Articles and News

Document provides examples and guidance for the combination of the different technologies, making it easier for a user to integrate safety in a motion and logic application.

This document covers user guidelines, and is the third part of a set of documents of the PLCopen Task Force Motion Control.

The Society of Manufacturing Engineers Education Foundation committed $1.4 million for youth programs in 2008.

The office will service European, Middle Eastern and African markets for embedded I/O products. The office is headed by Stefan Baginski.

Macrina will be leaving his role as Director of the Electronics Assembly group at Panasonic Factory Solutions at the end of April to join Microscan Systems.

Report presents alarm management best practices guidelines for improving safety and reliability in power generation industry.

DRB will sell Precise Automation products in Korea and China, including PrecisePlace Robots, Guidance Motion Controllers and PreciseVision Software.

PLC Metrics allows automation engineers and technicians to automatically analyze PLC programs, such as the number of rungs, I/O and steps, hardware configuration, and Grafcet steps and macros.

“Everything You Ever Wanted to Know about Data Acquisition” explains the overall concept of data acquisition and considerations for analog input systems.

More than 60 short and informative SME videos have been uploaded to YouTube and generated more than 200,000 hits.

ABB installed a System 800xA process control system at Jura Cement Fabriken in Wildegg, Switzerland.

The new center at Reynosa City, Tamaulipas State, has all the resources necessary for Invensys to support PEMEX in the Burgos basin.

Adaptive Instruments markets Accutech wireless instrumentation products. In 2006 SCADAgroup acquired Control Microsystems, and earlier this year acquired Trio Datacom.

The contract focuses on identifying concurrent programming defects, which are notoriously difficult to identify and manually debug.

ManualTesting.com is a community site with free resources designed to alleviate the headaches caused by the burden of time-consuming manual testing on QA departments.

Modernization at Petrobras Zarate included Foundation fieldbus, DeltaV, AMS asset management, flow, level and temperature instruments, and Fisher valves with FIELDVUE digital valve controllers.

Industrial Controls Distributors is the exclusive representative for Honeywell Analytics, experts in gas detection.

Graduation for Manufacturing Skill Standards Council (MSSC) certificate students will be May 9, 2008 at Bison Gear headquarters.

Autodesk made $17 million worth of software available to student competitors, including Autodesk Inventor, 3ds Max and Autodesk Combustion.

The application note, “Metal Coatings Analysis Using the Exoscan Hand Held FTIR,” explains how it does non-destructive analysis of samples.

ThreadX has been used to power a wide variety of products, from printers to wireless devices.

Keynote speakers include Dick Morley, father of the PLC, and Dr. John R. Bratten, Nautical Archaeologist.

XLReporter enables reporting in Microsoft Office Excel to be performed automatically and in the background.

CD Rom contains product information and application notes related to biodiesels, feed stocks and general analysis.

The pharmaceutical industry in Europe is struggling with price pressures and severe competition, making it a stro0ng growth market for automation and control.

The CENTUM; CS 3000 Production Control System and STARDOM Network-based Control System will use the Tofino Industrial Security Solution.

OPC wants system integrators who routinely use OPC to sign up for a program to help raise the overall quality and reliability of OPC products.

Siemens provided product lifecycle management software and services for digital product design, simulation, analysis, manufacturing and product data management.

Included are presentations on future technologies, software, hardware, controls, vision, robots etc.

Students at Lake Superior State University (LSSU) in Sault Sainte Marie, MI, developed a vision-based robotic workcell as a senior project.

The program enables technology companies in the process control/SCADA market to provide their customers with integrated Defense in Depth cyber security solutions.

GE Fanuc will offer iPower as a standard Proficy HMI/SCADA - iFIX option.

The market for wireless devices and equipment in process manufacturing will grow to over $1.1B in 2012, a growth rate of 32% per year, according to ARC Advisory Group.

The largest optical telescope in the northern hemisphere, the Gran Telescopio Canarias (Grantecan) on La Palma, Spain, uses HEIDENHAIN model ERA 780C angle encoders.

In accordance with DIN EN ISO 14021, an Efficiency Label is now being affixed to all TopTherm PLUS cooling units.

The first step in any power quality strategy is developing a complete understanding of your electrical environment, implementing a good power distribution system design and using good grounding techniques. If you want virtually maintenance free protection from a wide range of power problems, the constant voltage transformer, correctly applied, is still one of the best forms of total power conditioning.

Advanced ID Asia incorporated the AS3990 UHF RFID “Simply Gen2” Reader Chip into their latest product, the PR110 handheld RFID reader.

The wizard builder creates connection wizards for communication between process controllers (DCSes and PLCs) and PC based software.

Manufacturers can learn about the GS and CE Markings, with details about their purposes and differences, in a new white paper by TÜVRheinland.

AirSprite Technologies joined as a founding member.

Wolowec is Vice-president, Solutions Business at Endress+Hauser. He is replacing former PTO Board member Todd Hubbell.

ABB is supplying a System 800xA for the Sri Chamundeswari cogeneration plant in Karnataka state, southern India.

Graham Partners partnered with Inverness Graham Investments on the transaction.

SoftBrasil is the South American distribution channel for MatrikonOPC products and solutions.

CD includes product animations, handbook, white papers and catalogs covering the structural design, operating principles and characteristics of linear motion technology components.

Honeywell will supply Profit Suite and engineering services for the S-OIL Corporation Onsan refinery.

The brochure highlights specific sensor and instrumentation available for pressure monitoring, diagnostics, troubleshooting, and control applications in hazardous factory environments.

Prior to joining IMI, he worked at Accutech Instrumentation Solutions, FCx Performance and IRD Mechanalysis.

Transformers are IEEE802.3af-compliant and available in three sizes (EP7, EP10 and EP13) for 3W, 7W and 13W applications.

Fifteen educators from across the United States have won awards sponsored by the Society of Manufacturing Engineers (SME) Education Foundation and 3M.

The two will co-market Eagle's ProTeus maintenance management solutions and Prime Technologies' ProCalV5 calibration management solution.

Siemens will install a SIMATIC PCS 7 distributed control system at the Bayer CropScience site in Institute, West Virginia.

The Citrix Alliance Program includes more than 1,800 software and hardware manufacturers and service providers who complement and extend the Citrix Application Delivery Infrastructure.

Site has 80 application case studies, selectable by industry and application, to show how Cognex customers are benefiting from machine vision.

Yokogawa Corporation of America acquired all the stock of ASI on April 3, 2008. ASI was established in 1994 and developed the TruePeak family of laser based analyzers.

ClassPack is for educators who cannot purchase multiple robots. By using ClassPack, students can write robotics code that will run in simulation and on a real robot.

Danatec will be using DELMIA PLM Express to conduct production verification for robotic tools and fixtures in the design stage, thereby limiting changes in later stages of production planning.

Pinnacle Sales is Semaphore's authorized distributor for markets in Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Missouri, and Wisconsin.

Sullivan previously was with Commtest, where he served as Regional Sales Manager for Latin America.

Wasting valuable chemicals by using concentrations that are too high means wasting money. The best solution for this application is an inductive conductivity sensor, says Mettler Toledo.

Toffler will kick off the event with a keynote and Q&A session. Toffler's latest book, Revolutionary Wealth, focuses on the globalization of society and trends that affect the conduct of business globally.

Kaliburne designs and manufactures plasma arc cutting equipment and consumables in metal fabrication.

MatrikonOPC's Eric Muphy was selected by the OPC Foundation to launch the official OPC Foundation Technical Advisory Council (TAC) Blog

Siemens is ramping up its Preferred Solution Partner program, through which Siemens CNC, motor and drive packages will be brought to the machine shop market by a nationwide network of qualified retrofitters.

ScanSource Security signed up as a distributor, and will provide GE's broad line of security solutions to its dealer partners.

The coalition will meet with dozens of lawmakers to bring visibility to the automation profession's challenges and opportunities.

Nigrelli Systems is a supplier of high-speed continuous motion packaging and tray handling systems for a diverse array of industries.

Emerson installed PlantWeb, DeltaV, Rosemount digital temperature transmitters and AMS Suite predictive maintenance software at a new PVC production facility of the Yichang Yihua Pacific Chemical Co.

PLCopen North America participated with a booth and made a presentation at the 2008 Motor, Drive & Automation Systems Conference February 14-15, 2008, in Atlanta, Georgia.

By PLCOpen Backgrounder article explains what PLCOpen is, and what it does.

Daintree’s commissioning, management and analysis software will be available as a plug-in for Tritech’s TriBee ZigBee Network Coordinator Gateway.

QVC will migrate from its existing Honeywell TotalPlant Solution Systems to Honeywell’s Experion Process Knowledge System (PKS).

Downloadable brochure illustrates complete industrial computing and networking applications.

Regional trains in Germany and the Netherlands are currently being delivered by BOMBARDIER with an on board Ethernet network, using Westermo’s REDFOX railway switches.

The catalog covers Product Testing and Safety, System Auditing, System Testing, Management System Certification, and Specialty Services.

The Microsoft Manufacturing User Group (MsMUG), formerly a part of OMAC, is moving to a working group under the Automation Federation.

Microprocessors and advanced computing platforms have catalyzed the shift from PID to adaptive controllers in petrochemicals, mining, steel, paper, food and many other industries.

PLCopen TC6 first published its XML schema and documentation in June 2005 as version 1.01. After feedback from companies starting to implement this specification, it's been revised.

Lean Registry is a free community connection and collaboration space for lean practitioners.

Building on Windows Server 2008, Visual KPI uses Web 2.0 technology to provide web-based delivery of and access to business-critical data.

The ZigBee Resource Guide focuses solely on products, applications and standards for wireless control in many applications.

The Packaging Technology and Solutions Center (PTASC) in Schaumburg, Ill., has an application lab where customers can work with Schneider Electric and ELAU engineers to design packaging solutions.

GE Fanuc will acquire MTL Open Systems Technology (MOST) product lines including the MTL8000 I/O, intrinsically safe I/O, SafetyNet system, and process control technologies.

By Jeff Hunter, Sealevel Systems Many RS-485 users are completely unaware that they are taking unnecessary risk with their data because of the method they use for driver control. This white paper explains.

Software licenses have been sold to more than 100,000 plants/facilities worldwide, which accounts for 33 percent of the world's 305,544 plants with 20 or more employees.

SME issued a call for entries to the Direct Digital Manufacturing 2008 Competition. All entries are due by April 16, 2008.

ABB won a $53-million contract from Dubai Aluminum to upgrade electrical and automation systems at the company's 480-hectare smelter complex in Dubai.

Emerson will install PlantWeb digital plant architecture to automate Shanghai CP Guojian Pharmaceutical's new API production suite which will have the largest mammalian cell-culture system in Asia.

The brochure presents a variety of sub-micron to sub-nanometer precise compact actuators with ceramic piezo motors as well as classical motors.

White paper explains why mobile device vendors and users can choose to forego today’s pre-standard 802.11n radios and stick with proven solutions that support some combination of 802.11a, 802.11b, and 802.11g.

Catalog includes the latest technical data, application examples and overview of motion control products.

Brochure provides an overview of quality control solutions for biodiesel analysis compared to the costs of sending samples out for ASTM analysis.

The South African DCS market earned revenues of USD 121.4 million in 2006 and F&S estimates this to reach USD 292.4 million in 2013.

The PLCopen Technical Committee 5 (TC5) Safety Software User Guidelines is a reference for control people implementing safety control systems.

Valued at more than $400 million, the project uses ABB's HVDC Light technology, a high-voltage direct current solution that enables the transmission of large amounts of power underwater and underground.

HOOPS allows users to view, select and control product cost drivers directly in the interactive 3D model display.

The Gigabit Ethernet IP solution completed interoperability testing at the University of New Hampshire's Interoperability Lab (UNH IOL).

AccelerATE gives HART field device manufacturers a simple, quick, and low cost path to enable product lines with the WirelessHART specification.

Johan Nye, Ivan Susanto, Kevin Staggs and Ernie Rakaczky were elected officers for the ISA Security Compliance Institute.