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Announcing the TAP Forum
2005
26th - 27th
April
This years Forum
will be held on Wednesday April 27th at the Bull Hotel in
Gerrards Cross, Buckinghamshire. Building on feedback from
last year, the free training day will now take place before
the Forum on Tuesday 26th April in Gerrards
Cross.
This will be the sixth annual
Forum and promises to
ü Promote
the exchange of application experience
between delegates and Curvaceous
ü Provide
updates from Curvaceous on research,
technical
and product developments
ü
Encourage many opportunities for
networking between
delegates
And much more!
The 2005 Forum will officially
begin with an informal after-dinner drink on the evening of
April 26th. This has been impromptu in previous
years but very popular and we hope that including it in the
formal program will encourage you to join us for this great
networking opportunity and allow for the 08:45 start to
proceedings on the 27th. To make everything
easier for you we have arranged a superb meal and
accommodation package for which there are more details
below.
Forum Content
A
variety of new sessions will be introduced to include
informative and more interactive presentations. Here is a
sneak preview of the TAP Forum 2005 content:
Structured Methodology for Process Improvement.
Ever asked questions such as how do I apply GPC to a real problem for maximum results in
minimum time? How do I organise my data to solve my
problem? or think you have found CVE very useful for problem
solving when plant problems occur but want to know how to
get more
benefit by using it more widely than this?
Questions
like these have been asked by many of you which has lead us
to produce a better answer.
We
have found
that placing increased emphasis on the use of a
methodological (‘find the Box and then the BOZ’) approach to
improvement instead of the inspirational data-mining
approach of the early days has greatly improved progress in
our projects over the last years. We have also observed that
those customers with a formal improvement programme such as
6-Sigma or Lean Manufacturing seem to benefit from the
organisational structure imposed on their improvement and
have made more certain progress than those without.
In Forum 2003 Neil Bowerman of Nestle led a session on
‘Roll-Out of CVE in a Large Organisation’ which provoked
much discussion but seemed to raise as many new questions as
it answered. In 2004 you may remember vigourous discussion
started by a casual question asking why CVE should not
replace MiniTab in 6-Sigma projects.
So we have brought all these elements together as a theme
for the Forum to run in one of the afternoon parallel
sessions. It will be initiated by Dr Ian Surry of Swish
Building Products who has already begun to create a set of
working notes on ‘How to Apply GPC’ as part of his own
requirement to implement a 6-Sigma programme across Swish.
Attendees at previous Forums will remember Ian as a serial
process improver with a talent for getting quickly to the
nub of the matter. Ian, with our full support and backing,
will be inviting every delegate to contribute experience and
examples relevant to their section of the process
industries.
Process Modeller Projects and
Development
Three major CPM projects were completed in the last
year and one, possibly two of these will be described, the
first by DSM.
New discoveries have included the realisation
that CPM really does treat time as just another dimension so
handles unsteady state problems just as well as steady state
ones; that the CPM envelope has its own unique response to
time-events separate from the normal process response and
that it is this that allows the prediction of plant
disturbances long before they occur and therefore in time to
be avoided.
CPM developments have limited the time available for
Research this year with the exception of the creation of a new ‘point-value
predictor’. Strictly speaking it is actually a ‘very small
range predictor’ separate from the BOZ predictor and using
an envelope of ‘a sliver of the response surface in the
vicinity of the current operating point’. Results so far are
mostly good. The excitement comes from the fact that the
method needs no configuration for individual qualities so is
potentially a generalised predictor able to infer quality
results from process variables.
There will be deeper technical sessions
on some of the CPM developments and discoveries in the other
afternoon parallel session. A demonstration copy including
these developments will be
available for hands-on use during the lunch and afternoon
breaks.
Visual Explorer Solutions
CVE continues to provide insight into what were
previously the hardest of process problems and this year the
first
example comes from Mike Oglesby of Huntsman Petrochemicals
with a 360,000 tpy para-xylene plant. Gordon Hardwick a
Six-Sigma Master Black Belt will share how his company is
using CVE in connection with Six-Sigma and the results they
have achieved so far.
CVE 2.4 has fallen behind schedule as a
consequence of the recession in UK industry but we will be
showcasing the
new features so far completed. There will be a demonstration
copy available for hands-on use during the lunch and
afternoon breaks.
Independent User Group
Introduced following
requests at the 2004 Forum, this session will be an
opportunity to review and gather feedback after one year of
operation. The group leader Mike Tyrrell of INEOS Chlor will
be promoting discussion as to the future of the GPC user
group, so this is your chance to get involved. Register
now online via the
GPC User Group webpage.
A more detailed Forum program
will be distributed closer to the event.
Training Day
Held on Tuesday 26th April the
training day will be flexible according to the audience but
shall mainly cover CVE with CPM and CRSV training as
required. This is a great opportunity so please let us know
if you would like to attend.
Accommodation
Package
Due to the
extension of the Forum to the informal drinks occasion and
the provision of the earlier training day we have arranged a
special accommodation package for the night of Tuesday April
26th. This package has been put together in
collaboration with The Bull Hotel and will include a three
course dinner, overnight accommodation in an executive suite
and a full english breakfast, all for much better value than
making your own reservations and separate dinner
arrangements.
This
package is, of course, optional but if you would like to
make a reservation you must do so directly through us using
your credit or debit card.
Pricing details will be sent upon registration of your
interest with your invitation but, as numbers of hotel rooms
are limited, please tell us when you apply if you think you
are interested so we can pencil in your name. We would also
be happy to provide you with alternative local accommodation
information upon request.
Location Information
The Bull Hotel
Oxford Road
Gerrards Cross
Buckinghamshire
SL9 7PA
Phone: +44 (0) 1753 885995
Fax: +44 (0) 1753 880116
Email:
bull@sarova.co.uk
The Bull Hotel is located in a
prominent position on the outskirts of Gerrards Cross on the
Oxford Road (A40), which runs between London and Oxford.
More detailed travel instructions will be sent with your
invitation.
We hope you will
attend the TAP Forum 2005 as it promises to be an enjoyable
and informative event.
Please check that your Company TAP
Subscription is up-to-date and then
register here
or call us for an
invitation on +44 (0) 1753 893090. If your subscription has
lapsed please contact us to discuss it's renewal in time to
attend the TAP Forum 2005.
If you have
already registered your invitation will be with you shortly.
www.curvaceous.com
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