Conversation with a Guru of Safety Systems

Angela E. Summers, Ph.D. and P.E., has more than 15 years of process, environmental and safety instrumented system (SIS) design experience. She is principal author of “Guidelines for Safe and Reliable Instrumented Protective Systems.” She is a recipient of the Intrumentation, Systems and Automation Society's 2005 Albert F. Sperry Award, for her outstanding contributions and leadership in the specification, development and implementation of safety instrumented systems for the process automation industry. She is also president and chief executive officer of safety instrumented systems consultancy SIS-Tech Solutions, in Houston. Summers sat down recently for an interview with Automation World Editor in Chief Gary Mintchell.

Automation World: What is the biggest challenge you've seen in implementing a successful safety integrated system (SIS)?

Angela Summers: The biggest challenge is maintaining the good engineering practice of a separate and independent SIS in a world where everyone seems to be seeking complete integration.
A defense-in-depth strategy remains the hallmark of good engineering practice that has repeatedly yielded proven system integrity, reliability and security. If any single component failure, whether due to human, software, firmware, hardware, utility or communication faults, can disable multiple systems, the implemented solution has violated the long-standing practice of independence and separation... Read more

Stepping Up to Green — It's Good Business

Forget the politics. Doing good for the environment can be very good for the bottom line.

Few topics raise the hackle feathers of political emotions as much as talk of “global warming” or “green.” Some people are passionate about conservation. Others are suspicious of an anti-business, liberal conspiracy. Putting aside politics, what companies are discovering is that they can be sensitive to the environment, earn credibility with the public for being good citizens and improve the bottom line—all at the same time... Read more

Distributed Control Systems Vendors Respond to PAC Questions

Automation World recently invited five major vendors of distributed control systems (DCS) to comment on the competitive impact of programmable automation controllers on their businesses.

We received four responses, from executives at ABB, Emerson Process Management, Honeywell Process Solutions and Yokogawa Electric Corp. Below is a portion of the text of an e-mail message sent by Automation World Managing Editor Wes Iversen to each of the companies, followed by the responses we received... Read more

ANNOUNCEMENT

Automation Professionals -- Don't miss a unique educational and networking opportunity!

Automation World is partnering with Packaging World to sponsor a Forum emphasizing automation strategies, controls, standards and integration with enterprise systems. The event, also known as Packaging Automation Forum, is Tuesday May 20 at the Chicago Marriott Schaumburg (O'Hare area).