Articles and News

Incorporated in Michigan in 1984, Promess develops, manufactures, and markets sensing devices, electronics, assembly presses and test systems.

ABB and GE will supply electrical systems, motors, drive systems, services and compressors for new gas lift and gas injection facilities at the Asab and Sahil fields.

Comem is a manufacturer of high-quality transformer components, selling products under its own name and under the Elmek brand.

SCHOTT is employing Softing’s OPC Easy Connect Suite and OPC ActiveX control as a reliable link to automatically transmit measured values from Excel to the process control system.

Honeywell’s Experion Process Knowledge System will be used at the LIFE Nutrition site to control production processes, optimize production output and maintain quality control standards.

By Jeffrey Soplop, et al, Rockwell Automation Paper emphasizes that the business case for sustainability begins with a holistic approach to manufacturing, incorporating the principles of environmental stewardship, corporate responsibility and economic prosperity.

By Mettler Toledo One of the most critical factors affecting beer quality is the level of dissolved oxygen (DO) present in the final product. Here's how to measure it.

ABB will design, supply, install and commission three 110-kilovolt substations that will serve the growing power needs of the Mecca region.

The role of eWON centers around the concept of logging a robot’s key performance data and sending this remotely to an ABB service center via GPRS technology.

ABB will supply SVC (Static Var Compensator) solutions to help expand power capacity, extend the transmission and distribution network, and improve grid reliability.

ABB North America CEO Santacana seeks greater urgency in creating open standards at Smart Grid Leadership meeting in Washington, D.C.

Emerson will supply PlantWeb, DeltaV, Fisher and Baumann control valves with digital valve controllers, Rosemount flowmeters and analyzers, Micro Motion Coriolis flowmeters, and Fisher pressure regulators.

The Aberdeen Group says that industry-leading manufacturers are much more likely than other companies to view energy management as strategic to their business success.

The Control System Integrators Association (CSIA) honored Mark Moriarty of Rockwell Automation as its 2009 “Partner of the Year”

AccuTrak AT100 and AccuTrak AT200 liquid level transmitters have been certified by the Fieldbus Foundation for H1 Interoperability.

The initial batch of 16 National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)-recognized interoperability standards will help ensure that software and hardware components from different vendors will work together.

LabVIEW now integrates with the Experimental Physics and Industrial Control System (EPICS) input/output controller, used in particle accelerators, tokamak fusion devices and physics applications.

DIN-rail mounted terminal blocks have approvals for thermal aging and seismic qualification for cabinet-mounted instrumentation and control equipment.

ProfiBus was created in 1989 by the German government in cooperation with several manufacturers of automation equipment. It is a messaging format specifically designed for high-speed serial I/O in factory and building automation applications.

Basic Guide to Continuous-flex Cables discusses the bundling verses layering technique for high-flex cables.

Invensys Process Systems will help establish a new academic Chair of Information Technologies at the Kazakh-British Technical University to develop and improve engineering skills.

By Jacques Hoffmann, InterTech Development The improvements to be expected from a testcentric assembly approach are not trivial. Leak test and functional test cycle times can be decreased 25% - 70%. This white paper reviews the general principles of test-centric assembly for manufacturers and machine builders.

The House Committee on Energy and Commerce approved an amendment creating a NEMA Premium motor rebate program. The amendment approves $350 million to provide $25 per horse power rebate for NEMA Premium motors.

Automation expenditures in the process industries reached $45.5 billion dollars in 2007 and are forecast to exceed $61 billion by 2012.

Top executives from eleven NEMA member companies attended the White House Leadership Summit on Smart Grid sponsored by the National Institute for Standards and Technologies.

The worldwide market for toxic and combustible gas detectors was $689 million in 2008 and is forecast to be $823 million in 2013.

Invensys Process Systems integrated Pepperl+Fuchs intrinsically safe I/O interface product lines with I/A Series DCSes.

Guide details the company’s suite of services including machine and process safety education, assessment and risk identification, engineering and design, as well as integration and implementation.

The store provides basic piezo products and starter kits to make it easier to get started with nanopositioning applications.

At Los Alamos High School in New Mexico, students are learning about robotics from a Fanuc LR MATE 200iB.

90 wireless transmitters from Emerson are automating flow monitoring to increase production on StatoilHydro's Gullfaks offshore platforms in the northern part of the Norwegian North Sea.

Version 3.0 contains several additional video case histories, new interviews and information from experts, and pertinent sections of the IEEE Emerald Book (Std. 1100-2005).

Founded in 1959, Key Instruments began as a manufacturer of injection-molded parts for various industries.

MTConnect Institute seeks to promote manufacturing system interoperability.

Emerson’s SmartProcess Selective Catalytic Reduction (SCR) optimization technology improved SCR efficiency and extended SCR regeneration cycles, resulting in a 250-ton reduction in NOx.

By Northwire Multi-pair fieldbus trunk lines simplify installations by merging formerly scattered control and instrument points into common bus segments and junction boxes.

The 4-20mA/HART loop-powered devices are being used by BP Oil for one of their latest tank farm upgrade projects. Multiple radar units check that a floating roof maintains a perfectly horizontal plane.

The 12-page catalog details the features and options available on Automation Series low profile belt conveyors.

Nelson has 17 years of experience in the robotics and automation system field and has worked for Star Automation, Mark 2 Automation, Production Specialties Group and KUKA Robotics.

Anybus technology, a family of interchangeable communication modules, was launched in 1995. The one millionth Anybus module has rolled off the production line.

Wurldtech will develop test suites and a certification standard for MatrikonOPC’s OPC Tunneller and OPC Server for Triconex. Wurldtech will certify the products as Achilles Level 1 Certified.

The project involves the automation of all power monitoring points for a majority of the Chinese railroad system and will feature 3 million I/O points.

ABB will provide a System 800xA to control the Sierra commercial demonstration facility in California.

Quick disconnect sensors may be used in Class I, Division 2, Groups A, B, C and D environments when equipped with a TURCK lokfast guard.

The US Navy awarded MicroStrain a contract worth $80,000 to develop a wireless system to measure buffet loads on the control surfaces of in-service aircraft.

ABB will supply a System 800xA for PTT Chemical’s Electrical Power and Steam (EPS) Project.

Eaton's Training Services is a PLCopen certified training center for the IEC 61131-3 programming language standard.

The product line includes silica, sodium, phosphate and hydrazine monitors that are used to control and safeguard critical plant processes.

Program helps companies determine the federal and local compliance level of its machines that qualify for relocation, and the cost to bring those machines into compliance.

SICK joined the PROFIBUS/PROFINET Trade Association (PTO) North America.

By Siemens Brief description of how linear motors work, advantages in machine applications, and typical applications.

Students at Akron CNC Training Center learn machinist skills on a MAG 4020 FX vertical machining center provided by machine supplier HM Technology.

Joseph Martin, Jeff Miller and Piercarlo Romano were elected to the Control System Integrators Association (CSIA) Board of Directors.

Emerson developed an Adaptive Model Predictive Controller (AMPC) that is optimizing production and improving profitability at SABIC Innovative Plastics’ Bergen op Zoom facility in The Netherlands.

The total estimated value of the projects is nearly $465 billion, and will create nearly 10 million full-time employment positions.

The OEM agreement enables the two companies to jointly develop and market integrated wireless application networks for industrial enterprises.

The order includes operator consoles, AC800M Controllers, System 800xA and S800 I/O with HART.

The certification of dcLINK 4.2 for SAP ERP 6.0 was granted based on a successful integration assessment by the SAP Integration and Certification Center.

In addition to collecting data from Vestas and Siemens subsystems, the Ovation SCADA system will gather data from substation controls and switchgear.

SICK will provide Ruler E 3D cameras as part of continuing improvements to the United States Postal Service’s Automated Package Processing System (APPS).

Certifiers check LAN cabling to TIA, ISO and IEC performance standards. Complete Category 6/ISO Class E tests are performed in only 14 seconds.

The serialized book "Improving Lean Manufacturing Through 3D Data" by Dr. Hiroshi Toriyais is available free, two chapters at a time.

Erich Janoschek from TÜV Rheinland was elected chairman of the PLCopen Technical Committee for Safe Software.

Enhancements include discrete switches as well as vibration and pH transmitters.

Webb will supply five SmartCart AGC Automatic Guided Carts to Western Container’s facility in Rancho Cucamonga, CA, and three to its facility in Tolleson, AZ.

Wind for Schools helps elementary and secondary schools produce their own wind power. It provides a K-12 curriculum that is linked to real-time turbine data with web-based access.

ISA99 Working Group 7 will promote greater awareness of the impact of cyber security issues on the safe operation of industrial processes.

ISaGRAF software will be used in CSE-Semaphore’s Kingfisher series of Advanced RTUs, which are now available with Secure DNP3 Authentication.

Selector tool enables users to quickly and accurately identify one or more meters that best match their criteria.

Premier Evolvics uses an Allied Vision system to measure fiber length, length uniformity, color and trash rate.

Located in Indian Trail, North Carolina, the branch services customers throughout North Carolina, South Carolina, and Virginia.

McCarthy holds Level III certifications from the American Society of Nondestructive Testing (ASNT), including visual, liquid penetrant, magnetic particle, ultrasonic, and eddy current testing methods.

Patton was Senior Vice President and head of the engineering and products function at Vestas Technology R&D.

Lowe replaces recently retired Norm O’Leary as director of the Control System Integrators Association.

Barix installed more than 1,000 Barionet IP control devices to monitor power cabinets and substations throughout Singapore.

Toshiba GE Turbine Components is buying its MAXOS non-contact measurement system to inspect and measure turbine blades.

Emerson will supply DeltaV, AMS Suite software, Fisher control valves, Rosemount transmitters, and safety systems on the Golar Freeze, a floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU) vessel.

Movie magic will make 18 ABB Robots appear to be an almost endless manufacturing line of robots on the Terminator factory floor, mass producing a growing army of the Terminators.

Roxar provides subsea instrumentation and software to help operators monitor production continuously and observe and control oil and gas fields from remote locations.

The new system is helping improve operational efficiency and productivity by providing a way to reliably monitor, diagnose and maintain water equipment and processes.

Long sold in Asia, MasterLogic is now sold, delivered and supported by Honeywell’s global organization.

SWT-2.3-101 wind turbines will be supplied to the Bison I wind project, located near Center, North Dakota, and will be built in two phases.

Automation expenditures by the upstream oil and gas sector, which includes exploration, production, and pipelines, are expected to grow at an annual rate of nine percent over the next five years.

PLCopen is launching a new initiative in the Motion Control working group to extend the specifications to fluid power.

Woods brings a wealth of manufacturing experience to the Association For Manufacturing Technology, having worked at everything from small tool and die shops up to multibillion-dollar machine tool corporations.

Catalog covers signal conditioning, data acquisition, and data communication products.

“Think Outside the Chip: MEMS-Based Systems Solutions” all-day session presents information on the partitioning, integrating and creating of MEMS- based systems and their applications.

Tools cover three primary areas where industrial networking issues can occur: the network, electrical signaling, and cabling infrastructure.

Kelly previously was President of the Remote Automation Solutions division of Emerson Electric.

The DeltaV system with AMS Device Manager has passed the Host Registration Program (HRP) requirements.

Prior to joining Baumer, he served as President and CEO of Fischer Connectors as well as President and CEO of EAO Switch.

PlantPAx process automation system manages more than 100 batch and continuous process phases. System includes HMI software, instrumentation and wireless equipment.

An iCAP 6000 Series Duo ICP emission spectrometer detects trace contaminants in brine - aqueous sodium chloride (NaCl).

Servomex will supply a complete gas monitoring system for a new Pure Terephthalic Acid (PTA) plant being built by Artenius in Portugal.

ABB won transformer orders worth around $30 million from NTPC Limited in India for its Mauda Super Thermal Power Project and Tapovan Vishnugad HydroElectric Power Project.

Emerson intends to work inside the PNO to keep the implementation of EDDL aligned across all protocols.

METTLER TOLEDO Process Analytics acquired the RAMS product monitoring systems for turbidity and color from INNOTECH GbR, a Germany based company.

Allied Vision increased the floor space of its US Subsidiary in Newburyport, MA, and strengthened its sales team with two new representatives.

After traveling to Germany last week for Hannover Messe (Fair), the world's largest industrial trade show, I was struck again by the difference in how engineers are perceived in Germany versus the U.S. German Engineering is often revered as a high quality engineering standard. I'm convinced that this reverence has everything to do with the deep-rooted culture surrounding engineering in Germany.

ABB won substation orders worth around $100 million from Powergrid, India’s national transmission utility, to boost capacity and help improve grid reliability.