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Who is ExperTune Inc.
Company History
Formed in 1986 by John Gerry (as Gerry Engineering Software).
Name changed to ExperTune Inc. in 1995. ExperTune designs
pre-packaged industrial software which maximizes productivity and
efficiency and reduces waste in the
process industries: chemical, pulp and paper, utilities,
refining, and food processing.
Major releases:
1986 ProcessPlus—DOS PID Loop simulator.
1987 ExperTune—DOS PID Loop Tuner.
1989 Cascade Simulation
1990 GES-200 to get plant data direct from I/O
1991 DOS PLC/Interface—direct connection to PLCs and
Controllers
1993 Windows PID Tuner (ASCII)
1994 Faceplate version of Windows PID Tuner (DDE)
1995 Tuner analysis options: simulation, robustness, modeling
and frequency
1995 Created Rockwell Software's RSTune
1996 Tune-a-Fish for PROVOX DCS
1996 Loop Simulator (32 bit Windows)
1996 Tuning engine enhanced—32 bit version of Windows PID
Tuners
1997 Characterizer option for linearizing loops
1998 Advanced Control Option: DCS, Characterizer, Power
Spectrum, Correlations, Set Point Filter
1999 Valve Wear Analysis, pH linearizer, Relative Response Time, Optimal
PV Filter, Inverse Response, OPC, Multi-loop, Histogram
2000 Created Rockwell Software's PocketTune
2000 Training CD
2000 Stiction Checker, PID Summary Table, DDE & OPC Wizards
2001 Self-Adaptive Setup Wizards for any controller
2002 Tutorial presentations, time-line analysis
2002 PlantTriage plant-wide monitoring, loop prioritizing, benchmarking and optimizing
2003 PlantTriage browser based interface. PlantTriage connects directly
to Historians. Unfilter PV.
2004 PID Tuner connects directly to historians.
2004 PlantTriage dashboard view of multiple plants. Scope expanded to
entire corporation. Subscribe to performance reports via email.
2005 Process Control Toolkit (formerly Advanced PID Tuner) with Level Control Wizard.
2005 PlantTriage alert subscription, assessments of batch processes, equation builder, treemapping.
2006 Advanced PID Optimizer: Wizard for integrating loops.
2006 PlantTriage: Customizable dashboards, MPC performance monitoring, process interaction mapping.
2006 PlantTriage: Problem solvers, summary diagnosis, opportunity gap
Key Personnel
Kevin Gibbs, CEO. Kevin is a software industry
veteran, with over 20 years experience in managing fast-growing
software companies. Prior to joining ExperTune,
Kevin was CEO of SpiritSoft, where he was responsible for strategic
direction and development worldwide. Kevin's role is to manage the
high rate of sales growth at ExperTune.
John Gerry, President & Founder, Registered Professional Engineer. M.S.
Chemical Engineering 1982 University of Texas, Austin. B.S. Chemical Engineering, 1980,
University of Illinois with Highest Distinction in the Curriculum. John has worked for
Eastman Kodak (Instrument Tech), Eli Lilly (Instrument Engineer), S.C. Johnson (Senior
Engineer), and The Foxboro Company (Research and Applications Engineer). Founded ExperTune
in 1986. John is the author of many publications on Process Control Technology. He is a
multiple chapter author for the "Instrumentation Engineer's Handbook, 4th Edition". John is
the recipient of ISA's 2003 Douglas H. Annin Award recognizing outstanding
achievement in the design or development of components of an automatic control system.
George Buckbee, P.E., BS ChE 1984 Washington University,
MS ChE 1986 Univ. of California, Santa Barbara. George has over 20 years of
practical experience applying process control to solve real-world problems in
the Oil & Gas, Chemical, Pulp & Paper, and Pharmaceutical industries.
George has authored over 40 articles and technical papers for Control
Magazine, Control Engineering, InTech, Chemical Processing, Chemical
Engineering and various conferences. George is the author of "Automation
Applications in Bio-Pharmaceuticals", published by ISA press.
Steve Burt, Business Development Manager, B.S. Electrical
Engineering 1985, Rochester Institute of Technology, NY. More than 20 years
of success in the application, sale and marketing of control software at
Rockwell Automation, ICOM, Steeplechase Software and Microsoft.
Liming Yang, Ph.D. Tsinghua University, Beijing, China. Ph.D.
Dissertation: Boiler Faults Diagnosis Using An Expert System. Dr. Yang obtained a B.S.
from Tsinghua University, graduating 3rd in his class. Dr. Yang has 7 years of
development with ExperTune Inc. Prior to ExperTune, he spent 3 years writing power plant
simulation and PID tuning software with Samsung Heavy Industry, Korea. He was also a
Project Manager for the State Electric Power Corporation of China.
Richard Barraclough, 17 years application and design experience with
Ferranti, a British supplier of mini-computer based process control equipment. Richard
designed the kernel of the Ferranti's main product, PMS. 10 years development experience
with ExperTune. BSc. Chemistry, Imperial College, London University. MSc Control
Engineering, Bradford University.
F. G. Shinskey, World renowned expert in
applying process control systems. Published books:
"Process Control Systems," McGraw-Hill, 1967,
1979, 1988, 1996.
"Distillation Control," McGraw-Hill, 1977, 1984
"Feedback Controllers for the Process Industries,"
McGraw-Hill, 1994
"pH and pIon Control in Process and Waste Streams,"
Wiley, 1973
"Controlling Multivariable Processes," ISA, 1981
"Simulating Process Control Loops Using BASIC,"
ISA, 1990
"Energy Conservation through Control," Academic
Press, 1978
Awards:
Philip T. Sprague Application Award, ISA, 1977
Benjamin H. Bristol Fellowship, The Foxboro Company, 1982
Donald P. Eckman Education Award, ISA, 1983
Albert F. Sperry Founder's Award, ISA, 1988
ISA Fellowship, ISA, 1990
Computing Practice Award, CAST Division AIChE, 1992
Sir Harold Hartley Medal, Institute of Measurement and
Control (UK), 1995
Nordic Process Control Award, Stockholm, Sweden 1998
Control Engineering Practice Award from the American Automatic Control Council, 2000
R.N. Pond Award, CHEMPID Division of ISA, 2003
Scott Friedemann, BS 1976, University of Wisconsin,
Madison. Scott has 11 years experience in the Food industry as a
Production Supervisor, Quality Control Supervisor, Plant Manager,
Technical Director, and Division Manager. Scott is a Microsoft
Certified Systems Engineer.
Henry Sellers, with 20 years experience at Invensys, worked on
advanced control systems, measurement, metering, and valve solutions. Henry also spent 6
years with GSE Process Solutions (now Novatech). Henry was an Area Sales Manager
servicing food, drug, chemical, and petroleum industries. Henry has a BS in Civil
Engineering from Auburn University.
Advisory Board
Gabe Rosica, former COO Bailey Controls
Company, former Vice President and Manager U.S. Operations, The
Foxboro Company.
ExperTune Corporate Offices in the Lake Country Research Center, Hartland, WI,
USA
Process Industries
ExperTune serves the process industries. The process
industries convert raw materials like crude petroleum, wood
chips, and ores into finished materials like gasoline, paper, and
steel. The emphasis is on continuous or batch mixing, reaction
and separation of materials to produce other materials of higher
value. Chemical reactions often are involved, and the materials
often are changed on a fundamental level.
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