Articles and News

Success in making an outsourcing selection depends on understanding one’s own internal strengths, weaknesses, and business requirements.

January marks 15 years since the founding of the organization and the birth of the family of CC-Link open automation network technologies.

Bourns acquired specified assets of the trimming potentiometer business of Murata Manufacturing Co., Ltd.

By Rob Honeycutt, co-founder, SafeRack Implementation of effective fall prevention and protection technologies can go a long way in improving worker safety.

The International Association of Oil & Gas Producers (IOGP) appointed Gordon Ballard to be its new Executive Director.

The OPC standard allows the EyeSens sensors and EyeVision software to function as OPC server.

Type-6500 Aluminum and Type-6600 stainless steel large flow capacity volume boosters were awarded a Certificate of Compliance to IEC 61508 for a SIL 3 safety rating.

Last year, the first European HIMA Roadshow got underway. With our fully equipped truck, which toured Europe and visited our customers and prospects directly on site. Have a look at some of the pictures!

Symbols in the post image are used to represent thermal and magnetic overload protection for electric motors.

By Bill Lydon, Editor IoT is pushing functionality to the cloud and into edge devices. Many automation suppliers emphasize how important IoT technologies are for manufacturing to remain competitive. These suppliers are far up the hype curve and very low on implementing IoT technologies in products. Specifically, most automation suppliers are not embedding IoT technology in controllers and sensors.

By Bill Lydon, Editor Efficiently achieving the vision of Industry 4.0, Industrial IoT and Smart Manufacturing will require the use of COTS (Commercial Off-The-Shelf) technologies that are open architecture. In every industry there has been resistance to open systems until a majority of customers demand them from suppliers. The industrial automation industry still has a long way to go.

The competition is open to all companies and institutions exhibiting at HANNOVER MESSE 2016.

Axiomtek joined Microsoft Azure Certified for Internet of Things (IoT).

The heavy duty multipole connectors are used in electric and electronic machinery, control units, electric panels, control equipment for various industrial purposes, and wherever connections are required for power and signaling circuits.

The first subsidiary was established in 1985 in Tokyo.

The team with the most innovative project wins a trip to Seattle and up to $3,500 worth of Fluke Tools

The agreement appoints Rotork as the sole supplier of new actuators to Scottish Water and its business partners, valvemakers and appointed contractors for the AMP 6 cycle.

BgB Supply is an online distributor of industrial electrical products based out of Omaha, Nebraska.

This article explores the biggest opportunities that exist in the global LV and MV switchgears market, and the changes that have opened these growth windows.

The standard covers gas oil, diesel fuel, fuel oils, residual fuel oils, lubricating oil, and bitumen, as well as crude oil that uses microfluidics and spectrographic techniques.

Brad Fitzpatrick, Jeff Hampton and Lee Johnston join Okuma's Application Engineering Department.

Advantech completed the acquisition of B+B SmartWorx for US$99.85 million.

Fluke Electrical Measurement Safety course gives guidance reflecting the latest information on how to minimize potential hazards when performing electrical measurements.

Tibbo will participate in ‪‎IoT TechExpo‬ Europe 2016. This event will bring together key industries from across Europe for two days of top level content and discussion. Industries include Manufacturing, Transport, Health, Logistics, Government, Energy and Automotive.

Besides the Internet of Things, handling big data is a basic pillar of Industry 4.0 in the manufacturing industry. Especially in older businesses, there are multitudes of data that cannot be analysed, such as measurement data from the control system or conventional manual inputs. If these data were standardised, stored in a long-term database and built up, real-time analyses and data mining applications could be realised in order to generate knowledge and make predictions.

Seattle's new SR520 bridge replacement spans two miles, requires control of 7000 lights.

The next step towards Zero? Learn more about safety performance excellence and how to reach the magical goal of Zero accidents. HIMA will be presenting at this year’s HazardEx Conference on 24th & 25th February in Cheshire, UK.

This year’s FRC, titled FIRST STRONGHOLD , is expected to involve nearly 80,000 high school students on more than 3,100 participating teams throughout the world.

Simple and cost effective, vibration sensors measure the vibration in machinery bearings, helping to predict and forecast machine failure

ASCO will award two $5,000 scholarships to U.S. engineering students, provide $1,000 grants to their college’s engineering departments, and host the students at “The Amazing Packaging Race” at PACK EXPO International in 2016.

FIPA vacuum system helps automate inspection systems at STVision.

The SmartWatchWeb Radio Frequency (SWWRF40) Steam Trap Monitor checks for gas and steam leaks, temperature, pressure and other relevant information related to valves and the steam system.

By Alan Grau, Icon Labs Securing IoT devices is a complex task. OEMs can reduce development cost and time to market by utilizing a security framework that provides key security features. The cost, time and complexity of developing a solution from scratch, or of integrating disparate open source solutions, far outweighs the cost of using a commercial solution.

By Sheetal Borkar By 2020, technological improvements in Industrial Robotics would bring down the cost of the systems and also increase efficiency and productivity. Improvements in artificial intelligence, sensors, and material sciences are expected to open new areas of application

By Punya Prakash and David Zaucha, Texas Instruments To date, the implementations of EtherCAT slave node have largely been dominated by hardware intensive solutions used to perform on-the-fly real-time processing and synchronization. Recent advances in technology have created programmable system-on-a-chip (SoC) devices that offer very tangible equipment costs savings, versatility and longer life cycles to industrial systems users.

Data suggests that manufacturers are increasing their use of automated equipment to add productivity and lower costs, rather than expanding their operations and capacity.

Industrial Evolution is a provider of cloud-based plant data sharing services.

Chainwheels enable hard to reach and stubborn manually operated valves to be safely operated without risk of injury.

The global torque sensor market is expected to witness significant growth over the forecast period, due to emerging applications of the torque sensor, increasing demand for precise torque measurement technology, and high demand from the automotive application segment.

Promote process equipment mechanical integrity and risk mitigation using risk-based strategies for asset performance management.

By Bill Lydon, Editor The AWS IoT is service-oriented platform that leverages a plug-n-play Internet and cloud infrastructure to monitor and control devices while using big data to optimize. Developments like this are part of the shift in technology that is likely to change industrial automation systems by adding more value at lower cost.

By Joy Weiss, Dust Networks Wireless sensor networks must meet a high bar for smart, security and reliable wire-free operation over many years. These stringent requirements can be met with existing and emerging wireless mesh networks standards.

The kit includes a controller, two optical distance sensors, one touch sensor, one program control button, two motors, two wheels with rubber tread, a caster wheel, rechargeable battery, battery charger, building components, and the tools to put it all together.

The global supercapacitor market was valued at $1.21 bn in 2014 and is expected to reach US$7.37 bn by 2023, at a CAGR of 22.3% from 2015 to 2023.

Keaveney, Northeast Regional Manager and Key Account Director at Emerson Process Management, brings a strong track record in automation technologies sales and marketing and business planning.

The PLC symbol represents a logically false condition for a discrete input. When power is present at the addressed terminal the instruction becomes logically false.

By Jonathan Wilkins, European Automation Bio fuel, Eco Obsolete Technology (EOT) and Regenerative braking are the top emerging environmental technologies to look out for.

By Martyn Williams, COPA-DATA UK IIoT is a concept that has intrigued industry for several years now, but much like the human brain, is not yet fully understood.

22mm devices include AR22-series pushbuttons, selector switches and joysticks, and DR22-series pilot lights and buzzers.

Livingston & Haven will serve Virginia, West Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, and Tennessee.

HANNOVER MESSE’s Industrial Supply show features industrial subcontractors.

German sensor company opens an office in Freeport, Maine.

By Mike Marciante, TE Sensor Solutions Applications often dictate the choice of an AC- or DC-operated LVDT. Here are some examples

FRENIC-HVAC Combination Variable Frequency Drives (VFD) are now being built in a new factory in Roanoke, VA, to reduce turnaround time and customize panels to suit customers' individual applications.

To create the greatest value for their employers, automation professionals need to be change agents.

The conference, 20-23 January 2016 in New Orleans, Louisiana, will bring together education leaders, manufacturing executives, and workforce and economic development experts from both government and private enterprise.

By Jeson Pitt, D & F Liquidators Even though both residential circuit breakers and industrial circuit breakers perform the same job, they have their differences when it comes to the capacity of electricity being handled.

The emergence of global smart grid projects is widening the usage scope of supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) systems in energy and utility industries.

Researchers at the Microscale Thermophysics Laboratory are carrying out experiments to measure key thermal characteristics of 3D ICs and are developing analytical models to understand thermal transport in a 3D IC.

By Bill Lydon, Editor Twenty-five percent of projects are over budget and 50% are over schedule. It is estimated that 65% of projects valued at more than $1 billion and 35% of projects valued at less than $500 million will fail. Emerson's Project Certainty is a method designed to improve the economic performance of projects.

The global cable connectors and adapters market is estimated to reach a value of USD$85.75 bn by 2022. The market is projected to expand at a CAGR of 9.1% during the forecast period from 2015 to 2022.

A best-practices approach like ISA-88 is seldom the wrong choice for marrying plant-floor automation with MES supervision.

NEMA’s Electroindustry Business Conditions Index (EBCI) for current conditions in North America fell to 41.2 in December.

In 2016 the United States is Partner Country at the trade fair for industrial technology, which runs 25–29 April in Hannover, Germany.

Elster is a provider of thermal gas solutions for commercial, industrial, and residential heating systems and gas, water, and electricity meters.

The acquisition will enhance PTC’s portfolio of Internet of Things (IoT) technology, and accelerate the company’s entry into the factory setting and Industrial IoT (IIoT).

Catalog contains current, voltage and power solution guide for industrial and factory automation markets

Reliable’s controllers can get weather reports over the Internet.

One can measure (infer) a liquid level by measuring a differential pressure (d/p) caused by the weight of the fluid column in a vessel balanced against a reference.

A concise collection of apps, tools and resources for creating content on the quick.

What are automation professionals doing to enhance our careers and support our own profession?

Bumpless transfer and how a new operating point can be achieved quickly and smoothly after the PID is switched to automatic mode.

What is the Appropriate P&ID Symbology for an Electric Signal?

The smart grid data analytics market was valued at US$1.6 bn in 2014 and is estimated to reach US$4.6 bn by 2022, expanding at a CAGR of 13.4% from 2015 to 2022

Radial basis network model produced better estimation capabilities than the back propagation and regression network models

By Robert Golightly, AspenTech By identifying and adopting best practices and implementing collaborative and integrated technology into the business, companies can readily transfer vital knowledge across the operation from equipment engineering to process engineering, which ensures continuous improvement initiatives.

Aero Stanrew designs and produces electromagnetic components and electronic systems for harsh environments and safety critical applications.

Customized CODESYS runtime systems for device platforms from Beckhoff and WAGO are now available.

The North America Low Voltage Industrial Controls Market was valued at USD 4.94 Billion in 2014 and is projected to reach USD 6.30 Billion by 2020, at a CAGR of 4.04% from 2015 to 2020.

OSI will supply a SCADA and Generation Management system to Snowy Hydro to replace their present legacy ABB Network Manager Energy Management System.

Rockwell Automation is now identifying JMP as a “Process PlantPAx Recognized System Integrator.”

A comprehensive system design which includes both MES and plant-floor automation details will yield the most complete rewards.

The structured cabling market was valued at US$7.11 bn in 2014 and is expected to reach US$11.45 bn by 2021, at a CAGR of 7.1% from 2015 to 2021.

Specialized 5 axis mill doubles production capacity for company’s robot track product lines.

Paul Isaac is now Regional Director, Asia Pacific and Managing Director, India Operations.

The Hunter Museum in Chattanooga, Tennessee, installed HOBO MX1101 Bluetooth Temperature and Humidity loggers in their galleries.

Global industrial control for process manufacturing market was valued at $61.23 billion in 2014, growing at a CAGR of 5.2% from 2015 to 2021.

We’ve just released a new AggreGate device driver that enables to monitor any ASCII data coming via a Serial port or a TCP/UDP connection.

What is the Difference Between a Digital Transmitter and an Analog Transmitter?

The negative impact from the decline of oil and gas prices will continue to perpetuate the global centrifugal pump market’s low growth and even contraction.

The ISA100 Wireless Compliance Institute certified the STAPS ISA100 Wireless Steam Trap Monitor from Spirax Sarco.

The Ichthys LNG project in Australia ranks among the largest and most significant energy projects in the world. HIMA was selected to be the supplier for the safety integrated system (SIS) and the fire and gas system (FGS).

By Wim Pessemier, KU Leuven Information modeling, or the ability to express not only data but also the meaning of data, is a key concept in the quest to make systems more intelligent, more autonomous and more evolvable.

By John Mitchell, CP Automation Common symptoms of high harmonics levels include motor vibration, voltage notching, electromagnetic interference and overheating, all of which are harmful for equipment and result in heat loss and increased maintenance and energy costs.

By Bob Jones, Integrated Systems Design One of the principal challenges any organization encounters is how to know when it may be strategically beneficial to push the envelope on an internal logistics system automation project. First you need to ask yourself and your organization some tough questions. Here we will focus on the top five questions to ask.

ZigBee and EnOcean will combine EnOcean energy harvesting wireless solutions with ZigBee 3.0.

Patrick Gouhin delivered a keynote address entitled, “Utilizing an Operational Technologies Approach to Mitigating Cybersecurity Risk” at the Cybersecurity Conference in Raleigh, NC.

Nyrstar will initially implement Honeywell’s Production Accounting and Reconciliation (PAR) at its site in Balen, Belgium, before rolling out to its other sites around the world.

Global relays market was valued at US$9.41 bn in 2014, which is expected to reach US$16.24 bn by 2021, growing at a CAGR of 7.7% from 2015 to 2021

One of the largest water reclamation facilities in northern Virginia needed to expand the facility from 18 to 24 mgd to support future growth.