Articles and News

The Web site, "Manufacturing is Cool," was created by the Society of Manufacturing Engineers (SME) Education Foundation with the goal of inspiring pre-teens and teens to pursue careers in engineering and manufacturing. It provides an inside look at how kid favorites - such as snacks, fashion, cars and cell phones - are designed and produced by engineers.

UK's Defence Aviation Repair Agency (DARA) upgraded its facility for the storage of parts and tools involved in the servicing of RAF and naval aircraft with 11 Lean-Lift automated vertical lift storage systems.

The web site has a keyword search to help process, plant, municipal water and agricultural engineers find the most up-to-date flow meter information. Revamped top navigation and side toolbars make it easy to locate target information in one to two clicks.

Cyco's third Americas User & Reseller Conference will be held at the Biltmore Hotel in Coral Gables, Florida, USA from June 3-5.

Ethernet Direct Latin America will serve the Spanish and Portuguese-speaking regions in Latin America.

Fully searchable CD-ROM provides complete product and design information contained in the company's print catalogs. More than 1,000 pages of technical specifications, product numbers, dimensions and application tips on 28,000 products are fully searchable by keyword or product number.

KD-Rig advanced diagnostic testing system provides NASCAR teams with detailed data about the chassis and suspension in a variety of simulation scenarios. It provides precise suspension motion while measuring bump steer, camber change and wheel loads. The KD-Rig also easily allows interference checking throughout the travel range.

The TiPS User Conference is scheduled for April 17-19, 2007 in Austin, TX. A highligh is an alarm management panel seated by founding members of the ASM Consortium; contributing authors of the EEMUAR 191 guideline; and people who have been involved with assessment and analysis of the world's most notorious incidents and who remain on the leading edge of alarm and upset management.

The European Collaborative Production Management (CPM) software market is in flux. Over the next five years, the market is expected to grow at a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of 12.7%. In 2006, the CPM software and service market was worth $889.6 million and is forecasted to exceed $1.6 billion by 2011 according to a new ARC Advisory Group study.

The booth layout will feature purpose-built kiosks offering an extensive overview of key fieldbus applications and FOUNDATION technology solutions through displays and demonstrations of registered devices, host systems, tools and services available from more than 20 of the world's leading automation equipment suppliers. The Interkama 2007 International Trade Fair is held April 16-20 in Hannover, Germany.

ABB will supply burner management, boiler controls, and BOP controls for two 330 MW circulating fluidized bed boilers at Cleco Power's new $1 billion Rodemacher Power Station, a 660 MW generating unit near Boyce, LA. ABB will provide System 800xA with operator stations, Harmony Bridge controllers for monitoring and control, and PLC interfaces to the turbine controls via standard OPC technology.

Emerson won a $7 million contract to automate the four unit, 4,000-MW, coal-fired plant in April 2005. The plant, which is owned by Huaneng Power International, is the first 1,000-MW-per-unit power plant in China, as well as the country’s first to use ultra-supercritical technologies. Two of the four units recently went on line.

The online SIL Resource Center has examples of how to determine Safety Integrity Levels and Safety Instrumented Systems (SIS), links to associated standards organizations, an extensive Questions and Answers section on the background and requirements of SIL and SIS process industry practices, along with a Common SIL Myths section.

Xycom Automation is adopting Pro-Face as its new corporate name. Xycom will remain a product brand name fully supported in the Pro-face family of Operator Interface and Industrial PC products.

Kuka Robotics has been selected by Transbotics Corporation to provide robotics to work with a new line of Automatic Guided Vehicles (AGV). The robots and AGVs streamline material handling processes for manufacturers by offering a complete solution for material handling from receiving to production to shipping.

The worldwide market for magnetic flowmeters is expected to grow at a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of 3.5% over the next five years. The market was $730.4 million in 2006 and is forecasted to be nearly $866 million in 2011, according to an ARC Advisory Group study.

The worldwide market for servo drives is expected to grow at a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of 4.6% over the next five years. The market was $3.07 billion in 2005 and is forecasted to be over $3.839 billion in 2010, according to an ARC Advisory Group study.

The "Next Generation CAD Configurators Save Time and Money" whitepaper details five key trends in the manufactured products market that have converged to create a new opportunity for manufacturers and distributors. The white paper explains how the company's comfigurator software helps.

The Consortium plans to work on new identify schema that provides more detailed information about an instrument, new requirements for event logging, an enhanced discovery mechanism that makes it easier to identify LXI devices over the Ethernet, and more.

Dr. James Truchard, CEO, president and cofounder of National Instruments was elected to membership in the National Academy of Engineering. Truchard was recognized for creating virtual instrumentation, which enabled the rapid development of customized measurement systems in industry, academia and classrooms.