I have know Pam for over 15 years. I first met her when I was the production foreman of the Silica Products 200 Series production unit. She was part of the plant engineering department and had been assigned to assist in the startup of a new product transport system in my unit. We spent many days together, several times late into the night working to get the system running. Working very closely with myself and my operators, she was a tremendous help in getting the process started up and running, as a result I became very familiar with her work ethic and her determination to see the job to a successful completion.
Some time after the completion of that project, I was given the directive to upgrade some of the outdated instrumentation in my production unit. I contacted the plant engineering department for technical support and once again Pam was assigned the task. Due to my experience from working with her on the first project, I was very pleased that she had been assigned to this one. The original scope of the job was to upgrade a PLC used to open and close valves on our older transfer systems to a newer model with room for expansion. After looking at the assignment, Pam quickly determined that the correct path for improvement was to move away from the old PLC driven technology and to implement the newer DCS technology that was being implemented elsewhere in the complex.
At that time neither my supervisor or myself knew anything about DCS systems and were somewhat concerned about installing such a system in the unit, specially since the cost was significantly higher than that of replacing the existing PLC. To her credit, Pam stayed true to her belief that the most cost effective plan was to move to the DCS, and based on her experience with the installation of such systems elsewhere in the complex, she eventually convinced us to follow her lead in the matter. The main deciding factor in my mind was based on my previous experience with her on the transfer system, I felt that she truly had the best interests of the company in mind and would not let us install a system that we would regret later.
Pam’s knowledge, experience, and dedication proved to be truly beneficial in ways we had not imagined at the start of the original project. Not only did we expand our ability to move product, we saved around $250,000 off the installation cost of a $8 million system that was installed some 6 months later, since the DCS system was in place and was so easily expandable, that expense was cut from the total. It was a huge factor in getting that project approved.
Data gathering was a big side benefit of the DCS. We were able to gather any manner of data for our quality staff to use for tracking purposes, SPC charting, customer audit information, process change decisions, Monroeville tech center used the data to help in developing new products or make improvements to the existing ones.
Probably the biggest benefit from getting the DCS installed in the dryer building was that it convinced the Silica management all the way to General Office of the value and benefit of the system. Two other production units were switched and even more importantly, the furnace/CCD area was switched from the old Provox to the DCS, that eventually saved/made the company millions in product quality and production increases. Once they saw how much it improved the overall production of the dryer building, I believe it convinced them to move to upgrading the other units years before they would have and that was huge.
Through the years that I was privileged to work with Pam, it was always an enjoyable experience. She was always a pleasure to work with, she was always very professional in her manner, and her dedication and knowledge of the task at hand is outstanding.
Joe Haymark
PPG Industries, Inc.Lake Charles, LA
Plant200 Series Production Foreman, Silica Products, 1992-2006
Some time after the completion of that project, I was given the directive to upgrade some of the outdated instrumentation in my production unit. I contacted the plant engineering department for technical support and once again Pam was assigned the task. Due to my experience from working with her on the first project, I was very pleased that she had been assigned to this one. The original scope of the job was to upgrade a PLC used to open and close valves on our older transfer systems to a newer model with room for expansion. After looking at the assignment, Pam quickly determined that the correct path for improvement was to move away from the old PLC driven technology and to implement the newer DCS technology that was being implemented elsewhere in the complex.
At that time neither my supervisor or myself knew anything about DCS systems and were somewhat concerned about installing such a system in the unit, specially since the cost was significantly higher than that of replacing the existing PLC. To her credit, Pam stayed true to her belief that the most cost effective plan was to move to the DCS, and based on her experience with the installation of such systems elsewhere in the complex, she eventually convinced us to follow her lead in the matter. The main deciding factor in my mind was based on my previous experience with her on the transfer system, I felt that she truly had the best interests of the company in mind and would not let us install a system that we would regret later.
Pam’s knowledge, experience, and dedication proved to be truly beneficial in ways we had not imagined at the start of the original project. Not only did we expand our ability to move product, we saved around $250,000 off the installation cost of a $8 million system that was installed some 6 months later, since the DCS system was in place and was so easily expandable, that expense was cut from the total. It was a huge factor in getting that project approved.
Data gathering was a big side benefit of the DCS. We were able to gather any manner of data for our quality staff to use for tracking purposes, SPC charting, customer audit information, process change decisions, Monroeville tech center used the data to help in developing new products or make improvements to the existing ones.
Probably the biggest benefit from getting the DCS installed in the dryer building was that it convinced the Silica management all the way to General Office of the value and benefit of the system. Two other production units were switched and even more importantly, the furnace/CCD area was switched from the old Provox to the DCS, that eventually saved/made the company millions in product quality and production increases. Once they saw how much it improved the overall production of the dryer building, I believe it convinced them to move to upgrading the other units years before they would have and that was huge.
Through the years that I was privileged to work with Pam, it was always an enjoyable experience. She was always a pleasure to work with, she was always very professional in her manner, and her dedication and knowledge of the task at hand is outstanding.
Joe Haymark
PPG Industries, Inc.Lake Charles, LA
Plant200 Series Production Foreman, Silica Products, 1992-2006
