Open Automation Events at the 2017 ARC Industry Forum

Last February, at the 2016 ARC Industry Forum in Orlando, ExxonMobil explained what they were trying to achieve through the contract they had just signed with Lockheed Martin for a prototype open process automation system. The ExxonMobil program made waves throughout the process automation world in 2016. So what can you expect to hear about Open Process Automation at the 2017 ARC Orlando Forum, Feb. 6-9th.?

Here is what ARC is planning:  First, on Tuesday morning February 7 ExxonMobil will again give us a keynote covering the progress of their program in 2016. Don Bartusiak, ExxonMobil’s chief process control engineer will present this update. Don’s presentations at the 2015 and 2016 Forums were “must see” events. Expect the same in 2017.

Second, Tuesday afternoon ARC is presenting a session entitled “Multi-Vendor Interoperable Process Automation Systems”. This session is about what other firms besides ExxonMobil have done in this area. ARC will give a brief overview and has invited BASF to present activities in this area by NAMUR.  Steve Bitar of ExxonMobil will also provide additional information on their program. There will be time for Q&A and discussion.

Third, late Tuesday afternoon ARC will host a panel session entitled “Open Automation Discussion”. The idea of this session is to assemble end users and system integrators, and to drill down on this topic from their point of view in the value chain. Panelists for this session will be from DuPont, Merck, ExxonMobil, and Radix (an international system integrator).

Finally, Thursday morning will feature a workshop session by The Open Group covering the new Open Process Automation Forum, which The Open Group is facilitating. This workshop will include information from the official launch of the group in late January, a discussion of the structure of the group, and remarks by its leadership. In addition the same Open Process Automation Forum will hold (private) members face-to-face meetings Thursday afternoon, right after the conclusion of the ARC Forum at noon on Thursday.

So there will be plenty of Open Process Automation content at the 2017 Orlando Forum, not to mention the informal opportunities for discussion with attendees and with ARC Forum sponsor firms.  Don’t miss it!