Articles and News

The full-service facility will serve as a regional hub for process and building control customers in northern Alberta and Saskatchewan.

Boehm will oversee product development, sales and operations for the company’s machinery applications and engineering business unit.

Honeywell will provide safety and automation systems for QAFCO’s existing plants, expansion projects and future projects for the next ten years.

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Automation.com, October 2012 By Bill Lydon, Editor It is hard to find another platform with the computing power and rapid prototyping capabilities of LabVIEW coupled with NI hardware. Because it comes at a price, their products are used in demanding industrial automation applications out of the reach of typical industrial controllers.

IEEE announced updates to four standards and a new standards-development project that provide new communications and operational capabilities needed for smart grid worldwide.

By Eric Marks Over the last several years medical device companies have been hit with injunctions, undergone product recalls, or found themselves operating under FDA consent decrees. PLM can help.

Catalog contains technical specifications and drawings for 1,346 standard product configurations of tubular linear motors, actuators, modules, components and gantries.

RapID Platform Network Interface has been certified to PROFINET Class B and Net Load Class III.

HSMWorks Aps is a developer of computer aided manufacturing (CAM) software.

The Mechanical Product Assembly & Logistics Center in Glendale Heights, IL, supports electro-mechanical product manufacturing operations for the Americas region.

Upon installation of new controls, the system caused four separate pump stations to compete for water pumping rights at the same time. KEPServerEX solved the problem.

Kepware links PCs and PLCs to help manage the water supply for more than 2,700 acres in Walla Walla Valley, OR.

1,200 automation professionals, hailing from dozens of countries around the world, exchanged best practices and technical solutions during ISA Automation Week 2012 in Orlando, Florida, USA.

Approvals are Nonincendive, Class I, Division 2 Groups A, B, C, D; Class II, Division 2 Groups E, F, G; Class III T4@Ta=71ºC Type 4X.

Zenith Technologies is an engineering company which focuses exclusively on the life science industry.

An enhanced PID can simplify the tuning and improve the stability for loops with large and/or variable analyzer update times.

The ISA100 Wireless Compliance Institute (WCI) announced certifications for five additional ISA-100.11a conformant wireless devices.

V78 Sourcebook covers. test, measurement, control, and calibration equipment.

ISA would like to extend a special Thank You to our Partners for their support of ISA Automation Week, the organization and the global automation community.

The 50th Annual ISA Honors & Awards Reception and Gala honored fellow automation professionals for their outstanding achievements and to celebrate individual excellence at the "Oscars" of automation. And the recipients are...

A report from IDTechEx rambles over RFID, the Internet of Things, and how wireless sensor networks are affecting the world.

By Bridget Fitzpatrick Track: Human Performance Bridget Fitzpatrick from Wood Group Mustang presented on the topic of Human Factors Engineering (HFE) in the context of Automation projects. The talk centered around defining HFE and providing an overview of how it applies to automation projects.

By Nikki Bishop Track: Asset Performance Wireless instruments, asset monitoring algorithms, and the combination of the two serves as a gateway to overall improvements in plant reliability, allowing operations to take advantage of market conditions to maximize profitability.

By Bill Lydon Executives from supplier and end-user companies, along with a leading industrial business analyst provided their insights into the future of automation and industry issues. Peter Martin, Ph.D., Vice President, Business Value Solutions at Invensys, assembled and moderated the panel. Here's a summary of the discussions.

BEST aims to inspire middle and high school students to pursue careers in engineering, science and technology through participation in science- and engineering-based robotics competitions.

Emerson’s onboard monitors will recognize excess vibration in key shovel components and notify operators in real time to prevent shutdowns and damage to the huge excavating machines.

VRcontext is a developer of 3D visualization and training software for displaying complex engineering data in the shipbuilding and plant construction industries.

By Bill Lydon, Editor Greg Hale, Disney's Chief Safety Officer and Vice President, highlights how Disney uses innovative technologies to implement safety and maintenance systems and improve guest experience, including those with disabilities, at all of their theme parks.

Automation.com, May 2012 By Beamex White paper describes how the Beamex MC6 can be used to calibrate modern smart instruments.

Held on Tuesday evening at ISA Automation Week 2012, several authors and standards leaders received awards for their contributions to InTech magazine, ISA Books, ISA Transactions, and Standards.

Track: Asset Performance In a series of three papers written by experts and early adopters, and presented by Jim Christensen, leader of the IEC 61499 maintenance project, managers and engineers attending this session learned that technical enhancements in the Second Edition make IEC 61499 even more suitable for advanced intelligent, distributed industrial process automation and control.

John McKenna, former CEO of Ashcroft, will lead the five companies in the Flow Division, AW-Lake Company, KEM-Küppers, EXACT Dispensing, Litre Meter, and Vögtlin Instruments.

This reception is held in celebration of FIRST® (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology). Dick Morley, Greg B. Hale, Calum Pearson, and NASCAR® driver Jennifer Jo Cobb will join us on the showcase floor as we enjoy music, food and drinks, and fun.

Metso will supply 145 automated on-off valves and actuators ranging in size from 3/4” to 24” to the Algiers Refinery, 10 km South of Algiers, in Algeria.

Systems Brochure summarizes the company's expanded engineering services and system capabilities in motion control or custom actuation solutions.

Gold mine in Nevada expects to grind up 582,260 ounces of gold and 29.1 million ounces of silver for the next 10 years.

The robots, typically configured two or four per line to achieve the necessary throughput, are stacking cups for multipacks and case packing in the dairy industry.

The brief includes “The Manufacturing Performance Dilema, Part 2: From Enterprise Manufacturing Intelligence to Operations Intelligence” by Gartner analysts Simon Jacobson and Leif Eriksen.

While the original pneumatic actuator worked well once set up, adjusting its force and speed to accommodate a different size container was complicated.

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By Marcos Taccolini Track: Wireless This presentation will give a description on the combined technologies that are modeling the next generation on industrial automation software and the key features those tools will now deliver. As practical examples, some potential applications using cloud technologies with be reviewed.

By Michael Macchiarelli Track: Wireless Attendees will leave this presentation with a comprehensive understanding of energy harvesting technology and the benefit and value of utilizing off-grid solar power to reduce maintenance and operating cost.

The iPad and Microsoft .NET, Unified SCADA Environment will present the solutions and standards used to create a SCADA, HMI, and MES engineering framework, which allows deploying applications, with safety and efficiency, in this current distributed scenario.

By John Barth Track: Wireless A new generation of automated intelligence tools for project management, procedure execution and other key tasks running on real-time wireless can drastically change the way you do turnarounds at your facility - for the better. One investment - perpetual return.

By Dick Caro Track: Wireless This session gives a summary of the failed attempt to develop a method to converge the two wireless standards, both directed at the same market, and a third standard that has also emerged to further cloud the issue.

The "Father of the PLC," Dick Morley, will host an interactive discussion, offering attendees a rare opportunity to sit and talk with one of the best known legends of automation.

On Thursday, 27 September 2012 from 9:30 to 11:00 a.m., don’t miss the panel discussion "The Best of the ISA Mentor Program – Building the Future" where Greg McMillan and Hunter Vegas will review the highlights of the ISA Mentor program and discuss the accomplishments of their protégés and other opportunities for improvements, including the need for more mentors.

By Michel Ruel Track: Control Performance Fuzzy logic control is used when an experienced operator has better control over a process than a PID or a MPC controller. This paper presents a successful example of a multi-variable fuzzy logic controller.

By R. Russell Rhinehart Track: Control Performance This tutorial will present the concepts behind two SISO nonlinear process-model based controllers that can be implemented in-house - Generic Model Control (GMC) using steady-state (SS) models and Process-Model Based Control (PMBC).

By Jeremy Pollard Track: Asset Performance While every process and application is different, I will make the case for why you should do it, and how some simple steps can begin your trek down the predictive maintenance path.

By Yuichiro Yamaguchi Track: Safety/Environmental The objectives in the development of the battery-powered electromagnetic flowmeter are to maintain the original performance of mains-powered electromagnetic and to have long battery life. To achieve these, Toshiba employs the method of residual magnetism excitation, which will be introduced in this presentation.

By Greg Hale, Chief Safety Officer and Vice President, Worldwide Standards and Auditing, Walt Disney Parks & Resorts Hear Greg's unique viewpoint on how technologies cross industrial boundaries and his perspective on automation technology as it relates to his industry, and the application of these technologies in the process and discrete industries.

By Connie Harryman Track: Human Performance Virtual Creative Problem Solving is a process, and you can use it in your daily work to gain an understanding of your team's strengths and of an individual’s roles and responsibilities. By Mastering Creative Problem Solving, you reap the benefits of Virtual High Performance Teams.

By Nevena Iordanova Track: Safety/Environmental The Energy Optimization/Management session describes Armstrong’s resource/tool called the Steam System Dashboard that easily allows engineers to analyze and monitor data already collected by the plant.

By Jon DiPietro Track: Human Performance Nearly nine out of every 10 employers are looking to social media to find employees, and almost three-quarters of them will search for your online profile before you come in for an interview. What will they find?

By Steve Huffman Track: Human Performance As competitive pressures increase, automation professionals will need expanded skill sets in an ever increasing system integrated world. This session deals with Automation Federation’s strategies and efforts to meet the workforce challenge.

By Danaca Jordan Track: Control Performance During Wednesday’s Control Performance Track session on "Efficient Operations Starts with Control Performance," we will use an ongoing case study to demonstrate how process control improvements can still be accomplished around a hectic schedule.

By Flávio P. Briguente (Monsanto) and Greg McMillan (CDI Process & Industrial) Track: Control Performance In batch processes, control becomes more complicated because of the variability of level, pressure, and concentrations. For this particular case, the process consists of a batch reactor, an external shell-and-tube heat exchanger with cooling tower water flow on the shell side.

At ISA Automation Week, Perpetuum will show how their Vibration Energy Harvesters can eliminate the need for battery replacement even at data collection update rates faster than 5 seconds.

By Marion Skerrette Track: Asset Performance This presentation seeks to examine areas of the business such as loop tuning, plant monitoring, facility management, planning, HSE, and alternate routes.

Two product suppliers joined the Rockwell Automation Encompass third-party product referencing program, while four partners joined the Rockwell Automation OEM Partner program.

ABB will supply an HPGR drive system comprising two squirrel cage induction motors, two ACS1000 frequency converters and two converter transformers.

ABB will supply three 7.4MW induction motors, ACS6000 frequency converters, transformers, medium voltage cubicles, chiller units and system engineering for semiautogenous (SAG) mills.

Automation Week: Partners Technical Content Line Up

By James Christensen Track: Asset Performance Development of the Second Edition of the IEC 61499 Standard for the use of Function Blocks in distributed, intelligent automation, and control has been completed. Managers and engineers attending this session will learn key aspects of the stnadard.

3eTI has two senior executives presenting three informative sessions based on its military-grade, ISA100 wireless mesh solutions. Each of the case studies will discuss the challenges faced by the various government or military agencies and how each of these solutions can be adapted for industrial use.

By Mike Fahrion Track: Wireless Devices are making strides in power efficiency, with remarkable gains in Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 4.0, in particular. Combined with ongoing improvements in power sourcing and storage for low-power applications, it means devices will become increasingly independent.

By Dave Adler Track: Human Performance Automation projects can be a challenging activity. I have found there are many ways to do automation that causes the automation team to fail to meet all of these objectives. Using project management tools and processes can improve the chances of success.

By David Strohbar Track: Human Performance This session highlights the scientific approach to human performance improvement through work done by Center for Operator Performance members and researchers.

By Graham Nasby Track: Asset Performance In this session, attendees will learn about how to use automation master planning to develop facility automation standards to guide the effective long-term use of automation technology in a cost-effective manner.

By Sarah Prinster Track: Wireless Frequently, the cost benefits of using wireless are clearly understood, however, there is no one type of wireless technology that solves all problems. In order to maximize the value of industrial wireless networking investment, companies must be able to select the best technology for a given application.

By Rajeev Limaye Track: Safety/Environmental This presentation focuses on the design considerations when alarm is used as an Independent Protection Layer—whether or not the instruments and sensors can be shared between different protection layers and how they could be arranged in fault-tolerant configurations to achieve safety, reliability, and independence.

By George Buckbee The line-up includes papers on topics ranging from control hardware to performance improvement and advanced control techniques. Presenters from around the world will give you insight into new and different ways to address control problems.

By Maurice Wilkins Over a three-day period, the Human Performance Track explores all aspects of the process industries from a human perspective from how things are done today to how they may be done tomorrow and also some ideas about how to get in on the act.

By John S. Mitchell Inclusion of condition assessment information into process control and SCADA systems has extended the knowledge base and made operators more aware of production limiting mechanical condition.

The last two days have been filled with fun — MAVERICK Technologies CEO and Founder, Paul Galeski, was honored with the Excellence in Leadership Award and also announced a multi-year partnership with ISA.

The new guidelines and monitoring methods, Part of the IEC/IEEE 62582 Series, will help ensure the safety of electrical equipment used at nuclear power plant sites.

By Graham Speake The threat to all companies is real whether it is from virus, worms, and other malware or from a determined hacker inside or outside your company. Large companies who take security seriously and have the luxury of budgetary and manpower availability are not immune from attack and compromise.

By Brad Carlberg This overview includes highlights of three sessions titled, "Plant-wide Wireless," "Energy Harvesting: Powering your Wireless Devices," and "Improving Plant Operations with Wireless."

Earlier today, Progea gained the interest of their audience at the Technology Solutions Theater 2 with their presentation titled, "NeXt Generation SCADA Software: Framework for a Future of Success."

The partnership expands TiPS' capabilities to provide customers with services such as human factors engineering, control room design and advanced user interface development.

Forbes will address the impact of the President and his administration on the future of the U.S. economy and business growth during a keynote presentation at Automation 2013 in Chicago on January 22.

The FLOWCAL Enterprise Liquids system has redefined ExxonMobil's organizational processes, automating all measurement data collection and product ticket validation throughout North America.

Key highlights for the pressure transmitter market in 2011 included growth in both established and emerging economies, especially for energy and infrastructure related applications.

Mr. Matsukuma san is succeeding Mr. Matsumoto san of Fuji Electric who held this position for the last 3 years.

The global intelligent HVAC control systems market has been resilient in a weak economy and the market is shifting from analog to digital architecture.

Boris Waldeck, the Sales Director of KW-Software, become Secretary and Kevin Hull, Application and Deployment Supervisor Motion Control of Yaskawa America, joined the board.

The warehouse is fully automated, managing a busy operation involving several loading bays on many levels and requiring a seamless process of part selection, collection and delivery.

The new division will be known as Yaskawa Wermac and will be located at the former Wermac Electric facility in Calgary, AB.

On September 15th, the members of ISA Toronto and their families had the opportunity to gobehind the scenes at Canada’s Wonderland and see how their favourite attractions worked

Cemtrex is now marketing NIR and NMR Analyzer systems with a unique value proposition to monitor and control oil refinery process to maximize profits for the facility owners.

Results for the 29th edition of IMTS 2012 prove the continuing leadership of manufacturing in the overall economy as Show Management reports the strongest results in more than a decade.

With a focus on advanced flow measurement and testing, the service improves the accuracy and accountability of determining compositional values and custody transfer quantities.

For the fifth consecutive year, middle school and high school students can vie for a trip to Germany by creating a working control system using Phoenix Contact's Nanoline controller.

Automation.com, September 2012 By Marlee Rosen Implementing secure remote maintenance monitoring and real-time diagnostics reporting can contribute to improved device performance and the reduction of maintenance cost.

System integrator Technovator International of Singapore chose Distech Controls as the primary supplier of building management systems (BMS) for Junction Square shopping center in Yangon, Myanmar (Burma).

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IMS Research expects the market for electrically actuated control valves to double in size, exceeding $630 million by 2017.

The site offers easy-to-access information about automation solutions for applications including aerospace, automotive, medical, off-highway equipment and general manufacturing.