Lots o' news coming out of the ARC Forum down in Orlando. Judging from the number of releases Walt Boyes, Da Boss, is sending here to be uploaded, all those refugees from last week's blizzard have NOT, contrary to expectations, spent all their time at the pool.
The first one that caught my eye was this from Bentley. For those of you who love lists, here's a goodie to add to your collection. The Bentley Infrastructure 500 Top Owners. That the U.S. Government tops the list with infrastructure valued at $282,000 million isn't really a surprise, but there are some other interesting rankings. Wal-Mart at $102,307 million owns more than the State of California ($102,201 million). The Roads & Traffic Authority, NSW of Australia at $72, 795 million owns more than Toyota Motor Company ($71,967 million). General Electric Company owns $69,212 million worth of stuff, while the State of Texas owns only $67,327 million.
I'm not quite sure what all the implications of those rankings are, but if you're in the business of selling things, these look to be your best 500 prospects.
Meanwhile, closer to process automation home, some familiar names are taking advantage of the venue to make some announcements about new products and services. In addition to its list, Bentley is releasing eB Insight, a software application the company describes as enabling "organizations to model their enterprise information
consistently and accurately to improve operational efficiency, minimize
business risk, and ensure regulatory compliance." Here are the details.
ARC itself has issued a white paper on a new approach to intrinsic safety called Dynamic Arc Recognition and Termination (DART) The paper is available here. Pepperl + Fuchs is the first company out of the block with a product based on this model.
Rockwell automation is proving its green chops with this presentation on its Industrial GreenPrint Methodology, which it says promises to
a) Help manufacturers shift their persectives from treating WAGES (water, air, gas, electric and steam) resources as undiff erentiated overhead costs to managing them as “raw material” resources.
b) Create a strategic competitive advantage.
Yokogawa weighed in with two new products/services. Its CombustionOne intergrated combustion management system dramatically increases the efficiency of fired heaters while improving their margin of safety, according to the company. Its vigilantplantservices are outlined in this ARC white paper. In addition to CombustionONE, the paper discusses InsightSuiteAE , Yokogawa’s
advanced application for Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE) that addresses many key
process industry applications such as dryers, heat exchangers, and furnaces
and boilers.
This is just the beginning. Much more to come.
