The Fieldbus Foundation reports that its 2011 General Assembly, held March 9-10 in Mumbai, attracted nearly 500 suppliers and end users of Foundation fieldbus technology, making it the largest event in the foundation’s history
India was selected as the site for the 2011 event because it’s the world's fastest growing market for process automation and the overwhelming demand for Foundation fieldbus technology in the area. Many of the world’s largest Foundation fieldbus fieldbus installations are also located in India, and the amount of application expertise being developed in India is considerable.
Based on the theme "Achieving Operational Excellence with Foundation Technology," the 2011 General Assembly highlighted the advantages of Foundation fieldbus as a world-class solution for improving plant asset management, reliability and economic performance. Foundation technology continues to advance to meet the needs of the process industries, with Foundation fieldbus for safety instrumented functions (FF-SIF), control in the field, field diagnostics and wireless solutions.
The 2011 General Assembly kicked off with welcoming remarks by Thampy Mathew, regional sales director-PA at Pepperl+Fuchs and chairman of the Fieldbus Foundation India Committee (FFIC). B.R. Mehta, senior vice president of Reliance Industries Limited and chairman of the Fieldbus Foundation’s India End User Council (FFIEUC) also welcomed the assembly.
Fieldbus Foundation president and CEO, Rich Timoney, addressed the gathering and introduced new foundation chairman, Dr. Gunther Kegel, CEO of Pepperl+Fuchs. Timoney described the continued growth of Foundation technology in both established and developing industrial regions of the world. He also highlighted the additions to foundation membership in 2010, with total membership increasing 11.3%. Significant membership gains have been noted in China, Korea and other developing area record crowd.
