Parasyn brings together our people, our customers people, our partners and of course technology to deliver solutions, to maintain asset management systems for life and to help restore system integrity when systems breakdown. We cannot operate alone.
We strive to be well planned, to listen to understand, to be tenacious, to follow a systems approach to achieve efficiency and to be reliable and motivated to get the job done. These attributes reflect our core values.
We believe that to deliver critical systems and enterprises information infrastructure successfully, projects should be created that employ a high governance framework (for safety & performance with guarantees), publish transparency with planning (ensuring collaboration beyond your own team for best outcome no matter what the circumstances) and outcomes focussed approach (aligning the entire team to meet their promises).
Successful projects may also include early contractor engagement to ensure you get the right advise and commitment from the right team up front. However, this doesn’t mean “labour hire” as you still need to ensure you have the right team with the right skills and that they are all outcomes focused.
For maintenance and support, you need experts you can trust. Engineers who know your systems, know your operations and understand your priorities. At Parasyn, we have systems for support that are highly effective in ensuring that you have the right people solving the right problems permanently.
When the requirements are unclear or not detailed enough to support critical design, the starting point is Proof of Concept (PoC) or an investigation is required to more fully understand a business issue, then consultants can provide a stop gap solution to meet a particular outcome with measurable results. Even though we execute against our Quality Plans, there is flexibility to cater for the unknown or assessing new technologies and scoping up projects.
It takes years to be competent with hi-tech products, complex management process and engineering practice. Like many things in life, if you remain focused for long enough and invest the effort, make some mistakes and learn from those mistakes, you increase your chances of being excellent or superb in your chosen domain. In a volatile technology environment, to have staff change too frequently is not only disruptive for client relationships and current projects or service, but it places the organisation into the retraining loop and is a very real risk and cost to operations. Of course, this is not a concern at all if what you offer customers is a commodity and your support is canned and requires limited consideration.
When research, multi discipline experience and collaboration is required to form an opinion as to what to do next (profession advice or design), it is more than cookie cutting that is required and the situation demands the right people.
The greatest challenge for knowledge companies is how to attract and retain the right staff and how to have effective collaboration because all knowledge doesn’t reside in one brain. The collective brain or knowledge repository is also only half the story as it needs to be organised and applied against a desired outcome. Culture is part of this story, variety is part of it, autonomy to match the individual is part of it and opportunities to learn and contribute are fundamental to all of it.
Without going so far as to name systems integrators we know, this is what we think about the criteria to decide. For IS’s with substance, we suggest:
Its not hard to find some form of answer to this question using LinkedIn or Google, however, to compare apples with apples, we add the following context.
In the more commodity-based areas of plant controls and SCADA we have many competitors. In the area of specialist skills, ie enterprise solutions, software development and business application integration there are few that operate in this space. In more general terms, the easiest way to define who main competitors are without using a complex categorisation method is to answer the question with another question. The question is; which organisations, other than recruiters, head hunt our talent?
We don’t really compete with infrastructure companies who have a controls system department or internal industrial automation capability because they generally do not invest heavily in digital technology or design high end enterprise solutions as do specialist Systems Integrators. Infrastructure companies rightly focus on single project delivery. For “build, own and operate” contracts, simple is usually best. This supports easy handover and transference between asset operators who may change jobs more regularly than operators employed by a utility (or an end user asset owner).
The final group of competitors is our vendors. Some vendors, not all, determine to compete with their channel partners. Sometimes end users insist on only “doing business” with the vendor with the strategy to “keep the vendor honest” which forces some vendors to bypass their channel partners. These are all important considerations when selecting a service provider. The most important overarching principle of successful support and project delivery is the delivery model, management of that model, brand promise, culture and commitment to outcomes. These principles are much more than brochureware or statements during a discussion to “close the deal of a lifetime”. What is important in delivering technology is success habits of planning, design, testing, daily collaboration and full accountability from the first conversation to the last. This is how we believe organisations should be measured rather than by categorisation, personal relationships or even accreditation.
If you really want to define who our competitors are, ask our customers! They will best understand why they select us and why they also sometimes select others to deliver particular services for specific reasons. Their requirements and how they have made selections can save you time and most importantly, avoid the heartache. We understand we may not always be chosen, but we are delighted when we are selected for all of the right reasons. Being chosen for the wrong reasons may be exciting today, like winning the lottery, but it doesn’t produce long term happiness.
Parasyn service many clients and deliver large projects in cities and very remote communities. Particularly for remote communities including islands and the outback, you have to be well prepared, have tested your work thoroughly and developed a robust transition plan to avoid disaster. It pays to have a second person who has crossed checked your planning and work just to be sure you don’t have to come home just to get a screwdriver.
Parasyn’s permanent staff are currently located in Queensland and Victoria. Most of our projects are Australia based however some projects are overseas. For larger projects sometimes, we have casual staff complement our team including undergrads, industrial electricians, drafters and software developers. We do all of our design inhouse and this allows us to be responsible for the outcomes and provide the right advice to customers wanting to understand how systems are put together. You can see us on LinkedIn.
The greatest opportunities appear to be in automation of manufacturing or process plant, and in particular for monitoring fringe assets for materials handling and site resources usually outside of the core manufacturing or production process. This is ideal for IOT technologies, which already have connections to many industrial automation devices. If the IOT data and Industrial Automation control systems data is abstracted to another level, important business decisions can be made from an augmented perspective. What does this mean? It means IOT should not be merged into being a control system and a control system should not be used for “”IOT”” applications not because it cannot be used, but because the price per point may be excessive. The challenge inside the new normal is to do total system design and consider how to merge technologies without eroding the benefits of each of the discrete technologies of choice. Designing off the feature list (glossy brochure) is one sure way to be disappointed in the end.
New Data Driven opportunities include Plant performance optimisation, preventative maintenance (or at least improved strategies) and remote service operations and support (Augmented Reality integrate with SCADA).
IoT is complementary to Industrial Automation, however it is perceived to be the magical, solves everything in five minutes replacement. Truth be told, traditionally Industrial Automation is expensive, because it takes effort to design and implement effectively. For “”low cost”” solutions where reliability and auditability are not key requirements, then Industrial Automation may seem to be a bad fit; because it actually is a bad fit. Experienced end users who have worked out the cost of adding items to their industrial systems quickly realise that SCADA and other Control System elements are not the ideal platform for managing low cost assets e.g., metering, domestic services etc.
If the consumer only knows industrial products and is not willing to risk new technologies it is even more challenging because if the wrong technology is used, then the ROI is poor and the smallest changes can take so long to implement. This is a significant challenge as Industrial Automation providers defend their position and justify their vital role in keeping critical assets reliable and safe.
Whether it is Industrial Automation, Enterprise Historian reporting systems, Control Systems or IOT, leveraging the core strengths of each piece of the puzzle ensures that products are not deployed in areas better served by a complementary technology. That technology may be lower or higher in cost than some “all in one” solution, but the increased reliability and maintainability will trump all the hidden costs of making that square peg fit into a round hole. Keeping it simple will also help combat the challenges of so many technologies to choose from. Remember how many apps you have downloaded to your smart phone and deleted 5 minutes later? As tempting as it may be to try out subscription-based technologies as frequently as we all try out new Apps on our smart phone, if we take this approach to IOT in Industrial Automation, it will surely cost us personally, unless we like to change jobs just as often.
Through repetition and practice, excellent service providers have adopted or developed techniques and approaches to successfully deliver solutions. Success is no accident. Vendors often provide the bulk of the technology. Certified and trained partners generally bring the domain experience and the rigor required to deliver project delivery excellence. This melting pot of organisations implies different types of relationships.
Paramount to successful business outcomes is an engagement model that secures and binds the entire supply chain. Acting in unison, Parasyn coordinates with selected partners to bring an orchestrated solution. Our partners are international and local.
A change of guard with the vendor or constant restructuring can cause havoc. Just when you work out who to speak with to solve a problem, they aren’t there any more or their job title has changed due to a merger or acquisition. When your edge relies on intimate technical support from individuals who work for vendors it is very uncomfortable when you no longer appear as knowledgeable and technically astute as you used to be, when your key contact disappears.
Even though the obvious solution is to learn everything there is to know about a particular product, vertical or range of components, technology is forever updating, and no-one ever thinks to call you when something changes or a new product feature is released! So, what is the fix? The simple fix is having working relationships at both the technical level and corporate level of organisations. Staying in touch and working together regularly supports and encourages a better than nothing strategy, however, structuring and measuring how organisations communicate ensures there is predictability no matter who moves on and what the subject matter of the moment happens to be. If both parties are vested in it working, it’s like a marriage. If either party wavers it doesn’t matter which one it is, the information will be sporadic and the joint effort outcome will be compromised. The moral of the story is to have a plan, share and review that plan regularly and spend quality time together. This gives meaning to working through hiccups and challenges that surface all the time!
It isn’t always about who sits inside your office on any given day. Our technology partners, strategic alliances bring to the table complementary skills that broaden our capability and deepen our resource pool of technology and people. With our carefully selected Partners by our side, our capability to deliver expands geographically and our depth of experience is strengthened. Our chosen vendors also “bolt in” to structured projects in such a way that the best of integration services and product excellence is morphed into a winning solution.
Without listing the traditional Industrial Automation vendors we work with, here are some of our partners who provide specialist products or platforms which Parasyn use to deliver end to end turnkey solutions. These applications include SCADA software, Time series Historians, IoT Platforms, and Predictive Analytics Solutions
Our quality mission is to provide customer satisfaction in all areas of the business in a manner that improves customer satisfaction. As such we are committed to providing a safe working environment for all staff and contractors and to be environmentally responsible in all that we do. Our accreditations and compliance with software development and testing standards also ensure a better overall outcome.
We are accredited to the internationally recognised Quality Systems Standard ISO9001 and Environmental Systems Standard ISO14001 which ensures we deliver quality systems while considering our impact on the environment in everything we do. Parasyn is also accredited to the Australian Standard AS-4801 for Work Health Safety management systems which means we carry out our work safely, minimising risk to our employees and everyone involved.
Our successful client relationship has attracted continuous industry recognition of excellence.
Invensys Operations Management – Best Innovative
Technical Solution 2012
Parasyn were awarded “Best Innovative Technical Solution 2012” at the Invensys Asia Pacific Software Business Partner Conference. The award was given for Parasyn’s work for Airservices Australia, for the design and implementation of their National Technical Monitoring System.
Wonderware Open – Parasyn Best SCADA 2005
Wonderware Open Hall of Fame is an exclusive group of winners whose applications were judged to be outstanding examples of Wonderware products by industry experts, trade editors and members of Wonderware Marketing. This is an internationally recognised accomplishment for Parasyn.
Finalist – Water & Wastewater Control
Jemalong Irrigation – Irrigation Management from the Cloud
Finalist – Automation Innovation
Jemalong Irrigation – Irrigation Management from the Cloud
Winner Oil & Gas
Eastern Star Gas, Narrabri Wellhead SCADA System
The brief was simple “to implement an industry leading end-to-end SCADA system for the Narrabri Gas Field, spanning all elements from the wellheads to the head office”. Ultimately, a significant degree of innovation in Systems Engineering was needed in meeting stringent success factors.
Winner – Mining, Minerals and Exploration
Anglo Coal, Moranbah North Gas Gathering & Delivery SCADA System
With EPA regulations on emissions and the value of CSG as an asset and also as a tool to assist in offsetting running costs Anglo Coal’s Moranbah North Mine is benefiting from a new system. Implementing a new SCADA system throughout the Moranbah North Mine (MNM) was necessary to monitor and control all aspects of the gas collection and distribution process.
Highly Commended – Gas & Oil
Origin Energy CSG Talinga Coal Seam Gas Control & Management
Origin Energy’s Talinga Coal Seam Gas (CSG) Field is one of the most recent gas field developments undertaken by Origin Energy CSG; the Talinga Gas gathering system is monitored and controlled by a fully-integrated and tailor-made SCADA solution. A process information solution is also integrated into the 1000+ site SCADA design which also allows for the support of various plant systems such as gas compression and water treatment. Pipelines are also part of the same SCADA system.
Finalist – Water and Waste Water
SunWater, Pipeline SCADA & Control System
Winner – Automotive and Manufacturing
APA – Data Validation and Business Reporting
With the Importance of accuracy in billing the APA Group (formerly of Origin Energy Asset Management) embarked on an ambitious project to automate the gathering of the data from field instrumentation. With the help of PARASYN this ambitious project became an award winning example of a groundbreaking MES application.
Highly Commended – Gas & Oil
Origin Energy CSG – Leading SCADA & Information System
Parasyn continuing the longstanding partnership with Origin Energy CSG helped develop the Spring Gully Well Production SCADA and Information System. This project was developed with large scale and system sustainability in mind and was runner up to the project that won the Project of the Year overall.
Finalist – Water and Waste Water
East Gippsland Water, New SCADA & Process Information System
Winner – Water & Waste Water
Gold Coast Water, Wastewater System SCADA Upgrade
Working with GCW for many years Parasyn helped to upgrade the systems that service the 2678kms of pipes and sewers, 550 pumping stations and 4 wastewater treatment plants. PARASYN helped to develop a fully redundant 240000 point single server system making it the largest single server install of its kind.
Highly Commended – Gas & Oil
Moonie-Lytton Oil Pipeline Leak Detection and Spill Minimization System
Working in conjunction with Santos Parasyn helped develop the new leak detection solution for the Moonie and Lytton oil pipeline. The system monitors and protects 1100 kilometres of pipeline from Queensland to just near the South Australian boarder.
Winner – Water & Waste Water
Cairns Water SCADA Upgrade
Cairns Water required an engineered solution to assist in management of operational equipment and tracking of histories in real time. Parasyn were engaged to implement a new SCADA system along with various hardware upgrades as part of the process. With regard to the Projects, the judges noted: “In an environment where many and varied vendors have deployed their systems over time, it is good to see an integrator and a water authority work in conjunction to deliver measurable outcomes. This particular system has several strengths in its design and implementation, namely data transmission, redundancy and data historian. The system has to contend not only with real time data but time series data from the two disparate systems: water and sewerage. This constraint requires reliable transmission of data as well as the careful manipulation of data into the display, trend, alarm and data historian systems. All parties should be congratulated in delivering a well-thought-out system that realises substantial benefits.”
Trying to be something to everyone is a sure way to disappoint. Parasyn’s Brand Promise pin points our unique blend of principles which summarizes what we do. Our Brand Promises are:
Though these principles may seem to be idealistic or even cliché, we make significant effort to ensure this remains top of mind. This means, that these principles influence every day decisions. It also significantly effects how we invest including our strategies, performance management and process improvement. So how do we score? Because scoring ourselves on a unique blend of principles has little or no relevance to any other organisation, Parasyn uses the universal Net Promoter Score to gauge our customer overall performance.
For companies similar to Parasyn the industry Net Promoter Score (eNPS) is currently 10 where as our customers rated Parasyn at 86. That is something we are very proud of.
We are also extremely interested in what our staff think about Parasyn.
For companies similar to Parasyn the industry Employee Net Promoter Score (eNPS) is currently 10 where as at Parasyn the eNPS is 50. That is something we are also very proud of.
As outlined above, we cannot be something for everyone. If we can improve, we are desperate to learn how. We are serious about our brand promise and like any closed loop control system can only remain stable with a closed loop feedback signal. If you can help us, you could be that feedback signal. Please share your ideas. Thank you for your support. The Parasyn Team.
If a supportive, collaborative and healthy organisation, working with high tech and diverse technologies is attractive to you, we would love to hear from you. Because we are always looking for top performers who will join our team next, send us your details even if a position is not formally advertised.
If you have recently seen a position advertised and would like to join Parasyn, follow the instructions below.
For Contract Roles please ensure your cover letter outlines your preferred locations for work, availability, current commitments and expected rates.
