ERG does all the work at www.plantengineering.com

In physics, the word 'ERG' is defined as a unit of energy or work equal to the force of one dyne over the distance of one centimeter. It is the smallest measurable unit of work. At Plant Engineering, 'ERG' will be defined in a whole new way. Instead of the smallest unit of work, ERG will be the most powerful work tool a plant engineer will have at his disposal.

ERG - the Engineer's Resource Guide - is the centerpiece of PLANT ENGINEERING's new Website, which launches this month. Go to www.plantengineering.com to see what the new Website has to offer.

"More than just a re-launch, we wanted to add some tools a plant engineer can use every day," said editor Bob Vavra. "Our readers aren't always at their desks, but they need access to information quickly, wherever they are. Our Website puts those tools at their fingertips."

The ERG will archive the last 10 years of PLANT ENGINEERING's outstanding technical stories, organized by subject area. If a reader is looking for all the information run about motors, for example, the 'Motors' category in the ERG under Mechanical Engineering will have all stories on the topic.

"We will also be working with the top suppliers in the industry to aggregate case studies, white papers and other research, again organized by topic, to make finding information quick and easy," Vavra said. "This will allow ERG to deliver knowledge efficiently to our readers."

The new Website also features more interactive opportunities than ever before. "Our poll questions will appear on the site, and the results will be reported each month in PLANT ENGINEERING," said Vavra. "Our readers will have a quick link to comment on issues they see in print, and will be able to quickly navigate to information about products or advertisers they see in the magazine."

The new site will also deliver breaking news in our expanded news section as well as provide a quick way to read the latest issue of the magazine online. "Information is more portable today than ever," said Vavra. "We wanted to make PLANT ENGINEERING's information not just portable, but immediate and robust. There is an enormous amount of knowledge in PLANT ENGINEERING's pages, and we want to bring those to the desktops and handheld devices of our readers."

The development of the Website won't stop at the January re-launch, either. Coming later in 2006 will be RSS news feeds that will deliver daily news from PLANT ENGINEERING editors right to your computer desktop. The news feeds will be customized so readers can select the subjects they want updates on.

Another new feature will be virtual Roundtables where a panel of industry experts is brought together by PLANT ENGINEERING to discuss and offer solutions for the challenges faced by plant engineers and managers today. You'll have an opportunity to 'Ask the Experts' questions of your own through our online question and answer forum powered by our innovative Big Talk tool.