Electronic, plant-specific manuals with the information operators need and illustrations of your own plant, written by operators for operators. We write plant-specific and electronic O&M manuals for municipal and industrial plants.
Why operators trust our manuals
We write our manuals to be used on shift. We have been plant superintendents twice, so we write the manual the way an operator needs to read it.
- Electronic: your manual is a file, not a binder. Bookmarks, a clickable contents and links between sections take an operator straight to the section needed.
- Interactive: the manual works with our process control workbooks, which can be tied to SCADA.
- Great illustrations: cutaways and process drawings of your own plant show where the flow goes, which pump serves which tank, and what each valve does.
- Need to know: operation, valve lineups, troubleshooting, maintenance and safety for each process, without the filler.
- Plant-specific: built from your drawings, equipment, SCADA screens and your operators' knowledge, not a generic template.
Modern O&M manuals
Today's technology allows far better, more accurate and more user-friendly plant manuals than the old binder on the shelf. WSI manuals are interactive, and WSI can build them to link with the tools your plant already uses: Excel process control spreadsheets and calculators, SCADA, PowerPoint training slides, the lab's LIMS and the maintenance management system. WSI sets up the links to fit each plant's own systems and IT rules.
- O&M manual conversion: turning an older manual, binder or PDF, into an interactive one
- New plant O&M manual: written for a new plant or new process, ready for startup and training
What is in a manual
Each process area follows the same outline, so an operator who knows one chapter knows how to read them all.
| Section | What it gives the operator |
|---|---|
| Purpose and functional description | What each process does and how it fits the plant. |
| Design data | Equipment, capacities, controls, and the power source and lockout point for each unit. |
| Operation | Startup, shutdown, valve lineups, and how to read the SCADA screens for that process. |
| Process control and math | What to monitor, the operator math, and a process control spreadsheet. |
| Troubleshooting | Symptom tables and step-by-step decision trees. |
| Maintenance and safety | Maintenance by equipment item, plus lockout, confined space and gas safety. |
| Competency checks | Questions with answer keys, so a new operator can check what they learned. |
| Daily round and operator forms | Round sheets and review forms that operators fill in and keep. |
SOPs and competency exams
- Standard operating procedures: step-by-step instructions for routine and critical tasks, so every shift does them the same safe way
- Competency exams: plant-specific tests that confirm operators understand their own processes and equipment
How we write a manual
- Kick-off: we meet your team, agree on scope, audience and schedule, and collect your drawings, vendor manuals and existing manuals.
- Plant walk-through with operators: we learn how each process is really operated.
- Drawings and P&ID review: we read the record drawings, P&IDs, SCADA screens and vendor documents, and note where they disagree.
- Writing: each process the same way: purpose, design data, operation, process control, troubleshooting, maintenance and safety.
- Field verification: we check tags, nameplate data and valve lineups in the field.
- Operator review: your operators read the draft and we revise until it reads right to the people who use it.
- Training: we train your operators from the finished manual, in person at your plant.
Manuals we have written
We have written manuals all over the country, for municipal and industrial plants in Texas, Washington, Oregon, California, Idaho, Indiana and Hawaii, and in British Columbia. They include electronic O&M manuals for a Texas city's two large plants with a combined capacity of up to 150 MGD, complete operations manuals for a Washington water district's two plants, manuals for seven Oregon plants, and an O&M and training manual for new solids, digestion and gas systems in Hawaii.
The manual is the core of our live, plant-specific training package.
Talk with us about your plant
Need a manual your operators will use? Tell us about your plant and we will talk through what it should cover. Call 503-701-2766 or email help@ActivatedSludge.com.