Excellence in safety and sustainability

On March 5 - 6, 2012, ARC Advisory Group presents the 8th Process Management Academy (PMA) in Antwerp (B). This year’s forum topic is “Excellence in Safety and Sustainability”. ARC is further enhancing the workshop characteristics of the PMA, thereby bridging the gap between technological discussion and management challenges in the process industry.

PMA 2012 will be accompanied by four workshops:
• Cyber Security and Functional Safety: {Cyber Security was already a hot topic at last year’s PMA, when the impact of Stuxnet was discussed intensively after a presentation by Mikko Hypponen (F-Secure).}
• Excellence in Process Safety,
• Energy Efficiency, and
• Best Practices in Supply Chain Integrity and Brand Protection.

Another challenge that many end users are facing is the issue of Supply Chain Integrity and Brand Protection. As supply chains are getting flatter, companies interact more closely, outsource larger shares of production, and exchange more information. Counterfeit products are no longer exclusively found in the pharmaceutical or textile industry, but have reached many other industries. Officials estimate the damage between $650 billion and $1 trillion globally. Stefan Zimmermann (ATOS) will host this workshop together with Dr. Valentijn de Leeuw (ARC).

The workshop on Process Safety continues a series of discussion which started nearly 7 years ago at the very first PMA. This year, EEMUA, TOTAL PETROCHEMICALS RESEARCH FELUY, and iBanx HSE will participate. For example, Dr. Andrew Lichnowski from EEMUA will share lessons learned from the massive explosion at the Buncefield oil storage facilities. Dr. Lichnowski will also give a more detailed presentation on this topic on the second day of the event. This workshop not only focuses on technology, but also addresses human error.

Since 2008, Energy Efficiency has been a topic discussed by the participants of PMA due to price rally in commodity prices. Since then, many users have collected different experiences. This year’s workshop is spanning the bridge from data collection (presented by Phoenix Contact) to simulation (presented by INOSIM) and will include practical experiences from Clariant.

The presentations in the plenary session will deal with various topics surrounding Excellence in Safety and Sustainability and include speakers from B&R, Siemens, BT Advise, HIMA, TU Dortmund University, Yokogawa, and Contec. “Over 30 percent end user attendees at our PMA”, says Uwe Grundmann, GM European Operations from ARC. “Our continued focus on the needs and challenges of process industry ensures the high quality of PMA”. Practical examples will, for example, be demonstrated by Wim van Meijeren (NAM), who will present the automation of the unmanned operations of the Groningen Gas Field, which was fully upgraded and renovated. Dr. Herbert Maier from Clariant will talk about the holistic energy efficiency program which enabled Clariant to reduce the energy consumption per ton output by 25 percent from 2005 to 2010. Ruben Gil, Director, Sales Operations & Business Consulting, EMEA, AspenTech Europe, states: “Presentations during this event uplifted and encouraged companies to work collaboratively to use advanced manufacturing strategies and systems to help find new competitive advantages.”