Productivity Perspectives

“I love all of it, to tell you the truth. Stainless just catches the eye,” said Craig Bell Jr., a representative with Alloy Products Corp. of Waukesha, Wis. That’s the kind of feeling for the utility and beauty of the materials sciences that was on location at Interphex, held in New York City’s Jacob Javits Center.

In the last 12 years, says a recently published survey,“water rates have at least doubled in more than a quarter of the locations and even tripled in a few.” Continuing rate increases are expected of 5% to 15% every few years.

SCADA systems are today the most common means for establishing computer-based production monitoring and control. While the SCADA security challenge is widely recognized, just how bad it is can be hard to say, since, for most companies, little is to be gained by talking publicly about the problem.It took only 18 hours to find the first signs of attack on one of the honeypots.

Have you seen some of the things they do with industrial-plant software models today? As always, it’s the meshing of user roles that makes an integrated system sing.

A $28 billion offer for H.J. Heinz Co. may be the largest takeover of a pure food producer ever. Warren Buffet’s Berkshire Hathaway partnered with private-equity firm 3G Capital on the announced deal, which is already taking some interesting twists.

The question is not what the process industries are trying to accomplish by means of industrial automation. But rather, “As you drive performance by opening up data and collaboration, how do you ensure cyber-security?” said Patricia T. Sperrell of Exxon Mobil, speaking at ARC Advisory Group’s World Industry Forum, held this week in Orlando.

In February, Processing will launch two new industry-focused electronic newsletters, Processing’s Food Industry Update and Chemical Industry Update. We're working hard to make sure you enjoy reading them.

The water consumed in oil & gas production is something tremendous. Folks in the water and wastewater treatment industry know it, and they’re introducing solutions that make continuing use of carbon-based energy more sustainable.

This December 2012 issue of Processing magazine marks the first time this editor has had the pleasure of working on its annual Breakthrough Products awards. What was striking after reviewing both the submissions and the winners was how many of the solutions presented came out of companies headquartered in the U.S. manufacturing heartlands, or in a few cases, the European manufacturing heartlands.