Updated: 8/5/09; 2:59:57 PM.
Gary Mintchell's Feed Forward
Manufacturing and Leadership.
        

Monday, June 22, 2009

It's true... Many people have told me about the pending approval of ISA18.2 on Alarms. Well, it happened. ISA-18.2, "Management of Alarm Systems for the Process Industries," has been approved by the ISA Standards & Practices Board and, following final approval by the American National Standards Institute, is expected to be published in July.

Alarm system management requires several activities and work processes connected by the alarm system lifecycle. The new standard defines the terminology and models for a common language to describe the alarm system. It also describes the activities required to achieve the desired performance of the alarm system and to maintain that performance.
 
"Improving the performance of alarm systems is essential to achieving operational excellence in manufacturing," stated Nicholas Sands of DuPont, co-chair of the ISA18 committee. "The activities covered in this standard will help solve the common problems with alarm systems, which will in turn reduce the frequency of safety incidents and plant upsets and lead to improved business performance."
 
With nearly 100 experts from across the globe, the ISA18 committee, Instrument Signals and Alarms, develops standards and related documents for alarm systems including the definition, design, installation, operation, maintenance, modification, and work processes to effectively maintain an alarm system over time. The committee is beginning work on a series of technical reports to provide further definition and examples of the lifecycle work processes.
 
"The ISA-18.2 standard is the product of a dedicated and experienced group of volunteers that worked through the consensus standards process," stated Donald Dunn of Aramco Services Company, the U.S. affiliate of Saudi Aramco, co-chair of ISA18. "The committee was motivated by the common experience of incidents when the alarm system failed to prevent an event."

6:13:25 PM    comment []

About 1,100 software technical specialists, Rockwell Software employees decended upon the Rosen Shingle Creek Resort in Orlando June 22 for the annual RSTechEd event. Three days of keynotes and in-depth technical sessions are the order of the day in addition to the Manufacturing 2.0 executive session.
The number is down from last year--only to be expected--but not really that much. Perhaps 20 percent.

The people who were able to struggle up for the 8 am Monday morning keynote were treated to stories of the 1980 U.S. Olympic Ice Hockey team (known as the Miracle on Ice) and how the lessons the team learned are applicable to us today in our business and personal lives.

Mike Eruzione was captain of that team and took us behind the scenes and into the locker room at the team fought through adversity and inexperience to become winners of Olympic Gold. They found that tradtional values such as hard work, sacrifice, pride and respect (for your opponents, teammates and yourself) counted for much more than luck or merely skill.

I think these are values that bear repeating--often. No young person wants to hear about those lessons, or a lot of older persons for that matter. How many people do you know who think the CEO got there by luck, genes or good looks (OK, maybe a few.)? How many people think the best road to riches is the lottery? No, as Eruzione said, it's a process not just the start point and end point.

There were many sessions. I sat in on a customer panel discussion about human-machine interface. The opening Manufacturing 2.0 sessions featured expert panels comprised of customers, analysts and Rockwell Software business partners discussing Cost Reduction and Supply Chain Efficiency. At least that was what was billed. It is almost impossible to report on a free-flowing panel discussion with give and take from the audience. All I can say is that there is a lot of concern about ERP as a decision-making tool and how can tools such as MES help.

A full day tomorrow with a series of one-on-one interviews set for me on Wednesday. It's a good gathering and many people are working to make the best of the economic times and help turn things around.

6:06:37 PM    comment []

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