Two-Wire Breakthrough Expands Coriolis’ Appeal
“We know that customers have been waiting for a breakthrough that would enable them to replace previous generation two-wire flowmeters with highly accurate and reliable Coriolis meters—without incurring the costs of additional wiring and power.”

That wait is over, said Tom Moser, president of Micro Motion, as he introduced the company’s new two-wire 2200S Coriolis flowmeter transmitter at a press conference today at the 2008 Emerson Global Users Exchange in Washington, D.C.

“The 2200S provides Elite performance in a two-wire package,” Moser said, referring to the company’s industry-standard Coriolis flowmeter, which historically has required a separate pair of wires for transducer power in addition to the normal 4-20mA signal wires.

» Read more

“The 2200S provides Elite performance in a two-wire package.” Micro Motion’s Tom Moser is bullish that eliminating the need for separate power wiring will expand the range of applications for the company’s industry-standard Coriolis flowmeters.

CapEx Wireless Savings Proven in Hydrotreater Study
Engineers at Emerson Process Management recently studied and compared the costs of installing wireless and wired networks at a large hydrotreater facility. In addition to determining if wireless is a good value, the study asked: How should wireless instrumentation technology be used in capital projects? How does it affect it the cost of those projects? What other applications and process improvements open up when implementing wireless?

Emerson’s John Dolenc, PE, principal consulting engineer, and Dan Daugherty, fieldbus consultant for process systems and solutions, provided detailed results of the study in their presentation, “Economic and Technical Considerations for Deployment of Wireless in Capital Projects,” on the second day of Emerson Global Users Exchange 2008 at Gaylord National Resort and Conference Center near Washington, D.C.

» Read more

“Wireless cut costs from $8.8 to $5.2 million.” An analysis by Emerson’s John Dolenc (pictured) and Dan Daugherty demonstrated an installed cost savings of 40% for a typical capital project.

Biogen Idec’s Excellent Integration Adventure
"We aren’t integrating to SAP, and we aren’t doing MES, but we are doing an integration project,” said Joe Musiak, associate director of global automation for Biogen Idec, as he began to detail his company’s ambitious, multi-site integration plans. Biogen makes multiple biologic products in plants in Massachusetts, North Carolina and Denmark and, “We needed to be much more flexible,” Musiak said.

He threw a very large stack of paper on the table. “This is the amount of paper we need to make a batch,” he said. Then, holding up two or three sheets of paper, he added, “When this project is done, we’re hoping that this will be the amount of paper we need to make a batch.”

» Read more

“We actually did the same project three times, at three of our plants.” Biogen Idec’s Joe Musiak explained the company’s effort to unify and integrate automation practices at its various plants.

Invite Automation Suppliers Sooner to New Project Plans
If a little planning ahead is good, then more should be better.

It’s probable that this common-sense advice has never been more applicable than it is right now. That’s because increasingly sophisticated and intelligent field devices and industrial networks need more planning before installation from developers, system integrators and end users.

Doing this preemptive planning right means bringing in as much expertise, including input from suppliers on everything from procurement to long-term maintenance, as possible as early as possible. A prime example of this high-level collaboration is the “marquee strategic plan” that Fluor Supply Chain Solutions and Emerson Process Management formed recently, and which has grown to serve 15 of Fluor’s facilities worldwide.

» Read more

“Nobody can afford to continue to run over budget or off schedule these days.” Fluor’s Vincent Grindley stressed the importance of early collaboration among owner-operators, engineering firms and automation suppliers.

Change Leadership Is a Matter of Perspective
When Dave Beckman retired from Emerson Process Management as senior vice president, marketing in 2003, he knew he wanted to give something back to others. Part of that repayment occurred today at the 2008 Emerson Global Users Exchange, where he urged the capacity crowd to think differently and become the leaders who will steer the course to success.

“All of us are being impacted by what’s happening on Wall Street right now,” he said, just a day after the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 777 points in one trading day. “I remember a previous time when the banks began to fail, and my grandfather said, ‘Good. It’s about time those guys get their due.’ And a year later, he lost his carpentry business because of the trickle-down.”

» Read more

“The ubiquitous, important realities are often the ones that are the hardest to see and talk about.” Dave Beckman, retired Emerson marketing exec, stressed the importance of perspective in leadership creativity.

To MAC or Not to MAC?
About eight years ago, ExxonMobil made a commitment to using main automation contractors (MACs) on large projects and those that involved multiple engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) firms. Timm Madden, senior consultant at ExxonMobil Development, joined Ron Day, project director at Fluor, and Roger Reid-Bicknell, project manager for Emerson Process Management, at the 2008 Emerson Global Users Exchange Engineering Forum to discuss the advantages and disadvantages of using a MAC approach on large projects, as well as the communication and scheduling disagreements that can arise.

» Read more

“Who does what is critical.” ExxonMobil’s Timm Madden stressed the importance of well-documented scope definition and management under the MAC methodology.