MT News

News of people and events important to the maintenance and reliability community

BOB PAGANO APPOINTED PRESIDENT OF ITT INDUSTRIAL PROCESS BUSINESS
Robert J. Pagano, Jr. has been appointed president of Industrial Process (IP), one of the ITT Corporation fluid businesses headquartered in Seneca Falls, NY. He replaces Ken Napolitano, who has been named president of ITT’s Residential and Commercial Water value center headquartered in Morton Grove, IL. Pagano is not unfamiliar with his newly announced role. He actually began his ITT career with IP, holding a series of increasingly responsible positions over the years. He eventually went on to lead that business as president from 2002-2004, a particularly challenging period, during which he helped position IP for future growth. Most recently, he had been serving as vice president of Finance for ITT Corporation, and had been CFO for the Motion and Flow Control group. ITT Industrial Process manufactures and markets industrial pumps, valves, monitoring and control systems, water treatment products and aftermarket services globally under the Goulds Pumps®, Fabri-Valve®, PumpSmart®, C’treat® and PRO Services® brands. It has 18 manufacturing plants, 14 service facilities and 32 sales offices worldwide with more than 2200 employees.

JOHN CRANE ACQUIRES ORION BEARINGS ADDS UPSTREAM O&G PRODUCTION DIVISION
John Crane, a division of global technology business Smiths Group, has announced the purchase of Orion Corporation, a leading U.S.-based designer and manufacturer of hydrodynamic bearings for energy and general industrial markets. Headquartered in Grafton, WI, Orion complements and extends John Crane Bearing Technology, a business unit formed following the corporation’s 2007 acquisition of Sartorius Bearing Technology (SBT), based in Gottingen, Germany. Orion designs and manufactures hydrodynamic bearings for high-speed turbine, generator, compressor and gear-drive applications for the power gen, oil and gas and general industrial markets. Employing 270 people at its Wisconsin and Nebraska facilities, it reported sales of approximately $50 million for its 2008 fiscal year ending October 31.

On a related note, John Crane, already a leading supplier to the refining market, has recently added a new Production Solutions division to serve the upstream part of the oil and gas industry (oil and gas recovery, with respect to optimization of the well). Led by Tom Whipple, president, the Production Solutions division is currently made up of CDI Energy Services and Fiberod, two Texas-based companies. CDI is one of the largest artificial lift service companies in North America. Fiberod is a leader in innovative fiberglass sucker rod (FSR) technology.

EMERSON EXPANDS ITS ONLINE MACHINERY HEALTH CAPABILITIES
Emerson has acquired epro GmbH (epro), a privately held Gronau, Germany-based company that engineers, manufactures and assembles API 670-compliant protection systems delivered to the process industries worldwide. The deal expands Emerson’s online machinery monitoring capability with a full API 670-compliant protection offering. It is also expected to speed availability of next generation solutions. Terms of the deal were not announced.

EXXONMOBIL KEEPS BOOSTING GLOBAL COGENERATION CAPACITY
ExxonMobil recently inaugurated its newest high-efficiency cogeneration plant at its Antwerp refinery in Belgium.According to the company, this facility is more efficient than many traditional cogeneration plants because of its heat recovery system. In addition to generating steam, the cogeneration operation utilizes heat created in the gas-turbine exhaust to heat crude oil, the initial step in the process of converting crude oil into refined products. The unit will generate 125 megawatts and reduce Belgium’s carbon dioxide emissions by approximately 200,000 tons annually—the equivalent of removing about 90,000 cars from Europe’s roads.

“This new cogeneration plant allows for the efficient generation of electricity to run pumps, compressors and other equipment in our facilities, while at the same time, producing additional steam that is needed in processes that transform crude oil into refined products,” notes Gilbert Asselman, manager of the Antwerp refinery. “With the latest technology, cogeneration is significantly more efficient than traditional methods of producing steam and power separately. This results in lower operating costs and significantly less greenhouse gas emissions.”

With the launch of the Antwerp facility, ExxonMobil now has interests in about 4600 megawatts of cogeneration capacity in about 100 individual installations at more than 30 sites worldwide. New facilities under construction in Singapore and China will increase ExxonMobil’s cogeneration capacity to more than 5000 megawatts in the next three years.

ASSOCIATION NEWS
SMRP LAUNCHES SUPPLIER PARTNER PROGRAM
The SMRP Board of Directors of the Society for Maintenance and Reliability Professionals (SMRP) has approved a program to develop programs, products and services in partnerships with its members. Known as the “Member Affinity/Partner Program,” it will allow supplier members to partner with SMRP to develop and implement programs, products and services to meet member needs. Supplier members that are interested in partnering with SMRP to provide a program, product or service to the industry or profession should submit a written proposal, including program features, benefits, cost conditions and the details to the Improve Member Services Committee. The Committee will screen the program against some very basic criteria, and, if necessary, the member will fund research among SMRP audiences to determine if there is interest in the program. The committee and staff will analyze research results and if a sufficient level of audience interest is evident, will present the proposed program to the Board of Directors. The first program of this type to be approved is with ABB Reliability Services to provide a series of workshops at no cost to SMRP members. For additional information, or to submit a proposal for consideration, e-mail info@smrp.org.

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