Articles and News

By Thomas R. Cutler Only when a small manufacturer has a grasp on operation elements can the promise of lean manufacturing and continuous process improvement be realized

At the upcoming HANNOVER MESSE (20–24 April 2020), some 6,000 companies from all around the world will present a broad array of industrial products and solutions.

Digital twin cloud services provide an intuitive and immersive 4D environment converging digital context and digital components with digital chronology for “evergreen” infrastructure digital twins over asset lifecycles. For infrastructure professionals, BIM and GIS are effectively advanced through 4D digital twins.

Wilfried Eberhardt succeeds Walter Zulauf, Director of Technology, Güdel Group AG, whose three-year term had ended. Walter Zulauf will continue his contributions to the board and was elected as Vice Chairman.

Automation systems are vulnerable to many cybersecurity risks, but email viruses pose the least risk to disrupt operations and create an emergency situation.

The project aims to test the production of hydrogen gas through brown coal gasification, liquefaction of hydrogen gas, storage and loading onto a specialized carrier for transport across the Asia-Pacific.

The tool also offers cost analysis, insights on cyber insurance limits and deductibles, and an estimated incident costs calculator that helps organizations better understand how to protect themselves against current and emerging cyber threats.

While many manufacturers are aware of the benefits of digitalization, it can be difficult to figure out where to begin, in order to reap those benefits. EPICOR has put together an architecture for companies, particularly small and medium manufacturers, to implement Industry 4.0, and Internet of Things conceptsy.

EtherCAT G was introduced by Beckhoff Automation in 2018 as an extension of the EtherCAT standard. Beckhoff recently presented the gigabit technology addition to the ETG, and after thorough review, the organization’s Technical Committee accepted it. Right now, the ETG is working to add EtherCAT G to the corresponding technology specifications.

Corning will use Verizon’s 5G technology to test how 5G can enhance functions such as factory automation and quality assurance in one of a fiber optic cable manufacturing facility.

By Bill Lydon, Automation.com The foundations of the automation industry are being reshaped by the flood of ideas, software, and products driven by Industry 4.0 and digitalization of manufacturing and process industries. Machine builders many finally start to benefit from the leveraging of open standard control software.

The convergence of the IT and OT knowledge for industrial automation environments is well underway. Soon IIoT will approach the network edge for almost every industrial application.

The data illustrates that IoT/ICS networks and unmanaged devices are soft targets for adversaries. Some of the top findings noted that these networks have outdated operating systems (71 percent of sites), use unencrypted passwords (64 percent) and lack automatic antivirus updates (66 percent).

The MachineMetrics IIoT Partner Ecysostem is powering a range of services and enabling complete end-to-end solutions and continuous value creation for both discrete manufacturing customers and participating partners, and includes a number of companies like Amazon Web Services, Hurco, Tsugami, SECO Tools, Saint Gobain, and McKinsey and Company

By Jonathan Wilkins, EU Automation Automated guided vehicles (AGVs) have been an industry staple since 1953. However, their reliance on environmental markers and the fact they follow a pre-determined route, means AGVs are best suited to structured environments in the absence of humans. This article discusses the rise of mobile robots and what challenges need to be faced for their uptake.

The Buford, Georgia office is planned to be opened by the end of 2019 to accelerate distribution efforts. The office will serve as the headquarters for sales, marketing, training, and customer service in the Americas.

Teradyne will acquire privately held AutoGuide for $165 million; $58 million net of cash acquired plus $107 million, if certain performance targets are met extending potentially through 2022. The acquisition is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2019, subject to customary closing conditions and regulatory approval.

Make the pilot lab more flexible, accurate, and productive while maintaining the Class 1, Division 2 hazardous area classification.

A better understanding of closed-loop control, and how to tune it, can be found by looking at the individual parts of the PID equation and the effect of each on the controlled output

OPTEK is an designer and manufacturer of large-format, granite-based video (VideoMic) and x-ray (InnerVision) dimensional measurement systems