We have a packed issue again this month with plenty of useful industry and technology related articles. Jim Pinto puts forward a case for why Biotech will reach an inflection point in the next decade and jump to a prominence that brings changes that impact humanity more than anything we have experienced in the last century.
It will be about bugs, genetically engineered using synthetic DNA it now seems these creatures could be designed to swim in ponds soaking up sunlight and producing oil for fuel. Others may be designed to feast on exhaust gasses, exuding fresh air as a ‘waste’ product and so keeping the atmosphere clean. As with all futuristic ideas the risks need to be carefully considered to avoid a biological calamity, but the possibilities presented in the article are nothing short of intriguing.
On the subject of bugs, it turns out that there is evidence linking two of the most notorious – the cyber variety this time – to a common developmental heritage. Classified as an ‘espionage toolkit’, the Flame malware has been subtly replicating itself and infecting targeted computer systems in the Middle East and North Africa for the last two years. Believed to be the work of a nation, or nations, there are similarities with the Stuxnet code that disrupted an Iranian nuclear facility, which suggest the creators of the Flame toolkit had access to the expertise of the Stuxnet designers. JP has more to say on this as well.
In this month’s cover story, Holger Sack, head of product management at Vega, introduces the new Vegaflex 80 range of level measurement devices based on the guided wave radar principle. Some interesting features include the use of a common DTM for the entire range; along with new innovations in the electronics that allow measurement of substances with a small dielectric constant that were previously difficult using radar. By introducing Vegaflex Series 80, Vega says it has carried forward the plics tradition and made level measurement in process automation that little bit easier.
Automation for profit
We have presented the ideas of Invensys’ Peter. G. Martin in the last few issues, which outline the need for dynamic performance measurement in the real-time accounting systems that show the bean counters the value that a well designed automation system can add. The trick is to incorporate all the critical process parameters into a set of equations the accountants have set up to model the facilities production value. This month our own contributing editor Andrew Ashton tackles the subject of profitability in his article ‘Automation for profit’.
The article argues the subject slightly differently, but the message is very similar: if you cannot prove the ROI to the accountants then you are probably not going to get your project funded. This is an interesting conclusion when looked at in the context of the findings of Martin and his team over the last 20 years. “It turns out that in today’s world of volatile raw material and energy prices, there is more potential for payback and profitability improvements at the process level than from anywhere else in the plant. However, this can only be achieved if the full power of today’s modern automation technology is going to be utilised effectively. There is little value in replacing legacy systems with state-of-the-art, if you are just going to replace on a function for function basis.”
This is the realm of the specialist consultant, or, in many cases, a consulting organisation that can field a multi-disciplinary team. Again consistent with the Invensys finding that on projects where accountants, engineers and IT people collaborate on solving a business problem, 100% ROI can often be achieved in as little as six weeks.
We will have more on the value of specialist automation consultants in our upcoming editions.
Steven Meyer
Editor: SA Instrumentation & Control
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