Emerson Exchange 365

Wednesday's six Industry Forums gave conference delegates the opportunity to discuss market trends, leading technologies, common challenges, and proven solutions with panels of experts in their business areas. Each forum was comprised of a short presentation followed by a question and answer session.

The Chemical forum, moderated by Emerson Global Chemical Industry Leader Peter Cox, discussed how chemical players are evaluating options to enhance operations and energy efficiency, improve reliability, comply with new regulations and augment safety with all investments. Dorthee Arms, Executive Director of Petrochemistry at the European Chemical Industry Council introduced the session and talked about challenges facing the industry. Julian Annison, Supply Chain and Logistics Manager at Mexicherm, shared how her company approaches optimisation opportunities to solve problems common to many players in the chemical field.

The Engineering forum covered three main topics: automation for new process technologies, including subsea, FLNG and wind farms; multi-location execution centres; and automation partnering synergies. The session was moderated by Emerson’s Director of Northern Europe Contractors Steve Day, and featured panelists Salvatore Sausa of Technip, Peter Beerepoot of Shell Global Solutions, and Peter Egeland of Aker Solutions.

Discussion at the Oil & Gas forum centered on intelligent fields, or e-fields. Panelists talked about the components needed to build an intelligent field system from the bottom up and what this trend means for existing, aging assets. Emerson Director of Oil & Gas Solutions Jose Jimenez moderated the session which included panelists Mark Taylor of Iraq Developments, Chandra Sekhar Seethepall of Kuwait Oil Company, and Marndouh B. Al-Aidarous of Saudi Aramco.

The Power forum explored three issues central to the industry today: the future of new generation technologies; challenges presented by an aging workforce; and the problem of increasing plants’ operational flexibility. Herald Mag, General Manager, France at Emerson moderated the discussion, which featured Pavel Řezábek of ČEZ, Christian Stürmer of E.ON, and Bob Yeager of Emerson.

Four focus areas were addressed at the Life Sciences forum: managing data models throughout the product lifecycle; data accessibility and visualization; flexible facilities and single use; and technological impacts on infrastructure and data. Peter Zornio, Chief Strategic Officer of Emerson Process Management open and closed the forum. The panelists were Mary Peterson of Novartis Pharma, Lars Petersen of Biogen Idec, and Wilifried Kappel of Sartorius-Stedim.

The Refining & Petrochemical forum, moderated by Emerson’s Director of Sales for Refining Industry Solutions Ed Schodowski, discussed three major challenges facing the industry: meeting the EU Energy Efficiency Directives in 2014; environmental regulations; and margin pressures created by high energy costs. The panelists were Neil King of Ineos, Mohammad Al Binali of EQUATE, and Doug White of Emerson.

For more insight into issues affecting your industry today, take a moment to browse through the latest Thought Leadership offerings from Emerson specialists in the chemical , refining , life sciences , mining and energy fields.