historian with an auditable trail.
SCADA to ERP
NowProduction numbers re-keyed from SCADA into the business system.
AfterA documented, monitored integration that removes the manual step and the errors that come with it.
Implementation
How a project runs
Eight stages, each producing something you own. Full detail on the process page.
- 01
Discover
1–2 conversations
- 02
Audit
1–3 days on site
- 03
Design
1–2 weeks
- 04
Engineer
2–8 weeks per phase
- 05
Integrate
1–2 weeks
- 06
Deploy
Your shutdown window
- 07
Monitor
First 4–6 weeks
- 08
Optimise
Ongoing, if you want it
Mixed-vendor machine monitoring rig
Three PLC brands and one machine with no controller at all, read through one gateway and normalised into a single tag model — the situation almost every Indian plant is actually in.
Read the write-upQuestions
SCADA Development — common questions
Which SCADA platforms do you work with?
Siemens WinCC, AVEVA/Wonderware InTouch and System Platform, Ignition, Rockwell FactoryTalk View, and GE iFIX. We also build supervisory systems on open stacks where licensing cost is a genuine constraint and the application allows it — we are explicit about the trade-offs of each route.
Should we buy a SCADA platform or build a custom dashboard?
It depends on the job. If you need alarm management, operator control, redundancy and regulatory-grade history, buy a SCADA platform — rebuilding that is expensive and pointless. If you need visibility, analysis and reporting for management rather than operator control, a purpose-built application is usually cheaper, better fitted and easier to extend. Many plants end up with both, and the interesting engineering is the boundary between them.
Can you upgrade our SCADA without stopping production?
In most cases. The new system runs in parallel against the same data sources, and cut-over happens area by area during planned windows. History is migrated rather than abandoned. The old system stays available until the new one has been through a full production cycle.
What is alarm rationalisation and do we need it?
It is the process of justifying every alarm: what condition it indicates, what the operator should do, how urgent it is, and what happens if it is missed. Alarms that cannot answer those questions are removed or demoted to events. If your operators acknowledge alarms without reading them, you need it — and it is usually the single highest-value thing that can be done to an existing SCADA system.
How do you get SCADA data out to management or to the cloud?
Through a controlled boundary, never by exposing the SCADA itself. Typically an OPC UA or database read into an edge service, which publishes northbound over MQTT or HTTPS. The SCADA network stays segmented and the outbound path is one-directional and auditable.
Tell us about your supervisory system
Platform, age, number of tags, and what is not working. We will tell you whether it needs upgrading, rationalising, or just connecting upward.