Changing tomorrow, together
Spiro Control is an agile technology firm with vast expertise in process optimisation and process control. The company has built a strong reputation for building technology that is easy for customers to use and maintain, yet delivers a robust solution capable of tackling the most complex applications. Our continuous investment in R&D helps us to stay innovative and to stand out from our competitors.
Changing tomorrow, together
Spiro Control is an agile technology firm with vast expertise in process optimisation and process control. The company has built a strong reputation for building technology that is easy for customers to use and maintain, yet delivers a robust solution capable of tackling the most complex applications. Our continuous investment in R&D helps us to stay innovative and to stand out from our competitors.
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Leading a culture of innovation
Leading a culture of innovation
Dr. Patrick Thorpe, Managing Director
Patrick has a career that spans more than 25 years working in industrial process control. He has specialist knowledge in the application of advanced process control to ethylene production and gas processing. He has also worked in a diverse range of industries including food, mining, energy, chemicals and polymers.
Patrick trained as an application engineer with Exxon Chemical before moving to Predictive Control where he was involved in product development and application. Foxboro subsequently acquired Predictive Control’s technology and he led the integration with Foxboro’s distributed control system. He has also worked as an advisor with Aspen Technology.
Prior to founding Spiro Control, Patrick co-founded Aptitude, a technology leader in advanced process control. In the role of operations director, he built a team of engineers located in the UK and India, leading the development of a commercial system identification software. Patrick holds a PhD in Chemical Engineer from Loughborough University.
Brian Neve, Non-Executive Director
Mr. Neve has spent a long and illustrious career in leading-edge automation and process control. His focus has been pioneering the use of advanced digital control techniques in the Oil and Gas sector.
As head of process control at Exxon Chemical Europe, Mr. Neve oversaw the implementation of advanced process control at all Exxon petrochemical plants throughout Europe.
After spending ten years as a leading control expert with Exxon, and before that, ten years with Invensys, Mr. Neve has founded and managed three successful companies.
- Founded and managed PACS. PACS developed the first all-digital, battery powered, radio communication system for industrial measurement and control. In 2008 PACS was acquired by Wood and Douglas Ltd.
- Founded KBC Process Automation. The success of KBC Process Automation brought on the full merger with KBC Advanced Technologies PLC.
- Founded and grew the ISS Group Europe, a company that provides software for visualizing process data.
Doug Nicholson, Director & Senior Consultant
Doug has worked in advanced process control and online optimisation for more decades than he cares to remember. His career spans ExxonMobil, AspenTech, IPCOS and Apex Optimisation before joining his close friends at Spiro Control.
Doug worked on the early DMC multivariable predictive control systems and was a key part of the ExxonMobil RTOD team that developed the first rigorous closed loop optimiser of a steam cracker way back in 1992. Doug has enjoyed working on many refinery control and optimisation projects but it’s fair to say that his true love is the complex and energy intensive steam cracking process to make ethylene and propylene. Nothing makes him happier than being in the control room of one of these machines.
Doug has a Bachelors Degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of British Columbia, Canada and is the chair of the ICHEME Process Management and Control Subject Interest Group.
Shabroz Gill, Lead Software Developer
Shabroz holds a B.Tech in Chemical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, one of the most elite and prestigious universities in India. He has been working in the field of process modelling and control since 2006.
Shabroz has developed algorithms and software to support numerous aspects of control engineering. Most significantly he has led projects on automatic tuning of PID controllers, model identification of industrial processes and model predictive control algorithms. He is a named author on three publications about automation and control.
Shabroz has extensive programming experience in C++, C#, Python, IEC 61131-3 programming languages and Matlab. He also has detailed knowledge of communication protocols including OPC and MODBUS. He has built two commercial software products from conception to commercialisation, including research, architecture, object oriented implementation, unit testing, profiling and support of the software.
Dario Ferraro, Optimization Lead
Dario is a chemical engineer with 20 years of experience in the field of advanced process control and optimisation, gained primarily in the refining and petrochemicals sectors. Dario worked for eight years as a control engineer at Saras Refinery in Italy. He subsequently worked on projects at various sites in Europe, North America, and the Middle East during his tenure as a consultant engineer with APEX, AspenTech and Spiro. He has extensive experience with the major APC and Optimization products (RMPCT, DMCplus, SMOC) as well as Aspen GDOT.
Harrison O'Neill, PhD Studentship
Harrison O’Neil holds an MSc in Mathematics having gained a first-class degree in the same subject. In recognition of work completed during his undergraduate degree, Harrison was awarded the Institute of Mathematics Valedictory Prize.
Harrison is now working with Spiro Control to develop machine learning applications in the context of industrial process control. The focus of the research is to apply machine learning techniques to improve the monitoring, diagnostics, and tuning of control loops. This involves developing machine learning algorithms using data regression and classification techniques. The methods developed will be applied to both single and multivariable control systems to optimise their controllability and energy performance.
Why Spiro Control? It starts with our values.
Our people, affectionately referred to as Spiros, with their passions, skills and background, collectively fuel the growth of Spiro Control technologies and our uncompromising commitment to support our customers in making the great even greater and innovating to thrive tomorrow.
Spiros are driven by curiosity and a desire to look beyond the horizon for further insights, concepts and opportunities, for our customers and ourselves.
Why Spiro Control? It starts with our values.
Our people, affectionately referred to as Spiros, with their passions, skills and background, collectively fuel the growth of Spiro Control technologies and our uncompromising commitment to support our customers in making the great even greater and innovating to thrive tomorrow.
Spiros are driven by curiosity and a desire to look beyond the horizon for further insights, concepts and opportunities, for our customers and ourselves.
CAREERS
Thrive in your career with Spiro Control
We are rapidly expanding and, as we grow, we’re determined to build an environment that attracts the best process control, data scientists and software development professionals by offering an environment that supports and nurtures creativity and innovation.
Keen to join us? Email your CV to [email protected] and state in the subject line the role for which you would like to be considered.
Thrive in your career with Spiro Control
We are rapidly expanding and, as we grow, we’re determined to build an environment that attracts the best process control, data scientists and software development professionals by offering an environment that supports and nurtures creativity and innovation.
Keen to join us? Email your CV to [email protected] and state in the subject line the role for which you would like to be considered.
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