Looking at asset management

This is not a bleeding edge technology; a manufacturer can do asset management today.
While there may be plants that think they are getting the most out of their assets, they should think again, because in most cases they are not. In fact, with more of the knowledge base walking out the door these days, ensuring assets are running properly is a key movement to the future, said users and suppliers at the ARC Advisory Group Forum in Boston. The Forum focused on enterprise interoperability.
Just ask Paul Castro, manager of reliability technology at Eastman Chemical.
“Eastman is like any other company in that we are driven to improve performance,” he said. Maintenance is one of the key areas to improve performance.
“Our management teams don’t understand maintenance and our technical teams are not good at communicating their needs,” Castro said. So, the combination of the two can lead to problems for a company.
That is where manufacturers have to start communicating their thoughts and ideas across the enterprise. If the company is successful, they will be able to wring more productivity out of their processes.
Part of the process is developing a philosophy that allows for change.
“Changing a culture in an organization is all about communication, communication, communication,” said Johaan Claassen maintenance manager at Sasol. “You can’t have enough communication.”
One of the key elements to working on change management is having a company wide vision and sticking to it in a consistent manner.
Through his company’s change in processes and ability the get the most out of their assets, Claassen said the total asset optimization benefit was $1.4 million between the years 2004-2006.

OPC-UA specifications released

At the end of the day, in this industry it is all about connectivity. From device to system to plant manager through the firewall into the enterprise up to the executive suite, everyone along the chain needs various forms of information.
That is where OPC Foundation’s OPC Unified Architecture (OPC-UA) comes in.
The foundation launched OPC-UA at the ARC Advisory Group’s 14th annual forum Tuesday in Boston. OPC-UA is a series of specifications that allows interoperability for data to move from the plant floor through the firewall to the enterprise.
“It’s all about taking information from the shop floor to the top floor,” said Thomas Burke, OPC Foundation president and executive director.
XML-DA brought data through the firewall, but it was just data. With OPC-UA we are able to turn that data into (useful) information,” he said.
This new specification takes the existing OPC structure adds in web services which helps enable the new architecture.

Safety, security, disaster: Recovery's all in a plan

Honeywell users got another round of application presentations today at the Honeywell User Group conference as engineers covered a wide range of topics like alarm management, how to recover from a disaster like Hurricane Katrina, security, and safety systems, among others.
But one of the funniest events of the day occurred during the Microsoft breakfast when during a demonstration of the new operating system Vista, which is now in beta, the system crashed and the blue screen came up.
The audience roared in laughter and gave the incident a round of applause. However, after a short delay, the presentation continued.
Without going into the detail of all the presentations, the glaring message that comes out is, you need a plan or your need to plan for every conceivable incident.
That is where standardizing your company’s platform and procedures from plant to plant, across the globe is vital.
Guy Wiles from DuPont had a disaster recovery plan at his plant in DeLisle, Miss. When Hurricane Katrina hit his plant, he lost 20,000 points of I/O and they had 100,000 determinations/re-terminations.
After the storm surge hit, they had 20 feet of standing water. They hit the plan immediately after the storm and because they documented everything, they were able to get a devastated plant up and running again in 11 weeks.
“Everything was done like we were supposed to do,” he said.
There is no way a company can survive today without planning for any kind of an event whether it is man made or a natural event.
As Wiles said, “natural disasters can happen anytime, anywhere. You need a plan.”
The same idea came from ExxonMobil’s Johan Nye, who gave a presentation on managing security for open control systems.
“Everyone has to know what their role is.”
Does your company have a plan? Talk to me.

Talking the future at Honeywell user group

Oil and gasoline are not going away, so manufacturers better start preparing for the refinery of the future, said Michael Sarli, technology program leader automation and optimization division for ExxonMobil Research and Engineering at Tuesday’s Honeywell User Group conference in Phoenix.
Tuesday is the day where users grab center stage and offer presentations and papers on various topics throughout the industry.
Sarli’s talk focused on “A refinery of the future.” Let’s face it, he said, “we are in a commodity business. The days of trying to sell one brand over the other are gone.”
He said from the year 2006-2020, his company will continue to offer the same products, but they will begin a transition to other alternatives.
One of the goals in achieving success in the future, Sarli said, “will not only be able to predict what will happen, but when it will happen.”
He said some of what a company will have to do is set global standards for security, global product lifecycle cost management, global life expectancy management, and a plan for global remote access.
In essence, Sarli said, for any company to achieve increased productivity and profitability in the future, they have to heighten their sense of “discipline and consistency by using global standards. You can’t have 45 different ways to apply process control.”
Sarli’s talk was just one of the highlights throughout a busy day at the user group conference.
User group meetings used to bring about blunt discussions of a company’s product offerings and what were the good points and how can they make them better. As of late, these meetings often turn into an opportunity to market a company’s products. But with Tuesday’s lively give and take in the question and answer sessions following the presentations, the sessions seem to go back to the roots of what a user group is all about.
Talk to me.

Honeywell’s wireless moves

The gloves are off and Honeywell is ready to take on all comers in the wireless arena, say the leaders of the automation giant during the keynote addresses at the company’s Honeywell Users Group Americas Symposium 2006 here in hot Phoenix.
“In a well kept secret, we have 20 million wireless devices in service globally,” said Roger Fradin, chief executive for Honeywell’s automation and control solutions. Without mentioning the names of any of their competitors, Fradin simply said when it comes to wireless, “we are the leader.”
Echoing Fradin, Honeywell President for Process Solutions Jack Bolick, said when it comes to wireless, the company is leveraging what they have learned from other business units like aerospace and the home environment “across the board and bringing that to the industrial sector.”
Bolick talked about setting up a wireless mesh network, or cloud, around a plant. That network would enable a company to take advantage of various wireless applications. “Wireless is here today. We are the leaders in wireless. We feel confident in what we have learned over the last several years.”
Bolick said Honeywell is dedicated to working with various wireless committees such as ISA’s SP100 wireless committee and with WINA among others.
“The world is getting smaller and getting faster,” Bolick said.
Is Honeywell the leader in the wireless market? Talk to me.

Siemens planning U.S. growth

Siemens is already a huge player across the globe and it now wants to get bigger in the United States.
“We are planning on investing in the U.S.,” said Aubert Martin, president and chief executive of Siemens Energy and Automation in Alpharetta, Ga., at their 2006 Automation Summit here in hot Las Vegas. Some may see the U.S. as soft for manufacturing development, Martin said, but he sees it as a big region for growth.
“Totally integrated automation is what we are looking for,” said Ralf-Michael Franke, president of Industrial Automation Systems for Siemens in Germany during today's keynote presentations. “We are number one in discrete automation. Right now we are number 3 in process industry automation. We are aiming to be number 1 in the coming years.”
Siemens has a goal and they have the money to back up any one of their moves. Since 2004, the company has spent well over $3 billion on acquisitions.
The company said they have the technology that can stack up well against its competitors, but they don’t want to push their technology to an end user if they don’t need it. Instead, they want to be able to work together with end users for the correct solution. “We want to listen to the customer,” said Thomas Kopansky, vice president of Automation and Motion Division at Siemens Energy and Automation. “It doesn’t matter if you have the best technology, if you don't listen to the customer, then it does no good.”
Talk to me.

Auto market growth

Just take a look: Toyota and Honda, along with other Asian auto makers picked up 40% of the American auto buying market during times when fuel economy is at the forefront of consumers’ minds.
Meanwhile, with gasoline hitting around $3 a gallon, U.S. automakers continue to push gas guzzling SUVs and pick up trucks.
While the U.S.-based auto makers continue to lead in the market share area, they dropped to a low of 52.9%.
Industry sales for May dropped 4.6% compared with 2005, according to Ward's InfoBank. Car sales rose nearly 2%, but sales of SUV's, pickups and minivans fell 10.2%.
Toyota took 15.9% of the U.S. market in May, when its sales rose 12.3% from 2005.
This is hardly a discussion about “them vs. us.” Good for Toyota and Honda. They obviously can take a look at forecasts and trends and then react to a change in the environment. Their companies are models of a nimble manufacturing enterprise.
On the other hand, we have GM and Ford, the two main U.S. auto companies. These firms seem to have an incredibly difficult time just staying out of their own way these days. It remains baffling to see management seems stifled by its own internal processes and can’t shake loose.
These are truly two great companies that hopefully one day will start to see the light and run their business accordingly.
Talk to me.

Plan, perform and win

This is no big surprise, but India’s economy grew at 9.3% in the quarter ended 31 March.
Services and manufacturing were the main drivers for the number to jump again, according to The Wall Street Journal.
The most recent number is even higher than the 8.6% growth in the same quarter a year earlier and the 7.5% posted in the third quarter. In the fourth quarter, construction industry output was up 12%, manufacturing output was up 8.9%, and farm output was up 5.5%.
The commitment India has for growth, especially in the manufacturing sector, is unbelievable. They have a plan and it is working. They are not stopping there.
India’s Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh, knows his country is on the verge of becoming a power.
“Today we have a new vision for India as a partner in the global economy,” Singh said at the opening ceremony at Hannover Messe. “We accept our responsibility with being an integral part of the global economy.”
India has a plan and they are executing on that plan.
Now take a look at your world. How does your company accomplish its goals? Is there a plan and do people follow it? Or do people talk about a goal and then circle around it for a while and lose any chance to take advantage of opportunities?
Talk to me.