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History of WIB Working-party on Instrument Behaviour Werkgroup voor Instrument Beoordeling How it Started In 1962, five leading Dutch process industries (BPM now Shell, Algemene Kunstzijde Unie now AKZO, DSM, Hoogovens now TATA Steel and Unilever) got together to explore combining tests and sharing the report results on process instrumentation. Companies were at the time carrying out these activities individually at very high costs. The five concluded that sharing instrument evaluation reports, even with direct competitors, would be to the benefit of all. A following meeting held on the 16th December 1963 resulted in the formation of a cooperation panel under the name "Werkgroup voor Instrument Beoordeling", shortened to WIB. An independent laboratory, the Institute for Applied Physical Research-TNO, was approached and asked to carry out testing on behalf of WIB. TNO was also made responsible for the administration of the association, supervised by a Board of WIB members. WIB activities attracted high interest from companies abroad wanting to join and a few years later the official language became English. WIB was translated into "Working-party on Instrument Behaviour". It was officially registered as a non- profit association in 1968. The Early Years WIB membership kept growing and by the end of sixties, the opportunity arose to separate the daily management of WIB from TNO and employ a professional instrument engineer as manager. The WIB Office was now formed. Development and Changes in the Process Industry Since the fifties the process industry had grown rapidly in size and complexity and with it the demand for better and more reliable instrumentation. Instrument manufacturers were under pressure to improve and develop new instruments. Many instruments were released too early on the market with disappointing results. Many did not meet their specifications, were unreliable, required high maintenance and often affected the integrity of a plant since they formed part of safeguarding systems. It was out of this situation that WIB had been created. WIB was to provide reliable data on specific instruments. The production of new instruments continued to increase during the seventies and, especially during the eighties the emergence of new technologies saw the production of ever more sophisticated instrumentation, This continued during the nineties to today with the appearance of "The Smart Instruments". In the early nineties the economic recession had an impact on process industries that would change the way companies would deal with instrumentation. Economic recession directed attention of management towards the cost of maintaining production facilities and process automation. The cost for instrumentation in relation to the total plant costs had risen considerably over the years. A turn was made towards the purchase of equipment based on the total cost of ownership, taking into consideration all costs from acquisition to installation, operation and maintenance. Also the "back to core business" trend led to cutting down the engineering departments and tasks. The instrument expertise decreased within companies accordingly, yet the complexity of instruments continued to increase. The nineties saw the increase of out-sourced engineering projects to Engineering Contractors who also became more and more responsible for the selection and maintenance of instrumentation or the total cost of ownership. WIB opened its membership to include Engineering Contractors, so that through WIB they are aided in building cost-effective plants with reliable and safe process control instruments. This benefits our members and the process industry at large. WIB's new role By the late nineties WIB started publishing reports on CD-ROMs. Formerly members received one hard copy of every new report. The CD-Rom production meant that members could now print as many copies as desired, also download the CD-Roms on their Intranet systems and people from their company all over the world had access to WIB reports immediately. The CD-Roms became cumulative, i.e., all new reports published in a six months period were included. The CD-Rom production was a transitional phase for a whole new way of interacting with members. The WIB management has worked hard to implement a new way of distributing reports and more. WIB's web-site has been developed further to include a secure members-only area: the WIB-Forum. All the WIB-SWE reports, minutes of meetings, and additional data are located in different workspaces. Information is up-dated immediately and members are notified automatically when new reports are released or other relevant information is made available. In line with the changes in the industry and new requirements of members, WIB has shifted from the particular evaluation report of an instrument or system to the production of more comparative reports, selection guidelines, desk studies, and market studies. The process of change in the industry is continuous. For example, we are now experiencing the fading of clear-cut lines among the different players: the merging of the once separate entities such as Manufacturers/Suppliers/Eng Contractors. As ongoing changes occur in the industry, WIB will be right in there observing, adapting and evolving for the benefit of its members. More Information For more information, please contact WIB: WIB Office Prinsessegracht 26 2514 AP The Hague The Netherlands e-mail: info@wib.nl Phone: +31 70 356 00 92 Fax: +31 70 356 00 74 |
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WIB - The Hague - The Netherlands
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