- Bridget Fitzpatrick
- Dr. Babatunde Ogunnaike
- Tom Burke
- John Rezabek
When John Rezabek graduated high school in the 1970s, the long and fruitful career in process controls and instrumentation that was to come wasnât yet on the radar. Rather, he enrolled in the Cleveland Institute of Music with ambitions of playing trombone for a symphony orchestra. âBeing the young, idealistic person I was,â Rezabek says with a wink, âI thought I could play my trombone and inspire the nations to live in peace.â
But a funny thing happened on the way to the philharmonic. He had a side gig doing arrangements and playing in the brass section of a lounge band that headlined at exotic venues like the local Holiday Inn on weekends. âI had an awakening,â Rezabek says. âSomewhere along the line I came to the realization that to thrive in this society, you have to do something that people truly value. But I did learn that it was good to be part of a team, and to be contributing in a meaningful way.â
Rezabek carried that life lesson forward, as he completed his B.S. in systems engineering at Case Institute of Technology, and then joined Standard Oil of Ohioâs corporate engineering group in 1981. As occurred at many of the oil and gas majors during the 1980s, personnel cuts at corporate led Rezabek to take a position as an analyzer supervisor at the companyâs Lima Refinery. So began a series of process control assignments that had Rezabek working for four different legal entitiesâBP Amoco, BP, International Specialty Products, and finally Ashlandâwithout technically changing organizations.
Through the years, his work with analyzers in particular âopened the thought of digital integrationâitâs a term Iâve used forever,â he says. âIf you have a microprocessor-based device, and a microprocessor-based host, they should be able to talk together.â Back then, analyzers were more prone to go off in the weedsâdue to sample system issues or other causesâand you just didnât know it, Rezabek says. This hampered the ability of operations folks to trust the analytical measurement, especially for closed-loop control applications. âIt was âI think Iâm going to shut that off and run it in manual because I donât know if the analyzer is working correctly or not.â
âBut with digital integrationâusing Modbus at the timeâyou had data validation, plus diagnostics,â Rezabek adds. âYou could get a clue from afar if something wasnât right, whether the measurement was okay or if something needed to happen.â
Rezabekâs second encounter with the power of digital integration came when, during a major modernization, the plant had the opportunity to use Honeywell smart transmitters that spoke digitally to the Honeywell DCS. âIt was a great advantage. The DCS could bring in case temperature from all the instruments, and the operator could tell if an instrument was freezing up or getting too hot. âOne of the operations team leaders attributed that insight to keeping the refinery running through the winter. That really stuck with me, and I thought we should have it all the time.â
Then the opportunity came to be at the vanguard of digital integration: a new BP chemical plant was on the drawing board just as FOUNDATION fieldbus was being readied for market. âIt was a compelling pitch, and served the vision of digital integration,â he says. From there, Rezabek admits he became âa bit of an advocateâ for fieldbus, including a stint as chair of the Fieldbus Foundationâs end user advisory group. In that same period, he became a regular columnist with Control, and has now shared his perspectives on digital integrationâand other related topicsâfor 15 years and counting.
When asked what words of wisdom he would impart to those just starting out in a process automation career, Rezabek counsels to not forget who the real end user is. âItâs often missed that we in engineering are service providers to the operations organization. Theyâre making the product that pays the bills. Seek their input and aim to make them more effective. It helped me be a better engineerâand get the systems I designed used and maintained.â
Some things havenât changed since Rezabekâs days as a contributor to the success of that lounge band all those years ago. âThe feeling of being accepted as a trusted member of the team is tremendously satisfying,â he adds. âWhen I walk into the control room, I get, 'Oh good, Johnâs here.' Thatâs what keeps me working.â
In short, âHope that they welcome you when you come, and hate to see you go.â