People

Four years is not nearly time enough to train an engineer, and schools are long on theory and short on practice R. Russell Rhinehart, School of Chemical Engineering, Oklahoma State University From ControlGlobal.com I’d like to address the gap between the academic and practice control community—why it exists, the issues it creates, things that can […]

German chemical giant BASF SE announced it has chosen Freeport, Texas, to build its largest single-plant investment to date. BASF, which was already tentatively planning to build a world-scale methane-to-propylene complex along the Gulf Coast, opted to go with its Freeport site as the location. BASF and Norway-based Yara International ASA are already planning to […]

Worry About Workload

by Bill Fester on March 17, 2015

in Industries, Jobs, People

Are your engineers exhausted? By Dirk Willard from: Chemical Processing “I work over 60 hour a week. It’s a contest to see who leaves the parking lot last around here,” I was told with a smile. I was interviewing for a job and the young engineer I was speaking to was the third person to […]

What’s Your Story?

by Bill Fester on September 26, 2014

in Industries, Jobs, People, Uncategorized

In reading job description after job description and resume after resume for decades now,  I’ve come to the realization that most fall far short. The job descriptions in most cases have no relationship to what someone is going to be doing on any given Wednesday afternoon. There’s plenty of vague talk about teamwork and good […]

Remarks on Marc Andreesen’s Twitter Essay, and the New Yorker’s Disruption Article by Jill Lepore Mark Andreeson’s Twitter Storm/ Essay this morning has some unique insights. I’ve been thinking for some time now about the correlation between trends in Big Computing and Process Control Systems. Maybe it makes no sense, but as someone on the […]

C’mon Jack!!

by Bill Fester on May 29, 2014

in Jobs, People

I’m somewhat dismayed at the clumsiness of recruiters who seem to think spamming job opportunities to other recruiters (thinking they are candidates), is going to be fruitful. Here, I post first the “pitch” by Sr Recruiter Jack Anderson (is his name really Jack Anderson, or is this just a superhero disguise left over from Halloween?). […]

At this nostalgic time of the year, I thought I’d take a moment to present a film about automation from yesteryear. This is from the Prelinger Archive at the Library of Congress and was produced by the General Electric Company. It’s not quite a study on early DCS  or PLCs (if anyone has anything like […]

  Control Systems Engineer with twenty-five (25+) years in engineering, programming, design, construction, commissioning and start-up in the Oil/Gas production, refining, power and petrochemical, pharmaceutical, and other manufacturing industries. Experience includes: Project and construction management, Process Instrumentation, DCS, PLC, ESD and SCADA; Compressor control and anti-surge systems, GE Multilin motor protection, Variable Frequency Drive – […]

With over 30 years of experience in a variety of industries from mining to power to paper to pharmaceuticals, this person has experience in handling process control and process control related projects from $50,000 to $84,000,000. This includes key client liaison work with major vendors and service organizations, project team management of over 70 direct […]

Currently available for an interim role as a control systems specialist utilizing his current and up to date experience with Siemens PCS7 applications and programming. Recently handled a project including Charts, SFC and CFC through existing system migration as well as utilizing P&IDs and I/O Lists. Also familiar with WinCC graphics, interlock, alarm and functional […]