Small Package, Right Time
Delivering the PLC and SCADA controls package for Jaydo's Melton PST1 and PST2 renewal at Greater Western Water.
“Controls might be the smallest piece of a project like this, but it's the layer everything else has to pass through, the point where all of the upstream decisions have to actually work together as one functioning plant.”
The Job
Parasyn was engaged by Jaydo Electrical and Engineering Services to deliver the PLC and SCADA controls package for the renewal of two Primary Sedimentation Tanks at Greater Western Water's Melton plant. The tanks were being brought up to the same standard as a third, newly built tank at the same site, so all three could eventually share consistent spares, safety systems and operating philosophy.
Small Scope, Last in Line
Controls is usually a small slice of a program like this next to the civil, mechanical and electrical works that come before it. But it's also the layer everything else has to pass through, the point where all of those upstream decisions have to actually work together as one functioning plant. That position in the chain is exactly why timing matters more than scope size.
Getting the Timing Right
Jaydo brought Parasyn in during detailed design, well ahead of hardware procurement and site works, and that timing did its job. Two issues surfaced during design and configuration rather than after equipment was on site:
That's the outcome you want: detailed design is exactly where those things are supposed to get found. The real red flag would have been discovering either of them on site, mid-installation, which is usually a sign the upfront design and preparation didn't go deep enough.
Where Things Stand
Both tanks' controls scope is now complete and fully tested: PST2 finished first, and PST1 followed it through Proof of Performance testing, with its Test Summary Report issued on the project's original target completion date. The project is now in its final administrative close-out.
“Jaydo brought us in during detailed design, and that's exactly when things like the I/O compatibility issue or the tank interaction should surface, not on site. Finding them there instead would be the real warning sign. Get the fundamentals locked in early and trust the process to catch the rest.”
The Takeaway
It's a pattern worth naming for other contractors bringing in a specialist controls partner: get them in early enough to lock in the fundamentals, control philosophy, sequencing intent, the standard being followed, then trust detailed design to work out the rest. The projects that go smoothly aren't the ones with no surprises, they're the ones where the surprises happen on paper, not on site.
