The Powder Show Digital Flow is deployed every year as part of Powder & Bulk Solids’ hybrid approach of offering both in-person and digital events. According to Yale Deskins, Conference Producer with Informa Markets, the audience is made up of engineers, scientists and equipment manufacturers who are all looking for ways to bridge the current state of the pandemic.
Prior to 2020, the event took place every two years. When the pandemic occurred, the conference organizers took time to re-evaluate how to best serve this community. People still wanted to gain education, share knowledge, and connect with potential customers, so the Powder Show Digital Flow is designed to maintain that touchpoint.
“We recognize that needs are evolving, and Digital Flow is an opportunity to supplement our live events, and to better cater to the community as a whole, all year long,” Steve says.
The Pandemic Created a More Urgent Need for Communication and Change
Yale acknowledged that the pandemic greatly impacted the Powder & Bulk Solids sector. It decimated plant workforces and drove unanticipated shifts in consumer demand. It also revealed a critical need for the sector to reevaluate supply chains, manufacturing processes, and how facilities are laid out as well as consider implementing new technologies as they upgrade and make changes, either in response to big disruptions like a pandemic or as part of their normal change management.
One session, entitled ‘Ask the Experts – Advanced Manufacturing Tech for Powder & Bulk Solids Handling’ resonated with a lot of attendees. It touched on the importance of collecting dependable data, and more importantly, how to use it. Key points included selecting instruments for measuring flow and inventory levels and silos, advanced industrial control systems, robotics, and advanced automation.
Steve moderated a popular session offered by Chris Giusto, Director of Industrial Projects & Combustible Dust Safety at Hallam-ICS. The title was ‘How to Make a Business Case for Dust Hazard Analysis & Combustible Dust Safety.’ During the session, Chris presented the need for all facilities to undergo a dust hazard analysis and explained the DHA and subsequent actions as an investment with a guaranteed return.
“It was impactful to see Chris provide hypothetical examples that offer financial context,” he says. “I found that he was able to clearly articulate the need for ongoing education, which leads to analysis and action that not only addresses compliance, but also the opportunity to avoid structural, and most importantly, human costs. It was a great session, and I’ll say it was a needed session.”
Yale emphasized that digital events are a critical source of information exchanging.
“The urgency is continued,” he says. “Even if you completed (a) DHA, you’ll need to complete another one in 5 years. And furthermore, any changes that you make to your process could drastically alter your ability to predict, mitigate, and respond to hazards – in this case, combustible dust explosions. So at that point, you’re really talking about continuously monitoring the state of your process, implementing hazard controls based on living data, which makes it less of a per-project cost issue and makes it more of a continuing cost control situation.”
He explained that these conversations really move the ball forward.
“We hear a lot on the internet when it comes to combustible dust safety on the internet, events, or about the technical stuff, about how to do it. That’s all great. But how do you get buy-in from not just upper management, but also the guys on your floor? And putting a dollar amount to that makes it less hypothetical, makes it more real.”
At present all Powder Show Digital Flow sessions and additional content are archived and available for on-demand viewing. Simply register in order to watch at www.powderandbulkshow.com.
What is Coming Next for Powder & Bulk Solids?
Steve said that this year, the iPBS Conference and Exhibition will occur on different days. It will be hosted in an immersive digital format from April 27-29, which, as he put it, “allows our delegates ease of access and cost containment, while providing the rich educational and technical content that has come to be expected from participation.”
There will also be an exhibition at the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center in Rosemont over August 24-26 this year. The content, which will build off of subjects covered during the Digital Conference, will be hosted from a re-imagined centre stage environment.
Conclusion
Steve encouraged people to attend, as the conference promises to be a very valuable experience. He also asked for input.
“I’m going to say, on record, that I’m very proud of you all, and the team, for constructing such a robust agenda that your audience may actually be able to assist with. It pushes us internally as an industry conduit and it offers our partners, such as yourself and Dust Safety Science, an extensive thought leadership platform. So, again, everything that we can do with your help, your audience’s help, you can forward on to Yale. He’ll make sure that that’s baked into our content, and we’re very much looking forward to that.”
If you would like to discuss further, leave your thoughts in the comments section below. You can also reach Yale Deskins and Steve Everly directly:
Email: [email protected]
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/yaledeskins/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/steve-everly-53a8787/
If you have questions about the contents of this or any other podcast episode, you can go to our ‘Questions from the Community” page and submit a text message or video recording. We will then bring someone on to answer these questions in a future episode.
Resources mentioned
Dust Safety Science
Combustible Dust Incident Database
Dust Safety Science Podcast
Questions from the Community
Dust Safety Academy
Dust Safety Professionals
Events
Powder Show Digital Flow
Companies
Powder & Bulk Solids
Informa Markets
Hallam-ICS
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DSS 121: Powder Show Digital Flow 2021 – Post Event Review with Yale Deskins & Steve Everly
