Control Room Design

A technical and functional design of the Control Room

Control Room Design

"Don’t ask operators what they want but ask them how they do their job, and what information they use to do that effectively." - Ilse Houting

Ops Factor has developed a design tool to support project managers to conduct a human centred design analysis at the start of a project. This will result not only in a technical, but also a functional design as a valuable addition to procurement documents and assessment tool for the detailed engineering phase. Our ergonomic design analysis is based on an expedition model with clear goals and defined steps, connection technology, organization and people. Our roadmap is a practical translation of the principles and project approach as described in ISO 11064-1.

The added value of Ops Factor

A good Control Room Design

In this video we show two different lay-out options for Control Room design within the exact same building structure and approximately the same space allocation. We demonstrate how design affects the operational workflow and how you can be creative with available floorspace in an average office building.

Control Room Design Benefits

Project benefits
•   Effective multi-disciplinary project approach.
•   Reduction of project costs (less meetings, less rework).
•   First time right (reduction life cycle costs).
•   Operators commitment and stakeholders buy in.

Operations benefits
•   Functional design supporting ops workflow.
•   Maximizing operator performance.
•   Reducing risks to health, safety and environment.
•   Reducing human error.
•   Ergonomic design according ISO 11064-3.

Contact us about Control Room Design

Would you like to learn more about how we can help with your control room design? Please contact us for more information.

Our roadmap for control room design

The control room design approach we have developed follows four basic steps:

Step 1: Strategic management session
Step 2: Operations workshop
Step 3: Design assessment
Step 4: Implementation

* Click on the image on the left to enlarge the image.

Step 1: Strategic Management Session

The goal of the strategic management session is to define the high level future operations ambition regarding the control room project. Defining critical success factors, operational & project scope, future workflow, manning levels and alarm philosophy. This is a meeting with the complete management team (Operations, Automation, HR, HSSE, Facility manager, Project manager) and takes 4-8 hours.

Resulting in:

Space allocation
Project premises
Control room floor plan

Step 2: Operations Workshops

In a dedicated workshop with operator representatives, a task analysis will be conducted, defining information and input requirements per task. Frequency of use, workflow and ergonomic principles will lead to functional design requirements. The sessions can be held on site in pressure cooker format of 1 or 2 days. Or online in multiple shorter meetings. Both with operator representatives.

Resulting in:

Conceptual ergonomic desk design (number of displays, desk lay-out, integration of equipment)
Conceptual floor plan & control room lay-out options
3D visualizations representing lines of sight, reaching zones and other critical aspects

Step 3: Control Room Design Assessment

In a final meeting, several conceptual design options will be presented and reviewed with the complete multi-disciplinary team. The options will be assessed against the functional design requirements as defined in the previous workshops. The outcome will be a supported final functional design.

Resulting in:

Final functional 3D control room design according ergonomic standards (ISO 11064)
Functional design requirements for procurement and detailed design
Integrated design solutions
Operations commitment and project team alignment

Step 4: Implementation

The results of our control room design approach is presented in a document which can be used for procurement or further detailed design engineering. Defining both technical as well as functional design requirements up front will reduce time, safe costs and will lead to a better end-result with more operator commitment. You can either use our advice as input for procurement, with no strings attached. But we can also deliver plug and play control room furniture like the remote control workstation or the turnkey delivery of your complete control room.

Ops Factor

World's Leading Remote Control Room Specialist - Optimising Operator Performance

Contact

info@ops-factor.com

+31 (0) 34 14 11 584

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