Emerson Touts Reliability Focus, Showcases New Products at 2014 Users Exchange
Emerson Process Management hosted its 2014 Global Users Exchange, Oct. 6–10 in Orlando. The event, which is run by a conference board made up of a majority of end-users and a minority of Emerson employees, attracted an estimated 3,200 attendees from 57 countries to partake in a range of technical sessions, networking opportunities, and exhibits focused on four main conference tracks: Measure & Analyze, Operate & Maintain, Final Control & Regulate, and Solve & Support. And while the presentations varied widely around the theme of “Inspiring Ingenuity,” it was clear that the message for the delegation of press gathered to cover the Exchange was Reliability, Reliability, Reliability.
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“We’re here to tell you we’re in the reliability business,” said Jim Nyquist, group vice president of PlantWeb Solutions for Emerson Process Management, during a press conference on the opening day of the Exchange. “And we intend to become the most influential reliability business in the world.”
Emerson’s reliability focus was kicked into high gear in May of this year when it announced that it had acquired Management Resources Group Inc. of Sandy Hook, Conn. Founded in 1987, MRG is a recognized player in the reliability space, and Emerson is clearly working to bring MRG’s expertise to its existing customer base.
Emerson believes the synergy it shares with MRG makes logical sense from an end-user’s perspective. Emerson brings the sensor data and asset management capability, while MRG brings the consulting expertise to drive reliability and process uptime through the Emerson solution set. As a result, Emerson believes it can deliver the benefits of improved safety, availability, and profitability.
According to the U.S. National Response Center, it costs an average of 50 percent more to repair a failed asset than it does to address a problem prior to failure. For every 1 percent gain in availability, Nyquist said a typical 200,000 BDP refinery will add $8.4 million of additional margin capture per year.
Robert DiStefano, general manager of Reliability Consulting for Emerson’s Process Systems and Solutions business unit, said that top performing plants spend an average of 1.4 percent of their investment on maintenance. For a $1 billion plant, that means $14 million spent on maintenance. Meanwhile, he said poor performing plants spend an average of 3.5 times more on maintenance, or $49 million for a $1 billion plant. By turning poor-performing plants into top-performing plants, DiStefano said an estimated $50 billion in cost savings and 5 percent of capacity/availability is at stake globally. He said these numbers are getting the attention of C-level executives, so much so that reliability is now a board-level issue for the wide majority of industrial companies. Ultimately, this is the reason Emerson believes reliability is an important business strategy going forward.
To capitalize on this opportunity, DiStefano said management consulting is needed to mentor and coach executives to properly build their culture and incentivize effective action among maintenance and operation personnel. Citing the recent publication of the ISO 5500 series of asset management standards (January 2014), he said there is significant momentum behind industrial reliability. ISO 5500 is based on PAS 55, the first publicly available specification for optimizing the management of physical assets and the product of a joint collaboration by the Institute of Asset Management and the British Standards Institution. PAS 55 was issued in 2004 and updated in 2008 before ISO accepted it as the basis for ISO 5500.
Kevin Shoemaker, senior vice president of operations for bio-based ingredients maker Corbion, said his company worked closely with MRG to develop an organizational culture that focuses on reliability. “You have to have significant changes in the way you see the world,” said Shoemaker, who explained that Corbion, like many industrial process companies, previously viewed maintenance as a task only to be performed when something was broken. “I can’t emphasize how much of a journey [a reliability culture] is and how much of a paradigm shift is required to make [it] happen,” he said.
During his keynote address at the Emerson Users Exchange, Steve Sonnenberg, president of Emerson Process Management, explained the key role sensors play in the quest to improve equipment reliability. Citing statistics compiled by ARC Advisory Group, Sonnenberg said 80 percent of unplanned equipment downtime is preventable through advanced sensing. “The more of these problems that we can sense, the more that we can solve before they cause us shutdown. We call this idea of gaining insight from more sensors throughout the plant ‘Pervasive Sensing.’”
In addition, Sonnenberg said Emerson is working to make the process of planned shutdowns more efficient. “Sometimes even planned downtime can be a problem, if there’s too much of it,” said Sonnenberg. With the aim of addressing this issue, Emerson is offering a turnaround planning service that is designed to help users reduce the frequency and length of their turnarounds.
Based on the themes discussed at the Exchange, it is clear that Emerson sees reliability as a business strategy. With the addition of MRG’s consulting expertise and the sensing capability it brings through its technology portfolio, Emerson believes it is uniquely positioned to enable end-users to maximize profitability and efficiency through improved plant uptime.
Technology Roundup
From a technology perspective, Emerson offered up several product announcements that are relevant for flow control systems. The following roundup offers highlights from among the showcase technologies at the 2014 Emerson Global Users Exchange.
Matt Migliore is the director of content for Flow Control magazine and FlowControlNetwork.com. He can be reached at 610 828-1711 or [email protected]. Follow Matt on Google+. Connect with Matt on LinkedIn.