Articles and News

By Lee Lane, FDT Chairman of the Board of Directors Created on the long legacy of the rock solid FDT standard, we now release the features and capabilities that are needed for IIoT, remote monitoring, mobility, and IT/OT integration.

The FDT ecosystem is evolving to incorporate modern web-based and mobile applications in the process, hybrid and discrete manufacturing markets.

In accordance with the terms of the merger agreement, Yageo has acquired all of the outstanding shares of KEMET’s common stock for US $27.20 per share in an all-cash transaction with an equity value of approximately US $1.6 billion.

The in-person Collaborative Robots, Advanced Vision & AI Conference is postponed until the Fall of 2021. However, A3’s Robotic Grinding and Finishing Conference, slated for December 2-3 in St. Paul, Minnesota, will be held in-person if possible, and online if not.

The IIoT connects edge devices in OT networks directly to the Internet to enhance operational efficiencies. What confuses security designs for IIoT deployments is differing kinds of risk.

Learn from an interview with Darek Kominek of Matrikon about the concepts of built-in security, the IT-OT gap, protecting against hacker/malware attacks, and many other features that have made OPC UA the secure data-exchange standard it is today. his is the third in the series of OPC Experts Interviews.

In this monthly column, 2020 International Society of Automation (ISA) President Eric Cosman encourages members to pitch in and shape the future.

The report, How COVID-19 is Changing Research Culture, analyzes publication trends, regional focal points of research, collaboration patterns, and top institutional producers of research in COVID-19.

Originally, the prize was to be announced at HANNOVER MESSE 2020 in April, which was cancelled due to the developments surrounding Covid-19. As a result, Deutsche Messe, together with the jury, decided to announce the winner during the HANNOVER MESSE digital event on 14 July

This article discusses how automating cell and gene therapies will bring the treatment to the masses.

An independent jury consisting of members of the WomenPower Congress Advisory Board nominated three women for the Engineer Powerwoman career award, which is endowed with 5,000 euros and encourages companies to recognize the performance and special commitment of their female employees in STEM professions.

By Eric D. Knapp USB attacks blur the line between a network threat and a local physical threat. The USB protocol essentially extends every one of our networks into something exponentially bigger.

These collaborators will work with the NCCoE project team to provide a practical solution to help manufacturers protect their industrial control system(s) (ICS) from data integrity attacks.

HANNOVER MESSE Digital Days takes place virtually from July 14-15, offering keynotes from business, science and politics plus panel discussions, live chats, networking and innovation presentations.

Saratech will take over all of Apex's PLM software license and subscription sales, support services, and training classes.

ISA Fellow Ed Farmer advises process automation engineers who are just starting their career paths.

As the cybersecurity of industrial operations moves forward, organizations need more capability at deeper levels of the defense in depth strategy.

IMTS is fully committed to returning to McCormick Place as scheduled for its normal rotation, September 13-18, 2022.

ABB will also provide the new cement plant with electrification infrastructure items such as MV Switchgear with MV relays on IEC 61850 communication and LV Switchgear with ABB UMC100.3 intelligent motor controllers which combine intelligent motor protection and control functions and fieldbus communication, and fault diagnosis in a single device.

What are the targets of the officially driven government research funding programs and what can we learn from these findings? This has been researched by the International Federations of Robotics and published in the new paper “World Robotics R&D Programs” by IFR.

Danielle Geathers, a mechanical engineering student at MIT, is the first black woman to lead student government in the school's 159-year history.

The collected agricultural production data and fertilizer management data are fed to a remote monitoring system using big data analysis technology to explore the most suitable agricultural production conditions and the best decision-making plan in visually creating a smart agriculture integration framework.

The FDT 3.0 standard is intended to accelerate the evolutionary journey into the Fourth Industrial Revolution by enabling an ecosystem of FDT-based solutions to meet demands for IIoT and Industrie 4.0 applications.

As President and CEO, Banda will oversee all activities and operations of PHD, Inc. leading the global organization by leveraging his 30 years of experience in the industrial automation industry. Banda has a background in technology leadership, business management, finance, operations, strategic development, and market strategy.

AutomationDirect helped the team supply large quantities of reliable automation components in a short span of time, delivering products ready for development right out-of-the-box. Should circumstances require it, RE-INVENT is ready to save lives.

A Beckhoff CX2040 Embedded PC with a quad-core Intel Core i7 processor controls the individual production modules using TwinCAT 3 NC I software

Machine builder Ginolis implements XTS and automation technology from Beckhoff for modular production of test kits.

Digital Twin Consortium is a global ecosystem of users who are accelerating the digital twin market and demonstrating the value of digital twin technology.

New ARC Advisory Group research on the global Fire and Gas Systems market reveals that manufacturers are switching to cloud-based systems to be able to provide employees with remote access to their gas detection systems.

By Bill Lydon Running a manufacturing plant in the COVID-19 pandemic era means distancing coworkers and minimizing their interactions. Fortunately, there are a range of industrial automation solutions available that can help organizations achieve these new goals while also being consistent with digitalization investments to improve productivity.

Pod Pack leverages DELMIAworks to automatically prompt line operators to run the appropriate inspections, trace and manage inventory, and achieve better utilization and uptime on existing equipment.

By Takayuki Sugizaki, Yokogawa Electric Plant managers are faced with the dual challenges of increasing production efficiency while maintaining aging equipment, and corporate executives must do the same across the entire manufacturing enterprise. In the process industries, subject matter experts (SMEs) are those end user employees with the expertise required to understand processes and equipment.

Emerson’s contribution will improve the efficiency of reservoir modelers and reservoir engineers, and enable multi-disciplinary integrated reservoir workflows, including geomodeling and flow simulation, on top of the OSDU platform.

Industrial batteries are evolving to meet the demands of the digital world. Lithium-ion technology offers numerous advantages over lead-acid batteries for backing up mission critical applications.

The decision has come following the considerable interest towards ONDO agriculture automation solutions from local companies and the vast potential of the regional market.

In this role, Zangardi will be responsible for the day to day operation of Redhorse Corporation and will be based in Washington, D.C.

COVID-19 and industrial cybersecurity discussions both provoke similar reactions. The psychology of risk response can explain why.

The mGrid technology provides access to wholesale renewable power as well as software tools for helping utilities make the business case for investments in renewable delivery systems.

Protection against insider cyber threats requires an organization to first adapt a paradigm of deterrence as opposed to detection.

Jon Lederman is a tech entrepreneur, scientist, and engineer. He is the CEO and founder of New York-based Spinor, which is developing AI technology for creating conversational voice experiences for enterprise and consumer applications.

This ARC research explores current and historical market performance and related technology and business trends, identifies leading technology suppliers, and provides five-year global forecasts for the Geographic Information Systems market.

By James McQuiggan Ransomware is no longer a hit and run type of attack. The criminals are utilizing phishing and other social engineering techniques to gain access to the IT network and pivoting through to the OT networks to copy and exfiltrate the data. It’s only a matter of time before criminal organizations are able to gain access to more OT facilities and organizations.

By Bill Lydon Many organizations in the manufacturing industry have shifted assets in order to innovate and produce solutions that are contributing to the protection of medical personnel on the front lines of the COVID-19 fight. In this article, we highlight two of these innovative engineering solutions that are keeping these crucial personnel safe

Remote access has allowed essential operations for critical facilities to continue during COVID-19, but also results in increased cyber exposure for IACS.

Learn how the science of the open platform communication standard, OPC UA, is applied across the industrial automation sector from an interview with Uwe Steinkrauss, CEO of Unified Automation. This is the second in the series of OPC Experts Interviews.

ARC Advisory Group research on the global Industrial IoT Edge Software Platforms market reveals that manufacturing customers are looking to edge solutions to both respond to the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic as well as position themselves competitively in the digitally transformed “new normal” economy.

You may be unsure whether accuracy is important for your particular application, or whether improving accuracy will make enough of a difference in your process results to justify the cost and effort. This article from the InTech FOCUS May 2020 edition, can help.

According to the latest Kaspersky ICS CERT findings, these hits were focused on systems in Japan, Italy, German and the UK and targeted suppliers of equipment and software for industrial enterprises. Research has shown that attackers used malicious Microsoft Office documents,

By Mark Howard Cyber-attacks are a serious concern. While they pose a threat to typical business vulnerabilities, infiltration from a cybercriminal in a manufacturing setting can shut down a plant's operations. This article offers three tips for manufacturers against the rising threat to cyber security.

FDT and ODVA share a common core mission that includes advancing open, interoperable information and communication exchange for the industrial automation marketplace.

The study report and associated infographic chronicle the progression, variety, and growing sophistication of many of the most infamous vulnerabilities and attacks on connected devices, as well as the emerging defenses used by organizations to fight them.

ShipTrack’s cloud-based solution can operate as a stand-alone system or integrated with customers’ back-end systems. Whether the system of record is an online ecommerce platform, ERP, TMS or just a financial software to manage logistics data, ShipTrack can integrate to existing systems and provide customers and the extended value chain 360-degree visibility of order or delivery statuses.

The resource offers a first wave of informational videos containing best practices, tricks of the trade, and other themes presented by experts in the field who are members of the CMS.

By Andreas Eschbach Some measures deemed temporary, such as “social distancing” may become permanent to some extent if in effect long enough to take root and become the new norm. Certainly, social distancing will become a consideration and action-item on every risk analysis and health and safety checklist going forward.

Mr. Swartz has spent more than 20 years in the semiconductor and technology industries focusing on B2B sales.

The videos are available at no cost for a limited time through the company’s Yale and Hyster brands. The content covers characteristics of class I-V lift trucks, operating environment considerations, requirements of OSHA 1910.178 and safe operating practices.

By Bill Lydon Achieving the benefits of digitalization requires organizations to leverage Industry 4.0 and IoT (Internet of Things) concepts, technology, and architecture with open standards.

Tesla engineers created a virtual power plant that relies on open source and digital twin technologies to ensure resiliency when using renewable energy.

By Honeywell Cybersecurity Although a part of disaster planning and recovery in increasing resilience, industrial-grade secure remote access also represents a strategic investment that can help grow a company’s operational excellence and capabilities.

Honeywell Forge Workforce Productivity is being adopted by Wood, a global leader in consulting, projects and operations solutions in energy and the built environment.

The International Society of Automation (ISA) has released a new cybersecurity whitepaper. Understand how to build a standards-based cybersecurity culture.

A new cybersecurity whitepaper from the International Society of Automation (ISA) dives into the unique challenges of ensuring automation cybersecurity.

Mr. Dzierzawski will be fully responsible for the business of BEUMER Group in the North American market in alignment with BEUMER Group business objectives, strategy, and key pursuits.

This initiative directly addresses the critical supply of mechanical ventilation equipment to support COVID-19 patients requiring ventilation to survive. Banding together with other Australian manufacturing businesses, the consortium can harness various industry capabilities to make more ventilators sooner.

ARC Advisory Group and Automation.com recently conducted a web survey to gain insights into the impact of the current COVID-19 pandemic on industrial manufacturers and what they are doing in response. Here, we provide a summary of the results of that original survey supplemented with some additional insights.

The Open Industry 4.0 Alliance, which was launched at that time, currently has 55 members. In the meantime, four working groups have come together to develop concrete use cases for each of the industry segments and technologies.

Based in Irving, TX, Flowserve has been a member of FDT Group and a participant on the organization’s technical working groups, and recently upgraded its membership to “Sponsor” status and assumed roles on both the FDT Board of Directors and Executive Committee.

To gain insight about how organizations are keeping up with the changes and transformations taking place, the Digital Transformation Council and ARC Advisory Group, in conjunction with ISA and Automation.com, conducted a survey of industrial companies.

Digital Twin Consortium aims to influence the direction of digital twin technology development, become the focal point for digital twin thought leadership, and promote, evolve, and refine digital twin best practices and benefits.

The OPC Experts Interview is a series taking a deep dive into open platform communications, OPC/OPC UA and related technology. This interview is with Stefan Hoppe, President and Executive Director of the OPC Foundation.

Does automation always lead to job losses? Will you lose your job to a robot? Let's dive into the research and debates surrounding these questions.

The ‘Robot Stories’ series is targeted primarily at middle and high school students who get the opportunity to interact with several roboticists about what the future of robotics looks like. The series will be broadcast on Wednesday afternoons starting tomorrow, May 20th, with additional episodes launched on May 27th, June 3rd, and June 10th.

The 2020 CMS-PPC survey examines the principal factors affecting measurement professionals today. 3D measurement practitioners are asked to share their perspectives on career requirements, technology usage, workforce trends, job challenges and the anticipated support needed to move the industry forward.

In conjunction with the acquisition, KES has also made a significant growth equity investment in DarkVision to fund future growth, R&D and expansion. DarkVision is an early stage industrial acoustic imaging company.

Interact Analysis’s latest update to its Manufacturing Industry Output Tracker (MIO) forecasts a steady but varied recovery for global manufacturing, notwithstanding the fact that some sectors have been hit harder than others during the COVID-19 crisis.

High levels of network availability required specialized wireless technology designed specifically for transportation applications. Westermo was selected by Max Bögl to provide the data communication network technology.

Taking place on May 26th at 16:00pm-17:00pm (CEST), the first live event is expected to attract a crowd of up to 500 delegates. Bridging the themes of innovation and digitalisation from the physical Aquatech events, the online discussion will kickstart with utilities, European partnerships and global engineering thought leaders from across Europe and the Middle East.

54% of IT professionals in the educational sector confessed that employees put data at risk by sharing it via cloud apps outside of IT knowledge. This is the highest percentage among all verticals surveyed.

Connected work and connected worker technology make it possible for humans on the frontlines to perform at their safest, most productive best. As the current global situation clearly indicates, humans will always be essential in manufacturing and production – and they deserve to be supported and empowered by technology.

To bring its graduates their special day of recognition while still maintaining social distancing standards, Arizona State’s Thunderbird School of Global Management partnered with Double Robotics to provide a unique solution

The International Society of Automation (ISA) President Eric Cosman will be featured on the ISA Interchange blog monthly with a column directed toward ISA members around the world.

Peak-Ryzex, a provider of digital supply chain and mobile workforce solutions, has announced a partnership with FarEye, a predictive logistics platform that enables enterprises to orchestrate, track, and optimize their logistics operations.

High-precision drilling, reaming, countersinking and boring are specialties of CERATIZIT. Involved in this effort is Staub Precision Machine and the industrial distributor Abrasive Tool.

The 5G-Industry Campus Europe is being developed in a research project funded by the Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure (BMVI) and is directly focused on the introduction of the new mobile communications standard in the manufacturing industry.

Members of the National Electrical Manufacturers Association (NEMA) have developed specific guidance to answer common questions for how to maintain cleanliness while preserving the functionality and integrity of electrical equipment.

Out of these 69 applications, the most promising 20 experiments have now been selected. In Phase I of ESMERA, proving their concept, they get funding of up to 75.000 Euros each as well as technical support and business mentoring by the ESMERA consortium.

By Gabe Authier While ICS downtime at the hands of a security solution was once a much more realistic concern, cybersecurity tools are now changing the face of ICS cybersecurity by helping operators remediate issues that could threaten system uptime.

HOOPS Virtual Summits are intended for technology and engineering leaders looking for information about trends in the industry, how to overcome business challenges and learn from partners who have solved specific business challenges.

Aqua America’s existing alarm notification system at the PA facility was experiencing frequent failures, which eventually lead to a catastrophic failure of the entire alarm notification system. Aqua America turned to TopView Alarm and Notification software for their new platform.

The report Contextualizing Sustainable Development Research, which was produced by Digital Science’s Consultancy Group led by Dr Juergen Wastl, looks at the state of the world’s research on the UN’s SDG’s. It finds that more than 500,000 publications were published in 2019 relating to the 17 SDGs, constituting around 10 percent of the world’s total research output.

By Jim Kilmer Combining 5G and edge computing can give manufacturers more from their technology—simply put, better factories and better products

Business leaders are often disconnected from their company's functional safety posture in reality. Here are some quick tips to help improve safety culture.

We asked a few of the ISA Global Cybersecurity Alliance founding members why they decided to join, and their answers were insightful.

SCHNEEBERGER's offering of ball screws deliver performance in precision, running properties, wear resistance, and operating temperature — with safe operation up to the physical limit of the driving motors.

The resulting data shows vendor management and contract negotiation are particularly time-consuming endeavors for IT professionals. Half (50%) reported they work with 11 or more different vendors and nearly half (48%) claim they can spend weeks, or months, renegotiating vendor contracts each year.

The survey, “The State of IT Modernization 2020,” examined the maturity of efforts to optimize IT operating environments, cloud strategies, applications and processes, including progress made, barriers encountered, and variations in initiatives at different phases of the journey.

WiM is a national association specifically dedicated to supporting, promoting and inspiring women who have chosen a career in the manufacturing sector.

Most of the funding was focused on autonomous passenger vehicles (APV’s), surgical robotics, and warehouse automation, with significant growth for field robotics and drone services.

The study, which was developed with the support of the research and analyst firm LNS Research, found that among global manufacturers only 24% have currently implemented a smart manufacturing initiative.

Mr. Stefan Hoppe, President and Executive Director, selected Mr. Clark to serve in this capacity, to support OPC North American membership, and to function as a spokesperson for the Foundation throughout the region.