You probably already have a data historian of some kind. And, if you don’t, get one! The data historian collects some data and probably gives you some reports and what not and that’s probably about it. It works pretty well. No one ever thinks about it. It just does its job and not much else. That’s pretty typical for most people and their historians. But, it barely touches the hem of the garment to what a historian can do. Data historians are amazing tools and can do so much more than j... Continue Reading

"Reports that say that something hasn't happened are always interesting to me, because as we know, there are known knowns; there are things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns; that is to say we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns -- the ones we don't know we don't know." This quote from former US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, (Feb. 12, 2002) was the subject of a lot of jokes.  ... Continue Reading

Over the range of projects we work on, we find ourselves constantly shifting focus from very distant overhead views to the minutest details. For the most part, we tend to relate the big picture information effects to big picture decisions. After all, little detail oriented decisions really only affect a component level change. While we certainly do not hold these guidelines to be law, these concepts oftentimes cloud our judgment and narrow our view of root cause options. Sometimes something smal... Continue Reading

When it comes to control system training, you’ve undoubtedly heard this phrase said to new folks: “In my day, you applied common horse sense, some on-the-job-training and a couple of days of following me around. After that you just ask questions. Do you have any for me now?” Now, if I was instructing someone on how to rake leaves or sweep out the garage—the above conversation would probably work.  But if you want to ensure that new engineers, operators and maintenance pe... Continue Reading

Working in our industry it is impossible to avoid bumping into the HART Communication protocol. Introduced in the mid-1980s by Rosemount as an attempt to find an inexpensive, almost trial way to get more information from smart field instrumentation, it later developed into something that finds its way back even when it seems to have outlived its purpose. I won’t get into the details as to when, why, and how the HART standard was develo... Continue Reading