Emerson Exchange 365

In 2010 ARC surveyed a cross-section of industrial manufacturers. Some notable questions were:

• Have you utilized control systems beyond the supplier's stated obsolescence date?

88% answered YES

• How far in advance of the system obsolescence date do you start planning for control system upgrade projects? The responses:

30 % <= 1yr

42 % 1 – 2 yrs

28% >= 3yrs

• Is obsolescence of the control system sufficient justification for funding a control system upgrade project, even if the system continues to operate reliably?

58% answered NO

• Do you use increased failure rates as a justification for PAS upgrade projects?

82% answered YES

These four questions are related of course and I’d like to pose this question to the user community. When do you begin to plan a modernization project? Do you:

• Run until an accumulation of tolerable system failures get enough attention to drive action

• Run until a major failure causes significant unplanned downtime

• Run until you lose a competitive advantage

• Run until the availability of parts or skilled service labor becomes critically low

Even if one of these scenarios is consciously chosen or forced upon you, would it hurt to start the planning process regardless?

• Explore your options and establish a vision to accomplish business goals

• Break a modernization into logical phases and establish a timeline

• Develop a budgetary estimate and get on the radar for capital allocation

• Quantify areas for improvement and start the justification process

It is very common to hear that resources cannot be spared to accomplish these steps. At Emerson we have a dedicated group of consultants to help you through this process.  

Interested to hear your thoughts on this topic.