Emerson Exchange 365

The third and final day of the 2014 Emerson Global Users Exchange concluded Thursday afternoon with four Meet the Experts sessions that covered a wide range of prevalent issues concerning the process automation industry. These in-depth workshops gave users a unique opportunity to consult with the engineers behind today's leading technologies and discuss pertinent topics such as cyber security, safety instrumented system lifecycle management, process simulation applications, and energy efficiency directives.

Emerson security specialists Bob Huba, Jeff Potter and Benoit Paredes led the Cyber Security session, which focused on protecting the integrity of process control systems and many of the technical issues involved with cyber security implementations on Emerson products.

Experts at the Safety Instrumented System Lifecycle Management session discussed a long list of issues including Emerson's Smart SIS approach, compliance with IEC 61511, validation, proof testing, online diagnostics, and change management, as well as how to integrate these concepts with the latest electronic marshaling extension to DeltaV SIS system. Panelists included Josef Neumann of TÜV NORD Systems, Dr. William Goble of exida, and Russell Cockman, Nicolas Menet and Aart Pruysen of Emerson.

The session on Process Simulation for Testing and Training explored several topics relevant to the dynamic simulation lifecycle, including best practices and the benefits of applying dynamic simulation through the different phases of a typical project. Panelists Roar Nilsen of Kongsberg and Ronnie Bains, John Caldwell, and Richard Kephart of Emerson also discussed the use of simulators as a valuable commissioning tool and as a way to gain hands-on use of automation systems prior to deployment.

Finally, the Energy Efficiency Directive session focused on how to comply with the EU's latest directive to provide sustainable energy savings by employing an energy management system and utilising online auditing tools for evaluating and implementing energy improvement projects. Panelists included Emerson energy consultants Peter Makepeace, Bob Sabin, Glyn Westlake, Ian MacDonald, and Scott Pettigrew.