Power factor correction is a technology which has been around for several decades now. It has been used mostly by large electricity consumers. Harmonics filtering came in later when the used of computers became common in the business environment.

Power factor correction and harmonics filters when installed can actually have a very short payback period. PF corrections have 2-3 years payback period while harmonics filters is on the 5-6 years period.

Power factor corrections prevents penalties imposed by power companies. Harmonics filters on improves equipment performance due to the elimination of the harmonics in the power system.

People are now feeling the bite of the world economic meltdown. Business slowing down or worst closing. Project being put on hold indefinitely, the "wait and see" attitude is very much around. People being layed off, people reducing spending. And many more. This all because US ecnomy went donw to its knees. It is down but not out. If it thus, then it will be the worst economic crisis ever. As the saying goes, "if America sneezes, the world gets cold". This is true in all aspects particularly in economics.

It was not long ago when the Asia economy went puft! Asian business particularly Thailand were very much affected. One good thing about this previous economic crisis was that super-economies like the US were there to extend a helping hand. The current crisis in totally different as the helper is now the one needing help.

How long will this world economic slow down lasts? Nobody knows. The US government is trying to bailout the big companies which are crashing but to no effect.

So if you have a good job now, and have been looking for a better one or have signed up for one, you will be better off if you just stay put.

In any project, there are always several types of personalities involved during its lifetime.

You may say "I know someone who finished a project alone".

Its good you said that. In that case, there is no team involved but different personalities of the project implementor have been used. At the project concept stage, he is acting as an engineer, then a procurement officer to purchase the materials and equipment for his project, the trades person during installation, the project manager to determine if the project is on schedule and on budget, the inspector do self-check on his job and the client to accept the project that has been completed.

This scenario is very common in domestic projects such as an expansion or renovation of an existing house. In larger scale however, the different personalities performed by this single inidividual in our example need to be executed by different people. there may even be several people implementing a single tasks.

There may be a possibility of assuming several positions but there may be some danger of not having a check and balance.

Modern day companies always have a mission statement aligned with the goals of the company. The mission statement speaks it all. It is however a common point of failure as these companies does not abide to their mission statement.

A company I previously work with has the this words into their mission statement "Innovative Solutions...".

Anybody who will be reading this mission statement will readily know that this company has been using innovations to perform. The innovations register was actually being overfilled with innovations that I don't know if the are worthwhile. One of the innovations what catch my attention is "Recycling bins at every desk".

I like buildings which are intelligent. This are being designed by engineers on the building services industry.

In the building services industry, the engineers is an "ALL-IN-ONE". An electrical engineer with a building services experience could not only design electrical installations but fire protection, communication, security, HVAC and all other requirement for a building to be able to provide the best services to its tenants.

These engineers have a very broad knowledge of almost everything required in the building.

In the heavy industries which are mostly on mineral, oil and gas, an electrical engineer is basically an specialized field. Seldom do you find someone who do design electrical and instrumentation. Normally, its one or the other.

With regards to design, installation and material specification, a building services engineer normally uses domestic products which are light duty and last only for a few years, just locate the fixture on the plan and leave the cable routing to the installer.

In the heavy industry, all materials need to last for a minimum of 10years, suitable for the worst environment, the layout includes cable routing, cable tagging and up to the cable termination. The installed just need to read the plans carefully.

If an electrical engineer with a building services background designs something for an industrial installation, then it will be a nightmare for the maintenance personnel. Switches are for hotels, lights are decorative, ventilating fans are light duty or a UPS is for a desktop are some of the sights you will expect.

For more than two (2) decades now, I have always been working on the private sector half of which has been on the Oil & Gas industry.

Six (6) months ago, I join an offshore company doing a government infrastructure project for water.

I have joined the company in high spirits.

On my first day however, there were signs that I may not be staying longer with this company. Nto that I am too superstitious but I still believe in signs whatever it may be.

I missed my bus on the first day despite being early on the bus stop for 5 minutes. I just saw it leaving the bus stop when I am almost there.

When I arrived in the office, I have my induction and endorsed to my department. To my surprise, I do not have a desk ready for me, not a computer or just a phone line. It may be that it was just that in two (2) weeks time, we shall be moving to a newly built office. (I am not informed about this - I should have prepared for it including the apartment location I need to rent).

After a week, thee was a departmental meeting. Due to the bountiful rainful during this season, our project which should be completed by the Q2 of 2009 was postponed by the government to 2011. That means that the job I was hired for was now shelved.

As the company need to find work, it was decided to continue with the propose dam project which was being opposed by most people in the community. Their reasons for this opposition are valid. This makes the government very cautious on whatever decision it will make on the project.

I am currently part of a group doing the Front End Engineering and Design (FEED) of an Offshore Platform in China.

To provide a brief on the project, there are two (2) existing platforms built more than a decade ago, owned and operated by an American oil company. All standards used in the construction and design of the platform were based on North American standards. A few years ago, the company was sold to a Chinese consortium. During the operation and management of the Chinese owners, there were some minute upgrades done on the platform. For some reasons, the original equipment manufacturers were not appointed as vendor for the upgrades, the result, a mixed up of standards and specifications. Much worse, the drawings and documentation for the platform were not updated.

Now that the Chinese consortium decided to construct more platforms, two (2) adjacent to the existing platforms to make a cluster of four(4) platforms and a totally new platform cluster about five(5) kilometres away.

It is on the additional two (2) adjacent platforms that I am involved in the FEED. This is where the nightmare began.

As I have said previously, the existing platforms were basically constructed using North American standards (NEC, NFPA and NEMA). Our company is basically inclined into the IEC standard type of construction. Project estimates offered to the client were actually based on IEC standards.

Coming up... the nightmares enumerated!