Headlines from Monday, Oct. 1
Business Outlook Buoyant in Era of Transformation
Digitalization is bringing a wave of new technologies and a search for justification, which is not new. But this time, it’s not only technology, it’s about the organization, people, processes and collaboration. Read more.Find and Cultivate Your Organization’s Innovation
"There is a choice in this disruption. Either we can embrace it and find an opportunity or we just watch it happen to us. Ask yourself, ‘Am I on the road to indispensability or expendability?’ Read more.
Automation, Services Drive Enhanced Offerings
Emerson’s increased focus on automation technologies and investment in service resources positions the company to serve a diverse set of manufacturing customers throughout the world with enhanced offerings and support. Watch now.
Vision, Roadmap Needed for Digital Transformation
“We can imagine an ideal world, a digital nirvana with no injuries, no downtime, optimized production and leading sustainability with a digitally transformed workforce,” said Emerson’s Peter Zornio. Read more.
Oil-rig Fleet Reduces Unplanned Downtime, Predicts Asset Life
“We’ve had to spend more money on the ‘old iron’ to get the data we want out of them.” Ensco’s Timothy White discussed the hurdles his organization had to clear en route to minimizing unplanned downtime. Read more.
Sasol Plans for Big Digital Saving During Turnarounds
Sasol Secunda performs two main types of shutdowns and turnarounds each year, and there are numerous opportunities where digitalization could help it achieve efficiencies and savings. Read more.
Multiple Industries Experiencing Major Growth
Multiple industries are experiencing significant growth waves that manufacturers can harness with digital transformation strategies that create value, allow for scalable investment and focus on people. Watch now.
VIDEO: Alarm Management - What's Your Flood Plan?
Dustin Beebe demonstrates how combining our alarm management services with AgileOps software can help you reduce downtime & increase process safety. Watch now.
Automated Overpressure Protection Systems Saving Millions for Midstream Operations
As oil and gas flow rates increase and environmental regulations become more restrictive, a growing number of midstream operations are adopting automated Overpressure Protection Systems to safeguard their investments. Read more.
VIDEO: How Digitizing Inspection Rounds Can Improve Decision Making
Nicholas Meyer discusses how to digitally automate your rounds to gain accurate, real-time information for better decision making. Watch now.
3M Facility Reduces Costs, Improves Reliability with Plantweb Technologies
3M saves energy costs and improves reliability with Emerson’s Plantweb digital ecosystem. Now plant personnel can remotely monitor the key assets in real time and receive alerts to prevent problems before they happen. Read more.
Extending Control Performance to the Cloud
Emerson is helping process industries improve control monitoring by extending its Control Performance Solutions to a cloud-based platform under the Plantweb™ digital ecosystem, connecting customers with remote expertise. Read more.
VIDEO: Using a Wireless Plant Network to Improve Efficiency & Reliability
Shane Hale explains why & how to implement a wireless plant network to improve efficiency, reliability and safety. Watch now.
ATCO Optimizes Natural Gas Storage Facility with Plantweb Technologies
Canadian corporation ATCO substantially increased the efficiency of its vintage natural gas storage facility in Carbon, Alberta, by leveraging several components of Emerson’s Plantweb digital ecosystem. Read more.
Eastman Focuses on Project Management for Continued Success
Eastman Chemical Company has proven that it knows how to complete successful projects, but success is not the end of the line. Leveraging new project management techniques, Eastman drove for even better results on recent projects - and succeeded. Read more.
Contract Filling Manufacturer Enhances Aerosol Leak Detection with Hybrid Laser Technology
Leaking aerosol cans can threaten the safety of a plant, but one of the world’s leading contract aerosol filling manufacturers found a better way to protect operators and consumers. Read more about it here. Read more.
Lifting the Lid on Tank Storage and Management
Understanding the most widely used best practices and guidelines for tank storage not only helps tank owners better equip and instrument their tanks, it ensures safer, more reliable, and cost-effective tank storage. Read more.
Headlines from Tuesday, Oct. 2
Secure Connectivity Brings Onsite Insights to Offsite Services
Before Plantweb Optics, JJ Pickle was fighting fires every day at the plant. Now, it has real-time capture of data without disrupting critical assets. Here's how Plantweb Optics and remote connectivity helped.
Location Awareness Offering Builds on WirelessHART Infrastructure
The question "Where are you?" has always been important to technicians, operators and managers in the process industries, but now they have a much faster and more precise tool for answering it. Learn about Emerson's Location Awareness offering.
Savannah River Taps Transmitter Data with Wireless, OPC
"We needed more data, such as battery voltage, so we could predict when components need to be changed out. At first, it looked like we were going to have to give up one of our original HART variables." What Savannah River did instead.
Digital Twin Bridges Plant Design to Operations
Mimic HYSYS Link, the first offering to come from the alliance between Emerson and AspenTech, is a new integration technology that will make digital twins more efficient and practical across a plant’s lifecycle. Here's how HYSYS and Mimic work together.
Gas Composition Alters Specific-gravity Flow Rates
"We are now able to account for changes in gas specific gravity as they occur at each interconnect station. I'm totally impressed with the new real-time specific-gravity measurement method." Avoid custody-transfer billing errors.
Asset Performance Platform Automates Reliability Workflow
By integrating with IBM Maximo and SAP CMMSs, Plantweb Optics enables a full automation reliability loop, from the prediction of problems to the execution of prescribed, preventive tasks. Are your maintenance alerts tied to your CMMS?
Driving Project Success as a Main Valve Partner
As a main valve partner, Emerson can help customers plan for their valve project needs when it matters most – during front-end engineering and design – so that they get to production faster and stay on or under budget. Learn how a main valve partner enables project success.
How Conductivity Sensors Can Optimize your CIP Process
Need to optimize your clean-in-place activities? Josh Friesz discusses how you can utilize conductivity sensors to save valuable time & resources. Learn to optimize your CIP processes.
Increasing Profitability with Automated Level Detection
If you could replace one device in your operation and reduce the time it takes to complete a process from 2 days to under a minute, why wouldn't you? See how one company increased profits over $1M with a technology upgrade. Learn more about the Rosemount 2140 level detector.
Combating Corrosion with Wireless Monitoring
Emerson’s Jake Davies reveals how oil & gas producers & refiners can effectively use new Emerson Permasense™ wireless sensors to non-intrusively monitor corrosion & metal loss, helping support safe & profitable operations. Learn how corrosion monitoring improves operations.
Digital Walkdown App Helps Halve STO Budgets
Shutdowns, Turnarounds and Outages (STOs) can represent significant cost, schedule and safety risks, but one Midwest refiner was able to minimize these risks by digitalizing their walkdown procedures with Emerson software. Learn more about Emerson’s Digital Walkdown app.
Choosing the Right Steam Flow Technology
Measuring steam flow is critical in many process industries. Adam Thompson outlines 5 factors to consider to ensure you're achieving accurate & cost effective measurements. End your steam flow measurement challenges.
Best Practices for Choosing & Integrating Mobile Solutions
How can you effectively and securely utilize mobile devices to monitor automation workflows? Ben Jackman provides recommendations for for choosing the right technology to monitor process conditions and asset health. Learn about mobile solutions for your plant.
To Ensure Tank Safety – Switch Your Switch
Spills can be costly and hazardous. But one petroleum storage and logistics company found a way to easily and continually verify high-level alarm functionality at any time to ensure these kinds of disasters don't occur. See how a HART vibrating fork switch can optimize alerts.
Optimizing Lift with Plantweb Advisor for DLO
Upstream oil and gas producers are turning to Emerson’s Plantweb™ Advisor for Dynamic Lift Optimization (DLO) solution to optimize their lift gas flows and reduce well decline rates. Understand your Dynamic Lift Optimization solution.
Digitally Transform Turnarounds for Shorter, More Predictable Outages
Turnarounds typically comprise 73% of a plant’s total downtime, but 25% exceed their budgets and 50% run over their schedules. "It's all about doing the right work on the right assets at the right time." Make your turnarounds more efficient and predictable.
Dyno Nobel Cuts Energy Costs with Wireless Monitoring
"Our plan was to use our existing wireless infrastructure and bring that data into the DeltaV control system via Modbus. Emerson’s 56WM WirelessHART power meter was an easy solution." Learn why Dyno Nobel is on track to cut energy costs by 5%.
Headlines from Wednesday, Oct. 3
Detour Gold Awarded Reliability Program of the Year
Donald Prevost, the company's reliability specialist devoted the past six years to the development and implementation of the reliability program and strategies at one of Canada's largest gold mines. Learn how its team-centric approach netted them this year's top honors.
Savannah River Doubles Young Engineer Retention
The organization's Dale Nicosia explained how it increased the retention rate of young engineers from 40 percent to 95percent. Learn what makes successful, sustainable staffing.
Put the IT and OT in Your IIoT
On Tuesday evening, digital transformation was the topic of discussion for a panel of industry experts ranging from Chevron to Microsoft. They all agreed that for digital transformation, technology is the easy part. Here's why IT/OT collaboration is what needs to be the focus.
FAT and Furious: Cargill Wastes No Time
"The most important FAT resource is operators, who know the plant and its problems best, can provide crucial buy-in, and provide the input that earns the most support from operations," said Cargill's Dan McDonald. Dan McDonald's 5 FAT takeaways.
Valve-monitoring System Opens New World of Data Flow
The Richmond Wastewater Treatment Plant in Virginia works hand in hand with Emerson, testing a remote monitoring system that will enable predictive maintenance via IIoT technologies. Here are the lessons learned in data gathering at a wastewater treatment facility.
Produced Oil Project Finds Value in Vortex Flow Measurement
Chevron’s Harry Stafford was surprised to find that vortex meters for measuring individual well flow rates rates outperformed turbine meters from both CAPEX and OPEX perspectives. Here's how vortex meters won the business case.
VIDEO: Improving Reliability with Predictive Intelligence
Asad Malik explains how using condition monitoring systems with predictive intelligence can help you improve reliability, profitability and safety. Eliminate unscheduled downtime.
Using Augmented Reality to Apply Remote Expertise
BASF partners with Emerson and takes a major leap in engineering optimization by using AR apps to digitally transform the way it accesses info, addresses technical issues, and obtains remote expertise. Learn how to use AR apps to apply remote expertise.
VIDEO: Where to Begin Your Cybersecurity Journey
Rick Gorskie outlines Emerson's 7-vector cybersecurity assessment and how the the results will expose your current strengths and weaknesses and help you determine ways to improve the security of your control system. What's your current state of cybersecurity?
Wireless Level Enhances Safety for Natural Gas Company
Large natural gas company achieves immediate improvements in safety and reliability when collecting drilling mud and floc-water tank levels, by integrating a fully wireless Emerson solution. Discover how wireless enhances safety and reliability.
VIDEO: How to Start a Small, Successful Valve Diagnostics Program
How can valve diagnostics maximize uptime at your facility? Jordan Mandernach discusses ways to streamline your valve diagnostics in order to improve efficiency and reliability. Do you know the health of your valve assemblies?
Alamo Beer Automates Specific Gravity over the Cloud, Improves Throughput
Like many breweries, Alamo Beer was forced to do more with less while still ensuring throughput quality. To address the issue, they turned to fluid automation solutions to improve batch consistency and increase throughput. Learn more about Emerson Fluid Automation for craft brewers.
Pharma Manufacturer Saves $50K and Meets FDA Pressure Monitoring Requirements with Wireless System
To meet FDA regulations regarding cleanroom pressure monitoring, a large pharmaceutical company installed an Emerson wireless system, which enhanced production and revenue by avoiding a lengthy process shutdown. Learn how wireless can save money and avoid shutdowns.
Nickel Processing Plant Cuts Costs with FieldQ VOS
Learn how a nickel processing plant was able to cut costs in half and conquer “severe service” issues by installing and implementing the FieldQ Valve Operating System (VOS) for its hydrometallurgy operations. See what makes the FieldQ VOS so efficient.
The Best Approach to Reliable, Safe Thermowell Design
The design, integration, and specification of thermowells in achieving reliable temperature measurement is challenging. But with the right surface temperature measurement technology, you can reduce complexity and design time. Learn how to reduce thermowell complexity.
Transforming Data into Actionable Information
Truly effective digital transformation requires making sense of data, and Plantweb’s integrated analytics portfolio offers analytics at the right level for the right project, transforming data into actionable information. Learn about Plantweb’s powerful analytics portfolio.
Using the Digital Twin to Optimize Production
Emerson’s Tom Snead and AspenTech’s John Hague discuss how the two companies are working together to deliver digital twin technology that helps customers optimize production and drive operational excellence. Learn how digital twin modeling can optimize production.
Headlines from Thursday, Oct. 4
Six Win Best-in-Track Awards at Emerson Exchange
Hundreds of proposed conference session abstracts were reviewed, 21 were nominated as among the best in the six content tracks. Here's who won top honors.
You Look Like You Could Use a Little Stress
“We have one tank of emotional energy. When you are tired, it’s a lot harder to think about difficult problems and control your emotions,” said Exida’s Todd Stauffer. Learn how to turn stress and rest into mental growth.
People’s Perceptions Define Your Personal Brand
Old-fashioned networking is a really good thing, and LinkedIn is a good tool to help you continue that conversation online. For building your personal brand, a strong LinkedIn profile is a great place to start. Lydia Miller's five rules for social media success.
Paper Mill Pumps Up Profits with Valve Diagnostics
“We could collect these signatures during operation using a HART communicator, but at 30 minutes a valve, it would take one person more than a year to do all the valves in the plant.” Nanaimo Forest Products found a better way.
Digitally Transforming Turnarounds
Turnarounds account for the most plant downtime, but they don’t have to. By using a new solution for digitally transforming the planning and execution of turnarounds, companies can experience safer and faster turnarounds. Learn how to achieve more efficient turnarounds.
Achieving Service Efficiency Using Digital Tools
New technologies that enable digital collection of asset information, deliver new insights into device performance, and provide remote monitoring capabilities are helping plant personnel execute more effective maintenance. Learn how to more effectively maintain plant equipment.
Driving Process Improvement with Flow Solutions
Providing enhanced insight to personnel, Emerson’s portfolio of flow solutions features technologies that leverage embedded intelligence to drive process improvement in areas such as production, energy usage and safety. Discover the power of Emerson’s flow solutions.
Optimize Calibration or Proving Frequency
Tom O'Banion explains how to use Smart Meter Verification to reduce or even eliminate the need for calibration and proving runs to satisfy government and regulatory agency requirements. Eliminate calibration & proving challenges.
Keeping Engineers Connected with DeltaV
Efficiency is key for troubleshooting and on-call monitoring. That’s why Bayer’s Muscatine, IA team turned to DeltaV mobile for faster access to real-time data and to put more information in the hands of key personnel. See how DeltaV Mobile offers optimal access.
Complex Analytical Systems Projects Made Simple
For process producers needing to specify the right analyzer for the right application, Emerson’s analytical application expertise and complete line of more than 100 analyzers helps reduce project cost and complexity. Reduce your cost on complex analytical systems projects.
Perfect Individualized Batch Production
Michalle Adkins discusses patient-specific batch production and tracking and how using MES technology can help you ensure you get the right material to the right individual at the right time. Learn about personalized batch production.
Measuring Level When Process Properties Vary
Complex level measurement presents several different challenges in many kinds of applications, but one large refinery was able to overcome significant desalter issues using guided wave radar level technology. Learn how GWR technology can reduce operating costs.
Seneca’s Multiport Flow Selectors Cut Costs
Oil and gas automation leader Seneca Resources recently demonstrated cost-cutting measures by installing multiport flow selector (MPFS) valves and actuators at its gas separator locations in the Marcellus shale play. Learn more about Emerson’s MPFS valves and actuators.
Dynamic Simulation for Modernization Projects
Pierce Wu explains how to successfully conduct Factory Acceptance Testing (FAT) and pre-train your operators on modern control system technology using dynamic simulation. Learn how you can benefit from dynamic simulation.
Next Gen Pressure Measurement Technology
Emerson’s Rosemount™ Wireless Pressure Gauge (WPG) stands out as one of the most advanced pressure technologies, and a recent comparison against traditional devices highlights why it may be the best fit for your operation. See why Rosemount Pressure Gauges are a popular choice.
Loop Tuning Lifts Profits at Lube Oil Refinery
Christopher Brantley of Martin Operating Partnership discussed the outsized returns delivered by tuning some key process control loops at the Cross Oil Refinery in Smackover, Arkansas. Learn how a two-day project is saving $245,000 per year.
Cargill Integrates Smart Motor Control Centers
Darren Walls, of Spartan Controls, shares the story of the company's work on Cargill Oilseeds canola-crushing facility's controls, explaining how this plant integrated smart motor control centers (MCCs), giving operators the right information to make the plant run more efficiently. Here's how they did it.
BASF Deepens Understanding of Switchgear Health
BASF’s Joel Logue discussed how Emerson’s IntelliSAW solution has filled an important sensing gap in the company’s electrical asset monitoring efforts. Learn the system paid for itself with just one measurement.
Nutrien Processes Better with HCD Interfaces
"Using HCD for our interfaces is more scientific. ... We simply want to present data to our operators that will enable them to self-train, drill down faster and more efficiently, and make better, faster decisions," said Dave Sosulski, Nutrien's DCS system coordinator. Here's how Nutrien integrated human-centered design for its faceplate interfaces.
Hear from an Engineered Solutions Provider
Bilal Mehmood, Vice President & Chief Technology Officer for Kadant, discusses his organization’s participation in Emerson’s new Engineered Solutions Provider program & how this partnership is helping optimize operations. This is what partnering for performance looks like.
Introducing QuickShip Rapid Fulfillment
Sean Sims discusses Emerson’s new QuickShip rapid fulfillment program and how it can help customers meet project schedules and maintenance needs. Learn about the new QuickShip fulfillment program.
Digitally Transforming Safety Within a Plant
Industrial environments are being transformed into safer places by Emerson’s Location Awareness technology, which enables enhanced geofencing and monitoring, improved safety mustering and more effective man-down alerts. Learn about digitally transforming safety in a plant.
An Optimized Approach to Valve Actuation
Dianne Eldridge introduces a new alternative to help you speed up the valve automation ordering process, receive consistent, quality products and maintain widely-accessible usage documentation. Learn how to improve your valve actuation program.
Selecting the Right LED Lighting
Ellen Helm walks you through the most important considerations when upgrading to LED lighting and provides tips on how to achieve the best retrofit lighting solution for your specific environment. Get tips & tricks for upgrading to LED lighting.
Predictive Diagnostics – the Underappreciated Tool
Predictive Diagnostics, a feature on a wide range of measurement and analytical devices, is perhaps the most underappreciated tool in the industrial arsenal, but it did save one petrochem company $5.5M in cost avoidance. Learn how to utilize advanced diagnostics.
New Technologies for Digital Transformation
Mike Boudreaux discusses how new Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) technologies are enabling customers to start small and justify the concept of digital transformation with proven results. Improve reliability and performance using digital technologies.
Natural Gas Distributor Saves $1M with WirelessHART
Using the latest technology to make things look the same can be a challenge for most operations, but one natural gas distribution company was able to save $1 million by integrating WirelessHART with their flow architecture. See how your company can benefit from wireless technologies.
Understanding Location Awareness Technology
By utilizing WirelessHART networks along with easy-to-install, battery-powered anchors and personnel location tags, Emerson’s Location Awareness technology is making industrial environments safer places to work. Learn how Location Awareness technology improves safety.
How Solvay Implemented a Digital Transformation
Learn how Solvay Specialty Chemicals was able to deploy a series of digital solutions across their pumps, manual valves and steam traps to increase production and quality while reducing downtime and maintenance costs. Learn how to digitally transform your operation.
Remotely Monitor Your Valve’s Condition
Clint Schneider explains how Emerson’s Connected Services for Valves help customers monitor valve condition to lower maintenance costs, decrease unplanned downtime, and uncover issues before they impact the plant. Learn how to remotely monitor your valve’s condition.
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