Industry News In brief...
New best practice guidance for food and beverage processors on the safe and efficient use of com- pressed air has been unveiled by the British Compressed Air Society (BCAS). Prepared in con- junction with the BRC Global Standards, the guide is designed to help processors make informed decisions relating to compressor systems operating at a pressure greater than 0.5bar.
www.bcas.org.uk
The Institution of Chemical Engineers (IChemE) and the Royal Society of Chemistry have echoed the message from a new report from the Chemistry Growth Strategy Group, that says the chemistry-based industries are vital to Britain’s effort to regain economic momentum. Dr David Brown, IChemE’s chief executive, said: “The Strategy for Growth report highlights the need for competitive energy sources, and in particular mentions shale gas, a developing source of fuel; if the UK adopts fracking to access shale gas, chemical scientists and engineers will need to play a central role in its production and in monitoring any environmental impact.”
www.icheme.org
New research by a manufacturer of bespoke materials handling prod- ucts has revealed a resurgence in interest for products ‘Made in Britain’. The Wilmat survey showed that 79% of respondents thought local sourcing was essential, impor- tant or a consideration when buying new materials handling equipment. Teresa Hands, managing director,
said: “When asked what ‘Made in Britain’ means to them, the majori- ty said it represented quality prod- ucts, if at a slightly higher price. But they also stressed the impor- tance of compliance with relevant regulations and the traceability of components.”
www.wilmat-handling.co.uk
Events...
Sensors & Instrumentation, 25 - 26th September 2013, NEC Birmingham
See our full preview on page 8
www.sensorsandinstrumentation.co.uk
Check out our comprehensive Event Diary at:
www.connectingindustry.com
4 Energy management on the agenda Comment
SCHNEIDER ELECTRIC HAS announced the launch of its EcoStruxure Alliances Program for global strategic alliance part- ners and EcoStruxure Technology Partner Program for technology partnerships. This formal collabo- ration with other companies will, according to Schneider, enable the company to deliver on the promise of energy efficiency by providing integrated EcoStruxure energy management solutions to customers in many industries, including process and machine management.
“The energy dilemma facing our world is massive, and our best hope for solving it for future gen- erations is through partnerships with other like-minded, innova- tive companies,” said Aaron Davis, executive vice president and chief marketing officer, Schneider Electric. “Through our partnerships and the resulting
JUST 18 MONTHS after embark- ing upon its ‘Manufacturing Excellence’ programme with Reliable Manufacturing, plant breakdowns and performance issues at SABIC UK Petrochemical’s ethylene liquefac- tion plant on Teeside have been dramatically reduced. The plant is on track to make productivity gains of £10 million a year follow- ing the implementation of the intensive reliability programme. Communication between the
plant’s two sites have improved, and asset care improvement teams have uncovered issues and made efficiency savings, which on one propylene dryer is estimated to be in excess of £400,000 a year. “We’ve managed to achieve reliable production week after
integrations into the EcoStruxure architecture, we can bring intelli- gent energy management to our mutual customers, drive multi- vendor standardization for better system performance, and acceler- ate time to deployment making energy management faster and more accurate.”
The company has also intro- duced new market segment soft- ware suites to its StruxureWare software offering. StruxureWare for Data Centres is currently avail- able while Water, Healthcare and Grid will be introduced over coming months.
www.schneider-electric.co.uk • UK engineering firm Invensys has confirmed it has received a takeover offer from Schneider Electric. Schneider is now required to make a formal offer by 8th August. It said a deal would help it focus on industrial automation.
Is fracking the answer to our energy supply prayers? Well, it depends on who you listen to. Fracking is a form of energy extraction that involves a water, sand and chemical mixture being inject- ed at high pressures into rock to create fractions. Critics believe the process is damaging to the environment and cont- aminates groundwater. Much of the available shale is thought to be in the North of the country, but Surrey, Sussex and now London are becoming focus points for potential fracking. London Mayor Boris Johnson said: “If reserves of shale can be exploited in London, we should leave no stone unturned, or unfracked, in the cause of keeping the lights on.” While some advocators promote
week, despite the plant’s age and without any significant invest- ment,” said Wayne Alexander, former senior operations manager. “It’s about teams operating the plant correctly, being slick at what they do, and working to plans and targets.” With the new levels of reliability, the plant has extra capacity to sell, and safety goals are achieved.
www.reliable-manufacturing.com
Pump company celebrates 50 years
Vacuum pump, blower and vacuum systems manufacturer Busch is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year with a series of events at facilities all around the globe.
The UK celebrations took place
in July, centring around the com- pany’s Crewe manufacturing facil- ity. Members of the Busch Family and the UK management team were joined by more than 120 cus- tomers, key suppliers and the Deputy Mayor of Cheshire East, as well as former Busch employees, for a VIP reception and tour. This was followed by a dinner at the prestigious Crewe Hall Hotel with
the first woman of English foot- ball and leading business icon Karren Brady as special guest speaker. A daytime reception and tour also took place the following day at the company’s Telford site. Ian Graves, managing director for Busch (UK), said: “It’s been an exciting year for us already with the ‘Make It with Busch initia- tive’, our being shortlisted for the Company of the Year in the Shropshire Business Awards and this customer event will undoubt- edly provide the platform for con- tinuous improvement and growth for the future at Busch.”
www.busch.co.uk
fracking as the North Sea oil of this decade, the big difference is North Sea exploration takes place way off the coast, with little disruption to normal, everyday life. Fracking, on the other hand, is completely different, as much of the shale is under our cities, and get- ting to it will cause what some environ- mentalists have dubbed ‘fracking hell’! It seems whatever method of energy generation we believe is right for our future requirements, there is always a price to pay. And this price isn’t just the total at the bottom of our energy bills. Michelle Lea - Editor
EMEA award
Wonderware United Kingdom and Ireland, a division of SolutionsPT, has been awarded the Distinguished Distributor Award for Technical Support by Invensys at its annual EMEA Connect Conference in Bratislava. The award is given in recognition of outstanding levels of technical support provided throughout the year. In partic- ular, the team was praised by Invensys for its excellent work in case manage- ment, open communication principles and improved customer relationship processes, and acknowledged as leading the way for other distributors to follow. David Baskett, technical support manager, for Wonderware United Kingdom and Ireland, said: “Solidifying communication links with the Invensys EMEA team has resulted in good working relationships between engi- neers and the management team.”
www.solutionspt.com
JULY/AUGUST 2013 Process & Control
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