PlantSuccess Newsletter

Volume II, Issue 29

18 December 2002

Dear Subscriber:

This has been a busy year for PlantSuccess. Our heartfelt and special thanks go to all who participated as speakers, sponsors, moderators and attendees. PlantSuccess continues to build upon its enviable reputation for process industry focus and content – innovative senior managers from industry leaders speaking to engineering IT and their business drivers, work processes and integration requirements.

Because PlantSuccess 2001 was held in Philadelphia just three weeks after the terrorist attacks and resulting travel ban, we took our unique concept on the road with one-day regional conferences in four leading process manufacturing sites -- all in a three month period of time. The reception from new attendees and members of the press was great. Keynoters included Terry Leigh, Dow Chemical’s Global Maintenance Resource Center leader, Vlad Djuric, senior reliability engineering, Dofasco Inc, and Mike Emery, Rhodia plant manager. Each conference featured other innovative managers, all addressing engineering IT and the business drivers important to them and their work processes. Speakers represented:

This series was made possible by co-sponsors: AVEVA, Bentley Systems, Chemical Engineering magazine, Enigma, Intergraph, JD Edwards, OSIsoft, PDAC, Penton Publishing and Rebis.

A few months later, the 4^th annual PlantSuccess was held at the PHL Airport Marriott. The tempo was set by keynoter Hermann Ortega, VP of engineering and manufacturing for the Chemicals Group of Air Products and Chemicals, Inc, and his address – Productivity: A Model for Success. Ortega was introduced by inaugural keynoter, Jim Porter, DuPont’s VP of engineering and operations.

PlantSuccess 2002 continued with its draw of senior managers from leaders in the process industry as speakers, moderators, sponsors and attendees. If you were not with us, you missed great presentations, stimulating discussion and an opportunity to network with successful innovators from industry leaders, including:

Valuable co-sponsors included: AVEVA, Bentley Systems, CFI, FIATECH, Ivara, OSIsoft, PDAC, Process Industry Practices (PIP), Trinity Technologies and Verticore Technologies.

PlantSuccess Gulf Coast 2003 will be at the Hilton Houston NASA Clear Lake, 9-10 April. The format will be two days, the same as the successful venue in Philadelphia in the fall, the focus will remain the successful implementation of engineering IT by owner-operator, the theme will remain “Best Practices Driving Plant Performance.”

Keynoter Doug Walker recently retired from ExxonMobil after a 34-year career in the process industry that was preceded by with a BSChE from Bucknell University (Lewisburg, Pa) and an ME (Chemical) from Cornell University (Ithaca, NY).

Walker’s plant experience incorporates many years at the Bayway, NJ site, including Operations Manager and Plant Manager of the Solvents and Olefins Organization.

Walker moved to the Baytown Chemical Plant in 1985 as the Aromatics Plant Manager and then the Basic Chemicals Plant Manager. In 1991, Walker became Site Manager of the Baytown Olefins Plant -- the largest single-train steam cracker, non-union plant in the world.

In 1998, Walker became the Singapore Chemical Plant Manufacturing Director for the $2 billion petrochemical complex that includes a liquids steam cracker, a polyethylene plant, a polypropylene plant and an oxoalcohol Plant.

With The address “The Environment for Competitive Success,” Doug Walker will “set the conference table” for another outstanding roster of innovative managers from industry leaders speaking to engineering IT and the business drivers, work processes and integration requirements of the owner-operator.

Join us for PlantSuccess Gulf Coast 2003 9-10 April at the Hilton Houston NASA Clear Lake. We are completing the conference agenda; if you have an interest in participating as a sponsor, speaker or moderator, please let me know.

Personal best wishes for the holidays and the New Year to our friends in the growing PlantSuccess community. We look forward to another successful year and hope you will join us.

Carl Howk, Chairman

******************

Current Links   

******************

• Corporate Performance Measurement (CPM)

More than just another acronym, “CPM entwines strategy and technology into a process that can transform the entire organization. CPM approaches business as an organic whole — as the sum total of processes and individuals. Under CPM's guiding principles, an organization will be in top form only if every employee — from salesperson to senior executive — is working in top form.” READ MORE

• Show Me the Money

“At a digital economy confab, 300 top execs agree: These day all their products and sales pitches have to have a customer focus.” Duh! I hope this is not really new to these execs. 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 29 Newsletter articles:

1. http://www.plantsuccess.com/
2. http://www.aberdeen.com/2001/research/10020030.asp
3. http://www.manufacturingsystems.com/lnwp/frameset.asp?midday=true&url=http://webpublisher.lexisnexis.com/index.asp?layout=story%26gid=1650000965%26did=47DB-VC80-018P-73PH-00000-00%26cid=80004408
4. http://www.plantsuccess.com/