PlantSuccess Newsletter

Volume IV, Issue 3

4 February 2004

Dear Subscriber:

Five years ago, I knew what I wanted this new conference to be like but I didn’t have a name. It came to me in the middle of the night and this time I had paper and pencil on the nightstand. PlantSuccess is the perfect name, because of our focus on the process industry and the word “success.” We have recruited many of our industry’s most successful managers as speakers, attendees and sponsors and made stories of successful implementations of engineering IT available for downloading to hundreds of people designing and operating process plants around the world.

In that ledger with the heading that reads: PROBLEM or SOLUTION, we are pleased to be part of the solution. We play a small part distributing knowledge and experience regarding engineering IT and its impact on business derivers, work processes and integration requirements; we are grateful to all of those who are a part of this community. I frequently get positive reports on the opportunity we provide to managers to share their stories of success and on the contribution these stories have elsewhere. There is still a long way to travel.

We will take another step, 22 April at the Hilton Houston NASA Clear Lake with PlantSuccess Gulf Coast 2003. We will continue the theme “Best Practices Driving Plant Performance;” Tom Jefferson, Bayer’s Director of Production and Technical for Polymers IS will be keynote.

As keynote, Jefferson follows a long line of successful executives from DuPont, Rohm and Haas, Bayer Corp, Dow Chemical, Air Products and Exxon. These presentations are among the most popular for downloading. Jefferson will “set the conference table” for another roster of outstanding speakers.

If you like to be with and learn from successful people, join us in Houston in April and visit us often at www.PlantSuccess.com for more information.

Carl Howk, Chairman

770-565-3282

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Current Links

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Chemical Industry Calls for Increase in Natural Gas Supply

The global recession took a toll on the chemicals and other capital-intensive industries; another major problem is looming with the continuing absence of a comprehensive energy plan, a gas supply shortage and rapidly rising prices. The current political environment and the presidential election are likely to delay the solution to this problem.

CEO’s from major chemical companies (all active in the American Chemistry Council) call for, “ a concerted national effort to conserve energy, federal action to expedite drilling permits, royalty relief for deep-well drilling, and the creation of a political consensus to open promising new areas for responsible natural gas production.” READ MORE.

Ten Technologies That Refuse to Die

Last Newsletter we cited “10 Emerging Technologies That Will Change Your World.” In this issue, from the same source, MIT’s Technology Review, we look at technology from a new (perhaps old) perspective and consider technologies that refuse to die and are found in products ranging from analog watches to Fortran. READ MORE.

What You Can Learn from the 25 Most Influential Leaders of Our Times

From Knowledge@Wharton, under the heading Leadership and Change. Andy Grove, co-founder of Intel, won the No. 1 position; the list also includes Bill Gates, Warren Buffett, John Bogle, Jeff Bezos, Jack Welch and Oprah Winfrey. We can all learn from those who have been as successful as these leaders. 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 IV, Issue 3 Newsletter articles:

1. www.PlantSuccess.com

2. http://accnewsmedia.com/docs/1500/1414.pdf

3. http://accnewsmedia.com/site/page.asp?TRACKID=&VID=1&CID=253&DID=974

4. http://www.techreview.com/articles/scigliano0204.asp

5. http://www.technologyreview.com/articles/emerging0204.asp

6. http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/index.cfm?fa=viewArticle&ID=931

7. www.PlantSuccess.com