101 Tips for a Successful Automation Career

Do you want to: Know more than your boss? Sleep like a baby before a start-up (less crying in the middle of the night)? Get back early from start-ups? Have vendors ask what you think works best? Become the "go-to person?" Have your CEO smile at you? Inspire your children to become automation engineers? Get knowing twinkles in your eyes like the technologist about to retire? Get asked what your key to success is? Get invited by operators to special meals in the control room kitchen? Create a worldwide recognition of the value of the automation profession? Become famous and a regular guest on late-night TV? Be remembered for all the right reasons? While this book cannot guarantee the above results, the content should provide an automation engineer with a proven pathway to career and technical success. Much of the automation field relies on experience, and many believe that experience only comes with gray, thinning hair and plenty of wrinkles. However, with this book, we invite you to fully benefit from two lifetimes of hard-earned lessons and to avoid many of the technical and career pitfalls the authors encountered along the way. With 60 years of experience in automation and control, Greg McMillan and Hunter Vegas have installed equipment worth hundreds of millions of dollars and managed thousands of projects. We have seen (and sometimes made) many mistakes, and we wear the scars and gray hair as proof. Luckily for you, we're ready to share what works and what doesn't, so the next generation can learn from our experience. So... save your hair! Avoid premature aging! And most importantly, save yourself a lot of pain and suffering! We really wish we'd had a book like this when we were starting out.

Acknowledgments v About the Authors xii Preface xiii Tip #1: Always Ask "Why?" – And Never Stop Learning 1 Tip #2: Always Note the Author of a Technical Article 3 Tip #3: Pain Is Instructive 5 Tip #4: Never Lie 7 Tip #5: Admit Your Errors 9 Tip #6: Change for the Sake of Change Is Not Always a Good Thing, but "We've Always Done It That Way" Is a Poor Reason to Avoid Trying New Things 11 Tip #7: If You Have to Tell Everyone How Smart You Are, You Probably Aren't 13 Tip #8: Never Underestimate the Power of Politics and Emotion 15 Tip #9: The O-ring Seal in an On/Off Actuator Can Be a Good Predictor of Its Reliability 17 Tip #10: Butterfly Valves and/or Ball Valves with Positioners Are NOT Control Valves! 19 Tip #11: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly of Vortex Flowmeters 21 Tip #12: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly of Magmeters 23 Tip #13: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly of Differential Pressure Flow Devices 25 Tip #14: Capillary Seal Pitfalls 27 Tip #15: You Cannot Control What You Do Not Understand 29 Tip #16: Use Outlines and/or Flow Charts First 31 Tip #17: You Can Never Have Too Much Messaging 33 Tip #18: Cheap Instrumentation Is Exactly That 35 Tip #19: Always Run Spare Wires and Plan for Expansion 37 Tip #20: Spend the Money to Individually Fuse I/O with Indicating Fuse Blocks 39 Tip #21: Too Many Alarms Can Be Worse Than None at All 41 Tip #22: Details Matter 43 Tip #23: Anticipate Murphy; He Is Alive and Well 45 Tip #24: When Performing a DCS Retrofit, Take Time to Study the I/O Cards 47 Tip #25: Make Sure the Coffee Is Strong and the Pot Brews Quickly on Start-up 49 Tip #26: Document Your Code 51 Tip #27: Create, Thoroughly Test, THEN Replicate 53 Tip #28: "Plug and Play" Devices Often Don't 55 Tip #29: Tricks for Control Panels 57 Tip #30: Appearance Matters 59 Tip #31: Project Management Is Really Risk Management 61 Tip #32: General Project Management Tips 63 Tip #33: High Pay Is Great but Life Is Too Short to Stay in a Job You Dislike 65 Tip #34: Take Time to Learn Exactly How Instruments Work 67 Tip #35: Operators Can Make or Break an Automation Project 69 Tip #36: A College Degree Does NOT Buy You Respect, Nor Is It a Good Indication of What You Know 71 Tip #37: Get Past the References You Are Offered 73 Tip #38: Derail Scripted Demonstrations 75 Tip #39: Know the Codes 77 Tip #40: Engineers Are Generally AWFUL Communicators Do Not Fall into That Trap 79 Tip #41: If Possible, Get Plant Experience Early 81 Tip #42: Money Drives Corporate Behavior 83 Tip #43: Small, Continuous Waste Streams = BIG Money 85 Tip #44: Foster Relationships with Honest Vendors 87 Tip #45: Learn to Estimate Jobs 89 Tip #46: Success Breeds Success and Mediocrity Is Never Acceptable 91 Tip #47: Grow Your Direct Reports 93 Tip #48: Treat Everyone with Respect and Do Not Accept a Lack of Respect from Others 95 Tip #49: Working For a Boss Whom You Do Not Respect Is Difficult 97 Tip #50: Ask for Feedback 99 Tip #51: Seek Conversations with Knowledgeable People 101 Tip #52: Be a Good Listener 103 Tip #53: Find and Read Technical Articles and Books 105 Tip #54: Look for Opportunities to Improve Plant Profitability 107 Tip #55: Use the Best Technology, Even if the Price Tag Is Higher 109 Tip #56: Learn New Skills and Explore Technological Advances as an Extracurricular Activity 111 Tip #57: Be a Team Player 113 Tip #58: Make Yourself More Marketable 115 Tip #59: Document the Benefits of Improvements 117 Tip #60: Write and Present Papers 119 Tip #61: Install Online Process Metrics 121 Tip #62: Demonstrate and Prototype Improvements via Dynamic Models 123 Tip #63: Use Field Analyzers to Measure Key Component Concentrations 125 Tip #64: Improve Setpoints 127 Tip #65: Use High Rangeability Flowmeters and Valves to Increase Plant Turndown 129 Tip #66: Seek First Principles for a Deeper Understanding 131 Tip #67: Find the Best Measurement Location 133 Tip #68: Find the Best Valve Location 135 Tip #69: Add Control Loops to Eliminate Manual Actions and Sequences 137 Tip #70: Minimize Deadtime 139 Tip #71: Achieve Best Disturbance Rejection and Setpoint Response 141 Tip #72: Achieve Best Loop Coordination and Optimization 143 Tip #73: Use Coriolis Meters for Mass Flow and Concentration Control 145 Tip #74: Eliminate Split Range Oscillations 147 Tip #75: Use Wireless Transmitters for Diagnostics, Improvements, and Metrics 149 Tip #76: Use Checklists to Cover All the Bases 151 Tip #77: Increase the PID Gain and Reset Time for Vessel and Column Control 153 Tip #78: Decrease the PID Gain and Reset Time for Pipeline and Inline Control 155 Tip #79: Understand How Equipment and Operating Conditions Affect Process Dynamics 157 Tip #80: Use Sliding Stem Valves for Tighter Control 159 Tip #81: Select the Best Type and Size of Actuator for Tight Control 161 Tip #82: Use and Tune Smart Positioners 163 Tip #83: Don't Use On-Off Valves for Control Valves 165 Tip #84: Use Signal Characterization in the DCS to Linearize Valve Installed Flow Characteristic 167 Tip #85: Use Linear Reagent Demand Control for Systems with Difficult-to-Control pH 169 Tip #86: Test the pH Response Time to Determine the Health of a Glass Electrode 171 Tip #87: Monitor the pH Offset to Determine the Health of a Reference Electrode 173 Tip #88: Use Middle Signal Selection to Improve pH Measurement Reliability 175 Tip #89: Identify Deadtime and Ramp Rate 177 Tip #90: Compute and Trend a Future PV 179 Tip #91: Use Output Tracking to Improve Setpoint and Abnormal Condition Response 181 Tip #92: Make Reset Time and Feedforward Action Smarter 183 Tip #93: Use a Viewable and Adjustable Flow Ratio and a Feedforward Summer 185 Tip #94: Smooth the Transition between Batch and Continuous Operations 187 Tip #95: Use External-Reset Feedback for Cascade Control and Slow Final Control Elements 189 Tip #96: Optimize Batch End Points and Cycle Times 191 Tip #97: Use Valve Position Control to Optimize Process Efficiency and Capacity 193 Tip #98: Achieve the Required Simulation Fidelity 195 Tip #99: Use a Virtual Plant for All Dynamic Models 197 Tip #100: Use an Enhanced PID for At-Line and Off-Line Analyzers 199 Tip #101: Use Plant-Wide Feedforward for More Flexible and Efficient Production 201 Appendix A: References 203 Appendix B: Vintage Books 205 Appendix C: Checklists 206 Appendix D: Dynamics 223 Appendix E: Enhanced PID 229 Appendix F: First Principle Process Gains, Deadtimes, and Time Constants 231