Emerson Exchange 365

The Roman philosopher Seneca said that the best ideas are common property. This kind of collective approach to innovation is the basis for Emerson Process Management’s User Driven Enhancement Program, says Jaap Lageweg, Senior Process Automation Engineer at Sabic Innovative Plastics. Mr. Lageweg presented an overview of UDEP and an update on its latest achievements today at the 2014 Emerson Global Users Exchange in Stuttgart, Germany.

UDEP was created as a formal means for users in the industrial automation community to collaborate directly with Emerson on its product enhancement plans for the DeltaV™ digital automation system and AMS Suite predictive maintenance software. “The program allows users to collectively input, prioritize, and select the enhancement ideas that they would most like to see in Emerson's offerings,” Lageweg said. “The entire process is designed to be open and user-driven, with an emphasis on collaboration and the free exchange of ideas.”

“First, users submit their product enhancement ideas to the UDEP Committee using an online form,” Lageweg explained. “The Committee evaluates the submissions, selects the most promising ideas, and begins working with Emerson to develop them into fully realized enhancements. The UDEP Committee then updates users on new enhancements at Emerson Exchange, where attendees are encouraged to offer feedback and suggestions for the next DeltaV release.” Over 450 ideas have been submitted since October 2009 and participation in the program is growing steadily, Lageweg said.

The UDEP Committee is currently made up of 13 customer representatives from the chemical, life science, energy, food & beverage, and metals & mining industries. Its primary role is to manage the selection process and work with Emerson resources to implement chosen ideas. Beyond facilitating product enhancements, the Committee also serves as a forum for user research and strategic input regarding Emerson's policies, product portfolios and maintenance programs.

The first round of UDEP enhancements were incorporated into Version 12 of DeltaV, released in 2012. They included a new automated System Backup and Recovery function designed to eliminate errors common with manual recovery procedures, and improved Batch Parameter Descriptions that feature easily identifiable recipe parameters in both the configuration and operating environment. To date, over 2,600 licenses have been sold for the DeltaV Backup and Recovery function, according to Emerson's UDEP team.

Lageweg reported that UDEP received 224 enhancement ideas from 115 individuals at 94 different companies for the upcoming 13th version of DeltaV. Among the ideas selected for development were enhanced printing, an easy-function block expression editor, improved DeltaV diagnostics with DST tag information, improved action statement configuration, and improved phase import messages. Lageweg detailed the objectives and benefits of each of these enhancements and described how they will work in real-world applications.

The third round of idea submissions, which will be incorporated into DeltaV Version 14, will remain open until November 2014. Emerson Exchange attendees are encouraged to visit the UDEP submissions page online at www.userideas-emerson.com or stop by the UDEP booth in the conference hall to share their suggestions with the Committee.

“UDEP is an invaluable tool for the user community, which is empowered to improve the Emerson technologies it owns and depends on,” Lageweg said. “At the same time, it allows Emerson to round out its offerings with enhancements that add value and increase customer satisfaction. It's truly a win-win for everyone.”