Articles and News

The Understanding Direct Part Mark Identification half-day events cover the most important factors to consider when implementing DPM ID for part traceability in the automotive, aerospace, healthcare, electronics and defense industries. Anyone with a DPM application in the assembly and parts supply chain will appreciate this highly informative seminar. Participants will learn how to implement a reliable DPM traceability program that includes marking, reading, verification and process control. The program contains valuable information to help manufacturers achieve DPM ID requirements and traceability goals.

Invensys Process Systems joined BP, Chevron, and Shell in a presentation and panel discussion on PRODML, PRODuction xML, a new open standard for digital technology for production optimization in the oil and gas industry. This presentation was part of the two-day conference “Digital Energy 2006: Bytes and Barrels, Applying Digital DNA to Meet the Business Performance Challenge”, sponsored by the Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE).

The ISA Foundation is gearing up to give scholarships, encourage student development, and support standards development in 2006. Through the Foundation, ISA awards educational scholarships each year. Scholarships for tuition and research activities are given to graduate and undergraduate students. Students must demonstrate outstanding potential for long-range contribution to the automation profession. Since 2001, ISA has awarded over $135,000 in scholarships to 53 well-deserving students.

Funded by the Department of Homeland Security/Homeland Security Advanced Research Projects Agency (DHS/HSARPA), the PCSF provides an open, collaborative environment for representatives from industry, academia, standards bodies, vendors and government. The PCSF is a neutral entity managed by a public/private collaborative (interim) Governing Board and facilitated by Mitretek Systems.

FKI Logistex has begun manufacturing a model of its Maestro™ crane in St. Louis as part of a large order for one of its US-based customers. The model has undergone an engineering conversion for local manufacture. The rest of the FKI Logistex crane product line, including all of the company's Condor™ units, will still be manufactured in the United Kingdom.

Azure has received orders from five automation and materials handling OEMs and control systems integrators for its Universal Wireless Gateway. Under the contracts, the Gateway will be used to provide communications over Wi-Fi wireless networks for flexible manufacturing control systems and automated guided vehicles.

The 6th Annual Fugitive Emissions - LDAR Symposium will be held 13-15 June 2006 in Houston, Texas. The symposium covers leak detection and repair (LDAR) methods and fugitive emissions management systems. The event is designed to create a forum in which paper presentations, tutorials, and speaker panels transfer information from the world's leading experts on fugitive emissions and LDAR to industry professionals.

National Instruments Business and Technology Fellow Mike Santori will deliver the industrial automation keynote address to an audience of industry experts at National Manufacturing Week on March 21 in Chicago. In his keynote address, “Automation: How to Compete in a Global Economy,” Santori examines the critical technologies and architectures that create improved efficiency in next-generation production facilities.

Cisco Systems and RedPrairie have joined Intermec Inc. and Cascade Corp to create a concept for a forklift that will build RFID and real-time location capabilities into the equipment of the future.

Schneider Electric has signed an agreement to acquire 100% of the Italian Group OVA G. Bargellini SpA. OVA operates in the emergency lighting market, with leading positions in Italy and a strong presence across the rest of Europe. The company is also active in the wiring devices business, through electrical components such as portable socket-outlets, plugs and adapters.

Puma rear-projection Advanced Performance Liquid Crystal Displays (AP/LCD™) have been selected by the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) to provide a large-scale visualization capability in its Integrated Energy Operations Center (IEOC) at Richland, Wash.

From a small workshop in Maldon, UK, ICS Triplex has grown into a world-wide organisation and one of the few remaining independent manufacturing and engineering companies in the automation industry today. With its Headquarters still located in Maldon, UK, ICS Triplex maintains the technology driven, customer led ethos that has been the force behind 40 years of successfully protecting people, investments and the environment.

Southern Peru Copper Corp. (SPCC) has selected PlantWeb® digital plant architecture with FOUNDATION™ fieldbus (FF) technology for digital automation of its Ilo Smelter, Peru facility.

Intermec Inc. today launched two ambitious RFID purchase programs designed to help companies worldwide obtain the superior business benefits of Gen 2 RFID equipment and technology, while maximizing previous investments in earlier-generation RFID. The programs are designed to aid both companies that purchased RFID equipment and tags to meet early compliance deadlines, and companies now considering initial RFID implementations.

Mafelec is a specialty manufacturer of onboard push-button switches for railway, overland and maritime transportation applications. The sale, which is part of the company’s acquisition by its management (Gilles Heinrich and Eric Heitz), demonstrates Schneider Electric’s commitment to supporting the entrepreneurial spirit of its employees.

LCRA will employ I/A Series digital automation from Foxboro in a control system modernization at the Fayette Power Project, a 1,641-megawatt, three-unit, coal-fired generating facility near La Grange, Texas. The new controls implementation will replace existing ash handling PLC systems controls in Units 1 and 2, each with a capacity of 598 megawatts.

The certification recognizes a Microsoft Competency in ISV/Software Solutions and in Networking Infrastructure Solutions. Microsoft Gold Certified Partners represent the top tier of organizations within the Microsoft Partner Program and membership is only awarded to those who have demonstrated the highest level of expertise in creating and implementing solutions based on Microsoft technologies.