Tag: column

We all hear and read a lot about Industry 4.0. There is an awful lot of hype and often not a lot of practical information.

The following excerpt comes from a chapter related to changes in industrial plants from the book “Still Going Wrong” by Trevor Kletz, a useful compendium of accidents and near-accidents and why they happened.

De-Oiling in Steam Assisted Gravity Drainage (SAGD) Oil Production in AlbertaIn Alberta, every barrel of oil produced comes along with approximately three barrels of water.

Why is training so essential for water utilities, engineers and operators? There are continuous changes in regulation of water distribution systems, changing laws and water quality mandates. In order to ensure compliance, utilities and their staff need proper training on the tools and methodology to keep up with an ever-changing industry.

Reliability is critical for the whole supply chain. For subsea assets and equipment, any failure or malfunction within a unit poses not only a major safety concern, but also results in a serious production cost, downtimes, aquatic life and environmental damage and loss of asset.

Sales & Operations Planning (S&OP) can be instrumental in aligning all business functions to transform struggling companies into well-oiled machines.

Fugitive emission of gases and/or vapors due to unanticipated leaks from pressurized equipment such as valves, pumps, and compressors are typical concerns in chemical, petrochemical, LNG, or refinery operations.

Jim Darby has been in the process industry for a little over four decades. He began his career as a Junior Process Engineer and has progressed over the years to achieve a Senior Process Engineer position. After gaining experience in a multitude of different companies, Darby began working with Paton Engineers and Constructors in Sarnia, Ontario, and has held his position there for the last two and a half years.

In a recently published article about making improvements on the factory floor, especially the machine shop, I discussed several metrics and their definitions.