A hundred not out!
In this month’s issue we publish Michael Brown’s one hundredth control loop case history.
Mike began his new career in loop tuning and optimisation in 1989 when a friend of his, who had developed a loop analysis package, invited him to the USA to review a basic course which he had put together on the practical aspects of control. He says that he was literally blown away by this course: nobody else he had ever met knew the things that he learnt in that week. This had such an impact on him that he decided to sell the trio of successful control systems companies which he had built up and embark on a new profession.
For the first year or two the going was tough. With very little previous plant experience he was now going into plants to try to sort out problems that had puzzled the plant personnel; sometimes for years. As far as the teaching was concerned he says it was really a case of the 'blind teaching the blind'.
Mike is now a walking encyclopaedia of regulatory control knowledge, having worked on optimising loops in over three hundred plants in Africa, the UK, Europe and USA. His writing and consulting exhibit a rarely found balance of theory, practice and experience. He enjoys teaching people and sharing their enthusiasm in the new understanding and insight gained through his courses.
Our industry benefits greatly from his willingness to share his hard-won knowledge so unselfishly.
Speaking as a publisher and as a member of the instrumentation and control fraternity, we are privileged to have Mike as a consulting editor. Except for those times when he disappears to the bush for his annual break, each month we receive for publication either a new control loop signature or loop history written in his inimitable and sometimes outspoken style. This is a remarkable feat given his busy schedule of plant consultations and training locally and outside the country.
Mike Brown, we salute you!
Infrastructural investments
While many people have concerns over the current state of the world’s and our own economies, the massive infrastructural and 2010 FIFA World Cup related projects that are under way must surely have sufficient momentum to pull us through this potentially recessionary period ahead.
The South African Federation of Civil Engineering Contractors (SAFCEC) estimates that construction works in the civil engineering sector reached R46bn for 2007. This level of activity was last seen in the construction boom of the 1970s.
The prospect for infrastructural spend going forward is also encouraging for industry.
At last October’s SA International Trade and Investment Conference in Durban, a three-year infrastructural build of R631 billion was reported. Sasol has just announced a R1,2bn gas compression station project for Komatipoort. Eskom is expected to spend R150bn in the next five years on capacity increases, and has a R1,2 trillion budget up to 2025. The Department of Water Affairs and Forestry has announced that R1,5 billion has been allocated to dam safety and rehabilitation programmes.
The good news for users of broadband is that there is more international bandwidth capacity on the way. In December, SEACOM announced the initiation of a project which will link South Africa, Mozambique, Madagascar, Kenya, and Tanzania with India and Egypt, providing 1,28 Tbps of capacity. The project is expected to be complete by June 2009, well in time for the 2010 FIFA World Cup.
Many of these projects will have a positive impact on turnover in the instrumentation and control industry.
Andrew Ashton
Features editor, SA Instrumentation & Control
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