Up until June, 1991, when I retired after 23 years in the Research Department, I worked on various projects for other Research Engineers and developed my own projects.

Sometime after 1969, the computer section of the Research Department was spun off to the Service Corporation's computer section as the Operations Research Department. All the programmers left the Research Department for the new section except me. John Towle, my manager and in charge of Research Department's computer personnel, was transferred to another high level position in Columbia Gas System.

Research's top management, Bill Morse, Directory, and John Van Dyke,manager of the Operations Research section who I would work under, invited me to stay with Research and help the other engineers with computer applications. I accepted and so I was the only computer person in Research now.

In 1974 the Columbia's Electronics Application Committee requested the Research Department of conduct a study that would provide the Transmission Corporation, a subsidiary, recommendations for the application of electronics in the areas of:

• Gas Control,
• Communications,
• Storage Engineering,
• Measurement and
• Compressor Stations.

The Research Department evaluated the request and concluded that the is was far to ambitious to undertake with out an initial study to precisely define objectives. A team was assembled to conduct the study consisting of:

• Bill Munk, Research Engineer,
• Dave Thomson, Research Engineer (me) and
• Don Shcroder, Operations Research.

The team started work in June, 1974 and completed the study and recommendations in June, 1975. Our team traveled to Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Ohio, and Texas over the 12 months of the study. We interviewed scores of personnel from compressor operators to department heads.

Our study concluded that the following:

1. Centralization of all gas control offices.
2. Use of computer simulation models in gas control.
3. Establish a staff level position of compressor station automation.
4. Eliminate the computer planning and automation design function of Communications.
5. Evaluate the use of on-line billing for large customers.
6. Computerize storage field activity reports and basic field curves.

We estimated that a total savings of $700,000 was possible if all recommendations were implemented. Unfortunately the recommendations were ignored. Starting to sound familiar? It seems that Research is coming up with new ideas but the current management is unwilling to change.