Articles and News

ControlMaestro has been recognized as BACnet Advanced operator WorkStation (B-AWS) according to the BACnet 09 version test procedure of the BTL/WSPCert accredited laboratory.

10,854 robots valued at $679.3 million were ordered from North American robotics companies in the first six months of 2013, an increase of 1.9% over the same period in 2012 and 1.3% above the previous first-half record set in 2005.

Nineteen European firms and research institutions engaged in production technology will be showing users from the industrial sector how they can upsize this potential, September 17 to 20 2013.

An educational track at ISA Automation Week 2013 will focus on the proper application of asset maintenance, asset operations, and asset optimization strategies and technologies.

LINARIX linear position sensors have been added to the list of products referenced by the Rockwell Automation PartnerNetwork.

Catalog contains technical information on standard and high-flex cables, industrial connectors, assembly and system solutions, automation technology and technical accessories.

Fives acquired the three MAG brands: Cincinnati, Giddings & Lewis and Forest-Liné.

Replay system uses cameras and sophisticated algorithms to create three dimensional photo-realistic real-time scenes of football mayhem.

Emerson will supply Ovation control and SCADA technology for controls of multiple hydropower plants and a dispatch center to AES Tietê in Brazil.

ABB acquired Alstom's ring motor business to enhance its gearless mill drive (GMD) system business.

The TS4000H Intelligent Toxic Gas Detector from General Monitors is now IECEx approved.

TechStar has strong roots in the oil and gas industry, with headquarters in Deer Park, Texas near the Houston Ship Channel and offices near Dallas and Corpus Christi, Texas.

ST100 Series Thermal Mass Air/Gas Flow Meter is now rated for Safety Integrity Level (SIL) 1 compliant service.

Hedgehog Security appointed Rob Weil--a hypnotist--as its operations manager.

By Bill Lydon, Editor The Louisiana Sugar Refining, LLC (LSR) completed a new plant, representing the single largest investment in America’s sugar cane industry in over 40 years. With a newly engineered Siemens automation system, the white sugar refinery is capable of refining two billion pounds of white sugar annually for distribution to commercial and retail customers throughout the United States.

Arthur Filson will replace Allen Filson, who has decided to pursue other interests.

By Mark Davidson, LNS Research In most cases and in many large organizations, the manufacturing software and IT resources are capable, but just not being properly business directed to use technology to support this alignment. Here is a list of common MOM and Enterprise IT applications that companies can use to support monitoring, analysis of, enforcement, and visibility of progress toward these goals.

Emerson will be the main automation contractor for Sasol's integrated gas-to-liquids (GTL) and world-scale ethane cracker complex in Lake Charles, Louisiana. Emerson will supply control and safety systems, control valves, and measurement and analytical instruments

STEM Robotics Platform offers a selection of pre-engineered robotic solutions that meet the requirements of secondary educational programs focused on advanced manufacturing and robotics.

In order to reduce the risk of explosion, elimination of one or more of the components of the ignition triangle is necessary. There are three basic methods of protection—explosion containment, segregation and prevention.

Many of the hottest technology trends today represent a convergence of largely internet and IT-based enabling technologies.

By Darran Kreit, Zettlex For position sensing applications, many engineers are still specifying incremental sensors because they believe absolute versions are too complex and/or costly. This describes the two approaches and compares the relative benefits of each.

Power-One is a provider of renewable energy and energy-efficient power conversion and power management solutions.

Capture and report trends of key process variables and metrics immediately before and after process control improvements.

By Pat Garrehy, Rootstock Software Since the late nineties, SAP and Oracle have dominated On-Premise ERP in the large, Tier-1 manufacturing enterprises. Today, unlike a few years ago, there are Public Cloud ERP software applications that can support small and medium sized businesses

This integration closes a loophole in the PLM process so that configuration data for the EPLAN Platform can now be processed in Teamcenter.

Troy will lead operations and have responsibility for the Epicor enterprise resource planning (ERP), wholesale distribution and human capital management (HCM) business in the Americas.

Rotork flow control equipment has been installed at a sewage treatment works serving Somerset’s largest tourist resort on the south west coast of England.

Klenk has over 20 years of experience leading technology companies, most recently as director and president of Harland Medical Systems.

The assessment is a key part of any security best practice program, helping to ensure critical infrastructure protection and compliance with corporate, industry and/or government mandates.

Yokogawa will supply an integrated control and safety system, together with a metering solution, to SSE Hornsea for the upgrade of the underground gas storage facilities located at Atwick, East Yorkshire.

Pre-registration for the symposium, which will take place 6-8 August in Orlando, Florida, USA, is now in excess of 200.

CC-Link received Chinese National Standard GB/Z 29496.1.2.3-2013, Japanese Standard TR B0031 and SEMI E54.23-0513 certifications.

The company, founded in 1983, shipped its initial product, the AdeptOne direct drive robot system in 1984.

The Mexico site will feature the same products that are on Spain’s website.

The cybersecurity threat – taking it personally

Colombiano Texas Transformadora, a Bogota-based emerald processing company, selected the Epicor enterprise resource planning solution (ERP) solution.

PSP Plus provides an enhanced support solution for PAS’ PlantState Suite and Integrity software customers.

The valves will control the steamy process flow coming from the boreholes drilled into the ground.

Using smarter technology to solve the municipal water conundrum

With single cable technology that combines motor power and feedback connections, hardware and wiring requirements in machine control applications are significantly reduced.

A3's Jeff Burnstein will speak at the Congressional Robotics Caucus Briefing titled “Harnessing New Robotics Technologies for Job Creation.”

At the Bullitt Center, KMC’s BACnet Building Controllers and FlexStats are used for control of radiant floor heating and cooling zones, indoor air quality management, and to provide free cooling.

By Bill Lydon, Editor It is clear that OPC UA is transforming the architecture of industrial automation systems and providing a bridge to enterprise systems. With MatrikonOPC as part of the company, Honeywell is in a unique position as a user and supplier of OPC UA software and embedded OPC UA stacks.

Classes typically are a combination of classroom and hands-on training on either the Endress+Hauser Process Training Unit (PTU) or live instruments in training stands, both designed to simulate operating conditions.

By Bill Lydon, Editor Is it time for a new automation architecture instead of debating over existing ones? I started to wonder about this after reviewing more than 100 comments in our LinkedIn Discussion about my article titled, PLC vs. DCS - Competing Process Control Philosophy.

APC is any control strategy that utilizes multiple inputs and outputs to achieve higher-level control objectives and that involve functions not normally represented on P&IDs

From the clothes you wear, to the labels on a panel, to the layout and fonts on a graphic, to the look of your signature – appearance matters. There is a tremendous amount of wisdom in the expression,

The 8th ISA Marketing and Sales Summit will be held 11-13 September 2013 in New Orleans, Louisiana, USA.

The application process will start on September 2, 2013 and will close on September 30, 2013.

EEx HOG 161 incremental encoder meets IECEx certifcation in device category 2 G.

Companies include new OEM Partner companies, Solution Partner companies, and Encompass third-party product referencing companies.

Catalog covers precision positioning technologies and product families from motorized linear translation stages to 6-axis parallel kinematic positioners.

Evenex is a Denmark provider of business-to-business integration solutions, Electronic Data Interchange (EDI), and procurement and invoice workflow solutions through managed cloud services.

Scholarships are awarded to college and university students who demonstrate outstanding potential to make lasting contributions in the fields of automation, instrumentation and control.

EMO HANNOVER asked the scientist Prof. Dr. Thomas Bauernhansel, Director of the Institute for Industrial Manufacturing and Management (IFF) about Industry 4.0.

Overall equipment effectiveness (OEE) monitoring techniques can reveal hidden production capacity and new insights into causes of system downtime.

Courses provide CEUs and can be applied toward a MES/MOM Methodologies Online Certificate of Awareness.

The SME Education Foundation awarded $600,000 in scholarships to 232 aspiring manufacturing engineers.

The Neon-CLB PCIe frame grabber is a key component of the 3D structured-light imaging system deployed in the Robomotive humanoid robot, jointly developed by Yaskawa Motoman, Beltech and Robotiq.

Crank Software, a supplier of embedded graphical user interface (GUI) solutions, is using GrammaTech’s CodeSonar to advance the integrity of their code.

The DCS will control more than 13,000 points and ProfiBus will control 3,600 distributed devices for two 1GW ultra-supercritical thermal power generating units at the Fujian Hongshan Thermal Power Plant.

LearningGripper is a pneumatically actuated gripper that self-learns the shape of an object and then specifically orients that object.

A possible acquisition of Invensys Operations Management (IOM), for a proposed $5.0 billion by the French company Schneider Electric, has led to speculation of a potential bidding war for the U.K. engineering company.

ABB supplied an Extended Automation System 800xA solution that includes process control, electrical control, information management and asset optimization.

Brochure covers precision gear reducers, servo couplings, and linear mounting kits designed to simplify mounting to linear actuators.

Entrants can range from end-user manufacturers to machine and equipment builders and system integrators, as long as they demonstrate a true commitment to safety.

By Bill Lydon, Editor Schneider Electric held their Xperince event on June 4, 2013 in Washington D.C. which primarily focused on the challenges that cities face and how to solve them. Key topics included transforming energy into an asset, the smart grid, making smart cities a reality, and turning operating inefficiencies into capital investments.

Simple, Model-Based Process Control

By Bill Lydon, Editor There has been speculation for a long time that the Invensys automaton business would be sold. Now Schneider Electric has made a 3.3 billion pound ($5 billion) takeover proposal for Invensys.

Frost & Sullivan says Schneider stands to benefit the most from the deal, especially in the automation market.

The leaflet provides data on nominal diameter and pressure ratings, as well as linings, fluid temperatures, and I/O.

Making yourself marketable in the automation industry takes initiative, but it is beneficial to you and the company.

Capabilities brochure provides a technical review of S88 Builder and the productivity and cost-saving benefits of its technology.

Before faucet maker RSS Manufacturing put the UR5 robot to work, bending 1500 units on a tube bender using manual labor would take 3 days. With the robot, the same job took four hours.

CSIA listed new members, newly certified members and recertified members.

Cylinder locks are mass produced articles that require high positioning precision with the shortest possible workpiece cycle times. Weiss provided a fully automated cylinder lock assembly machine.

The products covered by UUKL are intended to be installed in conjunction with heating-ventilating-air conditioning (HVAC) equipment to form a system for controlling the flow of smoke in a building during a fire condition.

Radwell International stocks and sells new and surplus industrial automation, MRO, pneumatic/hydraulic, motion control, electronic, HVAC and electrical control equipment for plant floor and facilities maintenance machinery.

The 600-MW plant is the first ultra-supercritical power plant built in the United States. Emerson worked with the SWEPCO team to develop the sophisticated logic needed to integrate controls for the ultra-supercritical boiler into the overall plant automation architecture.

The Triconex brand was born in 1983 when Jon Wimer gathered a team of talented engineers, developers and professionals to build the world’s premier industrial safety system.

Prior to joining PAS, Powell was Senior Manager of Cyber Consulting for Corporate Risk Solution where he managed compliance projects for electric utilities across the country.

By Lion Precision Designers, engineers and maintenance staff can make better shaft runout measurements by following the best practices outlined in this application note.

ISA technical publications excel in advancing automation industry knowledge

The paper examines key benefits of the FDT2 specification focusing on the enhancements in security and performance.

Global operator terminal revenue in 2012 shrank by 3.3 percent to $2.2 billion. The decline was largely due to the selling price of operator terminals falling by an average of 4 percent in 2012, according to IMS Research.

Tech-Con Automation, Burlington, Ontario, becomes the first Canadian systems integrator to achieve the Certified Robot Integrator designation from the Robotic Industries Association (RIA).

An educational track at ISA Automation Week 2013 will demonstrate how automation solutions can drive margin improvement and profitability.

ETG.5003-1 standard covers nine specific device profiles for the semiconductor industry.

The courses will be held at ISA's North Carolina headquarters training location over five consecutive days this summer, from Monday, 29 July to Friday, 2 August.

Catalog covers tape extension sensors for installation in cranes, excavators, forklifts, hydraulic ramps, hoists and industrial automation with high duty cycles.

The 2013 Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) 2013 Honeywell Users Group Conference will be held 4-7 November, 2013 in Nice, France

An industrial cybersecurity solution must be “secure by default,” easy to use, flexible to changing environments, self-documenting and integrate well with other defensive layers.

The new office in Hong Kong will bring Zigbee and home data communications to China.

The total was up 13.6% from April but down 7.6% when compared with the total of $465.38 million reported for May 2012. 2013 is down 6.9% compared with 2012.

ETAP’s office is located in Ribeirão Prêto, Brazil, and managed by Leandro Toniello, Business Development Manager.

Available for all Apple iPhones and iPads, and Android mobile devices, the FC2 mobile app quickly and easily determines available fault current levels anywhere in an electrical distribution system.

Tire machine manufacturer uses eWON routers during commissioning and for remote maintenance and troubleshooting.

ABB will supply a new HMI for the control system, control room modifications, simulator, fire and gas detectors, integration of telecommunication in the control room and information management systems (IMS).

Teknetix will use the ProFicient as a central repository for production and quality data, such as attribute data, variable data, assignable cause (AC) and corrective actions (CA).