Articles and News

Within the framework of the agreement, B&R is to supply innovative panel PCs from the Power Panel series to BMW's international production sites and system partners until at least 2013.

PlantWeb uses a FOUNDATION Fieldbus network of intelligent devices and Emerson's DeltaV digital system to provide an operational overview of the Phase III platform, which is monitored by engineers and operators at the main manned complex 10 km away, on the Champion West Drilling Platform - 1 (CWDP-1). The Phase III platform installation also features remote control and monitoring from Onshore Control Centre, in Brunei.

Competitive Advantages for Early Adopters.” The white paper explains how intelligent safety systems can increase machine uptime and limit liability as today’s manufacturing engineering organizations become more aware of the strategic value of safety.

A longtime leader in end-user vision systems, NI now adds support for GigE Vision cameras to its existing image acquisition software. With NI Vision Acquisition software, engineers can acquire images from thousands of different cameras and seamlessly move between standard vision buses including IEEE 1394a, IEEE 1394b, Camera Link and analog.

The permanent mold casting cells will utilize a KUKA robot and are designed to complete multiple casting tasks such as furnace and casting tending, sawing, sanding, milling/drilling, inspection and machining.

Matrix Electronica will distribute Imsys’ line of Java-enabled microcontrollers, prototyping kits, modules and development tools throughout their channels in Europe. Matrix has offices in Spain, Portugal and France.

The solution includes process data acquisition, control system performance analysis, process monitoring and advanced control technology components. The original contract to implement the solution at 50 plants has been completed.

The CIP Motion Drive Profile establishes the technical foundation for the implementation of multi-axis, synchronized motion control on EtherNet/IP™, the world's most developed, proven and complete industrial Ethernet protocol. The CIP Motion Drive Profile supports a range of drive types from variable frequency drives to high performance servo drives.

The charter stakeholders of The Automation Federation began the formal organizational process with meetings at the ISA President’s Spring Meeting last week in Orlando. Representatives of OMAC, WBF, and ISA met to sign incorporation documents, discuss initial strategic initiatives, and outline next steps.

To further this agreement, USCAR is proceeding with specific initiatives to accelerate its adoption in the U.S. vehicle assembly operations of its three member companies – DaimlerChrysler Corporation, Ford Motor Company and General Motors Corporation.

AECI is owned by and provides wholesale power to six regional and 51 local electric cooperative systems in Missouri, northeast Oklahoma and southeast Iowa that serve more than 800,000 customers. The New Madrid plant is comprised of two 600-MW coal-based electric generating units. As a baseload plant, it is critical to AECI's mission of providing an economical and reliable power supply to member systems.

By creating new jobs and promoting the training of technical specialists and managers worldwide, the drive and control specialist has increased sales growth for the third straight period.

Opto 22, a developer and manufacturer of hardware and software for industrial automation, remote monitoring, data acquisition, and machine-to-machine (M2M) applications, has announced the release of the SNAP PAC Learning Center, an integrated set of Opto 22 hardware and software that provides all the tools needed to learn and train with Opto 22 SNAP Ethernet systems.

EtherNet/IP stands apart from other industrial Ethernet options as it uses the same standard TCP/IP protocol chips and wiring that are used for the Internet and in company business networks worldwide. This approach offers a myriad of benefits to automation users and vendors alike: low product development costs, ease of use, simple product and network integration and multi-vendor interoperability, delivering far more than a fieldbus ever could.

The CIP Safety protocol for EtherNet/IP meets the requirements of IEC 61508 up to Safety Integrity Level 3 (SIL 3/Cat.4) and establishes the technical foundation for the implementation of CIP Safety on EtherNet/IP, the world's most developed, proven and complete industrial Ethernet protocol.

A live demonstration with the first device implementations of this C2C profile was presented at the joint booth of the Interests Group SERCOS interface. The product spectrum for SERCOS III continues to increase and currently includes over 20 innovative products. Additional companies have announced they will support and implement SERCOS III as a universal real-time interface. The first users, e.g., Schuler – one of the technological and global market leaders in the metalforming field, are already successfully applying SERCOS III solutions.

The profile defines mechanisms to interconnect distributed control functions and to synchronize distributed motion controls in modular machines and systems via the SERCOS III interface. The specification takes into consideration innovative SERCOS III features, such as hardware redundancy, hot-plugging and cross communication.

The free, one-day seminars for potential users and vendors of EtherNet/IP products and networks will be held at various locations around the world. The seminar titled “EtherNet/IP: The Proven and Complete Solution for Manufacturing Automation” will present the value proposition of implementing EtherNet/IP industrial networks. The first seminar in this series was given during ODVA’s 2006 CIP Networks Conference & 11th Annual Meeting in Phoenix, Arizona, USA.

During 2005, worldwide turnover amounted to 151 million euros. This continued success is due in large part to constant product development, introduction of several new products and aggressive expansion of the Beckhoff international sales and distribution network.

Adept Technology, Inc. (Nasdaq:ADEP) today announced the results of operations for its third quarter of fiscal 2006 which ended April 1, 2006. Revenues were $15.1 million and GAAP earnings were $1.3 million or $0.20 per basic share outstanding, as compared with revenues of $13.0 million and earnings of $292,000 or $0.05 per basic share for the third quarter of 2005. Revenues for the nine months ended April 1, 2006 were $42.7 million and GAAP earnings were $1.4 million, or $0.23 per basic share, as compared with revenues of $36.1 million and earnings of $392,000 or $0.06 per basic share for the same period of the prior year.