AcuTech Consulting

Six Steps to Help Companies Prepare CFATS Site Security Plan
The first step involves formulating a strategy for developing the site security plan (SSP) required by the chemical facility anti-terrorism standards (CFATS). This includes formulating an overarching corporate-level policy and security plan and preparing facility-specific SSPs. During the site visit step, consultants review existing security measures and capture all necessary data, and, if needed, develop a template for use in multiple, similar-facility submissions. The third step, gap analysis, evaluates existing countermeasures identified in the previous step, and compares them with relevant risk-based performance standards (RBPS) metrics. During the identifying solutions phase, consultants recommend security measures that meet the RBPS, and, if possible, document how existing systems are sufficient to provide the necessary security. Step 5 involves using the information developed in the earlier steps to prepare the SSP via the chemical security assessment tool (CSAT). This establishes the foundation for approval, and forms the basis for future site inspections. The final step — inspection, audit, and ongoing support — provides independent third-party review of facility SSPs. This step also includes facility inspection-readiness assessments and training, as well as putting facility managers in contact with other organizations that are essential for meeting regulatory requirements. In the event of inspections or citations by the Dept. of Homeland Security, consultants will assist the facility.

O'Brien & Gere

Project Lifecycle Services
O’Brien & Gere delivers full-project lifecycle services in line with its three business units — Environmental Solutions, Total Water Solutions and Capital & Facilities Programs. In addition, the firm provides incremental and/or full-service project delivery approaches to assist clients in reaching their project goals and objectives, while tailoring contracting arrangements to meet specific business needs and/or procurement strategies. Services offered include: conceptual design/study; fabrication; construction; system integration; commissioning; and operations and maintenance.

3E Company

Chemical Approval module
For use with the two latest versions of this company’s material safety data sheet (MSDS) management systems, the Chemical Approval module streamlines chemical requests and approvals for customers using and storing chemicals. Managers can perform a hazard assessment of their MSDSs and review main hazard information and fire code along with other environmental safety and health regulatory reports necessary to safely use and store hazardous materials onsite. The customer can also evaluate this data to determine if there is an opportunity to substitute a safer alternative or reduce the number of items in their chemical inventory. The module works with the company’s Online MSDS Standard Edition and Online-MSDS Expert Edition.

Ansys, Inc.

Icewave Version 1.1
 Having acquired Fluent, a provider of computational fluid dynamics, and its Icewave and Icepack technologies, this company has released Version 1.1 of Icewave. For analysis of electromagnetic compatibility and interference (EMC/EMI) in electronic systems, the new version features a 64-bit solver that allows users to solve complex systems without being restricted by memory limitations of 32-bit operating systems. Through seamless sharing of the model geometry with Icepak thermal design software, EM-thermal co-simulation can be set up in several minutes, making engineering workflows that require thermal and EM analyses easier. This capability allows system designers of high-performance electronics systems to dramatically reduce time from concept to market by simulating electronic design in a single CAD environment. The shielding effectiveness of the investigated models may be calculated on demand. The introduction of surface impedance boundary conditions for coatings and resistive wires allows users to model finite-thickness conductor losses in high-frequency simulations.

Environmental Data Resources, Inc.

OnDemand online subscription service
 When law firms and corporations have to conduct environmental research for due diligence in the acquisition of new assets, new construction projects, environmental audits, background research for litigation and, increasingly, for compliance purposes and environmental financial reporting, these firms would manually search relevant local databases, which has traditionally been a time-intensive, inexact and costly process. OnDemand is an online, subscription service that allows realtime aggregation and access to environmental information from more than 800 federal, state, local and tribal sources. Subscribers pay an annual fee to secure unlimited access to research. Through an easy-to-use, Web-based application, users can perform the research they need from any location with Internet access.

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

Compliance Assistance Center
 The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is establishing a compliance assistance center to help colleges and universities understand and comply with environmental laws. Harnessing the power of the Internet, this center will provide tools and information for improving environmental management on campuses. It will also offer a virtual campus tour online that will enable users to quickly and easily target priority issues. Like many corporations and manufacturing plants, colleges and universities maintain many types of operations, including laboratories, utility generation and transmission plants, food-processing operations and water-distribution systems. Similarly, they face a range of environmental management challenges.

Moore Industries-International, Inc.

Special Needs And Products (SNAP)
Special Needs And Products (SNAP) is a new service that provides access to a team of applications engineers who develop customized solutions to meet unusual signal-interface needs in industrial process control, systems integration and factory automation applications. When an off-the-shelf replacement instrument is not suitable, the SNAP team performs updates on instruments by modifying functions, including: non-standard power ranges, non-standard signal inputs and outputs, computing and math functions, and alarm trips, among others. These engineers also develop special and original equipment manufacturer instrument housings and enclosures, custom mountings and connectors, and application-specific temperature sensors and thermowells

Rockwell Automation

InSite Services
InSite Services provides 24/7/365 access to more than 300 engineering and manufacturing IT professionals who offer expertise in 15 languages. The suite of services includes six components: surveillance, diagnostics, optimization, administration, knowledge, and visualization. Application engineers in the InSite Operation Center proactively monitor the customer’s critical systems through a secure, high-speed connection, looking for deviations from acceptable process, production, line or machine parameters and key performance indicators (KPI). When a parameter or KPI is out of range, they immediately notify the facility, enabling the plant to initiate corrective action before a major system or equipment malfunction or failure occurs. To aid in future monitoring activities, all data, alarms and events are archived and stored in a central data center. Additional activities and services include troubleshooting and root-cause and failure modes and effects analyses (diagnostics); support for Six Sigma teams, advanced modeling, and user training (optimization); application management, disaster recovery, version control and upgrades, and system performance tuning (administration); and a custom database that captures, manages and maintains technical and support information specific to the customer’s system and/or process.     

EP Monitoring

Energy Audit Service
The developer of EnergyWarden now offers an energy audit service that uses this tool. This software mines data from distillation towers, heaters and boilers to generate useful reports, quantifying and displaying losses and gains in Btu, percentages, and dollars. The audits can be performed in as little as one hour per distillation tower. Reports take information from the client’s data historian to make comparisons of feedrates on days when the data are truly comparable — energy reporting data can be skewed by changes in tower efficiency due to feedrate changes, and the EnergyWarden factors out this phenomenon