Historian System
Industrial Historian Systems for Long-Term Process Data
Industrial automation systems continuously generate valuable information about production, equipment and process performance. While SCADA systems provide real-time visibility, understanding what happened hours, days or months ago requires reliable historical data.
An industrial historian system collects, stores and organises time-series data from PLCs, SCADA systems, instrumentation and production equipment, creating a long-term record of how your operation has performed.
At Stratos, we develop and integrate industrial historian solutions that help businesses retain valuable process information, investigate faults, analyse production trends and make better-informed operational decisions.
What Is an Industrial Historian System?
An industrial historian is a specialised data storage system designed to collect and retain large volumes of time-series information generated by industrial equipment and automation systems.
Unlike conventional databases, historian systems are designed specifically for continuously changing process data.
Information stored may include:
• Temperatures.
• Pressures.
• Flow rates.
• Motor speeds.
• Production counts.
• Machine states.
• Equipment status.
• Alarm events.
• Energy consumption.
• Process setpoints.
• Production parameters.
This creates a detailed historical record that engineering and production teams can analyse when required.
Why Industrial Historian Systems Matter
Real-time information tells operators what is happening now.
Historical information helps explain why it happened.
A historian system enables teams to look back at process conditions before, during and after an event.
This can help organisations:
• Investigate equipment failures.
• Identify recurring faults.
• Analyse production trends.
• Monitor process performance.
• Compare production periods.
• Identify gradual deterioration.
• Investigate downtime.
• Support continuous improvement.
Instead of relying on operator memory or incomplete records, engineers can investigate what the automation system was actually doing.
PLC and SCADA Data Collection
Historian systems typically collect information from the automation infrastructure already operating within the facility.
Depending on the application, data may originate from:
• PLCs.
• SCADA systems.
• HMIs.
• Variable Speed Drives.
• Motor Control Centres.
• Instrumentation.
• Energy meters.
• Production equipment.
• Industrial communication networks.
Stratos considers how information moves through the complete automation architecture to ensure the historian receives accurate and meaningful operational data.
Historical Process Trending
One of the most valuable uses of historian data is the ability to analyse process variables over time.
Historical trends can help engineers examine:
• Temperature changes.
• Pressure variations.
• Motor behaviour.
• Production speeds.
• Process setpoints.
• Equipment states.
• Alarm activity.
• Production output.
Comparing multiple variables over the same period can help identify relationships that may not be obvious during live operation.
Fault Investigation
When equipment fails, understanding the conditions leading up to the failure can significantly improve fault diagnosis.
Historian data allows engineers to review what happened before an event.
For example, they may be able to identify:
• Increasing motor load.
• Rising temperatures.
• Process instability.
• Repeated alarms.
• Changing cycle times.
• Communication problems.
• Equipment starting and stopping unexpectedly.
This information can help distinguish the root cause of a problem from the secondary faults generated afterwards.
Production Performance Analysis
Historical production information provides a valuable foundation for analysing long-term operational performance.
A historian can help teams investigate:
• Production output.
• Cycle times.
• Equipment utilisation.
• Downtime.
• Production interruptions.
• Process consistency.
• Shift-to-shift performance.
• Changes following equipment modifications.
This allows production improvements to be based on measured operational data rather than assumptions.
Historian Systems and Industrial Dashboards
Historian systems and industrial dashboards perform different but complementary functions.
The historian provides the structured historical data.
The dashboard presents selected information in a format that is easier for users to interpret.
Together, they can provide visibility of:
• Current performance.
• Historical trends.
• Production KPIs.
• Downtime patterns.
• Equipment behaviour.
• Process performance.
This allows teams to move between real-time operational visibility and longer-term analysis.
Alarm and Event History
Historian systems can also provide valuable context around alarms and process events.
Historical records can help identify:
• Frequently occurring faults.
• Alarm patterns.
• Equipment trips.
• Process disturbances.
• Repeated production interruptions.
• Conditions preceding failures.
When combined with effective SCADA alarm management, this information can support more detailed root cause analysis.
Data Retention and Storage
Industrial facilities can generate substantial amounts of process data.
Historian design therefore needs to consider:
• Number of data points.
• Collection frequency.
• Required retention period.
• Storage capacity.
• Data compression.
• Backup requirements.
• System performance.
• Future expansion.
Collecting every possible value at the highest frequency is not necessarily useful. The system should be designed around the operational information the business actually needs.
Integrating Historian Systems with Existing Automation
Introducing a historian does not necessarily require changes to the underlying PLC control system.
Where suitable communication infrastructure already exists, historian solutions can often be integrated with existing automation equipment.
Our engineers assess:
• PLC platforms.
• SCADA architecture.
• Existing databases.
• Communication protocols.
• Network infrastructure.
• Available tags.
• Reporting requirements.
• Data retention requirements.
This helps determine the most practical approach to capturing and storing operational information.
Why Choose Stratos for Industrial Historian Systems?
A useful historian system requires more than simply storing large quantities of data. The right information must be collected from the right equipment and placed into the correct operational context.
Stratos combines experience in PLC programming, SCADA systems, industrial communications and automation engineering to develop historian solutions around the processes generating the data.
Whether you're introducing historical data collection for the first time or modernising an existing historian environment, our engineers can help create a system that turns operational history into useful engineering insight.
Turn Your Process History into Useful Insight
Understanding what happened yesterday can help prevent tomorrow's production problem. Stratos develops industrial historian solutions that capture and organise PLC and SCADA data, giving engineering and production teams the historical information they need to investigate faults, analyse performance and improve operations.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is an industrial historian system?
An industrial historian is a specialised system that collects and stores time-series data from PLCs, SCADA systems, instrumentation and industrial equipment for historical analysis.
What information can an industrial historian store?
Historian systems can store process values, equipment states, production information, alarms, temperatures, pressures, motor data, energy information and many other automation variables.
Can a historian connect to existing PLCs?
Yes. Depending on the existing control architecture and communications, historian systems can often collect information from existing PLC and SCADA systems without replacing the underlying automation equipment.
What is the difference between SCADA and a historian?
SCADA primarily provides real-time supervisory monitoring and control, while a historian is designed to store large volumes of process information for long-term analysis and trending.
Can historical data be displayed on an industrial dashboard?
Yes. Historian data can be used by industrial dashboards and reporting systems to display historical trends, production KPIs, downtime and other operational information.