End users must be tired of instrument manufacturers referring to Lord Kelvin’s famous quote and advising that unless you measure the flow of a utility, you cannot manage it. The European process industries have made great progress in recent years to improve energy efficiency however energy still represents one of their largest managed costs. Jurg Zollinger reports. Many of the world’s largest process organisations that were quick to participate in information technology and business process outsourcing are bringing operations back in-house and exploring alternatives, according to a new study released by US company Deloitte Consulting. The process industries are not driven by the need for the latest technology. Rather they are driven by the need to get more for less from their process plant. With capital and operational expenditures  being driven down, the need to get more from what they already have has never been greater. prev