OpKnowledge History

OpKnowledge was founded in 1994 by two managing engineers at a U.S. Fortune 500 energy company who frequently saw a “better way” of implementing operations improvements via the application of advanced technology.

The initial product offering of OpKnowledge was a software package which optimized the manner in which digital process control systems configured the large amounts of data associated with the many hundreds of inputs (e.g. a temperature sensor) and outputs (e.g. a valve controller) of the control system.  This software was called DPUx®, an acronym for “Distributed Processing Unit translation”, and saved hundreds of hours of system configuration time on each system installation.

A subsequent product offering of OpKnowledge was the Printx® software package which translated the output of process system alarm logs into large databases.   This information could then be utilized for intelligent alarm management and root-cause filtering, predictive and preventative maintenance, and improved human-machine interface design.  The package also included a set of analytic tools which addressed problems which had been found to be common across several industries, and facilitated root cause analysis. This application saved hundreds of hours of alarm analysis and aided with the successful prevention of several potentially catastrophic failures.

Other services offered in the early years of OpKnowledge included adaptive (i.e. machine learning) control systems, advanced feed-forward control techniques, automated computer code generators for system documentation and automated end-user graphics programming, and advanced custom interfaces between different “hardened” process control systems.

While both of the principals expertise were in advanced digital systems, mastery of time dependent variables, and large scale project management, the specific expertise of each began to diverge. 

• David Cooper began to specialize in advanced computing, project management, system integration, and custom application development, eventually becoming President of OpKnowledge Systems. 
• Don Lechnar moved into the energy trading arena to specialize in advanced processes and systems for trading, derivatives pricing, liquidity measurement, structured transaction modeling, risk management, physical / financial energy portfolio optimization, and expert advising. Don has held senior executive positions at several large energy companies in the United States and Canada, and eventually became President of OpKnowledge Advisors.

Since these specialties are in complementary but not competitive positions, the amicable decision was made in 2002 to create separate companies with no cross-ownership or legal obligations between the two entities.  The companies continue to cooperate and refer work when possible.