50 years of Eastern Controls is all thanks to our manufacturing partners, our loyal employees and our customers near and far. This year was filled with some major milestones so let us refresh your memory!

January 2, 2019: Eastern Controls was officially open for 50 years!

May: ECI held it’s 4th Process Solutions Summit. The one-day event hosted over 300 customers and partners. We also raised over $3,000 towards Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation!

July: Our President, Cliff McLaughlin, JR. also turned 50! Not many business owners can say they’ve been a part of the business their entire life.

We at Eastern Controls are constantly looking for ways to innovate the way we do business to make your experience the best it can be. The same can be said about our manufacturing partners!

Sometimes it feels overwhelming and like you can’t keep up with the latest “thing”, but that’s why our team and our partners are here.Over the past year terms like IIoT have become more prevalent, including the technologies under that umbrella.We are here to help you navigate the fast-paced nature of our industry.

With a new year, inevitably, comes new product releases.Our partners are constantly innovating the technologies they bring to market and we are here to make sure you know and can make decisions for your plant accordingly.In January of 2020, Endress+Hauser will be releasing a new model of their Liquiphant.The Liquiphant FTL50/51 will become FTL51B.

Whether you have one, or multiple, scheduled shutdown periods throughout the year or wait for when you need to make equipment repairs or replacements, you should never stop planning for what could be needed.

One way to prepare is understand best practices for stocking spare parts. This way, when you officially shutdown, the service work can begin on time and most importantly, end on time. Understanding best inventory practices is critical for shutdown periods but also daily operation.

Another important preparation step is understanding WHAT needs to be tended to and begin prioritization. One way is to understand the well-being of your valves and instruments is with diagnostics and asset management tools. These tools can save you time and money and eliminates the invasiveness of tearing equipment out, potentially for no reason.

Why is it that the last few months of the year seem to fly by? Before the New Year rolls around we are offering TWO more popular classes in case you missed them earlier in the year!

Fundamental Instrumentation School 101

• Two-day course offering 16-PDH credits
• Combination classroom and hands-on training on full-scale working Process Training Unit® (PTU®)
• Covers technologies from pressure and temperature to radar level measurement and Coriolis flow meter technologies and products
• Work with a loop simulator, configuration software, HART communicator…just to name a few

Industry experts that gathered and presented at the VMA Market Outlook Workshop this year, discussed swinging market conditions, political tensions, and trade battles. Among some common themes across presenters were those of concern for many years for them: lack of skilled labor, the need for infrastructure improvements and the effects of new technology. All of this culminating to one thing, uncertainty.

While uncertainty always looms, the overall outlook was positive. The water/wastewater industry will see “explosive growth” while midstream/downstream oil and gas, petrochemicals and mining are expected to see continued growth through 2020.

The United States have been in a prolonged economic recovery, noted as the longest expansion since World War II. Part contributor to this expansion, which is different than in past recoveries, is the investment in intellectual properties such as software.