Articles and News

HARBEC is pursuing certification to the newly released ISO 50001 energy management systems standard, which requires systematic documentation of carbon emissions.

The Karlsborg mill in Sweden is installing a Metso Kappa Q to replace two old analyzers in its bleached softwood kraft fiberline.

The production line has a yearly capacity of 400 megawatts of solar inverters.

PMMI's Mechatronics Certificate program has been added to The Manufacturing Institute's Manufacturing Skills Certification Systems offerings.

The ZigBee Alliance completed development and ratified the ZigBee Building Automation standard.

College internships are extremely beneficial on the path to a career in industrial automation and manufacturing.

ARM Automation developed this ultra high precision, EtherCAT-enabled robot for bowling equipment testing. The United States Bowling Congress uses E.A.R.L to help uphold the game's credibility, preserve its future and enhance the bowling experience for millions.

IEEE ratifies widely anticipated standard providing alternative approaches and best practices for Smart Grid work in India and around the world.

FDT Group, Fieldbus Foundation, HART Communication Foundation, PROFIBUS & PROFINET International and OPC Foundation founded FDI to establish an organization to manage device integration.

Norm Gilsdorf has been given the Outstanding Chemical Engineer Award from Purdue.

Automation.com, September 2011 By Bill Lydon, Editor In Part 2 of my interview with Eric Byres, leading industrial automation cyber security expert, he expands on the challenges and solutions for industrial cyber security, and includes recommendations for actions to take to protect your company and assets.

Honeywell will deploy its Experion Process Knowledge System and Safety Manager emergency shutdown and boiler protection system at a Fortum waste-to-energy facility in Klaipeda, Lithuania.

The single acting, spring-return rack and pinion actuator will operate a 16 inch ANSI Class 900 ball valve installed on the eleven kilometre export pipeline from the Seth Platform.

This year two hospitals will share $40,000 in Siemens products and services.

The manual provides building owners a comprehensive resource for reducing the use of energy, water, and toxic chemicals and for operating facilities in a more sustainable, healthy manner.

Support Connect enables administration, predictive maintenance and remediation of remotely managed assets without an upfront investment in data center hardware.

Hamburger Pitten, a producer of containerboard, upgraded its production line with two Honeywell Experion MX Quality Control Systems (QCS) systems, which will be used to improve product quality.

The office building and factory house 800 automation professionals. Production is working in two shifts on a record pace.

Automation.com, September 2011 By Benjamin Smith, Hidden Falls Hatchery PLCs from AutomationDirect provide a fully functional automation and alarm system to monitor the processes vital to keeping fish alive and healthy at this hatchery in Alaska.

Ice Cream Castles in the Land of Automation

Viewpoint on ISA TR84.0.02 Simplified Methods and Fault Tree Analysis

ARC says India needs to augment its existing generation capacity by around 600,000 – 700,000 MW in the next 15 years to satisfy growing demand for electric power.

Zacmi selected eWON’s Talk2M Pro service, in combination with eWON 2005CD hardware modules for its remote access needs.

Located in Uruguay’s southern state of Colonia, the $1.9-billion facility will produce 1.3 million tons of plantation-based pulp annually once it becomes operational in the first half of 2013.

Klustner’s prior executive positions include serving Verdiem Corporation as president and CEO, when the green IT company rose to national prominence in the energy software market.

The project aims to demonstrate the reliability, efficiency and cost benefits of a smarter grid to cooperative members.

Over the 15-year contract period, work by Siemens should reduce electricity consumption by county buildings by 37 million kWh.

Yaskawa America manufactured its one millionth inverter in the United States.

Salamander Energy will install AVEVA WorkMate Enterprise Asset Management solution across all of its process plants in Indonesia and Thailand.

Automation.com, September 2011 By Bejer Any manufacturer of complex machines that include HMIs must face a crucial decision: should you build your own human-machine interfaces or should you buy these ready-made?

Microchip delivered its 10 billionth microcontroller, the 32-bit PIC32MX340F256, approximately 10 months after delivering its nine billionth.

AMT will acquire Time Compression and Process Cleaning magazines from Gardner Publications.

HEIDENHAIN donated a 1980s Bridgeport 9x48 Series One mill and a new Acu-Rite MILLPWR 3 control to the museum in Windsor, VT.

Metso's control system helped the Järvenpää Pilot Coater reach a new world record speed of 3,160 m/min.

The alpha gearbox fulfilled application high speed requirements by improving throughput without risking gear reducer failure.

Automation.com, September 2011 By William Gilbert, Siemens Today’s AC drive systems now have the technology to regenerate energy back to the AC line--a practical alternative to mechanical braking and non-regen drives in converting, packaging, wireforming and printing industries

ISA Honors Outstanding Achievements

The Power of Networking: Jobs, Business, Even Fun

Toy Story Midway Mania! is one of the most technologically sophisticated attractions yet developed by Walt Disney Imagineering. It marks the company's first use of industrial Ethernet for a ride's control system which takes advantage of Siemens products.

The Rotork actuators replaced obsolete hydraulic actuators and power packs that were requiring increased levels of costly and time consuming maintenance.

Capable of generating 20kW for WAGO’s engineering, manufacturing and sales hub, wind power will meet approximately 10% of WAGO manufacturing needs.

ERP provides recipe management, purchasing, production scheduling, inventory and lot control, order entry, warehouse management, accounting, and reporting.

PcVue constantly monitors and enables the operator to adjust the exact amount of raw materials needed to make each paint batch perfect.

Linear Relationships for 4-20 mA transmitters

In order to provide the safety function the system must continue to operate correctly under all foreseeable conditions. So how do we design a system to achieve this, and when we have done that, how do we show it?

Ron Hefley, Ed Perek and Dan Ryan were promoted to Partner.

OMS avoided any pipe fit-up problems, providing Subsea 7 with fast, good pipe fit-ups ready for the welding stage.

ABB will supply automation and power equipment and related engineering and commissioning services to JK Paper Ltd for its expansion project.

A DeltaV system and AMS software will automate Hanwha Chemical’s biotechnology process and support the compliance requirements for FDA approval.

The partner program will allow systems integrators to resell QA Graphics’ products and services.

Two companies joined the Rockwell Automation Encompass program in the Americas region, while an additional three companies have been named global partners.

Linear MOTIONEERING sizing and selection tool simplifies machine design by quickly identifying the best ball and lead screw options for application requirements.

Virtualization simplifies computer maintenance and delivers high performance

DeMasie has over 25 years of technology and industry experience, and joins Flow-Cal from SunGard Energy and Commodities.

Certification of the Mechatrolink field network for safety makes it possible for MMA members to build motion control and machine control systems for use in applications that comply with safety standards.

Ore hoisting system will support the transformation of Ernest Henry Mining's open pit mine into an underground mining operation.

The 2011-12 Engineer of the Future Scholarship program will challenge Houston’s high school seniors to offer ideas for making industrial manufacturing facilities more energy efficient.

The boiler is for a biomass-fueled cogeneration power plant at the Domtar Mill in Rothschild, Wisconsin, USA.

The VPS Partners program seeks System Integrators to deliver industrial automation solutions to the process industry.

LTM has exclusive rights for the promotion and sale of the ADAM AMR (Autonomous Mobile Robot) products and solutions within India.

Safety Services Business Unit offers consulting assistance to assess risks and validate proposed solutions for industrial automation applications.

The AS3992 powers the Nordic ID NUR-05W reader, one of the the smallest UHF RFID mass reading Windows CE devices on the market.

Sonoda will reside in Japan and provide training, functional safety management and other key services to Japanese manufacturers.

The analyzer with 7 sample points in the ECF fiberline will measure pulp lignin content and brightness as well as shive content for improved process optimization and quality control.

The monarch SCADA/EMS system will replace an existing Siemens system implemented in the late 1990s at the electric utility in South Carolina.

The contest challenges students in middle school, high school and technical school to design an original control system using Phoenix Contact’s Nanoline controller.

RuggedCom will supply broadband wireless base stations and subscriber units to ENPPDC, making data collection and remote monitoring over large distances possible.

The plant, which was previously operated manually, includes 12 reactors ranging in size from 2,000 to 10,000 gallons.

Automation.com, September 2011 By Bill Lydon, Editor Bill Lydon talks with Jeff Kodosky, Cofounder of National Instruments and Father of LabVIEW, to discuss real-time control and particularly his continuing work on the problem of visually programming real-time- control applications.

Prior to joining ARC, Peter served as the Strategic Planning Manager for Automation and IT at Irving Oil in Saint John, New Brunswick

Automation.com, September 2011 By Chris Bowman, TR Electronic Like any industrial communications, there are advantages and disadvantages to using EtherNet/IP. Informing oneself of the limitations will help you to determine if EtherNet/IP is the right way for your installation.

July U.S. manufacturing technology orders totaled $506.97 million, up 7.3% from June and up 92.7% when compared with the total of $263.14 million reported for July 2010.

IEEE introduced two new standards, IEEE 1701 and IEEE 1702, to create a multi source plug and play communications environment for smart metering devices in India.

The market is expected to reach more than $1.5 billion in 2015, according to ARC.

The HG+ gearbox used in this application aids in precise motion, but it had to be nickle-plated to survive.

Harris Caprock will use Paradox Engineering’s PE.WSNi wireless sensor network for industrial data acquisition.

Evaluation Question

PBC Linear's Integral-V linear guide system reduces mounting components, improves alignment and provide ease of installation across scalable working lengths.

Nexen will supply Roller Pinion Systems to Flow International for Flow’s new line of waterjet machines.

Study says 40% of managers, senior managers and engineers in the global oil & gas industry don’t know where to find safety information.

172-page catalog covers acceleration, acoustic, force, pressure, shock and vibration sensors.

JSC KUZNETSOV will use PLM-technologies for a new line of gas turbine engines with high energy efficiency.

CIMdata formed a business practice focused on the growing needs of PLM organizations for comprehensive non-biased PLM education.

Target is a motion control distributor in the New England trading area.

Endress+Hauser's Dutch sales center moved into a new building in Naarden, which cost just under eight million euros.

Menderes' most recent position was Executive Vice President Sales and Marketing for the ESI-Group.

Connexx Energy has standardized on the Niagara platform from Tridium.

This growth is more than 80 percent over last year’s 187 ZigBee Certified products.

Joann Byres and Eric Byres will continue to manage Byres Security, which will run as an independent business unit under Belden, and the Tofino Security brand will remain the same.

ProSoft Technology has exclusive sales rights for all of the WRC network communication products that are centered on DeviceNet communications technologies.

Schneider Electric purchased all of the issued shares of Telvent for $40.00 per share.

Instrumentation and Control Systems Documentation: Two generations of knowledge

DENSO increased the number of robot service engineers in its service centers in Maryville, Tenn., and Long Beach, Calif.

Smith is responsible for all sales, marketing, and operating activities within SICK’s factory, logistics and process automation business segments in Canada.

ISA Announces Energy Track at ISA Automation Week 2011

ARC says the high power AC drives market will experience strong growth through 2015.

Online training course covers all the programming techniques in Siemens Simatic WinCC Flexible software.

ABB will supply two converter transformers, one excitation transformer, an MV frequency converter and one synchronous motor.

Livestream Schedule: Marketing & Sales Summit

EE Technologies installed Aegis’ Manufacturing Operations Software (MOS) to translate engineering designs into manufacturing documentation.

FH Tank Storage AB is using Emerson’s Rosemount wireless level and pressure transmitters to provide overspill protection at its Kalmar storage terminal on the east coast of Sweden.

Automation.com, August 2011 By Bill Lydon, Editor Cyber Security is a hot topic that has become more intense since the notoriety of the Stuxnet virus. I interviewed Eric Byres, one of world’s leading industrial automation cyber security experts, to gain a greater understanding of the challenges and solutions for industrial cyber security.

Automation.com, August 2011 By Bill Lydon, Editor Norm Gilsdorf of Honeywell Process Solutions sits down with our editor, Bill Lydon, to discuss their organizational changes, asset management, PLC competition, wireless, skill crisis, energy and sustainability.

Hummingbird replaced the existing oxygen analyser with the Pm1111E, a compact, fast-response sensor module which utilises a paramagnetic oxygen cell for fast, linear, highly stable and selective response.

Robotiq's Adaptive Gripper has been added as a partner product to Motoman Robotics’ product line

This guidebook is intended to help manufacturers in all segments improve performance by creating better business decisions through alignments between operations to financial results.

The guide provides detailed design guidance, recommendations and best practices to help control-system engineers use EtherNet/IP.

Focusing on Motion Control Technology & Embedded Systems, the library has 10 Teaching Textbooks & Videos.

eSight is a web-based energy management and analysis suite that interfaces with the OptoEMU Sensor.

The HIX HART signal isolator has received General Location and Class I, Division 2 (Non-Incendive) approvals from CSA International in the United States and Canada.

QA Graphics is a factory trained vendor available to provide graphic services for Johnson Controls’ Metasys Graphics+ graphics package

Siemens began production of SINVERT solar inverters at its recently-updated manufacturing plant located in West Chicago, Ill.

Control-See's alarm notification and remote control software - U.C.ME-OPC version 2010 SP5 is now certified.

Stealth will custom build computers for DC input power, multiple expansion slots, RAID, redundancy, NEMA/IP environmental protection, and high shock, temperature, vibration protection.

PROFIdtm software is free and available for download from Softing's web site.

A committee will meet to discuss strategic partnerships and a joint approach to important manufacturing issues, as well as consolidated services.

Canadian native Gary Tootle has joined eLynx Technologies and will be heading the sales/business development office in Calgary.

Honeywell will provide energy management and monitoring solutions which will help the steel mill get long-term cost savings through greater energy efficiency.

EMS is a provider of connectivity solutions for mobile networking, rugged mobile computers and satellite communications.

Survey of the century's most important contributions to the practice of "control."

Workforce development is a major focus for ISA and the Automation Federation.

ISA Announces Human Asset Optimization Track at ISA Automation Week 2011

Automation.com, August 2011 By Bill Lydon, Editor Raj Batra and Adreas Aufenanger of Siemens Industry sit down with our editor, Bill Lydon, to discuss Siemens' global realignment, their process industry initiatives, and their vertical market applications focus.

The website provides resources for customers with heating processes in industrial coatings, high-temperature heat treatment, electronics assembly, solar photovoltaic manufacturing, food production and kiln firing.

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has deployed an operator training simulator for an integrated gasification combined cycle (IGCC) power plant.

Founded in 1988 and employing a staff of fifty, Sonavation provides advanced non-destructive testing (NDT) services particularly for companies in the oil and gas industry.

The contract includes engineering and delivery of a 28 megawatt GMD system for a 42-foot semiautogenous (SAG) grinding mill.

Emerson will supply $8 million of critical control valves to be used in two AP1000 pressurized water reactors at SCANA Corporation’s Nuclear Generating Station in Jenkinsville, South Carolina.

Prior to joining Intelligrated, Cronin held executive roles in Red Prairie, Manhattan Associates and Seegrid Corporation.

Quadlogic can now offer remote access, monitoring and control of its energy metering technology over Ethernet, dramatically improving communication and reducing support costs for its customers.

Lynxspring will include a pre-installed version of the Module in its JENEsys ProBuilder software for Tridium’s NiagaraAX platform.

Automation.com, August 2011 By Eric Byres This tale doesn’t have princes or frogs in it, but instead it deals with SCADA and industrial control system security. It is the myth of the "air gap" between control systems and the rest of the world. Believing in it leads to a false sense of complacency by both end users and vendors, making it a very dangerous fairy tale indeed.

Automation.com, August 2011 By Joe Ciringione Cable carrier systems not only transport energy, data and media to various types of machines, but also greatly influence energy costs. To keep energy costs low, one important consideration is the amount of pull-push, or driving force, that is required at a given speed to move the cable carrier.

Softing is providing OPC components to ifm electronic to support a Condition Monitoring System for wind turbines.

Advanced Telemetry is a San Diego-based company offering end-to-end wireless and cloud-based energy management solutions for retail and commercial businesses.

Spectris operates across four business segments: Materials Analysis, Test and Measurement, In-line Instrumentation and Industrial Controls. Headquartered in Egham, Surrey, England, the company employs over 6,400 people.

ABB supplied three low speed dual pinion mill drive systems for the startup of a new semiautogenous (SAG) mill and two ball mills.

exida has certified the 705-51A Eclipse Series Level Transmitter as Safety Integrity Level (SIL) 3 capable per IEC 61508.

Invensys will provide an InFusion enterprise control system solution encompassing total supply chain management; refinery planning and scheduling; operations management, and more.

Metso will supply its IQ control quality system to Stora Enso Heinola’s Fluting Mill.

The SCADA system will be integrated with Vermont Electric's smart grid technology.

Grizzly will use the PlantPAx and Endress+Hauser instrumentation to help produce more than 5,000 barrels of oil per day at the first phase of its Algar Lake Project.

ISA and O3neida publish Agent-Based Technology Manufacturing Control Systems

Industrial Defender gains rights to the CoreTrace Bouncer 6-based host intrusion prevention system (HIPS).

Website serves people interested in robots and robotics technologies and want to learn about them in a fun, friendly, informative way.

Do you understand suppressed and elevated ranges? Here's an approach with a differential pressure transmitter measuring the level of a tank.

ISA Technical Report Presents Wireless User Requirements for Factory Automation

Model 4500 Mk III opacity measurement and dust compliance system has been verified by TÜV Rheinland to meet the EN 15267 standard for measuring stack emissions and ambient air quality.

VAKUMIX builds mixing and homogenizing systems using Allen-Bradley CompactLogix PAC with Distributed Point-I/O, PowerFlex variable-frequency drives, PanelView Plus HMIs and industrial components.

Automation.com, August 2011 By Brian Oulton, Rockwell Automation Proliferation of process instruments on EtherNet/IP may signal the start of a trend.

ABB’s educational package will give students the opportunity to learn the skills needed to effectively manage modern robotic manufacturing systems.

Metso will supply four IQ systems to replace four aging quality control systems in three separate Sappi paper mills in Europe.

Seven SERAPID RollBeams are used to push dies in and out of the presses at Reed City Tool. Each pushes the 18,000 pound dies at a speed of 20 feet per minute.

Hi-P will use NX PLM software to enable all engineers to work on tooling design and manufacturing systems.

Automation.com, August 2011 By Bill Lydon, Editor David Van Wyk, Vice President of Project Management for Walt Disney Imagineering, explained the team's Integrated Project Delivery (IPD) process at the recent Siemens Automation Summit. The IPD method helps Imagineering produce some of the world's most distinctive storytelling experiences that continue to deliver a high wow factor.

Cerutti selected EtherNet/IP and Rockwell Automation to automate its flexographic printing machines. The system handles 500 nodes and 13,000 I/O.

Power generation industry vendors are looking for ways to augment or retrofit their systems so that they’re able to provide the functions the owner operators will need.

Zwick Roell is offering a prize of €10,000 for the oldest testing machine (regardless of maker) still in regular use.

Brochure describes Nosch's automation solutions for the manufacturing process of solar cells and modules.

Autosplice is a multi-national, custom electronic interconnect solutions provider.

According to IDTechEx, wireless mesh networks will grow rapidly from $0.45 billion in 2011 to $2 billion in 2021.

Web site covers AC Front Ends, Rectifiers, DC Input Front Ends, DC/DC Bus Converters, Chassis Mount AC/DC Supplies, DC Power Systems, Chassis Mount DC/DC Supplies, Inverters, and more.

ABB FM (Force Measurement) is using Westermo´s Redfox industrial Ethernet switch with its latest version of Stressometer system for measurement and control of rolling mills.

Emerson is the single-source supplier of on/off valve actuators to Shell and its affiliates.

exida certified the RTP 3000 control system meets the cyber-security requirements of the ISA Security Compliance Institutes’ (ISCI) ISASecure Level 2 and SIL 3 per IEC 61508.

The brochure provides an overview of key product features and specifications for the company’s complete family of mechanical and electromechanical motion solutions.

McCurrach has over 25 years of experience in the manufacturing sector, with a focus on global engineering management, strategic program and process management.

RS product data is now available digitally and can be used by PARTsolutions and SAP users directly without data loss.

OSI will provide a SCADA system to monitor power distribution for the campus's 87 buildings.

RP blog has a primary focus on the manufacturing industry, while mixing in personal tales of adventure.

Ingress provides system integration and the design of instrumentation and controls for the power generation industry.

Los usuarios pueden tener acceso a un localizador representativo de ventas latinoamericano y un instrumento de selección de producto termal interactivo para calcular exigencias de producto refrescantes basadas en el tamaño de recinto y carga termal.

RuggedCom provided RS900 Ethernet Switches and RMC30 Media Converters to implement the communications infrastructure that connects multiple remote telecontrol units in the plant.

The ISA Mentor Program connects early career professionals to seasoned professionals who are willing to help coach, guide, and share expertise.

June U.S. manufacturing technology orders totaled $459.39 million according to AMT and AMTDA.

Muscle Robotics announced the opening of its head U.S. based office in Santa Clara, California.

ABB won an order from Hyundai Steel Company (HSC) to supply the drive system for the extension of its existing heavy plate mill in the Chungnam province of South Korea.

You cannot avoid the need to spend time in the field. Knowledge can be accelerated by communicating with the "best," directly and through ISA publications

By Dennis Brown, Dart Oil and Gas Dart Oil and Gas exploited the flexibility of the OPC Systems library to create a unique plug and play solution containing: OPC Systems Trend, OPC WebControls, OPCDatabase and OPCExcel.

This includes 250 million sensors powered by an energy harvester, at an average price of $6 per harvester.

The warehouse and distribution center in Reynosa, Mexico, provides customer service and rapid response to local product demands.

This 700+ page guide includes nearly 100 pages dedicated to non-commercial and educational resource material, including content on intrinsic safety, surge protection, HART interfaces and signal conditioners.

APS will implement IFS ERP software at 14 sites, including 10 in the United States and four in Europe.

ABB delivered a complete power and automation solution for a new cement facility built by Drake Cement in Arizona.

Emerson’s CSI 6500 Machinery Health Monitor will provide machinery protection and predictive monitoring of eight turbine-generator machine trains in Hungary.

Copley Motion Systems develops and manufactures highly dynamic linear motor systems.

IVC provides IP-based video solutions by combining high-quality cameras, enclosures, and software for industrial, commercial, and military applications.

The worldwide market for SCADA systems for the water & wastewater industries is expected to see above average growth over the next five years according to ARC.

The leading suppliers in 2010 were Dassault Systèmes, Siemens PLM, Delcam, Planit Holdings, PTC, Tebis, Cimatron, OPEN MIND Technologies, C&G Systems, and Missler Software

These kits provide engineers with quick and convenient access to sensor systems for evaluation purposes, taking the guesswork out of the sensor design process.

A2A Reti Elettriche selected Matrox Extio Series KVM extenders to remotely drive 19 dual- and quad-monitor workstations in their control room facility.

The joint venture will concentrate on developing the digital power plant concept focusing especially on the Chinese market.

The solar panels are now generating approximately 36,000 watts of power on a sunny day and are expected to produce over 60 Million Watt Hours of electricity over the next year.

After dipping more than 10 percent in 2009 due to the global recession, the pressure transmitter market saw a speedy and strong recovery in 2010.

Jonew prevoiusly was CEO of HayssenSandiacre, a Barry-Wehmiller company specializing in vertical and horizontal flexible packaging equipment solutions

The low power AC drives market will experience growth spurred by increasing concerns regarding energy efficiency as well as the environment.

ABB won an order worth around $1 billion from the Dutch-German transmission grid operator TenneT to supply a power link connecting offshore North Sea wind farms to the German mainland grid.

Omron STI has resources available to help machine builders and integrators successfully make the transition to EN ISO 13849-1:2008.

The partnership involves Siemens analytical products/services and S&B’s field construction/maintenance services.

COOPER Crouse-Hinds will supply 155 power converters, 570 extension cords, 230 distribution boards and 765 single plugs for future rentals.