When I learned that Sean Gucken had been struck down suddenly by an apparent heart attack, I was stunned. He always exuded the health of someone who looked much younger than his age of 55. He was really into spear fishing, but he did it free diving, meaning no SCUBA gear, to depths that certainly…
DetailsBy Michelle Segrest, Contributing Editor for Maintenance Technology (Editor’s note: Reprinted with permission. Some editing has been employed. You may read the article in its entirety, with all links, references, and photos at Maintenance Technology.) While new construction in the municipal water-treatment market has remained relatively flat, growth in the industrial water-treatment market has increased—driven largely by…
DetailsThe Okeechobee SFWMD Command & Control Center project was a $6 million project that had to be run like six $1 million projects, according to project superintendent Don Barnes. The project involved automating a string of massive pump stations along the north rim of Lake Okeechobee, and the distance between pump stations is the source…
Detailsby Jim Hazelwood According to the NFPA 70B, “Infrared inspections of electrical systems are beneficial to reduce the number of costly and catastrophic equipment failures and unscheduled plant shutdowns.” In addition to being a relatively non-invasive examination, infrared inspections (also commonly referred to as “thermography studies”) can also find hot spots inside electrical systems before…
Detailsby Guest Blogger Brandon Moseley As industry, cities, and businesses grow, it is a necessary evil to change nature to accommodate these expansions. Unfortunately, nature cannot always be forced to cooperate with man. Sometimes, man has to work around what already exists. Trees may not always be able to be cut down. Mountains and caverns…
DetailsLife is full of risks. In our personal lives there are a multitude of risks that we face almost daily. And in business, the risks can have huge financial consequences. In our business, we know that industrial control system projects are full of risks, that can also have huge financial impacts. Those projects involve sophisticated…
DetailsDesign-Build in the Control System Environment Design-build is a project delivery system that can shorten project schedules by up to 30%. It is a comprehensive process that includes planning, design, and construction needed to execute a particular project. In the traditional usage, it may incorporate architecture, engineering, and contracting disciplines. In the industrial automation and controls environment (our…
DetailsWith many millions of dollars of obsolete control systems still in operation in mills and plants across the county, the following situation may be more common than people are willing to admit. A 40+-year-old ductile pipe mill had a control system for their annealing operations based on a platform of disparate and obsolete PLCs. The…
DetailsSeamlessly executed projects are somewhat of an anomaly in the world we live in today. Project managers are in high demand in numerous industries due to the need to coordinate suppliers, keep the project on budget/schedule, and provide a single point of accountability for the company. The larger an organization becomes, the greater the likelihood…
Details(Editor’s Note: The following was originally published by Smart Manufacturing magazine-www.SME.org/smart-and is republished here with their permission.) Twenty seconds passed as my computer screen showed a steady stream of system files being locked, one by one. An employee had called and requested help because he couldn’t seem to access a file he needed. I discovered,…
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