PlantSuccess Newsletter
Volume I, Issue 9
9/5/01
Welcome to the PlantSuccess
Newsletter and to information on PlantSuccess -- a conference made unique
because of its focus on the process industry, on innovative managers from
leading owner/operators, and on their stories of success with current
information technologies. Industry experts moderate all sessions, the
audience of industry leaders becomes involved, and the event becomes a discussion
on business drivers, the impact on work practices and even the effect on
company culture.
Visit www.PlantSuccess.com to view the
current agenda and to register on-line to attend PlantSuccess 2001.
Take advantage of discounts
and special room rates (use PlantSuccess Group #PLAPLAA) at the Philadelphia
Marriott Hotel.
Every week, the Newsletter
generates a substantial number of visits to our website, we welcome the
interest and the access to previous issues of the Newsletter which are
available there. If you'd like to share this newsletter with a colleague, just
forward a copy. Subscriptions and cancellations can be made by sending a
request to Carl.Howk@PlantSuccess.com
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This Week's Links
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At PlantSuccess 2000, Verticore, a sponsor at the
Gold level, introduced Verticore Productivity Solution (VPS). Today, Verticore
announced a transaction valued at more than $1 million with Rohm and Haas Texas
Inc to implement VPS at the company’s Deer Park Texas plant. By implementing
this operational effectiveness software, Rohm and Haas expects to save $15
million in fixed costs over the next 12 months.
Rohm and Haas (Philadelphia) has been involved with every
PlantSuccess: Dick Pettigrew was a speaker at the inaugural conference, Tom
Archibald was keynoter and Greg Keeports a speaker in 2000. Several
Rohm and Haas senior managers will be with us again this year, including
speaker Dave Rosenthal, with the topic: "Supply Chain Strategy and
Manufacturing Excellence -- A Recipe for Growth".
Verticore
Technologies is sponsoring
PlantSuccess again this year, also at the Gold level. Verticore's VP
of Marketing, Brent Potts, noted,
"PlantSuccess has been extremely successful in providing senior executives
in the process industries the opportunity to stay abreast of new technologies
designed to enhance their
operational effectiveness and ultimately their bottom
line."
In a recent study from the Conference Board, Customer
Relationship Management is defined thus: "the business processes an
organization performs to identify, select, acquire, develop, retain, and better
serve customers. These processes encompass an organization’s end-to-end
engagement with its customers and prospects over the lifetime of its
relationship with them."
The top three strategic
rationales for implementing CRM were:
a. Increase customer retention/loyalty – 94 percent
b. Respond effectively to competitive pressures – 77
percent
c. Differentiate competitively based on customer service
superiority – 73 percent
If these strategies are
important to your company, read the report summary, it’s a good source.
Warren Buffet’s name in any
article on technology is worth a read, no exception here. Despite an absence of
investments in technology-based companies, it’s worth noting that Berkshire
Hathaway shareholders suffered like the rest of us. From a high of $76,600, in
May ’99, BRK.A shares fell 46 percent by March 2000 to $41,300. However, the
value of their shares has risen -- 68 percent to today’s close at $69,400, just
9.3 percent below the three-year high. Tech stocks or no tech stocks, that
looks pretty good.
The potential for design
reviews for construction, operations and maintenance has been enhanced by
improved visualization of plant models at the desktop. These applications may
really take off within the next couple of years if Intel delivers as projected
at a recent developer’s conference.
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Sponsor Insight: CEA Systems
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Founded in 1987, with
headquarters in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, CEA Systems has plenty of
experience in many of the world’s design centers that specialize in process and
power plants and is making its presence felt in the US. The company has experience
in a wide range of markets, including: chemicals, petrochemicals, offshore,
gas, pharmaceuticals and others.
CEA Systems’ customer list
carries the names of many important owner/operators and contractors, including:
ABB, Air Liquide, Air Products & Chemicals, Dow Corning, DuPont, Exxon,
Fluor, GE, Heineken, Hoechst, ICI, Nestle, Siemens, Shell, Unilever and others.
The company’s proprietary
software system for plant design – Plant4D – is highly interactive and
intuitive and will have an impact on the global software market for plant
design. You can learn more about this new-old company from their senior
executives at PlantSuccess.
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PlantSuccess Close-up --
Only 27 days
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The Messengers
PlantSuccess has quickly
gained a reputation for outstanding content – good story tellers with a
good story to tell -- and session moderators who lead discussion and get
the audience involved. Keynoter, Kirk Wilson, VP of Engineering Services
for Bayer Corp, will be joined by 21 senior managers from our industry’s
leading owner/operators and contractors, including:
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BASF |
DuPont |
Merck |
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Black & Veatch |
Fluor |
Mustang Tampa |
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BP-Amoco |
Kellogg-Brown&Root |
Rohm and Haas |
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CDI Engineering Group |
Lyondell |
Washington Group Int'l |
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Detroit Edison |
Mitsubishi |
Wood Group |
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Dow Chemical |
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The moderators are familiar
to many of us: Alan Brown (Insight Communications), Kristin Chin
(Chemical Engineering Progress), Ric Jackson (FIATECH), Bill Moore
(ARC Advisory Group), Joe Morray (Trinity Technologies) and Richard
Zanetti (ChemWeek Associates).
These industry experts will
be both aided and challenged by those in the audience. Don’t miss this
opportunity -- be there.
Visit www.PlantSuccess.com and register
online. Take advantage of a $100 discount if your company is one of 120
companies listed as a member of FIATECH, PIP or CII. Take advantage of
discounts for multiple attendees from the same organization and call Carl Howk
at 770-565-3282 if you have any questions or need additional information.
Full links to Volume I, Issue 9 Newsletter articles:
1.
http://www.verticore.com/2001_09_04.html
4.
http://www.conference-board.org/search/dpress.cfm?pressid=4656
5.
http://www.manufacturingsystems.com/midday/default.asp?ID=865