Articles and News

A General Meeting and Interoperability Testing Session will be held January 30 - February 1, 2007, in Austin, Texas. The event will feature a one-day PlugFest on January 30 that will provide member companies the opportunity to test prototype LXI devices for compliance with the LXI Specification and for interoperability between prototype devices.

Advantech won Intel's Multi-Core Solution Contest and the Intel Associate Partner of the Year awards.

Ethernet Direct and Ardan Control Tech Ltd. are holding a 1-day seminar in Haifa, Israel, on “Innovation in Industrial Controls” on January 25, 2007 at the Dan Panorama Hotel, Star Conference Room.

Martin Swarbrick has been appointed President and Chief Operating Officer. Most recently, Swarbrick was Vice President and Director of Business Excellence for Motorola, when Motorola was awarded the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award in 2002 and the Balanced Scorecard Hall of Fame award in 2004.

Infor and Aberdeen Group will discuss overcoming the challenges of today’s complex compliance environment and the benefits of successful technology and organizational processes manufacturers can implement to achieve best in class compliance during a live joint webinar, Tuesday, January 16, 2007.

ATS is reducing its Automation Systems Group (ASG) workforce in North America by 180 people, with approximately 100 positions impacted in Cambridge, Ontario. The company is closing five operations in North America and Europe and investing in new facilities in China and Southeast Asia.

Infor ERP LN Feature Pack 3 delivers new features and improvements to increase visibility across operations; eases point-to-point integration of additional ERP solutions

Leonard Moore passed all the FAA requirements for his pilot's license, and now is certified to fly single-engine land-based aircraft. Mr. Moore has been flying since he was a teenager in Oelwein, Iowa, and soloed for the first time at age 16. Since then, he has continued to fly, but always with instructors or other certified pilots. When he rebuilt an old Ercoupe, he decided to use it to get his license.

Tom Kopanski, currently vice president of the Automation and Motion Division (AMD) has been named the new vice president of Power Distribution and Controls Division (PD&C). Raj Batra, vice president of the Automotive and Aerospace Center of Competence, has been named to the position of vice president of the Automation and Motion Division. These appointments will become effective, Jan. 15, 2007.

The Fieldbus Foundation announced the 2007 recipients of the James O. Gray-Fieldbus Foundation Educational Scholarship. They include Kenneth Ng Choon Guan, Singapore Polytechnic, Singapore; Jan Krak, Southern Alberta Institute of Technology (SAIT), Calgary, Alberta, Canada; and Akira Uehara, Waseda University, Tokyo, Japan

Inter Reps Ltd., also known as Euro Reps / Latin Reps, will manage international sales and marketing for Aaxeon Technologies. Aaxeon is a developer and supplier of Device Networking and Industrial Communication products. Inter Reps provides international sales and marketing services to American manufacturers in the Industrial Automation market.

Calvin Wallace has been hired as Regional Sales Manager for Southwestern Ontario. Wallace will provide direct sales support to Beckhoff customers located in an area that extends from Windsor to Guelph.

Rexroth asked its associates to send humorous endings to the sentence, “You know you're an engineer if…." Here are the top 10.

Emerson announced a multi-million dollar renovation and expansion of its Fisher control valves research and development facilities in Marshalltown, Iowa. The project will create the Fisher Technology Development Center, which will be the industry's largest and most advanced flow control research facility.

Teams at the FIRST® (For the Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) Robotics competition will be using compnoents donated by Igus.

FORTUNE magazine released its annual rankings of the nation’s top 100 companies to work for, listing National Instruments as number 86. This is the eighth consecutive year National Instruments has appeared on FORTUNE’s “100 Best Companies to Work For” list.

The service offers customers customized ergonomic evaluation tools that can be embedded within standard ergonomic simulation software to improve their manufacturing process by automating repetitive tasks and providing detailed analyses.

Emerson acquired Damcos Holding A/S, based in Naestved, Denmark, a leading supplier of valve remote control systems, tank monitoring equipment, and complete marine tank management solutions to the global marine and offshore markets. It will immediately become part of Emerson's Process Management business.

GE Industrial will acquire the assets of Rochester, NY-based Microwave Data Systems (MDS), a subsidiary of Moseley Associates and a world leader in industrial, wireless, and networking solutions. The transaction is subject to customary government approvals and is expected to close in January 2007.

As a new Windows Embedded Partner, RTI extends its high-performance messaging and software integration solution, RTI Data Distribution Service, to provide support for Windows Embedded CE and Windows Mobile.