APC and Wireless Rabbits

Stan: Without sufficient measurements, APC projects can become black holes, sucking in resources to a point of no escape and causing breakdowns in the laws of thermodynamics.

Greg: Talking about holes, Randy Reiss pulled a rabbit out of one by conceiving wireless access to the interface in the control room for an online principal component analysis of batch profiles and projection to a latent structures end-of-batch prediction he developed. This can be extended to automated maintenance systems, so when you are in the field tracking down problems, you can have access to metrics and analytics on the process and the automation system.

Stan: You also need good control valves to affect the process. I don’t mean on-off valves posing as control valves, but true throttling valves. If the valve was originally manufactured or marketed by a piping valve company instead of a control valve company, or has exceedingly good tight shutoff specs, the valve is best used for interlocks or sequences, not loops.

Greg: For more information on how to improve the foundation for fun and profit, see the recent presentation titled “Control Loop Foundation for Batch and Continuous Processes.” (www.easydeltav.com/controlinsights/gm/ControlLoopFoundationBatchandContinuousRevD.pdf. )
Can wireless rabbits be the key to your success? To help answer this timely question, we conclude with the top ten reasons from Randy Reiss why your New Year’s resolutions should include a wireless rabbit.

Top Ten Reasons Why You Will Go Wireless Next Year

10. Your astrologist predicted it, and she’s the one who also predicted that Britney would make a come-back...sorta.
9. Plant initiative to remove gofers is the most common reason for not getting tank level readings.
8. You’ve used the excuse that engineering and maintenance “got their wires crossed” too many times.
7. 50 million teens can’t be wrong!
6. Suppliers are threatening to discontinue wired transmitters.
5. Someone sold management that “once-a-second” data transmission over wireless is faster.
4. Last year’s wireless initiative was exposed to be a farce when Jeb’s cell phone died. This year, they’re watching!
3. Who, in their right mind, would trust a battery-operated wireless device to run the plant, unless it looks cool?
2. After a transposition error caused that incident last month, Rob just keeps repeating the phrase “Boy, you can clean that rabbit up, but you don’t know where it’s been,” over and over.
1. There are bad ways to realize that the phrase, “Turn on pump 42” sounds a lot like “Darn that horny toad!”