About WIPAC

WIPAC’s aims to promote greater and better targeted use of instrumentation, process control & automation , in order to improve the efficiency of water & wastewater networks and treatment.

Over the past few months the group has grown to what it is at the time of writing, a group of professionals discussing the way forward for the industry considering the global pressures that are put upon it including the demands to reduce energy whilst complying with tighter and tighter consent limits in wastewater or an ever increasing demand in potable water. The two are at odds with each other and this is what the industry has to deliver in the years to come.

It is my firm belief that those who operate the water and wastewater treatment works of the world are going to need some assistance in delivering these demands and that assistance is going to come from instrumentation, process control & automation. The group has since its start turned into a community of professionals that share where things have gone wrong and also where things have gone right.

It is my intention, with the help of others, to take the messages that have been discussed on WIPAC to a wider stage. A sub-group has been set up which is small in size but contains a number of influential people who already deliver the message of process automation & control to a wider audience with the assistance of the group as a whole. The main aims of this group are:
To grow the sphere of influence of the group by drawing from the global water industry as a whole
Bring together the experiences of the wider group and of others to highlight the good practises that exist within the water industry around the subject of instrumentation, process control & automation, either by case-studies, or papers
To work collaboratively with other groups who are also promoting the message of process control & automation whether these be part of larger organisations or not
To look to spread the message of process automation & control by drawing on the strength of the group or directly contributing to conferences or similar such events.
These aims an the strategic direction of WIPAC have been set as instrumentation, process automation & control are seen as an essential part of the future water industry if demands are going to be met and the environment protected.

Since its more recent development as a Community Interest Company the aim of Water Industry Process Automation and Control is to help focus the Water Industry strategy around instrumentation, data and its use to inform the decisions that the industry makes based upon the data that it collects. This includes several important concepts which allows the effective use of instrumentation and the data that it produces.

The first of these concepts is the Resistance to the Effective use of Instrumentation which was one of the very first papers that the LinkedIn Group produced. In this paper the value or lack of value of data is highlighted in particular as if data is not valued then it is not used and the instruments that produce the data are abandoned creating a descending spiral of instrumentation and data. However if an instrument is believed and the data is useful then the situation where instrumentation and its data become a vital operating tool for operations to work with.

This led to the second concept of the Instrumentation Life-Cycle which goes into the value of the instrument before it is even installed understanding the value and needs of the instrument before its selection allowing for an optimised technology selection and after installation a full view of the life-cycle and the quality of the data that the instrument brings.

This in turn leads to the third concept of the Smart or Digital Water Industry insofar as with the right data that is providing a value as the data quality can be relied upon the data provided can be converted into information that will allow informed decisions to be made either automatically by process control systems or manually via operational staff. This increases the operational efficiency of the standard procedures that the water industry operates to giving best value to both the company and its customers.

The last concept is an important one insofar as instrumentation and automation systems are not there to replaced people, they are vital tool to allow efficient operation and also allow operators on the ground all of the information that they need to make informed decisions and allow them to operate rather fire-fight within the operational level of the Global Water Industry.

The Water Industry Process Automation & Control Group was setup as a LinkedIn discussion group in May 2011 by its group manager, Oliver Grievson. The group has grown to an industry leading discussion group about the opportunities and issues surrounding the "digital" water industry including the subject areas of Data and its use, instrumentation and process automation & control.

The group as a whole spreads the word about how the digital water industry is developing and the things that have worked through WIPAC Monthly which is a magazine that is produced by the group. WIPAC Monthly is distributed on a global basis using the LinkedIn platform and has quickly become a globally popular resource for Water Industry Professionals to pick up on the trends of the "digital" or "smart" water industry.

WIPAC is run by Oliver Grievson, the group manager as a not for profit organisation. Should you want to support the organisation in anyway by providing case studies, articles, press releases or papers for WIPAC Monthly then feel free to get in touch with the Group Manager at oliver.grievson@wipac.org.uk

Who is who at WIPAC

Oliver Grievson

Executive Director

Doug Anderson

Director

Oliver Puckering

Director

Steve Hanslow

Director

Luke Stanbridge

Director

Jon Davison

Director

TBC

Director

Oliver Grievson

Technical Lead - Water Industry

Z-Tech Control Systems

Oliver Grievson started the Water Industry Process Automation & Control Group as a LinkedIn Group in May 2011 and converted it to a community of interest company in 2018.

After gaining a Bachelors with honours degree in Environmental Science (Management) from Kingston University in London he worked for the next years in a Public Analyst Laboratory in South-East London where he learned analytical and sampling techniques of water, wastewater and a variety of different materials. From here he left the UK and worked in the Falkland Islands for a further five years looking after all of the water related services from water treatment & distribution, wastewater collection and treatment and all aspects of public health and water hygiene.

After the leaving the Falkland Islands he returned to the UK where he did a Masters Degree in Water & Wastewater Technology at Cranfield University before starting at Grontmij as an Associate Engineer.

During his time and Grontmij he worked on variety of engineering projects from feasibility, design, construction and commissioning. At the end of AMP 4 he left Grontmij and took a position at Yorkshire Water as a Senior Process Engineer working on a variety of Capital Schemes, writing Asset Standards and solving advanced operational problems.

At this time he set up the Water Industry Process Automation & Control Group and moved to Anglian Water to take the role of Flow Compliance Manager revolutionising the companies performance in their MCERTS regulated flow meters designing and delivering a remediation programme to take the company into an industry leading position.

He currently works as the Technical Lead for the Water Industry at Z-Tech Control systems looking at working with the UK Water Companies to deliver reliability in their instrumentation by looking at the whole instrumentation life-cycle from instrument design to installation, maintenance, management & replacement.

As WIPAC developed he has taken on a number of voluntary positions in the Water Industry from Director of the Sensors for Water Interest Group, Technical Lead at the Foundation for Water Research in Flow & Instrumentation and more recently serving on the CIWEM Wastewater Management Panel and Professional Standards Committee. He is also the Chairman of a Wastewater Education 501 (C)3 a educational charity in the USA. He also is authoring a number of articles, book chapters, manuals and standards for the Global Water Industry.

Doug Anderson

Marketing Manager

Vega Control Systems

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With almost 30 years experience in instrumentation, equally in field sales and marketing, Doug has extensive knowledge of level and pressure instrumentation. A strong foundation in the water and environmental sectors, as well as many other manufacturing sectors, he also has a long history of working on a range different technologies, and a particular in-depth, practical understanding gained working on the application developments for radar level sensors for over 25 years. Providing solutions in areas as diverse as blast furnace level monitoring to tide gauging, it gives him a strong connection with this technology in particular. He is also regularly involved in delivering internal and external training and has written numerous articles on a variety of related subjects. Following the successful UK launch of both low cost specialist water level radar sensors and the revolutionary technology of 80GHz radar, Doug is now helping to develop products, strategies and define markets for continuing sensor innovations, as well as VEGA’s recent developments towards digitisation, IIOT, local and global connectivity. “The day job may involve organising our VEGATRUCK mobile tours, mailings, materials, seminars, exhibitions and events, but its still the technology behind level and pressure measurement, along with the benefits it brings to our customers, that still gives me great satisfaction”

Oliver Puckering

Sales Director

Xylem Analytics UK

Steve Hanslow

UK Business Manager

Siemens

Having joined Siemens 25 years ago, Steve understands the issues facing the UK water industry. As part of his role as Head of Water & Waste Water, Siemens UK & Ireland, Steve works closely alongside Global Water Sector HQ advising on the UK industry challenges to develop value based solutions and technologies for the UK water industry. In addition, Steve oversees a number of teams, closely collaborating with the supply chain to meet the challenges around asset performance, operational efficiency, and data acquisition and visualisation.

Alongside ongoing themes within the water & waste water sector, including: The Internet of Things, automation, Industry 4.0, digitisation, productivity, and Connected Manufacturing, Steve is also able to provide expert comment on the following topics and themes:

• Asset performance and the need to understand how this effecting TOTEX

• Capturing and managing asset data from thousands of remote assets

• Addressing the security needs around data capture

Luke Stanbridge

Commercial Director

Z-Tech Control Systems

Jon Davison

Key Account Manager, Water Industry

ABB

The Water Industry Process Automation & Control Group is going to be set up as a Community of Interest Company and reports to a board of directors that volunteer their time and their companies time freely. The Water Industry Process Automation & Control Group, outside of the original LinkedIn page is also a membership organisation and those wishing to join the organisation & community can do so at anytime by speaking to the Group Manager, Oliver Grievson.

The benefits of becoming a member of the Water Industry Process Automation & Control Group are numerous including:

Attending workshops and events that are specifically for the membership and membership companies where the latest in data, instrumentation, process automation & control will be discussed as well as events organised to specifically help the industry with the projects in the coming year.
Webinars designed to keep the membership up to date with the latests trends & products being released within the global water industry
Membership of the Sensileau platform which is a knowledge management platform designed to keep its members and WIPAC members up to date in the latest developments in instrumentation in the water industry

Membership is based upon the activities of the companies that wish to join. The membership tiers are:

Utility Companies - The cost of membership is £500/annum (+ VAT).

The benefits for utility companies are:

20 free places at the WIPAC workshops that take place 6 times per year throughout the UK
Free access to the WIPAC webinars that occur on a monthly basis
Access to the Sensileau platform including the annual large organisation management free
Inclusion on the WIPAC Monthly mailing list for each edition of WIPAC Monthly

Engineering Consultants & Tier 1 Contractors - The cost of membership is £650/annum (+ VAT)

The benefits for Engineering companies & Tier 1 Contractors are:

15 free places at the WIPAC workshops that take place 6 times per year throughout the UK
Free access to the WIPAC webinars that occur on a monthly basis
Access to the Sensileau platfor including the annual large organisation management free
Inclusion on the WIPAC Monthly mailing list for each edition of WIPAC Monthly
Opportunities to have table tops at WIPAC events (at additional cost)

Instrumentation & Automation Companies - The cost of membership is £650 or £800/annum (+ VAT)

There is a two tiered approach to instrumentation & automation companies which includes

Listing on the WIPAC Website with a dedicated company page linked to the company website
Access to the Sensileau platform including the annual large organisation management free
Opportunity to present in the WIPAC Webinars (at additional cost)
Opportunity to present at the WIPAC Workshops
Opportunities to include articles and feature articles n WIPAC Monthly
Inclusion on the WIPAC Monthly mailing list for each edition of WIPAC Monthly
Opportunities to have table tops at WIPAC events (at additional cost)

The second tier (limited to six companies) also includes the following benefits

Company logo included in each WIPAC Monthly
A dedicated WIPAC webinar
One free table top stand at a WIPAC event of the company choice
Company representative on the WIPAC board of directors
Preferential inclusion of articles for WIPAC Monthly

Individual Membership - The cost of individual membership is £50/annum (+ VAT)

Individual membership includes:

Inclusion of the WIPAC Mailing list
Access to the Sensileau platform
Attendance at workshops at webinars (at additional cost)