Merritt Loves it When He's Right...more from Emerson Exchange

Oct. 4, 2005
------------------------------- I LOVE IT WHEN I AM RIGHT For years now, I've been writing articles that predict the use of remote servers, and software that runs from afar. Many people told me that user companies would never permit plant data to escape their grasp and wind up (gasp!) in the hands of some vendor. Or, even worse, wind up on a server for a company that is working for other end users. Or, horror of horrors, be transmitted over the Internet! Balderdash to all that. I've been right...
------------------------------- I LOVE IT WHEN I AM RIGHT For years now, I've been writing articles that predict the use of remote servers, and software that runs from afar. Many people told me that user companies would never permit plant data to escape their grasp and wind up (gasp!) in the hands of some vendor. Or, even worse, wind up on a server for a company that is working for other end users. Or, horror of horrors, be transmitted over the Internet! Balderdash to all that. I've been right all along. I attended a session, "Equipment Monitoring at a Crude Oil Facility," by Cesar Malpica, process engineer at Petrolera Amerivan in Venezuela, who described how they were using an AMS asset management system to diagnose problems in compressors, heaters and boilers. The kicker is, the AMS system is running on a server in the UK, and the Amerivan engineers, techs, managers and maintenance folks get access to AMS screens over the Internet, using a web browser. The reason the server is in the UK is because that's where Emerson keeps a staff of engineers and analysts who understand refinery operations and can diagnose problems from afar. Malpica described how the two companies work together to solve equipment problems, and it seems to be a sweet deal. And, for those who say asset management software from a process control vendor is dedicated to their proprietary hardware only, another "balderdash" is in order: the process control system at Amerivan is a Honeywell TDC3000. AMS takes what data it needs from the Honeywell historian. Why Amerivan didn't use Honeywell's asset management software to do the same remains a question. Malpica said they considered other solutions, but only Emerson had the software and the engineering expertise they needed. Another question that remains unanswered is: Why don't process control companies advertise and promote such capabilities? They can all do remote server applications and, if you ask them, they will tell you so. Asset management appears to be the hot topic of the day around here. More on that subject anon. Rich Merritt