Title: 101 Tips for a Successful Automation Career Author: Greg McMillan, Hunter Vegas ISBN: 1937560503 / 9781937560508 Format: Soft Cover Pages: 250 Publisher: ISA Year: 2013 Availability: Out of Stock
Description
Contents
Do you want to:
Know more than your boss?
Sleep like a baby before a startup (less crying in the middle of the night)?
Get back early from startups?
Have vendors ask what you think works best?
Become the “Go To Person?”
Have your CEO smile at you?
Inspire your children to become automation engineers?
Get a knowing twinkle in your eyes like the technologist about to retire?
Get asked what is your key to success?
Get invited by operators to special meals in the control room kitchen?
Create a worldwide recognition of the value of the automation profession?
Become famous and a regular guest on late nite TV?
Be remembered for all the right reasons?
While this book cannot guarantee the above results, the content should provide an automation engineer with a proven path to career and technical success. So much of the automation field depends upon experience, and many feel that experience can only come with gray, thinning hair and lots of wrinkles. However, with this book, we invite you to take full advantage of two lifetimes of hard-fought lessons learned and to avoid many of the technical and career pitfalls made by the authors.
With 60 years of automation and control experience, we—Greg McMillan and Hunter Vegas—have installed hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of equipment and managed thousands of projects. We have witnessed (and occasionally committed) a whole host of blunders, and we have the scars and gray hair to prove it. Fortunately for you, we are willing to share what works and what doesn’t work so that the next generation can benefit.
So… save your hair! Avoid premature aging! And most importantly, save yourself a whole lot of pain and suffering! We sure wish we’d had a book like this when we were getting started.
Acknowledgments
About the Authors
Preface
Tip 1 : Always Ask “Why?” – And Never Stop Learning Tip 2 : Always Note the Author of a Technical Article Tip 3 : Pain is Instructive Tip 4 : Never Lie Tip 5 : Admit Your Errors Tip 6 : Change for the Sake of Change is Not Always a Good Thing, but “We’ve Always Done It That Way” is a Poor Reason to Avoid Trying New Things Tip 7 : If You Have to Tell Everyone How Smart You Are, You Probably Aren’t Tip 8 : Never Underestimate the Power of Politics and Emotion Tip 9 : The O-ring Seal in an On/Off Actuator Can Be a Good Predictor of Its Reliability Tip 10 : Butterfly Valves and/or Ball Valves with Positioners Are NOT Control Valves! Tip 11 : The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly of Vortex Flowmeters Tip 12 : The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly of Magmeters Tip 13 : The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly of Differential Pressure Flow Devices Tip 14 : Capillary Seal Pitfalls Tip 15 : You Cannot Control What You Do Not Understand Tip 16 : Use Outlines and/or Flow Charts First Tip 17 : You Can Never Have Too Much Messaging Tip 18 : Cheap Instrumentation is Exactly That Tip 19 : Always Run Spare Wires and Plan for Expansion Tip 20 : Spend the Money to Individually Fuse I/O with Indicating Fuse Blocks Tip 21 : Too Many Alarms Can Be Worse Than None at All Tip 22 : Details Matter Tip 23 : Anticipate Murphy; He is Alive and Well Tip 24 : When Performing a DCS Retrofit, Take Time to Study the I/O Cards Tip 25 : Make Sure the Coffee is Strong and the Pot Brews Quickly on Start-up Tip 26 : Document Your Code Tip 27 : Create, Thoroughly Test, THEN Replicate Tip 28 : “Plug and Play” Devices Often Don’t Tip 29 : Tricks for Control Panels Tip 30 : Appearance Matters Tip 31 : Project Management is Really Risk Management Tip 32 : General Project Management Tip s Tip 33 : High Pay is Great but Life is Too Short to Stay in a Job You Dislike Tip 34 : Take Time to Learn Exactly How Instruments Work Tip 35 : Operators Can Make or Break an Automation Project Tip 36 : A College Degree Does NOT Buy You Respect, Nor is It a Good Indication of What You Know Tip 37 : Get Past the References You Are Offered Tip 38 : Derail Scripted Demonstrations Tip 39 : Know the Codes Tip 40 : Engineers Are Generally AWFUL Communicators. Do Not Fall into That Trap Tip 41 : If Possible, Get Plant Experience Early Tip 42 : Money Drives Corporate Behavior Tip 43 : Small, Continuous Waste Streams = BIG Money Tip 44 : Foster Relationships with Honest Vendors Tip 45 : Learn to Estimate Jobs Tip 46 : Success Breeds Success and Mediocrity is Never Acceptable Tip 47 : Grow Your Direct Reports Tip 48 : Treat Everyone with Respect and Do Not Accept a Lack of Respect from Others Tip 49 : Working For a Boss Whom You Do Not Respect is Difficult Tip 50 : Ask for Feedback Tip 51 : Seek Conversations with Knowledgeable People Tip 52 : Be a Good Listener Tip 53 : Find and Read Technical Articles and Books Tip 54 : Look for Opportunities to Improve Plant Profitability Tip 55 : Use the Best Technology, Even if the Price Tag is Higher Tip 56 : Learn New Skills and Explore Technological Advances as an Extracurricular Activity Tip 57 : Be a Team Player Tip 58 : Make Yourself More Marketable Tip 59 : Document the Benefits of Improvements Tip 60 : Write and Present Papers Tip 61 : Install Online Process Metrics Tip 62 : Demonstrate and Prototype Improvements via Dynamic Models Tip 63 : Use Field Analyzers to Measure Key Component Concentrations Tip 64 : Improve Setpoints Tip 65 : Use High Rangeability Flowmeters and Valves to Increase Plant Turndown Tip 66 : Seek First Principles for a Deeper Understanding Tip 67 : Find the Best Measurement Location Tip 68 : Find the Best Valve Location Tip 69 : Add Control Loops to Eliminate Manual Actions and Sequences Tip 70 : Minimize Deadtime Tip 71 : Achieve Best Disturbance Rejection and Setpoint Response Tip 72 : Achieve Best Loop Coordination and Optimization Tip 73 : Use Coriolis Meters for Mass Flow and Concentration Control Tip 74 : Eliminate Split Range Oscillations Tip 75 : Use Wireless Transmitters for Diagnostics, Improvements, and Metrics Tip 76 : Use Checklists to Cover All the Bases Tip 77 : Increase the PID Gain and Reset Time for Vessel and Column Control Tip 78 : Decrease the PID Gain and Reset Time for Pipeline and Inline Control Tip 79 : Understand How Equipment and Operating Conditions Affect Process Dynamics Tip 80 : Use Sliding Stem Valves for Tighter Control Tip 81 : Select the Best Type and Size of Actuator for Tight Control Tip 82 : Use and Tune Smart Positioners Tip 83 : Don’t Use On-Off Valves for Control Valves Tip 84 : Use Signal Characterization in the DCS to Linearize Valve Installed Flow Characteristic Tip 85 : Use Linear Reagent Demand Control for Systems with Difficult-to-Control pH Tip 86 : Test the pH Response Time to Determine the Health of a Glass Electrode Tip 87 : Monitor the pH Offset to Determine the Health of a Reference Electrode Tip 88 : Use Middle Signal Selection to Improve pH Measurement Reliability Tip 89 : Identify Deadtime and Ramp Rate Tip 90 : Compute and Trend a Future PV Tip 91 : Use Output Tracking to Improve Setpoint and Abnormal Condition Response Tip 92 : Make Reset Time and Feedforward Action Smarter Tip 93 : Use a Viewable and Adjustable Flow Ratio and a Feedforward Summer Tip 94 : Smooth the Transition between Batch and Continuous Operations Tip 95 : Use External-Reset Feedback for Cascade Control and Slow Final Control Elements Tip 96 : Optimize Batch End Points and Cycle Times Tip 97 : Use Valve Position Control to Optimize Process Efficiency and Capacity Tip 98 : Achieve the Required Simulation Fidelity Tip 99 : Use a Virtual Plant for All Dynamic Models Tip 100 : Use an Enhanced PID for At-Line and Off-Line Analyzers Tip 101 : Use Plant-Wide Feedforward for More Flexible and Efficient Production
Appendix A : References
Appendix B : Vintage Books
Appendix C : Checklists
Appendix D : Dynamics
Appendix E : Enhanced PID
Appendix F : First Principle Process Gains, Deadtimes, and Time Constants