Yokogawa to supply integrated SCADA for Melbourne Water to meet growing demand in Australia’s second largest city

Yokogawa Engineering Asia’s subsidiary Yokogawa Australia has received an order from Melbourne Water Corporation (MWC) to implement Yokogawa’s flagship supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) system — OpreX Collaborative Information (CI) server — to help modernise the city’s water supply network that serves more than 5 million people.

Project signing ceremony, from left: Ameneh Jalali, solutions delivery manager, Yokogawa Australia; Paul Baxter, project manager – SCADA for our future, MWC; Mary Ellen Feene, director – solutions delivery, Yokogawa Australia; Russell Palmer, managing director, Yokogawa Australia; Mal Coghlan, programme manager – SCADA transformation, MWC; Dr Nerina Di Lorenzo, managing director, MWC; Craig Dixon, EGM service and asset lifecycle, MWC; Aidan Hollier, senior manager – asset knowledge and technology, MWC; and Rocco de Villiers, director of sales and strategy, Yokogawa Australia

Yokogawa Australia was selected to deliver OpreX CI server and engineering services for MWC’s ‘SCADA for our future’ project, which will take up to three years to complete. Key considerations in the selection process included the company’s strong local capabilities combined with a globally proven SCADA software platform, meeting MWC’s scale, business, and operating requirements.

MWC senior manager of asset knowledge and technology and project sponsor, Aidan Hollier, said, “We provide water for over 5 million Melbourne residents, with a 24/7 operation, and this requires technology solutions that are reliable and can be continuously maintained for the foreseeable future.”

The new SCADA system will serve as a modern platform that can scale as MWC expands its network and capacity to meet the demands of the growing city of Melbourne. OpreX CI server will deliver integration capabilities with more flexible access, and support increased resilience to cybersecurity and business continuity threats.

The platform will provide MWC with a centralised source of truth for all operational data, and will make this available to all business users and applications to support operational efficiency, advanced analytics, and future technologies. The project is a key element of MWC’s digital strategy goal for “an intelligent network, leveraging automation and analytics to enable effective planning, efficient operations and responsive decision-making.”

Yokogawa Australia’s managing director, Russell Palmer, reflecting on the 2-year selection process, said, “The thorough and intensive selection process conducted by Melbourne Water left no stone unturned and really challenged our engineering team. We are excited to partner with Melbourne Water to implement OpreX CI server and support their modernisation and growth objectives.”

He added, “A project like this allows us to strengthen our local engineering capabilities, and continue to expand support for our customers as we commemorate the Yokogawa Group’s 110th anniversary this year.”