After the meeting, Yokogawa provided a fine dinner by the waters of the Gulf. From sushi to tabouleh, to all manner of great barbeque, the feast was fine. The conversation was finer. I sat with Control Editorial Advisory Board Member, Jim Sprague, "from a large Middle Eastern oil company," Heinz Gall from TUV, Austin Brell, from that same "large Middle Eastern oil company," and … [Read more...] about from the department of "table chat"
more from the "end users speak up" department
Mr. Adbullah Al-Mulla from Saudi Aramco described a set of projects he calls the GOSP Control System Modernization Program. "GOSP" is Aramco shorthand for gas-oil separation plant. These plants are old, Mr. Al-Mulla reported. Most were built from the 1950s to the 1970s and their control systems are antiquated, obsolete and unrepairable. Spares are nearly impossible to find, and … [Read more...] about more from the "end users speak up" department
from the department of "the end users have their say…"
Mr. Masood Khan, from SABIC, presented a fascinating case study of an extremely fast track project to do an upgrade to a NIGC (that's National Industrial Gas Co. or GAS, from Saudi Arabia). Mr. Khan is the site project superintendent at the NIGC complex in Jubail, KSA. There are five gas plants, producing Nitrogen, Oxygen, and assorted noble gases in the Jubail site. Phases I … [Read more...] about from the department of "the end users have their say…"
from the "from the abstract to the concrete" department
Next up after Heinz Gall was Austin Brell of Saudi Aramco. He reported on the just completed testing of Yokogawa's ProSafe RS Safety Instrumented System for possible approval to join Aramco's ESD vendor list. Currently, the list includes Triconex, ICS Triplex, and Siemens (and Yokogawa) Quadlog. The cycle for this kind of approval testing is about three years. Brell noted that … [Read more...] about from the "from the abstract to the concrete" department
Heinz Gall on Functional Safety–from the department of "no whining"
Heinz Gall, of TUV-Rhineland, talked about functional safety and how the IEC standards 61508 and 61511 work. If you are manufacturing products, they need to be built in accordance with 61508, he noted, and if you are using them in a Safety Instrumented System, they need to comply with 61511 (or the North American Version, ISA84, which is entirely the same, but with a … [Read more...] about Heinz Gall on Functional Safety–from the department of "no whining"
