PlantSuccess Newsletter

Volume II, Issue 24

25 September 2002

Dear Subscriber:

We’re coming to the end of the month, the appropriate remembrances of the terrorist attacks of 9/11 are behind us and the equally appropriate preparations to disarm Saddam Hussein are ahead of us and consuming virtually all of the media coverage. This is probably preferable to a focus on the economy or the stock market because there is too much bad news around as it is.

Perhaps it’s beginning to change. Today, Rohm and Haas, one of the industry leaders announced good news: “… sales for the third quarter are expected to be 7 to 8 percent higher than the same period in 2001. Earnings for the quarter are expected to be in the range of $.40 to $.42 per share, versus earnings of $.33 per share for the same period a year ago ….” READ MORE.

The chemicals industry and most of us associated with it have been through some tough times over the past few years. PlantSuccess and its focus on engineering information technologies, business drivers, impact on work process has provided a unique window into this critical industry. PlantSuccess has recruited scores of innovative managers from leading companies anxious to present what they are doing differently and better than just a couple of years ago. A lot of work is going on now that will reap significant benefits in the near term. See what they’ve said and what they will be doing at www.PlantSuccess.com.

Today, I was reminded of a comment a couple of years ago from one of the leading chemical industry analysts after I offered a complimentary registration to PlantSuccess. He confirmed the dates and then said, “No, I think I’ll be in my office then awaiting disappointing earnings reports.”

If that’s what he wanted then, that’s what he got. Perhaps Rohm and Hass will lead the industry down a road with different reports.

One way to contribute is to attend the 4^th annual PlantSuccess, 9-10 October at the PHL Airport Marriott -- join senior managers from Rohm and Haas, Air Products, Atofina, Black & Veatch, CDI Engineering, Coastal Eagle Point Oil, DuPont, Eastman Chemical, FMC, Hercules, Jacobs Engineering, Molson Canada, Shell, Sunoco, The Boldt Company and many others. Meet many of the industry’s leading managers with responsibility for major work processes and the budgets to make them better.

PlantSuccess Pays

At PlantSuccess 2000, Charlie Gillard, then recently retired as VP of Continuous Productivity Improvement and CIO for Shell Deer Park Refining Company, gave the presentation, Achieving Excellence in Plant Operations, based on the personal and successful experience with software that was to become the basis for Verticore Technologies, Inc. Fortunately for Verticore, Dave Rosenthal, Process Manager of Manufacturing Excellence for Rohm and Haas Company, was paying close attention and thought there might be a fit for this new software within his company.

About a year ago and with lofty predictions for success, Rohm and Haas Texas committed to a large-scale pilot project with Verticore. Clinton Whitehead, Project Services and Systems Manager for Rohm and Haas Texas, and the exec responsible, will discuss this implementation at PlantSuccess 2002, his presentation: Tackling Title V: A Solution for Compliance Assurance.

Whitehead’s abstract:

This presentation is geared to provide plants a successful implementation methodology for Title V compliance. The approach presented generalizes to provide for the successful uniform implementation of other complex environmental, policy and corporate best practice compliance requirements within the plant.

Effectively implementing complex compliance activities within equally complex organizations is a daunting task. In the late 1990s, the EPA in partnership with the CMA completed a study of the root causes of non-compliance. Using these insights, combined with quality management principles and plant-specific requirements, the presentation establishes an effective approach to implement consistent compliance activities into plant operations. Software functionality and systems, in addition to business processes and practices, will be discussed.

Randy Grant, maintenance reliability specialist, with Molson Canada, will present another story of success.

Grant’s abstract:

Randy Grant has seen maintenance as an emotionally charged roller coaster — one minute you're “putting out the fire” and a hero; the next minute you’re working to correct the issues behind the next failure and responsible for everything wrong.

Proactive maintenance is a widely held goal in most industrial maintenance organizations. However, very few organizations achieve this goal because of a lack of understanding, the absence of a defined maintenance business process, and the lack of a centralized, condition-based information system.

Molson Canada has provided Grant with an opportunity to implement a simple, complete and proven maintenance business process and, to develop a tool for centralizing the “islands” of data. This approach allows the maintenance department to perform the “right work at the right time” and empowers the company’s employees to manage the process.

In a short period of time, this effort has provided improved packaging line efficiencies and increased the involvement and ownership by both operations and maintenance personnel. This is a success story.

Join us at PlantSuccess 2002. The very appropriate theme is: Best Practices Driving Plant Performance. Keynoter, Hermann Ortega, VP of Engineering and Manufacturing for the Chemicals Group of Air Products and Chemicals, Inc., will share his experience and international success in Productivity: A Model for Success. Inaugural PlantSuccess keynoter, Jim Porter, DuPont’s VP of Engineering and Operations, will introduce Ortega.

Join Ortega and other outstanding speakers from leading process manufacturers and engineering contractors, all experienced with the successful implementation of engineering IT, business drivers and work processes.

Visit http://www.plantsuccess.com/ to review the conference program, abstracts of the presentations and bio of the speakers. Also, review previous program agendas and the many outstanding presentations from experienced and successful industry leaders.

Click HERE for online registration. For room reservations, call the PHL Airport Marriott at 1-215-492-9000 or 1-800-800-228-9290 and specify PlantSuccess for the special daily conference rate of $159.00 plus taxes. This is a limited offer; call today.

Regards, Carl Howk.

Chairman

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Featured Sponsors

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AIChE – Delaware Valley Section

AVEVA/Cadcentre

Bentley Systems Inc,

FIATECH

OSI Software Inc.

PDAC/pdXML

Process Industry Practices (PIP)

The Center for Innovation in Project and Production Management (CFI)

Trinity Technologies Corp.

Verticore Technologies Inc.

Visit our leading sponsors online and join them in the Solutions Marketplace at PlantSuccess 2002. Register Now.

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Collaborative Event

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Project Management Workshop

On Tuesday, 8 October, Greg Howell, co-founder and managing director of The Center for Innovation in Project and Production Management (CFI) is collaborating with PlantSuccess and conducting a workshop in his area of specialty – Project Management; the topic – The Theory of Project Management: Is It Obsolete?

The Abstract:

This Project Management Workshop redefines the problem facing project managers and presents a new solution.

Current project management proposes that managing activities on the critical path to assure they are done quickly and for low cost is the problem to be solved. Current project management attempts to solve this problem through a centralized planning system that notifies each activity when it is to start and controls by tracking. Commitment to action is low because those responsible for planning and control are separated from those who do the work. Delays compound as each activity strives to best solve the time/cost/quality/safety tradeoff for itself. Unfortunately, optimizing performance of each activity reduces total project performance. Improving project performance against all four dimensions requires that workflow through the project be reliable.

This workshop will show how unreliable workflow within and between activities causes poor performance at the project level. A new approach to planning and control will be explained that solves this problem. Results from adopting this approach show improvement against all four dimensions of project performance.

Don’t miss this. Registration fee is $195. Register Now. Discounts for multiple attendees from the same company are available, for information, please call PlantSuccess at 770-565-3282.

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Current Links

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· IT Executives Expect to Increase Budgets, According to New Aberdeen Group Study

There seems to be a survey to cover every possible view. Aberdeen Group is on of the more reliable research and consulting firms in the technology space and their current survey regarding technology-spending calls for an increase. READ MORE.

· Tech Managers Struggle to show Value of Security

A headline from the Information Week Fall Conference. This is important and it seem to me that because of a year’s worth of practice, we should be pretty good at this by now. Learn about the obstacles and where your company might stand. READ MORE.

The PlantSuccess 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. Subscribe or cancel by sending a request to Carl.Howk@PlantSuccess.com

Full links to Volume II, Issue 24 Newsletter articles: