By Rick Pedraza, Managing Editor, Digital Media
Jerry Bernstein on Pricing for End Users
This month on ControlGlobal.com, we visit with Jerry Bernstein, one of the gurus of new product pricing. Bernstein served as director of pricing improvement for Emerson Inc., reporting to the vice chairman of the corporation, and previously as director of pricing improvement for Fisher-Rosemount Systems, now Emerson Process Management. He now is president of The Price Improvement Team LLC, and consults to suppliers and end users in the area of pricing.
The Process Automation Radio Network caught up with Bernstein and turned the tables on him by asking him to explain to end users how pricing improvement works, and how suppliers optimize their pricing strategies. He sets forth in this audio podcast some guidelines for how end users can use some of the same techniques to improve the pricing they get from suppliers.
Learn strategies for getting the best price from your vendors by listening to this informative interview. Go to ControlGlobal.com/pricing.html.
Free Download of Data Acquisition Reference Book
ControlGlobal.com has partnered with Omega Engineering to make the Transactions in Measurement and Control technical reference series available for free download. This month, add Data Acquisition to your reference shelf, along with three other editions of this highly acclaimed series that cover control topics including temperature, humidity, pressure, strain, flow, level, pH and conductivity instrumentation.
Data Acquisition helps to define the next generation of data acquisition standards to make your job easier. It should find a permanent home on your reference shelf and prove itself of great value to you now and in the future. To download this book and others in the series, visit ControlGlobal.com/transactions.
Building IT with OPC
OPC Connection columnist Eric Murphy points out the advantages OPC offers when looking for energy saving solutions at your plant. Murphy, a chemical engineer with a process control specialization and an OPC expert, has been a part of the OPC community since its early beginnings in the mid-1990s. He is heavily involved with the OPC Foundation and currently acts as chairman for the OPC Historical Data Access (HDA) working group. He’s a member of the OPC Technical Steering Committee (TSC) and an active member of the OPC Unified Architecture (UA) working group.
In this special-to-the-web article for ControlGlobal.com, Murphy explains that in order to improve the use of existing systems, timely access to data is required to determine how best to control energy usage. He notes that OPC provides the advantages of standardized data connectivity among many isolated systems, industry-proven applications to turn that data into information, and hence into cost and energy savings.
To follow the latest trends and discussions about OPC technology, read Murphy’s monthly OPC Connection column at ControlGlobal.com/OPC.
WHITE PAPERS
Does Your Automation System Have Integrity?
This paper will help data acquisition/collection system designers learn more about device connectivity options that best meet the needs of their applications.
MPC – A Decade of Success
Successfully apply multivariable process control to your most important process units. Significant benefits include increased throughput and improved yields.
Structural Integrity Meter Verification
This paper describes the underlying technology of structural integrity meter verification and answers some frequently asked questions.
Introduction to Fieldbus
This concise white paper explains in terms any engineer, technician or operator can understand how fieldbus works.
SPECIAL TO THE WEB
Continuous Process Improvement (CPI) algorithm
A lot of papers, articles, and guides have been written over recent years addressing continuous process improvement. However very few address methodologies related to the improvement of the process itself; that is, the metrics used to measure the effectiveness of a process. The methodology proposed in this paper can be applied to any processes..
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