The Chairman's Message

This is the official web page of the Fisher-Rosemount Systems Users Group. If you're a member, welcome to your web page. If you’re not a member, look around and see what you’ve been missing. Each month we will be posting information about your user’s group and highlight a member of the user board of directors. The board is comprised of user representatives from each of the Fisher-Rosemount product lines (RS3, PROVOX, and DeltaV). Throughout the year we will be adding information to make your web page more helpful. So don’t be bashful and tell a board member what you want to see!

For those of you who noticed I missed the November newsletter, not only did I miss the newsletter, but I think I missed the month of November. I remember the board meeting on the 13^th and a week of vacation at Thanksgiving but the rest of the month is a blur. Speaking of the board meeting, we believe that you are going to thoroughly enjoy the user’s group this year in New Orleans. We are targeting for 750 in attendance. After that we will have to go to other hotels for rooms. So get your registration in early.

At the board meeting we reviewed the user survey forms. We heard you when you did not like to meet on Sunday and this year we will start on Tuesday ending on Friday. We will have a few rooms reserved at the hotel for Friday and even fewer for Saturday. These rooms will be available on a first come first reserved basis for those of you wanting to stay and make a weekend out of it after the user’s group meeting. This is another reason to get your registration in early.

We also heard that you wanted to hear from more users. To support this we have requested that each Fisher-Rosemount Rep recruit at least one speaker. As an added incentive, each speaker (must present at least 30 minutes) will have the conference fee waived. So if you have something to share just let a board member or your Rep know. It does not have to be something new and on the leading edge. We also heard that you would like to hear how to get more out of what you already have installed. To this end we are also looking for speakers to share their unique solutions.

Sharing solutions is what the user’s group is all about. That is another thing we heard, you want more time to discuss issues and solutions with your peers. We are looking at how to take our packed schedule and insert more time for networking. That is one of the things I enjoy most about the user’s group meeting. It does a body good to find out that there are others out there with similar problems and have been there and done that to resolve them.

If you are unable to contact your Fisher-Rosemount local representative please feel free to contact me (jdmont@solutia.com) or any other board member with your topic for a user presentation or with your suggestions.

At the first user’s group meeting held in Memphis back in 1986, there was an edict that all Fisher (before the marriage with Rosemount) local representatives were to be shot on sight. The thoughts were to keep it a user’s group and not a sales meeting. All Fisher personnel in attendance were by invitation and were corralled back in a corner and could only speak when given permission. A lot has changed since those days. Changes for the better. The user’s group has evolved into a sharing of information between the users and Fisher-Rosemount. F-R hears what we the users like and occasionally dislike about their products along with our current and future needs. We get to see their future direction and from what I have seen with DeltaV, shape it based on our likes, dislikes and needs. Part of the evolution of the user’s group has been the inclusion of the local reps and their membership on the user’s board of directors.

This month’s featured board member is Ron Knecht, one of those once banned local reps. He comes to us from Cornerstone Controls Inc. Cornerstone Controls is the local Fisher-Rosemount representative with offices covering the states of Ohio, Indiana and Kentucky. They also provide services as an Industrial Automation Systems Integrator.

Ron is their Systems and Engineering Services Sales Manager. Ron has been with the Fisher-Rosemount representative for 10 years. He has his P.E., with a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology and has worked in process automation and control for 20 years. In a former life, Ron worked as an I&C consultant in the petro-chem industry. Ron resides in Indianapolis, Indiana with his wife and two children. Ron occasionally enjoys a round of golf. Ron can be contacted at Ron.Knecht@cornerstonecontrols.com.

David Montgomery
Chairman

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