User Input Key to Making Future Now Says Emerson CEO
David Farr says user input is precious because it brings the future into the present.

“The leaders of Emerson Global Users Exchange are all about creating an environment for positive things to happen,” said Emerson Electric’s chairman, CEO and president. David Farr. “This is because they and we know that it’s you—our attendees and users—that create the future for Emerson Process Management.”

As a result, he said, reiterating the company’s mission statement: “Emerson is where technology and engineering come together to create solutions for the benefit of our customers driven, without compromise, for a world of action.”

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“We are significantly increasing our investment in the next generation of technology.” Emerson Electric CEO David Farr explained the company’s strategic imperatives for the future.

John Berra Celebrates a ‘Moment of Joy’
John Berra’s boss, David Farr, CEO of Emerson Electric, talked about Berra’s habit of reminding him to step back and relish successes once in a while. “That’s a Berra Moment of Joy,” Farr said, “and then we go back to figuring out how to do it better.”

So when it became John Berra’s turn to address the Emerson Exchange kickoff session, he paused for a Moment of Joy. “I don’t know about you, but I think I have my boss right where I want him,” he crowed, “because he understands process automation.”

Then he stretched the moment to thank all the attendees for their support of Emerson Process Management. “Thanks to you, we’ve been clipping along at a growth rate of about 15% since 2003, and we’re going to do it again in our fiscal year that ends this month. Thanks to our users, we aren’t just doing this in the project business, but in the daily ‘I-need-a-valve-and-three-transmitters’ business.” Berra noted, “We’ve grown $2 billion in sales just since 2003.”

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“We are about making the right investments so we can do a better job for you,” says Emerson Process Management President John Berra on the company’s continued investments in people, acquisitions and technology.

Emerson Extends Health Management to Turbomachinery
Emerson Process Management has extended its PlantWeb Smart Machinery Health Monitoring capabilities to include turbomachinery protection. The offering meets the American Petroleum Institute’s API 670 definition of industry best practices for turbomachinery protection. Emerson has completed its line of online machinery monitoring offerings, adding to its reputation as a leading supplier of predictive diagnostics and performance monitoring for critical equipment.

Emerson’s Smart Machinery Health Monitoring integrates with the process automation environment, enabling maintenance and operations personnel to maximize equipment reliability and plant performance. The new CSI 6000 Machinery Health monitor protects critical machinery from catastrophic failures, permitting orderly shutdown of equipment and related processes.

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Emerson’s new CSI 6000 Machinery Health Monitor integrates API 670 protection with prediction, performance monitoring and process control to manage plants’ critical assets.

Partnership to Develop Bioreactor Models
Broadley-James and Emerson Process Management are partnering to test bioreactor modeling techniques and tools to support the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s Process Analytical Technology (PAT) initiative. The model is intended to enable researchers to optimize manufacturing operations by evaluating a wide range of process alternatives in a fraction of the time and cost currently required. Live from Emerson Exchange, Walt Boyes, editor-in-chief of Control, discusses the project’s potential with Scott Broadley, president of Broadley-James and Emerson Process Management’s Terry Blevins.

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Global Approach Key to Successful Project Execution
“Today, the global capital investment environment is the highest it’s been in 30 years,” began Alan Boeckman, chairman and CEO of Fluor Corp., in his keynote address to the 2007 Emerson Global Users Exchange, which kicked off this morning in Grapevine, (Dallas) Texas. Boeckman spoke on the fundamental transformation of how capital projects get done over the past 20 years, and gave recommendations on what we, as an industry, must do to better leverage what engineering talent has survived the past two decades of downsizing as we begin to rebuild the ranks of design professionals.

“Half of the capital projects that we’ll have in 25 years do not yet exist,” Boeckman continued. “Energy consumption is expected to grow 50% by 2030, with 80% of new capacity added in developing economies,” he said. Meanwhile, many older, experienced design engineers have left the profession and their likely successors, having seen the handwriting on the wall, “have altered their career intentions,” Boeckman added.

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“This approach has allowed us to reduce costs by 10% to 15% and cycle time by 20% to 30%,” said Fluor CEO Alan Boeckman of his company’s use of global execution teams and web-based collaborative tools to streamline capital projects.