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Industrial Automation and Control
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Digital Transformation
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Bill Lydon
Bill Lydon, an experienced industrial automation technical and business professional, is currently a consultant providing insights, facilitating thinking and coaching for digital manufacturing transformation. Lydon has 35 years of experience, including industrial, Programmable Logic Controller (PLC), process control/DCS, electrical power/utility and building automation with technology and business experience ranging from design, application engineering, corporate experience, co-founder & president of a start-up company. He started his career as a designer of computer-based machine tool controls; in other positions, he applied programmable logic controllers (PLCs) and process control technology. He's trained and experienced as a group Creative Problem Solving & Value Engineering facilitator.
Working at a large company, Lydon served a two-year stint as part of a five-person task group, that designed a new generation automation system including controllers, networking and supervisory and control software. He also designed software for chiller and boiler plant optimization. Bill was the product manager for a multimillion-dollar controls and automation product line and later cofounder and president of an industrial control software company with solutions for factory and process control and automation.
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Feature
COPA Accelerates Process Manufacturing Competitiveness
The Coalition for Open Process Automation (COPA) launched the COPA QuickStart for companies to leverage the Open Process Automation System (O-PAS) standard to be more competitive and profitable. The move to open industrial and process automation systems is analogous to the shifts that occurred when PC technology displaced minicomputer and mainframes.By: Bill Lydon12 July, 2021 | 3 minutes -
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Ethernet-APL: Closing Industrial Digitalization Gap
The ACHEMA Pulse Live Days the Ethernet-APL organization, with members FieldComm Group, OPC Foundation, ODVA and Profibus & Profinet International showcased Ethernet-APL joint activity demonstrating, “IT-centric Instrumentation,” for process control, including hazardous areas.By: Bill Lydon30 June, 2021 | 3 minutes -
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Endress+Hauser Showcases its Digitalization Innovations
In the world of increasing interest in open systems, Endress & Hauser showed its technological openness and innovation in the areas of sensors, edge devices and smart instrumentation.By: Bill Lydon27 May, 2021 | 3 minutes -
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BioPhorum MTP Testing Plugfest
Bill shares his observations of the recent BioPhorum MTP (Module Type Package) standard Plugfest days, where users and vendors collaborated moving towards the goal of achieving plug-and-play equipment interoperability for the biopharmaceutical and other industries. The user and vendor participants in the PlugFest were highly professional and focused on positive outcomes.By: Bill Lydon14 May, 2021 | 4 minutes -
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Microsoft Industrial Digitalization Platform Leverages OPC UA
Azure IoT leverages OPC UA so industrial operations personnel get support for open systems and “don’t forget what [they] already know” when connecting OT systems to the cloud.By: Bill Lydon05 May, 2021 | 3 minutes -
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Industrial Digitalization: How an Edge Embedded Time Series SQL Database Delivers Performance
SQL features not typically available on an embedded device greatly simplify data management for software developers. In an interview with the founder of ITTIA LLC, Bill Lydon discusses industrial IoT edge devices and facilitation of OT data analytics.By: Bill Lydon29 April, 2021 | 4 minutes -
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Welders on Demand: Collaborative Robots Solving Skills Gap & Increasing Business
Collaborative robots are being used to address the shortage of welders, which, according to the American Welding Society, will reach a deficit of 400,000 workers by 2024.By: Bill Lydon26 April, 2021 | 7 minutes -
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IEC 61499 Programming Standard: Will it Become Mainstream?
Giving a boost to the idea of a multivendor converged IT/OT industrial control system based on open standards, the 4diac open-source IEC 61499 project could dramatically accelerate industrial digitalization.By: Bill Lydon12 April, 2021 | 8 minutes -
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Preview Hannover Messe 2021: Innovative Product Presentations
During the 2021 Hannover Messe Digital Edition Preview event, experts, associations, research organizations and suppliers presented their ideas and technologies for factories, energy systems and supply chains supporting “Industrial Transformation” theme.By: Bill Lydon19 March, 2021 | 11 minutes -
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Preview Hannover Messe 2021: Automation, Globalization and Digitalization Presentations
“Globalization, digitalization and automation are game changers that continue as core themes for Hannover Messe that showcases thought leadership and solutions for industry to be more successful,” said Dr. Jochen Köckler, CEO Deutsche Messe AG, during the 2021 Hannover Messe Digital Edition 2021 preview event Feb. 3, 2021.By: Bill Lydon18 March, 2021 | 5 minutes -
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John Deere Digitalization & Automation Increases Farming Productivity
In addition to automation in factories, John Deere has applied a wide range of technologies to the difficult task of automating farming. Leading edge technologies and Industry 4.0 concepts are incorporated in John Deere’s new products, increasing productivity enabling farmers to produce more to feed a growing global population.By: Bill Lydon15 February, 2021 | 3 minutes -
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Moderna Builds Native Digital Process Automation on Amazon Web Services
Moderna’s award-winning cGMP clinical development manufacturing facility—based in Norwood, Mass.—has a native digital process automation design built on Amazon Web Services (AWS). It serves as a great example of the integration of an entire manufacturing business using the latest technological building blocks, architecture and IoT ecosystem.By: Bill Lydon09 February, 2021 | 3 minutes -
News
26 Automation Trailblazers Who Changed the World
The International Society of Automation (ISA) explores the lives and careers of some of those who have made the biggest impact on the world of automation.By: Bill Lydon22 January, 2021 | 11 minutes -
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Amazon Industrial Digitalization Platform
Discrete and process manufacturers constantly struggle to create integrated manufacturing systems using disparate automation systems within a facility. Amazon Web Services now provides a flexible and open solution for achieving effective holistic operations, from sensor to enterprise.By: Bill Lydon06 January, 2021 | 6 minutes -
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OPC UA FLC (Field Level Communication) Enables Integrated Manufacturing Business
The OPC UA FLC (Field Level Communication) initiative revolutionizes industrial communications to achieve integrated manufacturing business operations from sensor to enterprise and cloud.By: Bill Lydon04 January, 2021 | 5 minutes -
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Automation Fair at Home 2020: Rockwell Automation Evolution
The annual Rockwell Automation conference, Automation Fair at Home 2020, included a range of presentations highlighting the company’s Lifecycle Services, support of IT/OT integration and digitalization offerings with partners including Accenture and PTC.By: Bill Lydon11 December, 2020 | 5 minutes -
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ODVA Discusses New Principal Member, Cybersecurity, 2021 Directions
ODVA’s briefing included naming HARTING a new principal member, details on CIP Security enhancements for EtherNet/IP that enable user-level authentication, and the standard organization’s strategic priorities for 2021.By: Bill Lydon10 December, 2020 | 4 minutes -
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SPE Pioneer Summit 2020: Revolutionizing Industrial Automation at the Edge
Single Pair Ethernet (SPE) and Advanced Physical Layer (APL) are building blocks for a dramatically new manufacturing and process automation digitalization architecture.By: Bill Lydon02 December, 2020 | 4 minutes -
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Schneider Electric Climate Change & Sustainability Commitment: Innovation Summit World Tour 2020
Attending the Schneider Electric Executive Briefing as part of the Innovation Summit World Tour 2020 provided insight into the company’s leadership values, thinking and direction from Chairman and CEO Jean Pascal Tricoire; Philippe Delorme, executive vice-president, energy management; Peter Herweck, executive vice-president, industry automation; and Chris Leong, chief marketing officer.By: Bill Lydon06 November, 2020 | 3 minutes -
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Industrial Cybersecurity: PAS Optics 2020 Event
The PAS OptICS 2020 virtual event explored the key operational and cybersecurity challenges facing industrial organizations as well as best practices and strategies to address them.By: Bill Lydon05 November, 2020 | 6 minutes
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