Five years ago, only one of our manufacturers published an application data sheet (ADS) to verify the process conditions in which their product was being used. Today, nearly all of them require some type of an ADS to be filled out and submitted with the order before manufacturing begins.

Peoples’ reactions to ADS’s vary. Some resent them as an intrusion on their time. Some think they are too detailed for the intended purpose of the instrument. At APEC, we know that ADS’s really are helpful, and we want to make them as convenient for our customers as possible. However, they all have key process areas that only you can answer, which is why we can’t do them for you.

The biggest purpose of ADS’s is to prevent the misapplication of an instrument. Misapplications cost everyone, both financially, and in lost trust and reliability. Most of us have at least a few battle scars from not remembering the one process condition that would have precluded using a certain technology or device, if only we’d thought of it earlier.

So, to briefly state the necessity for fully completed ADS’s, they help in the following ways:

• They serve as the basic reference document which enables the manufacturer to guarantee the performance of the product.
• They help prevent us, as the local supplier, from suggesting the wrong technology or device because we didn’t know all the process details.
• They encourage the users to think critically about their own processes, and sometimes lead them to realize there’s a simpler or more cost-effective approach.
• They help factory service personnel in troubleshooting and diagnosing problems.

Our preference is to fax the ADS to you and let you complete it at your convenience, or to work it out together over the phone, faxing it to you for signature. However, sometimes we’ll need to visit and look over the process ourselves, so that we can describe it to the factory in their particular terminology. We may also ask for vessel or P&ID drawings if the application is fairly complex.