Fieldbus at Emerson Exchange

Fieldbus is featured at Emerson Exchange in a big way this week through October 4 at the Gaylord Hotel in Grapevine, Texas. Emerson is one of the strongest supporters of FOUNDATION technology, with a full spectrum of registered devices, host systems, and applications.  They have some truly knowledgeable people using their products, and some of the best and brightest are at the Exchange this week talking about their experiences with fieldbus and best practices.  Our End User advisory Council Chairman John Rezabek of Ashland Chemcial is there along with EUAC member Rong Gul of Shell, and fieldbus expert Jonas Berge of Emerson.  Stephen Mitschke, Director of Products at Fieldbus Foundation, is also in attendance.

These experts and others such as Alan Dewey, Klaus Erni, and Marcos Peluso of Emerson comprised the panel of fieldbus experts at the "New Generation of FOUNDATION Fieldbus Solutions" technology forum held on Tuesday afternoon, and again today from 1:15 to 2:45 PM.

A quick look at the conference catalog reveals all the FOUNDATION fieldbus related sessions.  Stephen Mitschke's session on enhancing fieldbus usability and the Gemstone continuous improvement project was held Tuesday:

6B-5013 - Leverage the Benefits of Intelligent Devices with FOUNDATION fieldbus through Enhanced Usability

Project Gemstone, a new Fieldbus Foundation initiative, provides a short and long term vision for users to achieve the benefits of intelligent devices by simplify engineering, commissioning and maintenance workflows. New specifications make device configuration easier with vendor supplied device templates. And, when the device needs to be replaced, a device with a newer revision can automatically be commissioned with an existing configuration. Future directions including ITK 7, ISA 108 and FDI make it easier and more effective to manage automation assets.

Rong Gul of Shell and Bob Lattimer of Emerson were co presenters in this session.  Our Project Gemstone is a continuous improvement project at the Fieldbus Foundation focused in improving the usability of the technology, helping the user realize the true economic potential.  Gemstone is making things like device replacement easier.  We have already made device replacement quick and easy for "like for like" devices in the latest revision of our Interoperability Test Kit.  

Al Dewey knows a lot about portable tools and has a great session on that as well.  Making templates for fieldbus devices is a great way to provide consistency and save time during the commissioning process, and there is a session on that led by Sarah Hough, Scott Hokeness, and Rong Gul.  There's just too many other sessions to list them all here, but we'll provide you with a report after the show.