Emerson: All roads point toward wireless
An instrument engineer in the 1970s worked with pneumatic gears, progressed to analog tools, and digital ones also. Then he graduated to fieldbus technologies like Foundation and HART, and on to OPC.
The next step and maybe the biggest opportunity yet is upon us now and it is wireless sensing and networking.
So said John Berra, president of Emerson Process Management this morning to the 2,000 users, business partners, and Emerson technologists gathered in Nashville for their annual information exchange conference.
“The technical obstacles to wireless communication in plants and factories are falling. No wires means no limits to what we can see and hear in the plant. We can put in more monitoring points and at 1/10 the cost of wired sensors,” Berra said.
“This will open new doors in the areas of predictive maintenance and asset management,” Berra said. “We’ll save money in factories not because we’re saving by not using copper wire, but because we can, for example, monitor corrosion better or keep closer track on valve health and its affect on process efficiency.”
At a press conference this afternoon the company will announce a number of new wireless products as well as a “starter kit” for companies only thinking about or just beginning their use of the technology.
Berra also released the latest fiscal numbers for the process management division he heads. Sales are up 15% for the year over year to the tune of $650 mil pushing total revenues to $4.8 billion.
“We expect to push past $5 billion next year,” he said.
-- Nicholas Sheble
The next step and maybe the biggest opportunity yet is upon us now and it is wireless sensing and networking.
So said John Berra, president of Emerson Process Management this morning to the 2,000 users, business partners, and Emerson technologists gathered in Nashville for their annual information exchange conference.
“The technical obstacles to wireless communication in plants and factories are falling. No wires means no limits to what we can see and hear in the plant. We can put in more monitoring points and at 1/10 the cost of wired sensors,” Berra said.
“This will open new doors in the areas of predictive maintenance and asset management,” Berra said. “We’ll save money in factories not because we’re saving by not using copper wire, but because we can, for example, monitor corrosion better or keep closer track on valve health and its affect on process efficiency.”
At a press conference this afternoon the company will announce a number of new wireless products as well as a “starter kit” for companies only thinking about or just beginning their use of the technology.
Berra also released the latest fiscal numbers for the process management division he heads. Sales are up 15% for the year over year to the tune of $650 mil pushing total revenues to $4.8 billion.
“We expect to push past $5 billion next year,” he said.
-- Nicholas Sheble
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