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Photos and meeting info from March-July 2009 events are below. For more info please contact the ISA Las Vegas Section Webmaster , President , or Newsletter Editor .




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July 16, 2009, Section Program

LOOP Sheet Development and Organization

Jeff Blue, C.A.P., Control System Engineer at Southern Nevada Water System, will give a presentation on loop sheet development and organizations.

Meeting Details

Date: Thursday, July 16, 2009 (Third Thursday)

Time: Food and beverages at 7:00pm. Meeting & presentation at 7:30pm.

RSVP: Jeff Blue at 702 249-1156 or Jeff.Blue@lvvwd.com

Location: Grand Cafe just inside the Main Casino entrance, Palace Station Hotel, www.palacestation.com .

Address: 2411 W Sahara, Las Vegas, NV 89102; (702) 367-2411. (Mapquest) .

Directions: From the Strip head west on Sahara. After passing the 15 Fwy, pass the first light (Rancho Drive) and turn left at the 2nd light (Palace Station) at the large sign. Park in the lot to the right (west) of the Palace Station Hotel. The easiest way to enter is through the tower hotel lobby. The Grand Cafe is on the left just before you enter the casino/gaming area.

Cost: Ask when you RSVP. From the hotel web site, sandwiches and dinners are $6-15 and soft drinks are $2-3.




Photo below courtesy of Jeff Blue.






April 16, 2009, Section Meeting

Introduction to ISA CyberU

Self-paced distance education is something that all ISA members should take a look at. There are hundreds of self directed courses to choose from in a format that meets your needs.

The curriculum of distance learning on CD, DVD and webseminars includes Automation & Control, Basic Workplace Skills, Electrical Maintenance, Machine Technology, Maintenance Troubleshooting, Mechanical Maintenance, Predictive Maintenance, CCST Exam Preparation, CIMM Exam Preparation, CSE Exam Preparation and more.

Other courses include Batch Manufacturing, Data Processing and Management, Environmental Instruments, Maintenance & Operations, Manufacturing Automation, Measurement, Motion Systems and Control, Networks, Power Industry, Process Automation and Control, Productivity, Management, & Marketing, Safety, Security, Sensors and Systems Integration. More info at www.isa.org/cyberu.

Top Stephenson has been with ISA Cyber U for some time and will explain ISA web training on ISA Cyber U -- how to get there, what is available, costs etc. Tom has done a number of the online courses over the past several years and found them incredibly valuable. Tom can be reached at stephensonta@yahoo.com.

Meeting Details

Date: Thursday, April 16, 2009 (Third Thursday)

Time: 6:30pm. (Not a dinner meeting.) For the early birds, the Cabo Mexican Restaurant in the hotel happy hour is 4-6pm.

RSVP: Jeff Blue at 702 249-1156 or Jeff.Blue@lvvwd.com

Location: Grand Cafe just inside the Main Casino entrance, Palace Station Hotel, www.palacestation.com .

Address: 2411 W Sahara, Las Vegas, NV 89102; (702) 367-2411. (Mapquest) .

Directions: From the Strip head west on Sahara. After passing the 15 Fwy, pass the first light (Rancho Drive) and turn left at the 2nd light (Palace Station) at the large sign. Park in the lot to the right (west) of the Palace Station Hotel. The easiest way to enter is through the tower hotel lobby. The Grand Cafe is on the left just before you enter the casino/gaming area.

Cost: Confirm with Jeff Blue when you RSVP. From the hotel web site, sandwiches and dinners are $6-15 and soft drinks are $2-3.





March 11, 2009, Section Tour

Tour of Pabco Gypsum LLC

Article by Stan Spence. Photos courtesy of Jeff Blue.

    On Wed. March 11, 2009, some of our current ISA members enjoyed an excellent tour at the PABCO Gypsum LLC plant, thanks to Ron Littlefield. Also kudos to his wife for bringing some delicious snacks to keep our energy up for the tour (it's a large facility, so we needed that extra energy boost). The tour encompassed the whole process of raw, "dirty" gypsum from the mine thru the processing steps to produce the finished wallboard.
    Some of the steps that we got to see included the washing process (removing clay and other contaminates), pulverizing the clean gypsum rock to powder, adding ingredients to make the wallboard (unfortunately we lost 1 person from our tour due to the fact that he found out about the secret ingredients and had to be eliminated..). After the wall board slurry was mixed to proper specifications, we walked down the web converting line where the slurry was poured onto the wallboard paper at a steady pace of 300 Feet per minute. Further down the production line, the wallboard was cut and then put thru a dryer to produce the final product ready for shipping.
    We also got a detailed review of the plant's control systems ranging from the older Texas Instrument TI505 series controllers to current Rockwell ControlLogix systems.
    The facility was in full production throughout our walkthrough and we even got to see an emergency shutdown, which is always exciting! We all enjoyed the 2 hour tour immensely (except the 1 that we lost J ) and want to thank PABCO and Ron for the visit.



Papco Tour. Below are ISA Las Vegas Section members Dirk Schmidofer (left), Gary "Tiny" Scriven, Jeff Blue, Stan Spence, Tom Stephenson, Ron Littlefield, Clifford Clark, Ed Fontanez, Jason Mack and Vince Brashear tour the Papco Gypsum Plant near Las Vegas in March 2009. Photograph courtesy of Jeff Blue



















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Page updated Aug 21, 2009

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