Is it possible to remove automation from the critical path of a large process industry project? Not only that, but use automation to shorten the other paths of the project?
That is the goal of the latest thinking from Emerson Process Management–especially the Systems and Solutions business.
I have been at the 2015 edition of the Emerson Global Users Exchange in Denver this week. I have many details to share. I’ll get those on the plane going home this afternoon.
Before I talk about “Project Certainty”, a few thoughts on the conference.
Everyone knows how the oil & gas industry has been hit by falling oil prices (thank you shale and Saudi Arabia). The impact was first apparent in conference in our part of the industry when travel was cut and attendance at the ARC Advisory Group conference dropped. Same here. While this is still a large conference, the impact of travel budget cuts was obvious.
There were lots of sessions and around 2,500 people around, but in a more normal year there probably would have been maybe a thousand more.
But Emerson still unveiled lots of new products and initiatives.
The photo captures Emerson EVP and Emerson Process President Steve Sonnenberg and Emerson Process Systems and Solutions business President Jim Nyquist introducing Project Certainty.
What Emerson has done has been to look at all the technologies introduced and deployed over the past ten years or so and apply to the bigger picture. They have put forth an answer to how can wireless products, electronic marshaling, the CHARMS configurable I/O, and many more help companies shorten the project path if project planners use the ideas from the beginning of planning and design of a project.
The example is SASOL who is building what is in effect eight plants in Louisiana using these ideas and already showing returns.
I’ll have more on this in my next post. But this reveals some solid thinking about customers and needs by the Emerson team.
