Articles and News

The addition of new people to the automation profession provides a great opportunity to avoid "reinventing the wheel,"

The Russian Government regards HANNOVER MESSE as one of the most representative events worldwide with regard to industrial as well as scientific and technical innovation.

ImpactChoice will use eSight’s web-based energy management software to analyze energy usage information and provide consultancy services to their clients.

Emerson’s technicians measure internal valve seat leaks using transducers to detect a leak’s acoustic emission during pre-turnaround walk-downs, and for post-outage verification.

Webinar from Malvern Instruments highlights the benefits of real-time particle sizing for the effective monitoring and control of granulation processes.

The Japanese operator terminal market is projected to see surprisingly high growth of nearly 10 percent in 2012--provided the terminals come from Japan.

Dynamic Systems helps Labels West, a print manufacturer, track production jobs with barcodes and CheckMate Job Tracking.

Experion C300 distributed control system (DCS) controller and Experion fieldbus interface module (FIM) now carry the ISASecure designation.

B&R will take advantage of Baumüller's comprehensive selection of motors, drawing from their DSC, DSD and DS series.

Murray Goulburn in Australia uses the Rockwell Software Dairy Dryer Solution, which continually collects data from each dryer and uses predictive models to calculate optimum temperature setpoints.

Automation Federation Partners with NC High School for Automation Curriculum

Intelligent Device Management Standards Committee Seeks Members

Effective and accurate measurement and control are essential components of both improved efficiency and profitability of industrial operations. Traditionally, increased efficiency directly translated

Free mobile app for iPhone and Android smart phones provides instant access to Grainger’s 900,000 products.

The brochure reviews quantifiable results delivered in pharmaceutical, high-performance cutting, converting, form/fill/seal and food and beverage packaging applications.

The updates cover DesignMATE's library of registered devices, and revised terminology used within the software to align with current FOUNDATION fieldbus installations.

Homeland Security recognized the work of the Linking the Oil & Gas Industry to Improve Cybersecurity (LOGIIC) consortium.

MicroStrain specializes in combining micro-sensors with embedded processors to autonomously track operational usage and to navigate and control unmanned systems.

NEMA) filed a petition with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) recommending both new and more robust energy-efficiency standards for electric motors.

VEGA Tools enables access to utilities for VEGA instruments and services.

The Automation Federation is providing subject matter expertise in the teaching of automation classes at Riverside High School in Durham, NC.

BIMage is a provider of BIM solutions headquartered in Singapore for the Architecture, Engineering and Construction industry across Asia.

Automation.com, August 2012 By Bill Lydon, Editor Raj Batra of Siemens discusses how the process industries are moving to digitizing plants with virtualization and describes how greater productivity can be achieved with higher level software approaches for programming applications.

Balluff México opened a new corporate office in Querétaro, complete with a training facility, technical support lab, and warehouse.

IDTechEx says the piezoelectric energy harvesting market will grow to $145 million in 2018, and $667 million by 2022.

Guide covers rotary encoders, rotary and linear potentiometers and rotary Hall effect sensors.

Spencer Bolgard will oversee the company’s U.S. Sales Subsidiary, including sales, marketing, channel operations and service functions within the United States.

Northwire was included on Inc. magazine’s 2012 list of 5000 fastest-growing private companies in America.

ISA Toronto Day at Canada’s Wonderland

Fourteen vendors successfully tested 22 OPC products at the three-day Asian Interoperability (IOP) Workshop, an event sponsored by the OPC Foundation and hosted by the OPC Japan Council this past June in Tokyo, Japan.

The website covers CNC machining equipment and is mobile-compatible.

TBP electronics purchased a complete factory-wide Aegis MES system for their facilities in Dirksland and Eersel, the Netherlands.

The project involves updating over 100 substations that have already been automated as well as retrofitting more than 75 substations that still require automation.

Project management is really just risk management, and a large source of risk to an automation project is the control panels.

The poster sessions, spanning approximately 90-120 minutes in length, will be held in the convention center concourse adjacent to session rooms on Wednesday, 26 September, from 1 p.m.–3:15 p.m.

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

Industrial Controls moved its corporate headquarters from Wanamassa, NJ, to Eatontown, NJ.

The committee will define standards for best practices and work processes for use of information provided by intelligent field devices in the process industries.

ANSI/ISA-62382-2012 (IEC 62382 Modified), Automation Systems in the Process Industry—Electrical and Instrumentation Loop Check, has been approved by ANSI.

One of the most overlooked aspects to providing good customer service is ensuring that employees feel invested in their jobs and are part of a corporate team.

Design of Emergency Steam Load Shedding System Using Dynamic Simulation

Autotuning of a new PI-PD Smith predictor based on time domain specifications

Fieldbus Inc. has qualified under the Fieldbus Foundation's FOUNDATION Development Services Provider (DSP) program.

Viewtrun is developing a range of glass finishing machines for consumer electronics products. It bases all its machines on CNC systems from NUM.

Made of aluminum, Blackburn lugs and splices are designed exclusively for termination on copper-clad aluminum (CCA) cable.

Industrial Automation North America, September 10-15, 2012, will feature approximately 100 companies from the process, production and industrial building automation sectors

The program guides clients in justifying modernization costs, reducing risk, deploying advanced technology and approaching plant upgrades strategically and systematically.

Catalog covers push buttons, sensors, switches, HMIs, PLCs, controllers, relays, signal conditioners and more.

Haydon Kerk Motion Solutions now offers customized nut designs for high-end motion control applications.

Era Polymers in Australia uses Rotork actuators to automate the temperature control of water supplied to the condenser for the water/glycol separation process during the manufacture of polyurethane elastomer.

June U.S. manufacturing technology orders totaled $462.95 million according to AMT. With a year-to-date total of $2,682.37 million, 2012 is up 8.8% compared with 2011.

ABB will design, engineer and supply integrated automation and modern electrification systems for Century Cement’s Manikgarh Cement plant in central India.

Safety and environmental integrity have always been critically important aspects of industrial operations. In recent years with increased regulatory and business pressures, the importance of effective

Automation.com, August 2012 By Nicholas M. Veikos, CAE Associates Simulating product performance in the virtual world has proven to be a valuable asset to many organizations. The specific topic of this article is finite element analysis, but most of the concepts can apply to your favorite flavor of simulation.

By John Rinaldi, Real Time Automation This article examines USB and its applicability for factory floor applications. It addresses the history of USB, the technology, the advantages and limitations of USB in the factory floor environment and how USB will most likely be deployed in the coming years.

The course educates electrical professionals on safe and effective ways to install and troubleshoot issues with arc-fault circuit interrupters (AFCIs).

Cerus designs, manufactures, and distributes motor controls, motor starters, contactors, protection devices, and variable frequency drives.

Beckhoff hired five more technical support engineers at the company’s Burnsville, Minn. headquarters.

Use a PID control to eliminate manual actions and scheduled actions whenever a reasonable PV measurement is available.

Catalog details the features, benefits and specifications of the company’s motion control solutions.

All about loop-checking with new ANSI/ISA standard

Automation.com, August 2012 By Bill Lydon, Editor Greg Bodenhamer is responsible for Schneider Electric's internal integration and services group and has been building a program to cooperatively work with independent system integrators. The overall goal is to put the customer first and provide the most effective and efficient solution.

TNPI will use the software to integrate preventative maintenance records, asset data, equipment histories, and other pipeline data.

By Peter Seeberg and Jürgen Lange, Softing The third part of this series of articles outlines ten key reasons that have led to the development of an entirely new technology generation, the OPC Unified Architecture.

BMW's factory in Landshut, Germany, uses digital cameras from Allied Vision Technologies to test instrument panel carrier frames for the MINI Countryman.

Web Studio v7.1 provides students a complete SCADA/HMI package that enables them to develop real-world applications, without limits on development time.

Automation.com, August 2012 By Lantech In the case of industrial networks, managing the multicast video by IGMP snooping is a consensus for MIS. However, could IGMP snooping really satisfy for its video stream management in transportation surveillance project?

Metso will supply and start up Metso Paper Lab, its paper and board quality analyzer, at the Rayagada paper mill in India.

Connectivity is great for consumers and businesses, but the owners and operators of large and dangerous industrial processes ask a different question.

Enhancements to the H1 (31.25 kbit/s) device coupler test specification will help improve the reliability and availability of fieldbus control system installations.

The USAF awarded Clemson University a $245,000 grant to determine what causes people to trust and rely on automation.

The newly upgraded website features detailed information on FANUC CNCs, Drive Systems, Laser Systems and Service & Support.

Trine University offers the FOUNDATION Certified Professional course using a hybrid delivery method -- classroom, hands-on lab training combined with online lectures and tests.

Frost & Sullivan says end users may opt to replace older drives with new advanced ones at little extra cost premiums rather than spending on the repair of old drive units.

The site features a “Toolbox” section which was created to give those interested in EPSON robots a place to collect information they need to make informative decisions.

Rockwell will purchase the assets of the medium voltage drives business of Harbin Jiuzhou Electric Co. for $83 million.

The image sensors for the Curiosity's Navcams and Hazcams were built in Teledyne DALSA's Bromont, Quebec, semiconductor foundry.

This contract includes potential new projects for specialty chemical, advanced materials, agro sciences and plastics businesses.

Applications include automotive camshaft manufacturing, incineration of chemical waste, low-e glass tempering, temperature measurement during epitaxial deposition, and web monitoring of semi-permeable films.

Readers of an automation magazine liked the Rosemount 708 wireless acoustic transmitter from Emerson and the RAD-WHA-1/2NPT WirelessHART adapter from Phoenix Contact.

Technician Day, scheduled for 26 September, offers information that will help attendees sharpen their instrumentation and automation skills.

The overall design has been completely overhauled with sharpened clarity of structure, streamlined ergonomics, and enhanced user friendliness

The security of our infrastructure, facilities, and manufacturing plants is of high concern 24/7, and we all agree it is prudent to be informed and stay vigilant against external as well as internal t

Automation.com, August 2012 By Bill Lydon, Editor To reach higher levels of productivity, Dow Corning made the decision to migrate 32 disparate and unique site-based control systems solutions to one globally consistent automation system - the Siemens PSC 7 platform.

The electrical analysis of the systems should not be assigned to a junior engineer.

Rice University is developing a visualization wall at its Chevron Visualization Laboratory, allowing scientists to transform detailed data into 3D imagery.

By Darryl Vipond, Vipond Controls Vipond developed a cloud-based SCADA system for the oil and gas industry using InduSoft's WebStudio HMI software. It eliminates the need to purchase, install and maintain local SCADA hardware and software at each site.

CSIA certified CITI and Intech Process Automation.

Practical Thermocouple Thermometry, Second Edition by Thomas W. Kerlin and Mitchell Johnson, focuses on practical aspects of how thermocouples work; how they go bad; how to access measurement accuracy; and how to select, install and operate them.

Prior to joining Control Station, he was Vice President of Sales at Integra-Cast and held various sales management positions at Emerson.

The website is the centralized hub for all of Okuma’s online properties, with connections to specialized platforms including YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.

With the increased demand for automation professionals over the past year, many of you might be considering a job change, perhaps even a career change.

V-Cone Flow Meter obtained GOST-R Certification and now officially meets Russian national technical standards.

ABB will design, engineer and supply a new 380 kilovolt (kV) outdoor gas-insulated switchgear (GIS) substation at the Ras Al Khair power plant to feed a new aluminium smelter.

Epicor will supply an ERP system to Golden Chip Company, a Saudi-based smart card manufacturer.

Rockwell Automation will provide a PlantPAx distributed control system (DCS) with solar field local controller panels for Godawari Green Energy in Rajasthan, India.

Interest in wireless sensor applications is going to spearhead the growth of a new niche market for these types of generators from 2015 onwards.

Frost & Sullivan says most direct current (DC) drive applications are being replaced by AC and servo drives in the European material handling industry.

ISA will present Paul J. Galeski with the Excellence in Leadership Award during its 50th Annual ISA Honors and Awards Gala, 24 September 2012.

Security Technology and Wireless Technology tracks will take place at ISA Automation Week 2012, scheduled for 24–27 September 2012