Articles and News

By Tom McKinney, HMS Industrial Networks WiFi, Bluetooth or Zigbee? Here’s a review of the available short range wireless standards for industrial applications.

The global concentrated solar power (CSP) market will register phenomenal growth at a 19.4% CAGR between 2014 and 2020. In 2013, the global concentrated solar power market was worth US$2,507.4 million, however, driven by multiple factors, the market is projected to reach US$8,674.7 million by the end of 2020.

Method is offered for converting milliamps to English units

Sandvik Coromant’s machining calculator aids users in estimating optimal cut settings to increase efficiencies and reduce costs.

M&M is a manufacturer of general purpose solenoid valves, air actuated piston valves, automatic drain valves, connectors, coils and customised instrumentation solutions.

Our roadshow will be touring Europe from September to early December 2015.

GE’s CR11 single board computer has been successfully deployed and is fully operational onboard the International Space Station.

ISA is committed to using data to drive more purposeful and disciplined product development and management strategies and decisions.

PACTware 5.0 is based on the FDT2 standard.

SAMS makes full use of the FDT Group developed and tested Common Components to ensure the best compliance and interoperability.

Service reduces the time between diagnosing control loop issues and tuning the loops to improve performance.

The global gas detection equipment market is forecast to reach $ 3,372.0 Mn by 2022. The increase in demand from oil & gas industry is another factor driving the market for gas detection equipment.

By Dr. Rüdiger Frank, Pilz GmbH & Co Today's robots are being used in production areas in which they have previously not been used. In each case, safety aspects must always be considered on an individual basis and the appropriate safety solution implemented for each application. Safe sensor technology has a key role to play: a modular approach to sensors is required in order to satisfy all applications with regard to safety.

The global telecom API market is expected to reach a value of $ 323.44 Bn by 2022. The market is estimated to grow at a CAGR of 23.6% during the forecast period from 2015 to 2022.

Key factors driving the growth of green data center market include increasing shift of enterprises towards energy efficiency, government regulations and benefits such as reduction in operational cost.

The Performance-based Fire and Gas Systems Engineering Handbook offers an understanding and tools needed to implement a performance-based FGS design.

Giebson takes over from retired Managing Director Wolfgang Feucht, who remains in an advisory function after 50 years with the company.

Moss holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Manufacturing Engineering from the University of Houston and has more than 25 years in the industry.

PAS-X MES will be implemented in several stages and it will be interfaced with the Infor Blending ERP system.

Rockwell Automation helps Johns Manville clean up their storeroom and identify more than $1.3 Million of excess and obsolete inventory.

Festo developed a Multi-Carrier System machine transport system that enables high flexibility in work piece transfer.

Infor will acquire GT Nexus, a cloud-based global commerce platform, for $675 million.

AMT says June U.S. manufacturing technology orders totaled $355.43 million, up 4.6% from May’s $339.86 million.

By Chuck Cimalore, Omnify Software While PLM “in the cloud” is available today, its adoption can be slow. Customers are having a difficult time deciphering when, how and even whether to use PLM in a cloud.

By Bill Lydon, Editor A major theme of the recent Siemens Oil & Gas Innovations Summit was the need to apply automation to lower operations and production cost. More automation will enable producers to deal more easily with the cost pressures of the oil and gas industry.

South East Water serves a population of 2.1 million, supplying safe, high quality drinking water to 880,000 properties in Kent, Sussex, Surrey, Berkshire and Hampshire.

OSI was awarded a contract by Lakeland Electric to integrate an Advanced Distribution Management System (ADMS).

The cloud-based IT infrastructure to map Industry 4.0 application scenarios comes from MES supplier iTAC.

“PLC Handbook: A Practical Guide to Programmable Logic Controllers” is available as a free download. this eBook explains what a PLC is and provides detailed information about what to look for when choosing a controller, with both hardware and software overviews.

Rexroth offers preconfigured drive systems with NI’s CompactRIO and the programming environment LabVIEW.

RTS Holdings in Sullivan, Missouri, repairs and maintains steam turbines and generators.

The global human machine interface (HMI) market, estimating the overall value of this market to reach US$5,579.3 by 2019, expanding at a CAGR of 10.4% during the period from 2013 to 2019.

Hydrostatic head, weight, radioactive properties, density, and sonic detectors are all used in what methods of level measurement?

Dr. Lindner joined FBGS in 2008, and has held various leadership positions within the organization. Lindner has been instrumental in driving new developments for the next generation of fiber optic sensing systems.

Citing its ability to develop innovative solutions and provide extensive support to commission new factory lines, Nestlé USA awarded Rockwell Automation its 2014 North America Procurement Supplier of the Year award for technical procurement - maintenance, repair and operations (MRO).

The Performance-based Fire and Gas Systems Engineering Handbook is a guide to designing and implementing performance-based Fire and Gas Systems (FGS) for process industries.

The global Engineering Software Market was valued at US$ 19.98 Bn in 2014, growing at a CAGR of 12.4% from 2015 to 2022.

By Sam Etchell, London Underground Limited The scope of this project consisted of designing, integrating and installing an intelligent remote condition monitoring system to predict and prevent failures and subsequent loss of passenger service.

After replacing one conveyor drive system, Emerson will supply drives for all conveyors at Nicolas Feuillatte, a champagne producer.

By Denso Robotics White paper examines the many factors — some obvious and some not so obvious — that determine cost of robot ownership, and gives buyers useful information to help guide them through the evaluation process.

The global carbon and energy software market, in terms of revenue, was valued at US$ 369.7 Mn in 2013 and is forecast to grow at a CAGR of 11.5% during the period 2014 to 2022.

Global industrial dispensing system and equipment market was valued at USD 12.85 billion in 2014, growing at a CAGR of 7.0% from 2015 to 2021 to account for USD 20.57 billion in 2021.

The market was valued at $15.70 billion in 2014, and is expected to reach $28.50 billion by 2021, growing at a CAGR of 8.4% from 2015 to 2021.

Today's industry operations generate plenty of data. The challenge is in gaining greater visibility to plant intelligence.

Global lab automation market forecast to 2020 to claim as North America to account for the largest market share, followed by Europe. However, Asia-Pacific is expected to register a higher growth rate during the forecast period owing to huge investment opportunities in this region.

By Steve Aposhian, FireFly Equipment Using LabVIEW software and CompactRIO hardware in ProSlab 155 helped the smart machine harvest turf 25 percent faster and use half the diesel fuel that other machines on the market burn.

At the upcoming CeMAT RUSSIA intralogistics show, which runs in Moscow from September 22 to 25, 2015 more than 170 exhibitors will showcase their products and solutions.

What is the Purpose of a Molded Case Circuit Breaker? NEMA ABP 6-2015 explains.

App automatically aligns multi-channel CNC programs side by side for immediate viewing increasing shop productivity.

Training program teaches customers how to maintain and modify their SmartCart Automatic Guided Carts.

Vapor Systems Technologies uses a Unitronics Vision350 PLC +HMI to test gas pump nozzles through 1,000,000 cycles.

Taking measures to manage industrial technology upgrades and ensure control systems are safe is key to protecting the operational integrity of plant infrastructure

By Ken Ball Programmable Logic Controllers (PLCs) were more of a technology evolution than a radical development. A noteworthy aspect about the origin was that quite similar concepts were pursued by three separate companies—nearly concurrently but unknown to each other. Part 1 in a series of four articles about the history of the PLC.

The original pumps are connected to new high performance motors and gearboxes, close to the oldest static steam driven pump, which will be kept as a museum piece.

The global Access Control and Authentication market is expected to reach a value of US$ 49,890.3 Mn by 2020. The market would grow at an estimated CAGR of 15.3% during the forecast period from 2014 to 2020.

By Tom Bonine, National Metal Fabricators Robotic welding is highly cost-effective, especially for longer production runs where programming time can be amortized over a large number of pieces.

The global smart and mobile supply chain solutions market was valued at US$ 7,095.3 Mn in 2013 and is estimated to grow at a CAGR of 13.2% during the forecast period from 2014 to 2020.

For secure passwords there are different strategies. Some swear on a password generator which generates random passwords from digits, special characters, uppercase and lowercase letters. Others try to use reproducible passwords based on an individual scheme.

AutomationDirect has added over 360 NEMA 4/12 and 4/4X/12 enclosures.

Delta Tau Data Systems of California is a developer, manufacturer, and supplier of innovative, high-performance motion controllers.

The single biggest obstacle to social media marketing success is time. Social marketing automation tools can help you achieve high levels of efficiency.

The difference between the indication of the instrument and the actual value of the measured variable

MV drive revenues declined by more than 10% in 2014 to $2.5 billion as increased competition and lower demand eroded prices, says HIS.

Both solution centers will facilitate training and support for local manufacturers in Wisconsin and the Mid-Atlantic regions, respectively.

IntraVUE provides the capability to identify and report information critical to improving uptime of the Industrial Ethernet infrastructure.

NEMA’s Electroindustry Business Conditions Index (EBCI) for current conditions in North America improved by more than 20 points, marking an abrupt change of direction following three consecutive months of decline.

The Steering Committee of the Open Serialization Communication Standard Working Group (Open-SCS) addresses compliance to healthcare counterfeiting regulations.

Smart Manufacturing involves aligning information and communication technologies with U.S. manufacturers across the country to manage their energy, productivity and costs in real-time.

ISA and Beamex will co-host a free web seminar 1 September 2015 on how to calibrate temperature instruments.

In response to the momentous wave of digital transformation, the collaboration between NEXCOM and IBM is aimed to facilitate the use of big data harnessed from industrial IoT to allow for more data-driven decision-making and increased productivity.

The SERH database provides a collection of failure rate data that is applicable for use in Safety Instrumented System (SIS) conceptual design verification in the process industry.

The global software defined networking market will soar at a CAGR of 61.5% during the forecast period from 2012 to 2018 and will reach a value of US$3.52 billion by 2018.

July 28, 2015 – Taipei, Taiwan – Tibbo, a leading manufacturer of IoT devices and intelligent device management software, has partnered with StarNet Alliance, an alliance of the largest IoT market participants in the Eurasian continent and developer of the first LPWA network within the territory of Russia, Belarus, Poland and Finland, with roaming in Spain, France, the Netherlands, the UK, Ireland, Germany, Italy, China and Philippines.

How to eliminate oscillations associated with the discontinuity and changes in phase between heating and cooling and make the response of the secondary temperature loop faster.

PLCopen invites all interested parties to give feedback on this document until October 23, 2015.

The CMOS sensors measure several environmental variables such as relative humidity, pressure and temperature in one sensor device.

This complimentary consultation provides organizations with equipment, software tools, technologies and recommendations to tackle distinct automated vision challenges.

By Edward Nugent, PcVue Inc., et al The different way in which mobile device users interact with their devices compared to operator’s interactions with control room monitors requires a new SCADA architecture for mobility workers who rely on SCADA or BMS systems in order to perform their job function.

Previously, Rich worked for Danfoss Power Electronics and Rockwell Automation.

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

By Dean Wiech, Tools4Ever Workflow and automation procedures for identity and password management can reduce time spent, increase security and reduce the workload on the help desk considerably.

Magnetek designs and manufactures digital power andmotion control solutions for material handling, elevators and mining applications.

Salcan Process Technology uses the Rotork actuated control valve to control the flow of gas while maintaining back pressure in the coal seam.

Technical training opportunities from ISA in August 2015.

By Bill Lydon, Editor Many users, systems integrators, and manufacturing managers expect one year to eighteen month Return on Investment (ROI) when replacing or adding new automation systems. I believe this is short sighted thinking. Short term ROI justification requirements almost guarantee mediocre results rather than striving for excellence.

Users get comprehensive functionalities to update or enrich device data, as well as significantly expanded filtering possibilities. When device data has been updated in the portal, the system alerts users as to which data is more current than that found in their local database.

Exida established an office in Abu Dhabi, UAE

The report estimates the Photonics Market to expand at a CAGR of 5.8% between 2014 and 2020 and reach a value of US$765.89 billion by the end of the term. The market stood at US$509.75 billion in 2013

Steel pipes, the largest segment of oil and gas pipes, accounted for over 80% of the total market in 2013.

How to Calculate Specific Gravity

By Preston Reine, IHS With so many conflicting signs in the current economic environment, motor suppliers are reportedly uncertain as to how effective the recent and impending energy efficiency requirements will be.

The Filter Select program's database of hydraulic fluid information now includes hydraulic fluids from Houghton International.

PULS Power enters new milestone of supporting critical installation in Singapore water projects. Also, we’ll be mirroring all these success to other South East Asia countries since water is an essential ingredient to our daily requirement.

Stringent requirements are on smaller and more efficient power supplies for Energy Storage Solutions. PULS partners a key developer in the industry to offer CPS20.241-70 to meet this stringent demand.

Bonfiglioli is deploying Moxa Modbus gateways, network switches, Ethernet I/O, and serial-to-Ethernet controllers in its turnkey solar solutions.

The global thermoelectric modules market was worth US$ 364.1 Mn in 2014 and is expected to reach US$ 763.5 Mn by 2022, growing at a CAGR of 9.6% from 2015 to 2022.

By Georg Stieler, Stieler Technologie The Chinese market for Industrial Automation is growing much faster than other sectors of the Chinese economy and will almost double within the next five years, according to our estimations.

By John Morse, IHS Technology Despite the promotion and anticipated market growth of USB 3 cameras, they are forecast to account for only a quarter of USB camera revenues by 2019

The Wormhole module is intended for OEM integration of IEC 61131 Control into board level electronics.