PAS Musings

Coffee Innovator

As part of our celebration of Christmas, it is a tradition for our family to exchange gifts with each other.

This year, I received a home coffee roasting kit.  This is one of my best gifts ever – it satisfies my let’s-get-technical itch, as well as pushing me out one more step towards the perfect espresso.

Home coffee roasting is an up-and-coming activity – catering mainly to the “innovator” fringe of coffee drinkers but gaining mainstream attention (see this news article as an example).

What made this gift so great was its engineer appeal.  You probably don’t know about it, but there is a whole sub-culture of green coffee bean / home roaster enthusiasts and even people writing books on the perfect roast.  Read more here…

This home coffee bean roasting thing is out there on the Innovator’s Edge as defined by Geoffrey Moore in his book Crossing the Chasm.

And, as it happens out on the Innovator’s Edge, it’s a bit like the almost-out-of-control wild west.  Customers apply know-how to fit their specific needs, sometimes kludging things together in ways that were never intended by the original equipment manufacturer.

Check out this picture of how someone has hooked their PC to their hot-air popcorn popper for computer-optimized roasting of the perfect bean!!

Could this be similar to how some people hook their Distributed Control System (DCS) to their database???  Or how others provide wireless access to sensitive plant data??

I hope not, but I have this sinking feeling that there are plenty of do-it-yourself technical enthusiasts out there, and that their documentation may be like our friend with the modified hot air popcorn popper.

The challenge for us Innovators is and always will be … Documentation!

Argh!  It’s so much for fun to make things work and then move on…  isn’t it?

But as professionals, we do need to stay disciplined and a much as we may want to invent or re-invent, we need to also document and re-document. (Ugh!)

But for that, there’s Integrity…  (read more about this auto-documentation, change management and data flow mapping tool here)

© Copyright PAS 2006.  No part of this blog is to be copied in full or in part without the express written permission of PAS; but references and web links are more than OK!

Dilbert says...

A picture is worth a thousand words, and a cartoon even more...

Here's why customers need Integrity:

© Copyright Scott Adams, Inc.

This is EXACTLY the kind of problem that our Integrity software handles - exposing embedded IP (Intellectual Property) that otherwise has the potential to become a liability to the operating company.

Thanks to our reader Jason for sending this cartoon in. 

If you have material or a suggestion for a blog topic, email me.  If I use it, lunch is on me - or, if you live far away, I’ll send you a $25 Amazon gift certificate.

Have a great week!    

Intergraph Integration

Most of you will have heard of our software product for managing the automation infrastructure in the process plant – Integrity.

And maybe you’ve even read about how Captain Integrity has been around to help control engineers make sense of the intellectual property embedded about in systems and software across the plant.

Well now, we’ve hooked up with Intergraph to broaden the reach of the Integrity  software all the way down to the wiring rack.

The integration of the SmartPlant Instrumentation software (powered by INtools) from Intergraph with the Integrity software from PAS allows customers to easily track signal flow from any instrument through all automation assets and up to advanced applications used in process plants today.

This is a big deal since most plants don’t even have up-to-date loop sheet drawings to show them how the signal from a wire connects into a terminal block, over to a PLC, up to a DCS, into a real-time historian, over to a plant modeling system and up into an ERP system…

Yikes!

But it might be important to know where these signals go, see?

Especially when the maintenance tech asks the board operator if it’s OK to disconnect this little brown wire from terminal 2 slot 3 in the back room for just a minute – something to do with a temperature sensor, he says…

Sure it all looks fine, but as soon as the disconnect is made – POOF!  Lights out for the main fractionator and down comes the unit…

All because of a little brown wire – that just happened to be connected to a safety shutdown system looking for a positive signal…

But who would know that? 

The original wiring drawings don’t show that.

The instrument diagrams don’t even show that.

Nor does the operator display.

Not even the loop maintenance document.

Just the safety manual shows that in addendum 1, page 23, paragraph B.

And both our operator and instrument tech weren’t aware of that. But how could they be?  They’re both busy doing “bigger” things…

So, how could they know?

Integrity – don’t operate your plant without it.

Integrity – now with Intergraph INtools support.

   

Want to know more?  Join us for a free web seminar on December 21^st at 10am or 3pm (CST) as we offer a more in-depth look at the INtools® Integrity data model.

   

As Shelly Leedy, President of ENGlobal Automation Group says:

“There is no other tool available today that can integrate information across control systems and their subsystems…"

   

< By the way, the story related above is based on an actual incident… and the client moved to buy our configuration management software not long afterward…>

    

© Copyright PAS 2006.  No part of this blog is to be copied in full or in part without the express written permission of PAS; but references and web links are more than OK!

Our Man in St Croix Says...

At PAS, I’m not the only one with a long commute, living away from home or extensive travels to get the job done. 

Although we wish a strong family life for each of our employees, there’s a number of us that are separated from family for personal or business reasons. 

One man working down in the US Virgin Islands, at a refinery in beautiful St. Croix, recently dropped me an interesting email – of which I share portions below…

Here’s what our man in the islands has to report…

"Island life is much different than I expected.

There are no large chain restaurants except for fast food and no name brand fuel stops like Shell/Chevron etc.  There are several McDonald’s, a couple of KFC, a Wendy’s, several Subway Sandwich establishments, and a Domino’s Pizza. 

I of course miss Tex-Mex of which there are none on the island (not that I was expecting any…) but there are plenty of good places to eat – most being a Bar/Restaurant combination. 

The top three things I notice are the following:

Cheap Booze.  A liter of Cruzan Rum is less than $4.  Some brands are less than $3.  Even name-brand beers – like Miller Lite – cost less here than at home. 

Strange Groceries. Although you can get just about anything on the island that you might get back on the mainland, there are also some things that you just don’t see back home… all kinds of salted and frozen fish, squid, octopus; but also an assortment of other goodies such as skinned chicken feet, ox tails, pig’s ears and pig’s feet. Yum yum!

No Credit.  Most places only accept cash or something other than my American Express (don’t leave home without it??).  So I opened a local bank account with an ATM card to avoid always carrying cash.

Life on the island is good, however.

Despite being an avid golfer, since I arriving on island I certified with PADI as an open water diver and only play golf occasionally.  I’ve seen moray eels, sea turtles, lobsters, barracuda, sting rays, colorful reefs, and numerous beautiful fish.

Besides, it’s actually cheaper to dive than play golf! 

And if I ever doubt why I’m down here away from family, I take a drive along the coast – the ocean view works wonders to change any attitude…”

After reading his account, I think I want the chance to lengthen my commute… Phoenix to St. Croix might not be possible weekly, but still... it sounds wonderful…

More seriously, at PAS, we routinely go the distance (literally) to ensure customer satisfaction. 

So if you have some work that needs doing at your site – drop us an email.  We routinely deliver on-site services with highly-qualified staff for Control System Engineering, Alarm Management and Advanced Control.

© Copyright PAS 2006.  No part of this blog is to be copied in full or in part without the express written permission of PAS; but references and web links are more than OK!