Product category:
Fieldbus systems, Fibre-optic systems
News Release from: Fieldbus Foundation
Edited by the Processingtalk Editorial
Team on 05 March 2004
Fieldbus Foundation 2004 general
assembly
The 10th anniversary set new attendance records, as members of the plant automation industry gathered for two days of Foundation fieldbus technology seminars and application presentations
The Fieldbus Foundation conducted its 2004 General Assembly in New Orleans, LA, on February 18-19 The organization's 10th anniversary set new attendance records, as members of the plant automation industry gathered for two days of Foundation fieldbus technology seminars, application presentations and business meetings
This article was originally published on Processingtalk on 18 Nov 2003 at 8.00am (UK)
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The 2004 General Assembly, held at the Hilton New Orleans Riverside Hotel, attracted more than 150 attendees and featured a table-top exhibition of the latest Foundation fieldbus products from the world's major automation equipment suppliers.
Representations from leading end-user companies such as Shell and BP were also on-hand for the event.
The General Assembly program was highlighted by a keynote address by Fieldbus Foundation Chairman John Berra.
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Mr Berra's presentation, entitled "Fieldbus Foundation: A Decade of Leadership," looked back at 10 years of fieldbus achievement around the world.
Tracing the foundation progress since its founding in 1994, Mr Berra recalled the development of the Foundation fieldbus H1 and High Speed Ethernet (HSE) specifications, successful field trials at Monsanto Chocolate Bayou and other user sites, and the effort to establish an international fieldbus standard.
"The Fieldbus Foundation has prospered thanks to the extraordinary commitment of the automation supplier and end-user communities," said Mr Berra.
"Our success can be attributed to the strong leadership of our past and current presidents, John Pittman and Rich Timoney; an involved board of directors; voluntary labour by the best technology minds in the business; active global end-user councils; and a lot of persistence and patience".
In a second keynote address, Shell Chemical Asset Development Manager James Rhame discussed his company's adoption of Foundation fieldbus as part of its re-instrumentation projects around the world.
Mr Rhame indicated that the implementation of fieldbus technology provides an opportunity to improve plant stability, reliability and asset utilisation, as well as reduce operating and maintenance fixed costs and improve variable costs.
As part of the General Assembly program, Fieldbus Foundation staff members reported on the latest Foundation fieldbus technology developments.
Stephen Mitschke, product manager, outlined Electronic Device Description Language (EDDL) extensions that provide new tools for advanced configuration and diagnostics.
Dave Glanzer, director of technology development, provided an update on projects ranging from standard function blocks, flexible function blocks and Device Descriptions (DDs), to conformance and interoperability testing tools, HSE registration testing, HSE redundancy testing, the DD cooperation project, safety instrumented systems, and power supply testing and registration.
Fieldbus Foundation End-user Advisory Council (EUAC) Chairman Ian Verhappen also provided an overview of fieldbus end-user activities.
Among the EUAC's recent achievements were the organization of end-user events around the world, completion of a comprehensive Foundation fieldbus System Engineering Guide, and establishment of a Central Canada End-user Council.
Mr Verhappen informed attendees about the progress of the Fieldbus Foundation Safety Instrumented Systems (FF-SIS) project, development of new transducer blocks, and enhancements to the foundation's Host Interoperability Support Test (HIST).
General Assembly participants heard John Rezabek, lead controls engineer for BP BDO Manufacturing, describe current end-user issues related to fieldbus adoption.
Mr Rezabek also detailed plans for a Flexible Function Block (FFB)/HSE demonstration at BP's Lima, Ohio, BDO plant.
Larry O'Brien, research director for the ARC Advisory Group, outlined best practices for maximizing the value of fieldbus implementations.
Mr O'Brien termed fieldbus technology "a plant asset management enabler," and said that justification of fieldbus projects should go beyond initial cost considerations to focus on lifecycle cost savings.
In other presentations, Chris Towle of MTL discussed the effects of lighting-induced surges on fieldbus circuits; and Jonas Berge of Smar Singapore described the open, integrated Foundation fieldbus architecture for information integration.
Two Fieldbus Foundation-certified training organizations, the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology (Calgary, Alberta, Canada) and the Fieldbus Center at Lee College (Baytown, TX) conducted workshops for Foundation fieldbus end-users and system integrators that were applauded by attendees.
Fieldbus Foundation members conducted their 2004 business meeting during the General Assembly.
Participants were briefed by Foundation President Richard Timoney on the organization's membership growth, expanding device registration program, technology initiatives and marketing activities.
Mr Timoney commended the membership for its support of the James O.
Gray Scholarship Fund, an endowed scholarship honouring long-time fieldbus supporter Jim Gray of Invensys/Foxboro.
Foundation members also elected a new slate of board members for the 2004-2005 term.
They include: Mr Ron Szanyi, ExxonMobil; Mr David Eisner, Honeywell; Mr Steve Eisenbrown, Rockwell Automation; Mr Motofumi Matsumura, Fuji Systems; and Mr John Eva, Invensys.
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