My Ohmart Years 1975-2000
BEFORE OHMART
After
graduating from Ohio University's engineering school in 1963, I
joined INDUSTRIAL
NUCLEONICS
[IN] in Columbus
Ohio.
IN opened my eyes to a new world of industrial products that could
save process customers raw materials and energy, plus increase process
uptime and product quality, with a return on investment [ROI] of only few years.
IN's policy was to assign new graduate engineers to field service for
about two years, before sending them to engineering or other home office
departments.
This provided new engineers first hand experience on how IN's products
were used in paper mill conditions and how mill personel used
these systems and the service challenges in harsh paper mill environments.
I used these real-world field experiences over and over again throughout
my engineering and sales career.
OHMART
[CINCINNATI, OHIO USA]
In 1975, my good friend Denny King invited
me to visit Cincinnati and Ohmart where he had been working for a year
after leaving IN. Cincinnati offered unique history and culture.
During our visit Ohmart's owner asked if I worked at IN.
Ohmart offered me an engineering position immediately without a job application,
the IN name was magic. Ohmart manufactured beta gauge [web] scanning measurement
systems custom
designed for customer's
needs.
During my first year with Ohmart, I suggested a design for a standard
software configurable beta gauge [web] scanning system using Intel's
new Single Board Computer 80/10
BOARD with Intel 8080 CPU micro-processors.
Ohmart's micro-processor based beta gauge system [the first micro-processor
based scanning beta gauge offered for sale by any company in the world]
named WEBART
MICRO 2000 system started production and shipments in 1977.
Also in 1977, Ohmart's WEBART
1000 analog non-scanning was announced for small width web
lines.
Ohmart owned a small web scanning measurement company in Zurich Switzerland
called HMB. In 1977, I traveled to Zurich to demo Ohmart's new WEBART
MICRO 3000 system for small paper machine applications.
HMB marketed Ohmart's Webart 3000 console with their web scanner in Europe
for small [<100 ton/day] paper machines.
Ohmart's web systems Sales Manager Denny King, sold over 250, Webart 2000
and 3000 systems from 1977 to 1987. Denny King found an excellent market
for web measurement scanners [no console] to OEM plastic extruder manufacturers.
In
1982, I was appointed Director of Engineering with a staff of 35 engineers
and physicists.
WEBART
2000 and 3000 systems were used to scan [traverse] paper and plastic film
lines up to 300 inches wide. But customers with narrow lines only required
a non-scanning or "single-point" web measurement system. In
1986, Ohmart engineering updated the 1977 Webart 1000
with the micro processor measurement system from the industrial process
[density, level, scale] product line
for the modern WEBART
MICRO 1000 system for single-point web measurements with small
C-frames.
In 1987,
Ohmart's engineering department developed an advanced WEBART
9000 web measurement and control system with touch screen video
and Ethernet Smart web scanners and 16 web sensor combinations.
Ohmart's WEBART 9000 system was highlighted in CONVERTING
MAGAZINE.
In 1988, Ohmart's engineering department redesigned Ohmart's Mill Roll Scanner system with the micro processor measurement system from the industrial process [density, level, scale] product line. This new WEBART 8000 system measures the density variations of a finished roll of plastic film.
Ohmart continued development
of new web measurement and control systems and in 1992 Ohmart offered
system using a personal computer named CONCEPT
ONE.
Ohmart's eight major web senor technologies offered customers a wide range
of MEASUREMENT
options.
Concept One offered advanced process measurement and process control systems
for low throughput web processes, where online measurements had not been
economically justifed previously.
In 1994, Ohmart
sold their Webart and Concept One product
lines to Measurex
Corp., thus ending my 31 year history servicing, designing
and selling online web measurement systems.
In addition
to web measurement systems, Ohmart made non-contact WEIGHT
SCALES, DENSITY
and LEVEL
gauges using Cs-137 and Co-60 gamma sources for non-contact process measurments
of industrial process systems.
During the 1980s, Ohmart engineering developed a totally unique MOISTART 5000 system with Cf-252 neutron and Cs-137 gamma sources for on-line measurement of the bulk [not just surface] moisture [and fiber weight] of wood chips flowing into a pulp mill digester.
Ohmart engineering updated Ohmart's Motor-Driven Tank Senor [MDTS], in 1985, with Ohmart's digital processors and the new product called SMART SCAN was used to measure the interface of mult-density materials in a closed tank. One important SMART SCAN application was on Alkylation units used in petroleum refineries. Ohmart sold SMART SCANs directly to refineries and OEMed the SMART SCAN to UOP for their refinery customers.
All Ohmart's products
measured industrial process parameters without contacting the process
material.
Ohmart's products were known as the UNTOUCHABLES.
In 1984, HRI [Hydrocarbon
Research Incorporated] contacted Ohmart to provide special level and density
measurements for their new H-OIL
PROCESS to be constructed at a Texaco refinery
in Convent La.
The H-Oil process reactor tower steel [300mm or 12in] walls and therefore
traditional measurement systems could not be used. Ohmart engineering
designed special source holders with six Cs-137 sources on one cable for
this H-Oil application.
In addition, for the first time Ohmart used a high sensitivity "NaI
scintillation" RADIATION
DETECTORS for H-Oil's very important density and level measurements.
NAI
SCINTILLATION DETECTORS for difficult density measurements
because standard with Ohmart in 1988, with the development of density
Scintillation detectors to replace ion chamber detectors. These high sensitivity
scintillation detectors reduced the required source activity [mCi], reduced
stray radiation fields and provided the customer higher meaurement performance.
Ohmart's continued to provide special level and density systems for the
H-Oil process not only at TEXACO/CONVENT
LA. in 1985, but to SynCrude/Canada in 1986,
TONEN/JAPAN
in 1994, AGIP/Italy
in 1996 and Solvnaft/Slovakia
in 1999. In 1985, I presented a paper at a H-Oil conference in Canada about using Nucleonic Instrumentation on H-Oil reactors.
Starting with
the Tonen H-Oil installation in Japan [1994,] all density detectors used
Ohmart's HART
digital technology. Ohmart's HART digital technology provided direct access
to hazardous area field mounted density detectors for setup and service
directy from the customer's non-hazardous area control room, without additional
control room equipment.
In 1988, I was asked to
create and manage Ohmart's International Division for sales, marketing
and service of Ohmart's products outside the USA and Canada. Ohmart's
international Division staff consisted of Luis Santiago and Steve Brandenburg,
both with extensive Ohmart field service experience on Ohmart products.
Ohmart's International Division partnered with manufacturer representatives
in 25 major countries in Europe, Asia and South America.
Ohmart was presented three national and state E-AWARDS
for Excellence in Exporting
National E-Award from President Clinton in 1992
National E-Star Award from President Bush in 2000 [only one of five E-Star
Awards were given in 2000]
Ohio E-Award from Governor Voinovich in 1998
These national and Ohio exporting E-Awards were for all Ohmart employees
and Ohmart's sales/service reps around the world, who made Ohmart's international
division very successfull.
Ohmart had very high standards for dealing with customers using three principals:
1. "do not lie to a customer, period"
2. "show the customer that THEY are not forgotten"
3. "document everything"
CLICK HERE FOR ALL REFERENCED OHMART SALES BROCHURES AND ARTICLES
rev 12/18