I have a confession to make. When I started in this position more than two years ago, I had no idea what a white paper was. I first encountered the phrase as I did a little normal pre-job interview research on www.plantservices.com. There it was — right on the top navigation, screaming its importance. I was a little put off that I didn’t know what they were. So, I decided to ask a couple friends if they knew, both in an attempt to gain some knowledge that I could bring into the interview, and to see if others knew about them and perhaps I was just obtuse.
My friends, however, also were clueless. I sat back down in front of my monitor and decided to read one. It was titled, “Knowledge Management for Industrial Assets,” and while I had zero expertise in the area, I started to understand. I opened another, and then another, and I started to realize that oftentimes, white papers are bastions of knowledge. I saw the value.
PlantServices.com visitors have seen the value too. Our white paper library is one of the most popular destinations on the site. In fact, users flock to the best white papers like kids to free ice cream. The most popular white papers on the site get much more attention than most articles, news items, surveys, products or any other content we make available to our global audience. The 10 most popular white papers in 2006 on www.plantservices.com, (in dramatic reverse order), are:
10. Industrial Security and Compliance: This 10-page white paper from Matrikon talks about each of the areas of concentration for process sucurity in detail — people, processes and technology — as well as the priority of developing a security philosophy that will, in turn, foster a security culture.
http://www.plantservices.com/whitepapers/2006/011.html
9. 10 Steps to Solving Cooling Problems Caused by High-Density Server Deployment: This paper from APC provides a 10-step approach for increasing cooling efficiency, cooling capacity, and power density in existing data centers.
http://www.plantservices.com/whitepapers/2006/006.html
8. Preparing for Industrial Wireless: Industrial facilities across the world are increasingly having to decide whether and how to implement wireless technology. The right decision enables an infrastructure that provides significant benefits from wire savings to improved operations. Wireless is a complex enabling technology that requires many considerations before broad deployment.
http://www.plantservices.com/whitepapers/2006/016.html
7. Industrial Ethernet: Industrial Ethernet in the manufacturing environment is increasingly becoming a viable way of interconnecting the machines on the plant floor with users in the office, as well as with each other.
http://www.plantservices.com/whitepapers/2006/007.html
6. Intelligent Information Management: This paper discusses how refiners can optimize their information management by changing their business processes and adding applications while not putting any additional data collection or management burden on operations.
http://www.plantservices.com/whitepapers/2006/004.html
5. Optimal Temperature Sensor Selection: There’s no simple solution to achieving accurate temperature measurement. It’s a combination of knowing the inherent accuracy of particular sensor types, but also how environmental factors can create further measurement uncertainty and the sensor calibration techniques available to reduce this uncertainty.
http://www.plantservices.com/whitepapers/2006/005.html
4. Arc-Flash Analysis: Utility System Parameters Critical for Accurate PPE: The introduction of arc-flash protection in NFPA 70E, Electrical Standard for Safety in the Workplace, is changing industry needs to ensure a safe maintenance environment beyond the safe operation of the equipment.
http://www.plantservices.com/whitepapers/2006/018.html
3. The Asset Management Benchmark Report: Moving Toward Zero Downtime: External market forces, Lean manufacturing strategies, and ever lower tolerances for late deliveries are putting pressure on manufacturers to ensure that facilities and equipment are not only available, but also operating at peak performance.
http://www.plantservices.com/whitepapers/2006/014.html
2. The New Case for Condition Monitoring: This paper discusses how condition monitoring and condition-based maintenance have become key management strategies to deal with the severe shortage of technical staff.
http://www.plantservices.com/whitepapers/2006/012.html
1. Streamlining Work Order Processes: Many have the perception that maintenance employees will spend a large part of their day filling out work orders and entering data. While this perception can become reality, a little careful planning will avoid that problem. Instead of wasted time, you can streamline your work order processes while gaining more accurate and complete data.
http://www.plantservices.com/whitepapers/2006/027.html
PlantServices.com is dedicated to continuing to grow its white paper library. If you have an interesting white paper that you think is suitable for our Web site, please feel free to forward it to me at [email protected]. Also, keep an eye out this year for different types of white papers on www.plantservices.com that may include video, audio commentary or webinar material.
E-mail Senior Editor, Digital Media Michael Ermitage at [email protected].