TLDR; is a book review series focused on books that help factory automation professionals. Whether they help you sleep or not, they should all help you do your job better.
In Pursuit of the Perfect Plant: A Business and Technical Guide is a hard review to write. The writing is drier than cardboard left in the Saraha Desert for the entirety of the dry season. Assigning it as reading would border on "cruel and unusual punishment." However, it is without peer in allowing people with different job functions to understand the goals and motivations for the others.
The chapters are...
The Payoff from the Perfect Plant- The why of the whole book
The Cast of Characters- Could not be more accurately named
Processes, Systems and Networks in the Plant- What the systems do
Pressures on the Plant: Forces Demanding Improved Performance- Basically capitalism
The Vision of the Perfect Plant: Coordination, Planning, Execution, Integration and Intelligence-
Strategy, Coordination and Planning
Execution in the Perfect Plant
Asset Management- Excellent
Energy Management- Excellent.
Quality Management- Excellent
Visibility, Compliance, Opportunity and Risk in the Perfect Plant
Architecture, Standards and Interoperability
Transformation Playbook: An Overview of the Change Process- Excellent
Anyone who is serious about being a superintendent, building a plant that will remain competitive, running interdisciplinary projects on plants or trying to work at a high level in a large chemical / water / power utility should read this.
I buy this with my own money for every person who I may work with. I start off by warning them of how painful it is. I doubt any have read it. However, it allows me to sidestep massive problems at work, just by understanding the motivations and objectives of my co-workers.
P.S.- Yes, I do have an autographed copy.
Comments