About Raesemann Enterprises

Robert Raesemann
Raesemann Enterprises, Inc.

 

My services revolve mainly around OSISoft’s  PI Data Archive.  I specialize in the initial specification, design, and implementation of new systems as well as reengineering existing systems.  I also develop reports and applications around existing PI systems.

This is a list of the types of work that I regularly perform:

• PI System architectures - Develop and deploy PI system architectures using the latest high availability techniques and redundant interfaces. PI systems are routinely used for vital environmental reporting and require a robust and reliable foundation to avoid regulatory complications and fines.
• ProcessBook and DataLink development
• Reporting with Excel via DataLink
• Reporting via the ODBC and OLE DB interfaces. I was an initial beta tester of these products while working at JEA.
• Web based reporting systems developed using ASP.NET
• Custom application development on the .NET platform in C# and VB.NET
• Integration with other systems including Maximo, LIMS, and others.

I also provide integration services.  I have experience with many software packages and systems commonly found in industrial environments.

• Integration with Maximo
• Integration of Maximo with Primavera P3 project scheduling software

I also have a good all around IT background.  I have experience in all aspects from the network and Cisco IOS, to physical server maintenance, the OS, applications, databases, and programming.

This is some information about my background:

Education

University of Florida. 

Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering.

Graduated 1992. 

General Electrical Engineering studies with an emphasis on computer engineering.  Additional classes completed in computer programming in C, UNIX, and Operating System Design.

 

1992-1994 University of Florida. 

Graduate studies in Electrical Engineering. 

Completed 30+ credit hours of graduate level studies.  Topics included Semiconductor Physics, Advanced Computer Architecture, Microprocessor System Design, Robotics, Computer Pattern Recognition, and Computer Vision.

PI Experience:

1995 – Began using PI at Northside Generating Station, JEA in Jacksonville, FL.  Initial system was a single server running database and interface to a single Bailey Net 90 DCS.  After moving to the IT department, I designed an enterprise wide PI system.  This system collected data from 5 steam units and 9 combustion turbines at 3 generating stations, 26 potable water plants, 2 waste water plants, and 700 waste water lift stations.  The system collected close to 65,000 points when I left JEA.  If has now expanded to over 150,000.  The original design was able to scale to this point without any major modification.  In many ways we pioneered the use of a large centralized PI system at JEA.  We were building a large central server while most other PI customers were still using many small local PI servers. 

 

I have presented several times at the PI users conference relating to our innovations in the use of PI.

 

I delivered user presentations at the OSI Users Conference in 1999, 2000, and 2001.  I also delivered a presentation at the 2002 user forum in Orlando.

 

Raesemann Enterprises is now a System Integration (SI) Partner with OSIsoft. This partnership allows access to all of the latest PI software enabling me to stay up to date and produce proof of concept models.

 

 

Professional Background

1989-1992, 1994-1995 Jacksonville Electric Authority

Engineering Co-op/Temporary Employee.

 

I started working the Environmental Affairs Department where I initially setup and ran pollution dispersion models to demonstrate compliance with permitted requirements and compiled annual operating reports which calculated emissions based on the amount of fuel burned and chemical composition of the fuel.

I eventually came to support the office network, file server, and workstations.  I also developed a series of database applications tracking items such as permit expirations, department deadlines, PCB tested transformers, and many other miscellaneous items. 

 In 1994 with Clean Air Act requirements looming, I was transferred to Northside Generating Station to work on the Continuous Emissions Monitoring System (CEMS) Project.  My experience with embedded systems, C programming, and UNIX systems were needed in debugging and commissioning the system prior to the Jan 1, 1995 deadline for Phase II systems.  I also had the background in Environmental matters.

 

1995-2000 JEA started as Engineer II and finished as a Systems Project Leader.

I was hired as a permanent employee in 1995 and put in charge of the CEMS system.  There were still many bugs in the reporting system to workout and many regulatory issues stood in the way of system certification.  I worked with the vendor to eliminate the bugs and the reporting system and worked with regulatory personnel to insure system certification.  I also developed the Preventative Maintenance plan for the systems and trained 5 I&C technicians to perform system maintenance, system calibrations, and Relative Accuracy Test Audits (RATA’s). 

I was also in charge of all PLC systems at 3 plants.  The PLC’s were originally installed and maintained by different groups at different plants.  JEA reorganized its maintenance force in 1995 and consolidated everyone at the Northside plant.  The other two plants were supported from this central facility. PLC systems had been installed by several groups and there was a general lack of consensus resulting in many different brands, implemented in many different ways.  Documents, code, and drawings were spread everywhere or non existent.  I inventoried all of the systems, insured that we had source code, programming software, and cables for everything.  I deployed laptop computers with a standard setup for PLC programming and maintenance.  I setup a revision control system for all PLC code.
 
In 1998 I moved to the IT department.  I acted as the liaison between the various automation groups on the company and the IT department.  I designed and deployed the central PI system and insured that every control system in the company was integrated with PI.  I coordinated IT support and advised on every major HMI and SCADA system.  These duties included insuring that computer equipment was somewhat standardized, specifying servers, network equipment, etc.  I also coordinated Y2K testing of all of these systems.

2000 - Present
Raesemann Enterprises, Inc.

Example Projects

I incorporated and started Raesemann Enterprise prior to leaving JEA. I have been working exclusively for Raesemann Enterprises since late 2001.

CUSTOMER: Dynacs Engineering, Kennedy Space Center
PROJECT:      Payload Ground Handling Mechanism (PGHM) Project
This system loads payloads into the shuttle bay prior to launch.  The system consists of a series of motors controlled by a motion controller and a supervisory system to insure that the motion controller is properly controlling the system.  NASA and Dynacs engineers were experiencing problems integrating the motion controller with the supervisory system.  I developed the software to pass information between the systems and developed the Human Machine Interface (HMI) used to control the motion controller and provide feedback about system operation.

 

PROJECT: Wireless network deployment for generating plant site

 

Customer had an application which would have required over $500,000 worth of fiber installation to monitor 20 separate locations. They decided to try a wireless approach instead. I helped to evaluate several technologies available and ultimately decided that the Nortel WiMax solution would best meet the plant requirements. We designed and deployed the solution which has been operating reliably since July 2008. Now that the

 

 

 

 

CUSTOMER: GE/Plastics – Lighthouse Products

PROJECT:      PLC Data Collection

I developed the PLC and server code to allow the plant to collect tank inventory interface and display it on a web site.

 

CUSTOMER: JEA

PROJECT: Northside Unit 2 Repowering Project. Conceptual Development of Advanced Data System

This was a very ambitious project.  I created an overall design as well as proof of concept demonstration code for an advanced data system.  JEA was rebuilding two units at the Northside Generating Station to use new Fluidized Bed boilers.  The units would use many new systems which would be integrated with the existing back end systems. 

• Encapsulated the Maximo database in a COM object wrapper.

This makes integration with other system easier.

• Produced a web-based front end to Maximo
• Produced an Active X control to hot-link Maximo to process displays in Processbook and HMI displays.  Operators could write a work order for a piece of equipment directly from the process display. They could also easily check the maintenance status of equipment.
• Integration of Maximo work orders with email.  A lot of information regarding equipment history was locked in email.  This allowed a copy of email conversations regarding plant maintenance to be archived and hot-linked in Maximo.
• Developed software to better schedule maintenance activities and streamline the planning process.

Implementation plans for these systems were put on hold because of cost overruns and delays in the Repowering project.

 

PROJECT:      New customer billing system – Debugging of cross platform scheduler
JEA recently upgraded their customer billing system to a new PeopleSoft based platform. 

The system required the use of a cross platform job scheduling package to coordinate jobs running on several large HP-UX servers as well as several Windows servers.  JEA had the CA Unicenter Workload scheduler installed on these systems but it was not working reliably.  They had several consultants work on the system with little improvement.  I re-architected the system to correct inter-machine communication problems and corrected problems in the job scheduling database.  The system has work flawlessly for a year now.

PROJECT:      Northside Boiler Optimization System – System Architecture Development
JEA implemented a NeuCo neural network modeling and boiler optimization system at their Northside Generating Station.  I designed the system architecture, specifying the interfaces to the Bailey DCS, the PI configuration, the network security including a PIX firewall, and the VPN configuration to allow NeuCo to monitor the system through the firewall.

PROJECT:      Continuous Emissions Monitoring Systems Fleet Overhaul
JEA is standardizing a fleet of 7 PI systems to the GE NetDAHS software.  I am assisting in the design of the new system including server specification, network design, network security, and PLC upgrades.

 

CUSTOMER: E-xpedient
PROJECT:      SNMP Monitoring System Development

I developed the software and methodology to manage a network of equipment used to provide high speed wireless Internet access.  The equipment managed included wireless networking equipment and free space optical lasers.  These systems may be affected by storms or other atmospheric phenomenon as well as other concerns such a pigeons and other animals nesting near the equipment.  The software alerted the Network Operations Center of problems with the communications network and allowed them to manage failover and tuning of the network connections to provide maximum uptime and reliability.

 

CUSTOMER: Fiserv
PROJECT:      Unicenter TNG Implementation

I initially provided emergency services to Fiserv.  A key employee left the company and shortly after their network management systems failed, leaving them unable to fulfill their contractual obligations to their customers.  I was able to restore their system to base functionality prior to a customer audit of the system.  I was then retained to redesign the system and help to install a new system being rolled out to a key customer.  I designed the system which managed the customer’s networks as well as several application and database servers installed on Windows 2000 server clusters.  The customer servers were located in New York.  I was able to design the system and completely implement that design from Jacksonville via a VPN connection.  I never actually visited the New York location.

 

CUSTOMER: Cargill Fertilizer
PROJECT:      PI Server Upgrade

The original PI server installation at Cargill was very problematic.  The design required a great deal of supervision and the server was infected with the NIMDA virus.  I was retained to rebuild the server with the goal of reducing the administrative requirements and increasing system reliability.  I installed Windows 2000 on the server and reinstalled PI, restoring all of the existing data.  The server now requires very little supervision.  All of the latest patches and security fixes are installed and Norton Antivirus protects the system

PROJECT:      Custom Application Development – Asset Utilization Application
The AU application allows Cargill to measure and produce reports detailing lost production opportunities.  The data collected by this application allows them to monitor their progress in improving the efficiency of their plants.  The reports expose inefficiencies in the operation of single units as well as the interaction between departments.  This application now plays a central role in the management of their plants.

PROJECT:      Custom Application Development – Primavera P3/Maximo Integration
There is an off-the-shelf package to import Maximo work orders into Primavera but it was not flexible enough to meet Cargill’s needs.  I developed an application allowing them to import planned Maximo work orders and produce a resource leveled schedule.  This process is now so efficient that they are able to produce weekly schedules.  I then developed a web site allowing supervisors to progress their tasks on a daily basis.  The site simultaneously posts hours to Maximo and to Primavera insuring that both databases are up to date.  This eliminated the need to enter the data twice and eliminated inconsistencies between the databases.  The project has been very successful.  They have already been able to reduce the need for some contractor resources and they will be able to eliminate the need for some heavy equipment due to the improved scheduling.  This will produce substantial cost savings.

PROJECT:      HMI Development – Rockwell Software RSView development

I developed the HMI for their ship loading system.  This HMI oversees the loading of ships and rail cars with product.  Historical data is saved in PI and reports are produced.

 

PROJECT:      Custom Application Development – Wireless PDA Project

This is a small pilot project to prove the concept.  I am using Compaq IPAQ Pocket PC computers equipped with Wireless Ethernet adapters to display data from Windows 2000 servers running the  Microsoft .NET Framework.  The servers collect data from PI and format it into meaning full tables and charts.

 

CUSTOMER: Millennium Specialty Chemical
PROJECT:      PI Server Installation

I designed a PI system to integrate several Moore APACS DCS systems into a central PI server at their Colonel’s Island facility in Brunswick Georgia.  I also assisted in the installation and troubleshooting of problems related to the new PI server in Jacksonville.

 

CUSTOMER: Georgia System Operations
PROJECT:      PI Server Installation/Processbook Development

I installed a new PI server and interface computer at GSOC.  This system now monitors their GE XA/21 energy management system.
I also developed a Processbook to display current load information from their PI system and superimpose the data on top of dispatch information from a Sybase database.

 

CUSTOMER: IMC Global
PROJECT:      PI Server Consolidation

IMC had several PI systems as well as embedded PI systems in their Fisher Delta V DCS systems.  These servers were installed by different groups over the years. 
Each server was separately licensed with some groups maintaining a TSA and others allowing support to lapse.  I developed and implemented a plan to consolidate everything to a single server.  By consolidating they were able to apply the cost of previous licenses toward the new server and purchase new tags at a discounted rate.  This project involved combining the tag configurations, migrating all historical data, and redirecting interfaces to a single server.  This was a very large task.  I developed a number of Perl scripts to automate much of the work and was able to complete it in a much shorter time than would otherwise have been possible.

I have also developed a number of reports to meet Title V air pollution reporting requirements.

 

 

CUSTOMER: TNT Logistics, North America
PROJECT:      Windows 2000 Active Directory Design and Rollout

TNT Logistics, NA recently purchased CTI, formerly the CSX Technology group handling many of their logistical operations.  As part of the merger, CTI took over the network and IT operations of TNT.  I assisted in the design and development of the new Windows 2000 based domain for the newly merged networks.  This new domain replaced several existing NT 4 domains in the 2 companies.  My duties involved developing the design and testing the concepts in a lab environment prior to rolling out to the production systems.

 

PROJECT:      Network Redundancy Project

TNT recently upgraded the network in their data center to a new Gigabit Ethernet network.  They wondered if their old Fast Ethernet equipment could be used as a backup to the new Gigabit Ethernet network.  This would provide them with redundancy in the event of a failure of the main network.  I researched and tested a configuration to allow them to failover to the secondary Fast Ethernet network in the event of a failure of the primary Gigabit network.  The scheme that I designed used existing equipment so their were no new equipment costs.  I setup adapter teaming on all of their NT and 2000 servers to allow failover.  These servers consisted of Compaq, HP, and IBM servers.  Some of the servers were clustered.  I configured the Cisco switches and routers to accommodate the failover scheme.  The network in their data center now has no single point of failure

Programming and System Administration Experience:

 

ANSI C development since 1989.
Visual Basic – Started with VB 1.0.
Microsoft .NET Framework – VB.NET and C#
PERL –

Databases:
SQL, Oracle, OSISoft’s PI, MySQL

Operating Systems:
Windows 3.0-3.11, 9x, NT 3.51-4.0, Windows 2000, Windows XP – I was an early adopter of Windows 3.0 purchasing my first copy the day that it was released.  I have supported it from the desktop on up to Enterprise level server systems. 

Linux – Since the beginning.  Started using the betas in graduate school.  Setup first DNS, mail server, Usenet, dial up server at JEA in 1994.  Was dialing into Internet from home and surfing the ‘Net in 1994 using Trumpet Winsock.

UNIX – various flavors including SCO Unix, HP-UX, and Silicon Graphics systems

Novell Netware – I include this for completeness.  I have not supported a system since 1994 but I am familiar with the product and its architecture.

Networking Experience:  CISCO IOS, switch configuration including VLANS, and spanning tree configuration, routers, HSRP, access lists, etc.  Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP).  I am an expert.  I have developed custom MIB’s for embedded devices and implemented large scale network management systems.  I was also a beta tester of OSISoft’s SNMP interface and the Perfmon interface.

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