MORE than 2,300 users and company representatives from 47 countries attended the 2010 Emerson Global Users Exchange in San Antonio, Texas, which took place from 27 September to 1 October. This year’s conference was themed “Build on Your Knowledge,” and, as always, was put on by Emerson’s community of users.
This year’s five-day conference featured 318 short courses and work shops, 11 Emerson product roadmap sessions, Meet the Expert sessions and industry and technology forums, as well as a large interactive technology exhibit showcasing the latest in automation inno vations and solutions. The workshops and courses demonstrated the diverse ways in which Emerson’s technologies have been applied to various industries.
According to Emerson, this push to “Build on Your Knowledge,” addresses the increasingly complex task of building and running a safe, efficient operation, as well as the impact of retiring workers taking experience and expertise out of companies. The theme was tied in with the company’s philosophy of Human Centred Design (HCD), which seeks to involve users in product design processes from the beginning.
Narasimha Kousik, project engineer with Caltex Australia Petroleum, was an attendee. While he works closely with Emerson Process Management Australia’s NSW regional sales manager Terry Borgeest to look at solutions for his company, he found the user presentations provided another angle on the technolo gies. “The Exchange is a great opportu nity to come and see, from other users’ perspectives, how the technologies are performing. I have had the opportunity to listen to some of the other users and get the confidence from users who recommend certain technologies,” Kousik told PACE. “I am better equipped to eval uate their offerings now, knowing more about their products.”
These technologies, and others, were demonstrated at an interactive technology exhibit which ran for the first three days of the Global User Exchange.
Application Stations at the exhibition provided focus points on how Emerson’s various products can be integrated in greenhouse gas solutions, blending and logistics, essential asset monitoring, safety instrumented systems, remote operations, and installation and commissioning, amongst others. A Usability Experience mini-tour at the exhibition provided further insight into HCD, as well as the technologies used to gather and under stand information provided by users.
Andrew Wilcox, business develop ment manager with Enwave Energy of Canada, was a user who presented at the Exchange. A first-time attendee, he was particularly enthusiastic about the exhibi tion. “This is a really valuable resource. The sessions are interesting, however, being able to ask specific questions about my product needs to the vendors is invaluable,” Wilcox said.
The event also helped Wilcox identify solutions to enhance the processes at his company. “There are definitely a few products lines that are new to Emerson or just coming out that will satisfy certain niche components of our business, which I am excited to hear a bit more about as the technology progresses.”