Industrial Engineering Blog

Industrial alarm flood with multiple red warning alerts on control room monitors, illustrating alarm overload, EEMUA 191 and ISA-18.2 alarm management.

What Is an Alarm Flood? Causes, EEMUA 191 and ISA-18.2 Benchmarks, and How to Stop Them

October 12, 2026
Alarm Management

Short Summary An alarm flood occurs when an operator receives more alarms than they can effectively assess and respond to, commonly defined as more than 10 new alarms in 10 minutes on a single console. Alarm floods can delay critical responses, increase operator fatigue and compromise process safety. This guide explains the alarm flood benchmarks [...]

Tunnel pasteuriser buying guide showing industrial bottle pasteurisation equipment and a supplier selection checklist

How to Choose a Tunnel Pasteuriser: 9 Buying Criteria + Supplier Checklist

October 8, 2026
Pasteurizer

Short Summary Choosing the right tunnel pasteuriser involves more than comparing machine prices or rated capacity. This guide covers the 9 key criteria to evaluate, including throughput, thermal and PU control, product and pack compatibility, energy and water use, site utilities, automation, hygienic design, line integration and total cost of ownership. It also includes practical [...]

Plant shutdown and turnaround planning guide showing engineers reviewing an industrial plant

Plant Shutdown and Turnaround Planning: Complete Guide and Checklist

September 10, 2026
Engineering

Short Summary Effective plant shutdown and turnaround planning starts well before the outage, with clear goals, a controlled scope, detailed work packs and early procurement. Most cost and schedule overruns can be traced back to issues such as scope creep, late materials, incomplete work packs and poor restart planning. A successful turnaround also depends on [...]

Predictive maintenance vs preventive maintenance comparison showing condition monitoring technology and a traditional maintenance schedule

Predictive vs Preventive Maintenance: Differences, Costs and Which Is Right for Your Plant

September 7, 2026
Engineering

Short Summary: Predictive maintenance and preventive maintenance both help industrial plants reduce equipment failures and unplanned downtime, but they work in different ways. Preventive maintenance relies on scheduled servicing, while predictive maintenance uses real-time equipment data to identify developing faults and determine when maintenance is actually needed. This guide compares their costs, benefits, sensors, ROI [...]

Subsea Pipeline Valve Selection Oil & Gas Guide

Subsea Pipeline Valve Selection: An Oil & Gas Guide

August 13, 2026
Engineering

Short Summary Selecting the right subsea or pipeline valve is about more than choosing a pressure class or valve type. Engineers need to consider the valve's function, pressure and temperature range, process fluid, corrosion and erosion risks, materials, actuation, testing, and applicable standards. Subsea applications add further challenges, including seawater exposure, external pressure, remote operation, [...]

OT Cybersecurity for Industrial Control Systems

August 5, 2026
Engineering

Short Summary - OT Cybersecurity This blog explains why OT Cybersecurity has become a critical priority for industrial plants as IT and OT systems become increasingly connected. It highlights how modern cyber threats target operational continuity rather than just data, using real-world incidents such as Colonial Pipeline, Oldsmar Water Treatment and Stuxnet to demonstrate the [...]

Green Hydrogen Plant Engineering: Key Technical Challenges

July 20, 2026
Engineering

Short Summary Australia's green hydrogen industry has enormous potential, but many projects are delayed long before production begins. The biggest obstacles aren't always funding or technology—they're engineering decisions made during design, instrumentation, safety planning, and commissioning. This guide explains the key engineering challenges that make hydrogen plants fundamentally different from conventional oil, gas, and LNG [...]

SCADA vs DCS Which Industrial Control System Is Best

SCADA vs DCS: Which Control System Is Right for Your Plant?

July 10, 2026
Engineering

Short Answer: SCADA and DCS serve different purposes. SCADA is best for monitoring and controlling assets spread across multiple locations, while DCS is designed for continuous, high-speed control within a single plant. Many industrial facilities use both systems together to get the benefits of centralised monitoring and precise process control. Choosing between SCADA and DCS [...]

Retrofitting Legacy Plants with IoT Practical Guide 1

Retrofitting Legacy Plants with IoT: A Step-by-Step Roadmap

July 10, 2026
Engineering

Short Answer: Retrofitting a legacy plant with IoT means adding sensors, gateways, and connectivity to existing equipment instead of replacing the entire control system. This approach gives you real-time visibility into asset performance, supports predictive maintenance, and improves operational efficiency while keeping costs and downtime much lower than a full system replacement. For most Australian [...]

Owners Engineer vs EPC Contractor Who Protects Your Projects Interests 1

Owner’s Engineer vs EPC Contractor: Which Do You Need?

June 24, 2026
OWNERS ENGINEERING

When planning a major capital project — whether it is a power generation facility, a water treatment plant, an oil and gas installation, or an industrial processing plant — one of the first questions project owners face is: who is actually looking after our interests? Many owners assume that hiring an EPC contractor is enough. [...]