Articles and News

InVision will offer Dynamic Infrastructure's AI-based predictive maintenance solution to tollway operators in Greece to help them maintain their assets and improve Opex.

What supply chain issues do you anticipate in your area of the world as a result of COVID-19?

The newly classified pandemic known as COVID-19 will have a dramatic impact on nearly every industry around the world, and automation will be no exception.

What impact will COVID-19 have on the automation cybersecurity industry?

Madison-Kipp Corporation (MKC), based in Madison, Wisconsin, makes precision machined aluminum die castings and subassemblies for the transportation, lawn & garden, and industrial markets. When it wanted to bring down costs and raise efficiency, MKC implemented Ignition by Inductive Automation

The company has invested $10 million USD in the new 128,000 square foot facility where it will design, develop, test and manufacture robotic and safety automation solutions.

Experiential learning is increasingly accepted as the most effective way to develop competency for both operators and field workers. To build truly effective operations, though, we need to bring them together.

Connecting JobBOSS data directly with real-time machine performance is intended to create visibility at an actionable level so that operators and managers can run business operations more effectively.

The traveling tour is designed to bring the latest innovations in automation, instrumentation, networking, and cybersecurity right to the doorstep of the process industries.

The first controller has been completed at Rolls-Royce in the Purdue Research Foundation’s Discovery Park District adjacent to the Purdue University campus in West Lafayette, Indiana, and will be installed onto a Rolls-Royce AE 3007H engine, manufactured at the company’s facilities in Indianapolis.

The Facility Management & Maintenance Library features 69 courses in 3D specifically designed to train facility managers, building engineers and maintenance technicians of commercial buildings.

This article discusses how automated guided vehicles have advanced from simple materials handlers to intelligent autonomous robots.

Research by Salesleads, a company that tracks industrial companies that are planning construction, expansion, or relocation projects in North America, 435 new projects are in the works as of February 2020, an activity increase of 1% from the previous month.

For the most effective management of industrial cybersecurity, it should be baked into a company's culture.

As manufacturers consider investing in robotic technology for productivity, it’s vital they have a clear grasp of ROI validating purchasing decisions.

One of the challenges of this application was the metal and shiny surface of the parts, which the ECCO 55.100 sensor was able to manage perfectly, producing a high-quality profile of the inspected part.

Through this partnership, UniCarriers will manufacture and promote their pallet jacks running Vecna Robotics’ Pivotal automation software.

With the objective of spearheading a machining paradigm able to handle large, complex aluminum parts, the companies have started a strategic cooperation.

The automotive sensor market saw the highest growth in 2018, and the Research and Markets predicts the automotive sector will continue to dominate the sensor market until 2029. So, what can the wider manufacturing industry learn from this?

In his role, Jayaseelan will drive company-wide sustainability initiatives for plant operations, design, engineering, procurement, finance and marketing.

The two companies have agreed that Yokogawa will provide energy management technology needed for the efficient operation and optimization of large-scale storage batteries.

There are a host of advantages in adopting the SaaS model for business solutions such as labeling. Not surprisingly there is both a growing trend for companies to integrate labeling with their cloud-based enterprise applications as well as a distinct move to embrace cloud based labeling solutions.

T-Systems currently offers several solution bundles including LoRaWAN sensors, gateways, Senet network connectivity plans, and integration with T-Systems’ Cloud of Things IoT platform for application management and expansion.

With Plus One Robotics, MSC has deployed a patent-pending 3D-vision and AI-enabled robotic packing system in its Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, customer fulfillment center and now plans to implement the system across its five major centers.

The 2020 product catalog features performance data, sizes, specifications, and technical references for the company’s portfolio of current sensing switches, transducers, transformers, and ground fault protection products.

The collaboration combines Emerson’s global reach and an independent E&P software portfolio with QRI’s industry expertise in applying augmented AI, machine learning and advanced analytics for asset and reservoir management.

HANNOVER MESSE 2020 has been postponed to the week of 13 to 17 July. Deutsche Messe AG is thus responding to global developments related to the Coronavirus.

What is digital twin technology in the context of manufacturing automation?

The five core beliefs of the ISA Global Cybersecurity Alliance represent the values that its founding members share in common.

ABB, a supplier of industrial robots, and Silicon Valley AI start-up, Covariant, announced a partnership to bring AI-enabled robotics solutions to market, starting with a fully autonomous warehouse order fulfilment solution.

HANNOVER MESSE USA will highlight the entire scope of Industry 4.0 and Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) solutions from digital ecosystems to engineered parts & solutions; automation, motion & drives; energy solutions, augmented reality, AI & robotics; and more.

The first testbed for the rail transportation industry, the LTE for Metro Testbed shows the feasibility of adapting LTE for Metro technologies for the urban rail sector.

New technology is making it possible for these OEMs to re-engineer their processes and operations, better support their customers, and capture increasing aftermarket business.

Process historians were once simply software packages that stored and presented real-time process data, but today historians are being used for much more.

To maintain a constant (rated) flux density, the applied voltage must also be changed in the same proportion as the frequency (per Faraday’s law).

To fight the coronavirus, China completed construction of two new field hospitals in Wuhan in just 10 days. Power management company Eaton and its partner electrical contractors and distributors were part of the construction project at the Huoshenshan and Leishenshan Hospitals that delivered an additional 2,500 hospital beds to the front line of this global health emergency.

“5G for Business” is devoted to the fifth-generation wireless technology, its application to different fields and sectors, and related opportunities to the city’s business. The first issue is dedicated to the theme of 5G and its use in immersive technologies, including artificial intelligence (AR), Virtual Reality (VR) and 360 ° video.

When machines run 24/7, with or without supervision, their components can wear out quickly. This article explains the potential of lights-out manufacturing.

T1 Industrial is the future interface for single pair Ethernet applications in industry. This standard is supported and integrated by the SPE relevant standards ISO/IEC 11801-3, ANSI TIA 1005-x and IEEE802.3cg.

Although few engineers now hesitate to use wireless for monitoring purposes, wireless valve control has not enjoyed such success.

Products are becoming commodities in the fast-moving new global business environment. To succeed, businesses need a competitive differentiator – a proprietary edge which can only be developed through innovation, knowledge and experience.

Network marketing is a distribution system, or form of marketing, which channels goods or services from the manufacturer to the consumer through a "network" of independent distributors or consultants.

The world of HAL and Data, of sentient machines, is fast approaching. Indeed, in some ways it has already arrived as humanlike machines increasingly take on the work of humans. As processing power increases exponentially, and as MEMS technology brings smaller and smarter sensors and actuators, robots are the breeding ground for future-generation products with new, varied and exciting applications.

Today, ETO manufacturers, as opposed to repetitive manufacturers, are required to use technology to stay one step ahead of foreign competition.

Buhler, a provider of grain milling solutions, standardized on Softing’s industry-hardened S7/S5 OPC Server to provide reliable connectivity between Buhler’s “WinCoS.r2” automation system and multiple S7-400 PLC’s

The reason to use derivative (or D) is that you can use more Proportional and especially more Integral action. The result can be a much faster reacting control loop.

Counterfeit electrical products are a growing problem that can have serious consequences. The U.S. Customs and Border Protection and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement reports fiscal year 2008 seizures totaled more than $272.7 million in counterfeit and pirated goods, a 38 percent increase in domestic value over fiscal year 2007. In the category of Top Safety and Security Commodities for fiscal year 2009, electrical products moved from 5th to 2nd position just behind pharmaceuticals.

Dr. Godart is known for developing high-performance teams and applying groundbreaking technologies to improve business productivity and sustainability. He comes to OSI well equipped to provide strong strategic leadership to the company’s industrial energy management business unit.

The CC-Link Partner Association (CLPA) announced the release of the open architecture gigabit (GB) CC-Link IE Field Network. I recently met with two members of CLPA Americas to get an update on the latest CC-Link IE standard.

The two main ways to implement secure remote access are with a hosted VPN and with a traditional VPN.A hosted VPN works well in most applications and is much simpler to implement and support.t

Suggested industrial applications for XP Embedded include human-machine interface (HMI) panels, process automation systems, industrial robots, inspection systems, Soft programmable logic controllers (Soft PLCs), remote control devices and factory monitoring systems. Accordingly, many Advantech systems are compatible with XP Embedded. A few of the many possible consumer and commercial applications of XP Embedded would include set top boxes and terminals such as kiosks and ATMs.

Over the years, corrosion evaluation tools have been developed to help the corrosion engineer do his or her job more efficiently. In the end, these tools gave the corrosion expert a high level of data for determination of corrosion but the data was only useful to the specialist, not the facility operator or control systems engineer – that is, until now. Finally, corrosion monitoring technology is available that can be easily implemented into standard control room architecture.

Traditional compressor monitoring has focused on velocity vibration and rod drop. Hardy provides two additional measurement techniques, Impact and Triangulated Rod Drop, that were developed especially for reciprocating compressors.

The vast majority of encoder users have a solid understanding of the type of encoder they need to accomplish their objective. What they don’t always know, at least without painful experience, are the major factors that need to be considered when specifying, installing, and interfacing with the encoders they select for their machine. This article will address those issues, primarily as they relate to rotary incremental optical encoders, though most of the concepts that follow apply to several encoder types.

The methodology proposed in this paper can be applied to any processes i.e. manufacturing, management, software development, financial, etc.

The Freelance system combines easy engineering with open system architecture. ABB describes Freelance as a small footprint DCS for small to medium sized plants in the process industry and for applications requiring DCS functionality in a compact system with intuitive and efficient engineering tools.

ISO 9000 is a family of international quality management systems standards designed to help organizations ensure that they meet the needs of customers and other stakeholders while meeting statutory an

In his role, Markus Spanner has established an extended management team to take a structured approach to achieving the new targets. He will be assisted bDr. Peter Schittenhelm (COO), Dr. Markus Czanta (CTO), Stéphane Bussa (CSO), and Heiko Brehm (CFO).

The transaction includes the purchase of a minority interest in ASEM held by KEB Group, Germany. Post-close, Rockwell Automation will maintain ASEM’s strategic supplier and technology partner relationship with KEB.

The solution is a result of co-innovation between Orange and its strategic partners Ekinops and Dell Technologies, combining Enterprise Branch Server IT and Virtualization Management.

The awards, which are judged by independent juries of industry experts, recognize infrastructure projects for digital innovations that improve project delivery and/or asset performance. The deadline for nominations is May 1, 2020.

The report shows that the current deceleration in manufacturing output seen in 2019 is expected to continue into early 2020. However, a solid recovery is anticipated by 2021, before the sector enters another natural business downcycle towards the end of 2022. A rise in output for most industrial segments is then forecast beyond 2022.

From 2020 to 2022 almost 2 million new units of industrial robots are expected to be installed in factories around the world. New technology trends and market developments enable companies to react to changing requirements. The International Federation of Robotics shows top trends to innovate.

Designed to help digitalize the smart buildings industry, the Smart Buildings Challenge had technology suppliers compete to design solutions for four different use cases.

The amount of worldwide e-waste generation is expected to exceed 50 million tons by 2020. Americans specifically, throw away an estimated 55 billion USD in e-waste material each year. This article explains how manufacturers can achieve sustainable manufacturing through obsolescence management.

There are very few if any chemical or refinery units that would not benefit from state-based alarming.

ISA past president Paul Gruhn, PE, CFSE, will be presenting at local meetings around the country during the first quarter of 2020. As a global functional safety consultant with aeSolutions, Gruhn has gained extensive experience consulting with sites around the world.

SystemLink was developed by National Instruments as a tool to help engineers and engineering management navigate through Industry 4.0. It works to simplify tasks such as software deployment, device configuration, system monitoring, and data management.

Through his experience on numerous projects, Kuusman has acquired a breadth of knowledge in the company’s systems and site work management, which he now brings to this new role. Namely, he will be responsible for leading the Cimcorp U.S. office in Norcross, Georgia, guiding its strategic growth and quality of customer service and after-sales support.

PCT set out to find a solution that would remove the cab from the boom and, instead, allow operators to control and monitor the process remotely. If the company pulled it off, it would be a first for ship loading in North America.

This strategic initiative is intended to expand Wunderlich-Malec’s services including Civil and Structural Engineering and enhance their capacity for Architectural and MEP services.

Understanding and reducing noise from control valves is an important consideration for the process industries, especially those close to residential areas.

The initiative "Industrial Joining Technologies (IJT)" describes all joining technologies used for manufacturing processes such as riveting, welding, gluing and tightening. The scope of the specification was developed with the help of DIN 8580 and shows which joining processes can be classified under Industrial Joining Technologies (see figure).

Talk of Industry 4.0 has been useful in helping businesses understand the value of industrial automation and connectivity. This article explains why it’s not only vital to work with a systems integrator to get the most from industrial connectivity, but to also take a grounded approach.

Announced in conjunction with the availability of version 1.2 of the FDI specifications (IEC 62769), this release of the FDI Device Package Integrated Development Environment (FDI-IDE) provides enhancements for field instrument software developers.

Slip is usually expressed as a percentage, and varies by motor, from nominally 0.5 percent for very large motors to about 5 percent for small, specialized motors..

This article discusses five factors that can affect the weighing system's accuracy and provides advice on selecting, installing, and operating the system to handle these factors.

The move provides Abaco with the head room and resources that will allow the company to continue to develop the embedded computing technologies and solutions that have enabled it to become a supplier to the defense market.

The largest driver of the growth was a 50.5 percent increase in orders from automotive OEMs and a 16.6 percent increase from the plastics and rubber industry. Orders to automotive component markets were down 6.6 percent, and all other non-automotive industries, including food & consumer goods, life sciences, metals, and semiconductor/electronics, contracted by single digits.

The poster deals with the basics of EtherCAT technology, the EtherCAT Device Protocol (EDP), and provides a visual overview of EtherCAT. It describes the basic functional principles of EtherCAT, the structure of the frame and its processing in the EtherCAT Slave Controller (ESC).

The SOL4CE (Scalable Open Laboratory for Cyber Experimentation) is a collaborative initiative between CERIAS, the interdisciplinary cyber/cyber-physical security research institute, and the U.S. Department of Energy’s Sandia National Laboratories.

The collaboration will allow RobotWorx to expand its service offerings into offline robot programming with a software creator. OCTOPUZ enables path-sensitive, complex robot applications to be programmed without disruption to the manufacturing process.

A fuel cell is a device that converts energy stored in molecules into electrical energy. Using hydrogen (H2) and oxygen (O2) as power, the fuel cell produces water, electricity and heat without creating any emissions other than water vapour. This article explains the possibilities of hydrogen fuel cells.

A recent industry survey by NTMA through found that more than 90% of manufacturers are struggling to fill open positions. Other data show that the number of job openings in manufacturer is expected to grow even more in the next decade if there is not a significant investment in skills training.

With its keynote theme of Industrial Transformation, HANNOVER MESSE 2020 focuses on the opportunities presented by innovative technologies, steadily growing and ever more readily available amounts of data, and a growing awareness of climate protection.

One of the important objectives of a leak detection plan is specifying the required sensitivity. The two usual ways of doing that begin with either a leak hole size or a percent of mainline flow crite

IEC 63171-6 is the international standard for Single Pair Ethernet interfaces in industrial applications. The editor is the IEC committee SC 48B copper connectors. The mating face standard IEC 63171-6 T1 Industrial Style was the first standard submitted by HARTING to SC 48B for a Single Pair Ethernet mating face as early as 2016.

Overall, the majority of companies (77 percent) continue to use or plan to use automation in the next three years. The biggest takeaway in this year’s study is that the majority of respondents (51 percent) now believe that automation will decrease headcount in the IT security function, an increase from 30 percent in last year’s study.

The project further expands Emerson’s initiative to collaborate with higher education institutions and its commitment with both schools to build a globally competitive craft brewing and brewing industry in Flanders,

The report is a collaboration between many of TÜV Rheinland‘s Cybersecurity experts globally, and discusses seven key Cybersecurity trends which will be important to be aware of in 2020. These include attacks on smart supply chains, threats to medical equipment and weaknesses in real-time operating systems.

One of the main difficulties in modern cities is large number of vehicles. Traffic signal control has a crucial role in transport safety & smoothness of traffic flow.

A camera integrated directly into the nut of the drive generates images that artificial intelligence continuously monitors for signs of wear, helping to reduce machine downtime.

The SCADA market growth is attributed to the increasing adoption of automation technologies by oil & gas, utility, and manufacturing industries.

By Bill Lydon, Contributing Editor Fourth Industrial Revolution technologies are disrupting the manufacturing industry, and that disruption has risen to the highest levels: a topic for discussion at the 2020 World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland in late January

The Reynolds Number for a flowing fluid can be generalized as the ratio of kinetic (or inertial) forces divided by viscous forces.

Tranter IT is a technology service provider with an established presence in all 36 states of Nigeria with over 400 employees, of which 270 are engineers.

This article addresses issues related to the IP portion of the TCP/IP stack as it applies to control networks.

When judging entries for the award, the emphasis will be on the following criteria: degree of technological innovation, benefit for industry, environment and society, economic viability and readiness for implementation.

A non-linear process will have different response across the operating range. It will be sluggish at one end of the range and comparatively faster or even oscillatory at the other.

Within the next few years, literally billions of Internet-enabled microprocessors will provide digital intelligence and connectivity for almost every commercial and industrial product and appliance, extending the Internet into most aspects of our lives.