Articles and News

Three quarters of U.S. companies invested in energy efficiency programs in the past 12 months, and more than half (56 percent) project their investment in energy efficiency next year will be more than last year.

By Russ Butchart, Puffin Automation Vision system for an unnamed manufacturer inspects defects as small as 0.008" on all four surfaces of an engine ring with a changeover time of less than 1 min.

The Boston One Campus will also serve as the company’s new North America headquarters and is built to house approximately 750 employees across all disciplines of Schneider Electric’s business segments.

Yokogawa will supply an integrated control and safety instrumented system solution for an ultra-low-sulfur diesel fuel plant that is being built for PEMEX Refinación, a subsidiary of PEMEX.

Yokogawa will offer system solutions that use Dell PCs and Yokogawa industrial automation (IA) system-related products.

What is “Coolest Delivery”?

The free web seminar, from noon to 1:30 p.m. on 2 October 2014, will discuss the fundamentals of pressure instrumentation as well as some of the appropriate methods for calibration.

Discrete industry manufacturers’ quest to reduce capital expenditure, shorten lead times, and improve productivity is expected to fuel investments in the global product lifecycle management (PLM) market.

This 16 million dollar investment in infrastructure helps to optimize customer support and further underscores Endress+Hauser’s commitment to the US market and its loyal customers in the Americas.

Warehouse Cubed Consulting Group expanded into the Material Handling Consulting arena along Texas’s Dallas/Ft. Worth Area.

Eliminating Black Boxes in Safety Applications

Daifuku America added 8,000 square feet of new office space and remodeled their existing building in Reynoldsburg, Ohio.

Certified members are re-audited every three years and recertified if they meet current performance standards.

Comark is a manufacturer of ruggedized industrial displays, integrated computers, workstations and kiosks that are used in a broad range of industrial and commercial applications.

Proficy will assist the city in bringing together information about their wastewater system from remote locations to provide a system-wide view of what’s really happening across its watersheds.

Emerson will replace the Siemens T3000 system currently controlling the Foster-Wheeler boiler, turbine, air quality control system, and burner management system with its Ovation control technology at the Longview Power plant in Maidsville, W.Va.

ABB will focus on actions centered on accelerating its organic growth momentum, margin accretion as well as enhanced capital efficiency to deliver greater shareholder value.

Detlef Sieverdingbeck has been appointed General Manager Communication and Public Relations.

Yole Développement (Yole) predicts a $24B market in 2019, even though no single brand new MEMS device has been launched since the silicon microphone in 2003. .

July U.S. manufacturing technology orders totaled $354.63 million, down 11.5% from June and down 1.4% when compared with the total of $359.70 million reported for July 2013.

Laila Hirr, a long time PLM advocate and advisor, has joined the firm as a Senior Consultant and Practice Lead.

Flow Research says the worldwide traditional technology flowmeter market totaled $2.7 billion in 2013 and is projected to grow to exceed $3.3 billion by 2018.

KUKA Systems will be at FABTECH 2014 in Atlanta this year from November 10th - 12th!

September 23rd through 25th in Salt Lake City, UT

KUKA Aerospace, a leader in automated manufacturing systems for aircraft manufacturing and assembly, is locating its first US facility outside of Michigan in Everett, WA.

AutoCrib acquired the Small Parts Storage System (SPSS) technology assets and products from Lauyans & Company.

The joint Process Solutions Summit event is being held at Endress+Hauser’s new $16M Customer Center in Greenwood, Indiana, on September 11.

Cal-Bay Systems is a privately owned provider of test systems, test and measurement solutions, automated testing and vibration monitoring tools.

A recent survey says 82% of companies surveyed are suffering a skills shortage and skills shortages are having a direct effect on productivity within the manufacturing and engineering sector.

Epicor's own survey reveals several enterprise resource planning (ERP) deficiencies causing organizational drag. Half the respondents surveyed characterized the performance of their current ERP system as merely "adequate" or "basic."

How to Select the Optimal Temperature Sensor for Industrial Applications

Recognizing that the ventilation rate procedure in its indoor air quality standard may be difficult to apply in existing buildings, ASHRAE is proposing an alternate compliance path.

Members of both the HART Communication Foundation and Fieldbus Foundation approved the merger proposed by their respective boards through a voting process that concluded on August 30.

Enhancements in Gocator 4.0 include a built-in capability to remove noise around the perimeter and interior of scanned surfaces or parts.

CQS Innovation is a Michigan-based systems integrator specializing in control and information systems for life sciences, chemical and metals industries.

Robust Fault Detection for Switched Positive Linear Systems with Time-Varying Delays

By Bill Lydon, Editor Should the control room operator be responsible for making business decisions? Focusing solely on improving operator interaction may be a mistake. Your competitors may be focusing on increased automation and integration to gain a competitive business advantage.

Zaber's ASCII LabVIEW drivers are now certified by National Instruments, and they are listed on their Instrument Driver Network (IDNet).

OSI installed an Outage Management System (OMS) for Powerco of New Zealand, based on OSI's Spectra OMS software platform.

The current 470,000 part data, including schematic macros, geometric dimensions and documents, can now be imported to engineering automatically.

At InnoTrans 2014: Proven Safety for the Rail Sector

By Bill Lydon, Editor The OPC Foundation Information Revolution 2014 Conference was held at Microsoft's Redmond Campus on August 4-7, 2014. The conference featured industry experts who both presented and learned more about OPC Unified Architecture. This article summarizes the highlights from the conference.

ISA now enables its members to purchase comprehensive professional/errors and omissions and general liability insurance through Lloyds of London at significant discounts to regular market rates.

The wireless network at Pfalzwerke Netz integrates remote substations, secondary substations, renewable energy systems, and switching points into a network control system while providing protection from unauthorised access and tampering.

With 34 cameras installed along the perimeter of the photovoltaic field, Solesa can detect animals, people, objects, acts of vandalism or attempted theft in complete darkness and difficult conditions, such as dust, fog and rain.

Mission Critical Operations programs are designed to develop a career pathway to address demand for a workforce able to anticipate, prevent, mitigate, and respond to mission-critical breaches.

By Tom Gurd, City Technology There is a lot of focus on flue gas analyzers, but it’s also important to remember that an analyzer is only as effective as the sensors it uses. Because of the risks associated with combustion emissions, sensor safety and reliability are critical.

By Andrea Sorri, Axis Communications With the arrival of network video, plant operators can integrate security, safety and production control in one single system. With HDTV image quality, network cameras can provide detailed and clear images - allowing remote operators to virtually place themselves at any location of the plant or process and see what is happening at any given time.

The increase in oil exploration activities, investments in new refineries, and modernisation of existing facilities will spur the uptake of valves and actuators, particularly in emerging markets such as Africa and Latin America.

Electronic Systems Technology developed the wireless modem and received United States and Canadian patents for this technology.

App is a file sharing and collaboration solution for enterprise content, and it’s specifically designed to facilitate interaction with content via mobile devices.

M+W Process Automation is a provider of engineering-based automation services and solutions

Founded in 1889 in Helsinki by entrepreneur and inventor Gottfrid Strömberg, ABB Finland has more than 5,000 employees in 30 locations, with sales of 2.3 billion euros in 2013.

Dematic provides a comprehensive range of intelligent warehouse logistics and materials handling solutions.

$1.04 billion is the best first half performance by the North American machine vision market since AIA began tracking quarterly statistics in 2009.

By Bill Lydon, Editor Every time you contract a third-party service provider, you are putting your company’s intellectual property (IP) at risk. With the current cyber security landscape and the new range of services offered by vendors and system integrators, manufacturers are increasingly challenged to protect their IP.

Recurrent Fuzzy Neural Network Backstepping Control for the Prescribed Output Tracking Performance of Nonlinear Dynamic Systems

By Robert Harrison, COPA-DATA It takes an average of twelve years and over £200m to get a new drug from the laboratory onto the shelf. As a result, the pharmaceutical industry is well known for its prudence, especially regarding the uptake of new technologies. Here’s how appropriate technologies can help, rather than hinder, essential regulatory compliance including ISO 50001 and FDA 21 CFR Part 11.

According to a recently released report by IHS, the Americas are projected to be the fastest growing regional market for operator terminal revenues.

The growing emphasis on energy efficiency and the investments expected in wind energy will further fuel the adoption of gearboxes and gear motors in industries as well as in wind turbines.

Additions include a Safety handbook excerpt, recent case studies, technical papers on topics such as vibration damping, and links to videos and software tools help manufacturers and machine builders advance the flexibility and performance of factory automation solutions.

Metso will supply a DNA automation system, information management system and a safety system to the Greatmoor energy-from-waste facility under construction in Calvert, Edgcott, Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, UK.

COPA-DATA India will serve all existing and new zenon clients. The company will target the energy and infrastructure industries, as well as the automotive and pharmaceutical sectors.

While daily use of any spindle will be hard on the component, there are some basic practices to consider while using the machine to help with longevity.

ABB opened offices on Discovery Parkway in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin, and at the office/manufacturing site on Glendale Ave. in New Berlin, Wisconsin.

How Do You Make an Automation Buying Decision?

ISA published its program of presentations, paper sessions, panel discussions, tutorials, training courses, vendor exhibitions, and other activities for the Process Control & Safety Symposium, 7-9 October 2014 in Houston, Texas.

NiceLabel is a supplier of barcode and RFID labeling software and global provider of enterprise labeling solutions.

The author fused his knowledge of business with traditional Chinese combat techniques to counter what he foresees as an increasingly intense economic and industrial war between China and the USA.

Balancing the supply and demand of electricity is a dynamic challenge and a mandatory requirement for electricity providers on the grid in the UK. Endeco Technologies uses TopView to monitor site power.

VCLIB software library contains all standard image processing algorithms as well as ready-to-use algorithms for a number of inspection tasks and provides users with the option of in-house programming.

B-Scada’s Indonesian partner, LDK, will be installing the software as a web monitoring solution for the new Senipah Gas Power Plant operated by PT. Kartanegara Energi Perkasa.

Savigent Software provides event-driven manufacturing operations management software.

60Amp and 100Amp servo drives in the DigiFlex Performance family are available with CANopen, EtherCAT and RS232/485 communications.

The Summail Gas Plant has an Integrated Control & Safety System which consists of a Process Control System, Emergency Shutdown System, Fire & Gas Detection System, SCADA server, and Alarm annunciation systems, but their PLCs couldn't talk to each other.

The beverage packaging industry in North America is expected to reach $26.3 billion in 2015, with plastic bottles leading the way in popularity, according to PMMI, The Association for Packaging and Processing Technologies.

By IDTech It is true that virtual IP addresses can be created for the nodes in a network that only has internet connection at backhaul but this does not offer sensing or the other main benefits of a genuine Internet of Things.

By Dennis Gilhooley, Jr., Ultra Consultants Many manufacturers have come to the conclusion that “smart” part numbering is an unwieldy approach to part numbering and data analysis. Instead, leading companies are shifting from “smart” to what is termed as “insignificant” or unique part numbers.

By Dennis Gilhooley, Jr., Ultra Consultants ERP selection is typically driven by a common set of conditions, including poor access to information, core systems that are difficult to use, and an over-reliance on standalone systems that function as islands of information. Organizations saddled with legacy solutions often don’t know where to begin when it comes to an ERP selection project.

Free downloadable application note provides step-by-step information on automating calibrations with the Fluke Calibration 1586A Super-DAQ.

"Managing Industrial Networks with Cisco Networking Technologies" (IMINS) course provides the foundational skills needed to manage and administer networked, industrial control systems.

This free app for iOS 7 and later allows easy communication with Sealevel Modbus TCP compatible products including SeaI/O and eI/O modules.

A Closer Look at Process Instrument Commissioning

By Bill Lydon, Editor They say, “What goes around comes around.” I think this is happening with Advanced Process Control (APC) and Model Predictive Control (MPC). There seems to be a renewed interest in APC, and the systems, while not trivial, seem to be easier to use and lower cost.

By Jim O’Callaghan, EnOcean Energy harvesting wireless technology stems from a simple observation – where sensor data resides, sufficient ambient energy exists to power sensors and radio communications. Harvestable energy sources include: motion, indoor light and temperature differentials.

By Jonathan Wilkins, European Automation There are myriad issues that can cause electric motors to fail. However, among this rogue’s gallery of problems there is a set of usual suspects that crop up more often than the others.

By Greg Goodwin, LNS Research If you’re currently planning on implementing a Manufacturing Execution System (MES) or other applications in the Manufacturing Operations Management (MOM) space, you may think you have all the shop-floor areas and situations that still use manual, paper-based processes identified, but this may not necessarily be the case.

The no charge seminars educate plant engineers on easier solutions to commission, diagnose and maintain HART, FOUNDATION Fieldbus and PROFIBUS devices over the device life cycle with a single tool.

The dry dock operation has been automated using supervisory and data acquisition systems (SCADA) from PcVue, which control a network of Limitorque actuators.

The 25,000th DrivePak installation took place at Toys“R”Us/Babies“R”Us in Iselin, NJ.

Floodgate embedded software solution integrates with the McAfee ePolicy Orchestrator (McAfee ePO) platform, a key component of McAfee’s security management offerings.

The 2014 ISA Water/Wastewater and Automatic Controls (WWAC) Symposium drew more than 170 attendees, 30 expert speakers and 27 exhibitors to Orlando, Florida, USA in early August.

The new revision of the standard extends the scope from lubricating oils to include distillates (e.g., base oils, formulated oils, fuels, and biodiesel) and adds a new precision at 40°C and 100°C, established through an interlaboratory study.

During the inaugural Motion, Drive & Automation North America (MDA North America 2014) trade show and conference, exhibitors will showcase motion control solutions, such as servo motors, drives and other advanced devices for speed controlled applications.

Catalog covers pneumatic control products for use within both hazardous and safe area environments, including valves and solenoids.

By Roger Yue, Antaira Having a redundant Ethernet network is important to W&WW management, because many plants are still legacy, meaning they were either built with a stand-alone station or have a traditional star topology Ethernet network.

Beckhoff can market and sell the XTS System worldwide with the exception of the United States. However, Beckhoff customers outside the U.S. who purchase and integrate an XTS into their machines can sell those systems into the U.S.

Written by Dr Steven Fawkes, ‘Energy Efficiency: The Definitive Guide to the Cheapest, Cleanest, Fastest Source of Energy’ provides managers, policy makers and governments with answers to the burning questions about energy efficiency and the world’s response to it.

Turkey’s machinery exports, which were USD 3.0 billion in 2003, reached USD 14 billion in 2013. Turkey is now poised to enter the US market and is looking for partners.