DALLAS, TEXAS, USA (INVENSYS CUSTOMER CONFERENCE) - December 6, 2006QUESTION: What do Star Trek, muscle cars, IBM 360/370 systems, artificial hearts, mini-skirts, DataCraft/Harris computers, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, Compuserve and Bonnie & Clyde have in common? ANSWER: When those things were breaking onto the scene, two men in Fullerton, California were huddled around a kitchen table working out the details for a process simulation software product and a company to sell it. In 1967, they started that company, Simulation Sciences Inc., which eventually became the SimSci-Esscor unit of Invensys Process Systems. In January 2007, the SimSci-Esscor unit of Invensys marks the 40th Anniversary of its simulation solutions business.
The milestone is being celebrated at a gala reception with SimSci-Esscor users at the 2006 Invensys Process Systems Annual Customer Conference in Dallas December 4-7. The business started when founders, Dr. Y. L. Wang and A.
Paul Oleson, developed a distillation simulation program with functionality that was not available commercially in the late 1960s. The first programs, SP01 to SP03, and subsequent related Simulation Sciences programs, became widely accepted for design in the hydrocarbon processing industries. As increased simulation capabilities were added, these programs evolved into the SSI/100 simulator in the mid-1970s, which was made available through computer time-sharing services. This was a successful program used around the world. In fact, there are still SSI/100 user manuals out there today.
In 1979, the SSI/100 program was superseded with the introduction of PROCESS, which found much success as refining, petrochemical and chemical companies paid more attention to energy conservation and cost savings. One subsequent enhancement was the HEXTRAN program for heat exchanger operations. This product is still an important part of the SimSci-Esscor offering today. In the 1980s, the successful PROCESS product evolved into PRO/II, which was initially introduced in 1988 as a PC version and has since evolved into the leading process flowsheet simulator for refining. And in 1983, a company called Esscor was founded in Solano Beach, California.
This company developed software products used for dynamic control simulation (later to become the DYNSIM family) and operator training simulators in the power generation, pulp and paper, oil and gas, and chemical process industries. Through the 1980s and 1990s, both companies "refined" their software product offerings and increased their presence in the process industries.
In October 1996, Simulation Sciences Inc. completed its IPO and then acquired Visual Solutions, Salumanek & Assoc. and Biles & Assoc., as well as part of Litwin/Raytheon Process Automation. In 1998, SimSci was acquired by Siebe plc, the predecessor to Invensys.
A year later, Siebe acquired Esscor. Upon the creation of Invensys, and its Invensys Process Systems business in 2002, the two acquisitions were combined to form SimSci-Esscor as it is known today. "SimSci-Esscor solutions maintain a leadership role in simulation for the process industries, all going back to the dedication of the founders and technologists over many years of superior software development and customer support," said Ken Brown, president of Invensys Process Systems and himself a former vice president and general manager of SimSci-Esscor. "Our simulation products continue to evolve and improve to help thousands of customers around the globe run their processes more efficiently, more profitably, and with greater levels of safety and compliance."
While the trends, developments, music and movies of the late 1960s remain as memories recalled from time to time, SimSci-Esscor products, and the people who support them, remain sharply focused on keeping users in the process industries current and prepared for future growth.
About Invensys
Invensys is the world leader in industrial asset performance management. In addition to its rapidly expanding Global Solutions and Performance Management services groups, Invensys' automation businesses includes industry-leading brands such as Foxboro, Triconex, SimSci-Esscor, Wonderware, and Avantis, whose products are installed in more than 100,000 plants across the world. These range from small hybrid and batch plants to the world's largest upstream projects, refineries, gas plants, petrochemicals plants, power plants, and pulp and paper mills. The Invensys Group is headquartered in London and is listed on the London Stock Exchange, with approximately 30,000 employees working in 60 countries.