PAS Musings

Twice as nice as EEMUA?

Both PAS Alarm Management books are now out there in full force…

>> The original 2006 Alarm Management Handbook available from PAS

>> The new 2007 ISA Alarm Management: Seven Effective Methods for Optimum Performance available from the Instrument Society of America (ISA).

Two great books – both authored by PAS.

Each of these books provide significant insight into how to get the job done as specified by the now-classic text known as the EEMUA guide #191:99, published back in 1999.

The EEMUA guide provides a good set of industry standards as far what metrics go for a well-functioning alarm system, but doesn’t go into detail on how to achieve the alarm management performance guidelines it sets. 

And this has been driving up the interest in both of the newer Alarm Management books from PAS...

Last week, customers once again lined up to for the book signing event at the PAS User Conference, eager to get their hands on the 2007 ISA version of the PAS Alarm Management book. 

As before, the comments from customers are wonderful – “just what we need” and “fills the gap between EEMUA standards and how to achieve them”.

Apparently, the book is filling a special need for customers that are aware of the EEMUA Guidelines and then want to get started with Alarm Management but just aren’t sure where to begin...

And it sure is nice to see our book help so many customers – wherever they may be with their alarm management performance.

Very gratifying, indeed!

© Copyright PAS 2007.  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!

The Wizard Goes Multivariate!

Remember our Wizards?

Well, not only are they coming out of the closet, but one of them – the ControlWizard™ - has revealed his true multivariate colors! 

Now before you get any ideas, let me explain…

The ControlWizard was the original Wizard (TuneWizard™ followed later…).

At first, he was just for checking out limited numbers of control loops. He liked that and did it well, so after a while, he ventured out to take care of a whole plant full of loops at a time. Still single-input single-output, but a whole plant’s worth nonetheless.

But we knew he was always up to more than just that.

He was created by one of our Super-Gee’s after all…

Well, now he has exposed some of those additional capabilities and doubled his fun with both single-input single-output as well as multivariable controllers.

We think he was somewhat intimidated by all those multivariable control applications we had hanging around – you know, STAR™, NLC™ and Galaxy™.

Well, now that those guys are gone - remember, they got sold off into slavery for Honeywell.... anyway, now that they’re gone, it appears that the ControlWiz is not so shy about his multivariable leanings, and he’s out of the closet for real!!

There’s even a press release about it – click here to read that.

Seems like the ol’ Wiz has quite a few more capabilities than we’ve ever been advertising – and the customers like him too!

If you haven’t checked out the Wiz yet, you ought to watch for his next web seminar and attend.

He’s friendly and very helpful – you can’t help but love him.

Every control engineer that has met him sure does!

ControlWizard.  Get a copy for your plant and relax….

© Copyright PAS 2007.  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!

Look who's coming to the Party!!

The 2007 PAS User Conference is shaping up to be our greatest event ever!

This year, we have a number of important partners coming as well as selected other key speakers.

Partner attendees include a number of DCS, software and consulting companies, all of which will present their use or views of PAS technologies at the conference, as well as exhibit related solutions at the showcase event.

Partners in attendance include Honeywell, Intergraph, OSIsoft, UCDS, Yamatake Japan and more – most of which currently help co-promote or co-sell PAS solutions to process industry customers. 

Key speakers include Lisa Long, lead investigator from the Chemical Safety Board and Dr. John Lienhardt, author and speaker for “Engines of our Ingenuity” as heard on Houston public radio.

In what seems to becoming an annual tradition, PAS authors will again be on hand to sign copies of the latest book – Alarm Management: Seven Effective Methods for Optimum Performance as published by the Instrument Society of America (ISA – see my prior blog on that).

All in all, the PAS User Conference is shaping up to be an event you don’t want to miss – if you haven’t signed up yet, please do so today at http://processingpas.com/uc2007.html. 

See you there!

© Copyright PAS 2007.  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!

PAS Authors ISA Standard Textbook!

The ISA has re-published the PAS Alarm Management Handbook as their new standard Alarm Management textbook.

This is great news and a resounding endorsement of the PAS Alarm Management approach and expertise!

The ISA book is entitled Alarm Management: Seven Effective Methods for Optimum Performance and is largely similar to the original book published by PAS.

Through ISA publication, we are one step closer to our objective in publishing the book – to spread the word about the importance of Alarm Management and help operating plants the world over achieve higher reliability and increased safety.

If you do not have a copy of the book yet, you can get it either of the following links:

·         ISA version at: http://www.isa.org/Template.cfm?Section=Communities&template=/eCommerce/ProductDisplay.cfm&ProductID=9213

·         PAS version at: http://processingpas.com/amhandbook.html

Being up to speed on Alarm Management is a must for all process control personnel – top tier reliability and safety is not possible without it!

No matter what anybody says...

© Copyright PAS 2007.  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!

Bad Guys go to Jail!

In an earlier posting (January 14 2007), I shared how the three key executives at process industry software company AspenTech were indicted on various counts of fraud.

This past week, one of the three confessed.  Now he’s almost certainly off to jail, do not pass go, do not even go to work, etc, etc.

Yikes!  This is serious stuff.  All the more reason for every executive at every company to play it straight like we do at PAS.

Here’s the link to the latest news release:

http://yahoo.reuters.com/news/articlehybrid.aspx?storyID=urn:newsml:reuters.com:20070326:MTFH52562_2007-03-26_22-50-48_N26396837&type=comktNews&rpc=44

And here’s a summary of the article:

NEW YORK, March 26 (Reuters) - The former chief executive of software company Aspen Technology Inc., in a deal with prosecutors on Monday, pleaded guilty to charges of falsifying Aspen's revenue figures.

David McQuillin had faced up to five years in prison and $250,000 in fines for the conspiracy charge and as much as 20 years in prison and $5 million in fines on the fraud charge.

"I was motivated by a desire to help a company that was struggling and not for personal gain and aggrandizement," McQuillin said in a prepared statement after pleading guilty at Manhattan Federal Court to one count of conspiracy to commit securities fraud and one count of securities fraud.

"That said, I am ashamed that I headed down the road that I did, which I knew was wrong."

Now he faces 12 to 18 months in prison, according to the plea agreement. He is scheduled to be sentenced in July.