Articles and News

This practical reference manual, available in a downloadable PDF format, can be used to prepare for the Control Systems Engineering (CSE) examination.

Details of presentations on various topics by industry experts at the conference.

Paxton Shantz is the Regional Manager for the B&R office in Los Angeles, CA.

The ERP System will handle all aspects of pricing, job costing, inventory control, MRP and more for Truss Systems Hawaii.

Applicator is available as a program running on the web-site or by request on CD.

Invensys will supply a Foxboro I/A Series DCS for a 3,600MW generating station being built in Jharsuguda district, Orissa state, India.

Schneider Electric is in negotiations with Eaton to sell MGE UPS Systems operations in small systems per its commitment to the European Commission.

FF-569 Version 2.0 supports new Host Profile Test & Registration Program. It includes updated FOUNDATION fieldbus host profiles, interoperability requirements, and test procedures leading to host registration.

ISA published a CD-ROM version of "The Hitchhiker's Guide to Manufacturing Operations Management: ISA-95 Best Practices Book 1.0," by Editor and Contributing Author Charlie Gifford.

Brochure describes electric, hydraulic, pneumatic and linear motion and assembly technology resources available to manufacturers to improve productivity of any machine tool operation.

Test Tools Catalog has information on safety standards and links to Fluke test tool programs and training resources.

Phil Danner succeeds Mike Abel, who has taken a position as vice president, program management with the company.

YOUR MOTOR HERE! is an easy-to-use online database that checks in-line motor-to-actuator mounting compatibility and makes the match. It covers most popular brands of servo and stepper motors.

Before joining Toellner Systems, Curtis worked for Communication Logistics, a full service direct marketing company, as their marketing manager.

ABB is relocating its global Process Automation division headquarters from Norwalk, CT, to Houston, TX, effective August 1, 2007.

Set-up a new account on the ASI website to be entered into the monthly drawing for a chance to win an iPod Nano, Fluke 114 multi-meter or Palm Z22 PDA.

Free guidebook offers production solutions for short runs, complex products, cleanroom requirements and other challenges in medical manufacturing.

Junot Systems will integrate QMSoutsource's “Safety In Your Hand” handheld system with SAP R/3 and mySAP.

Flowserve's Rotating Equipment Specialist (RES) program surpassed 10,000 hours of worldwide training in the first quarter of 2007.

Engineers at OptiMedica created the PASCAL photocoagulator, a fully integrated medical pattern scanning laser system using LabVIEW.

SICK and OCS will partner to deliver integrated dynamic weighing solutions and in-motion scales for the logistics industry.

The 2007 awards recognize companies that work with imagination and conviction to create organizational value and business results through their policies and Best Practices in human resource management.

The team built an environmentally friendly crossover sports utility vehicle based on the National Instruments LabVIEW graphical design environment.

Thailand's Suvarnabhumi Airport selected Intermec to supply an RFID and barcode system for the airport's Cargo Free Zone.

The white paper highlights some of the best practices that are enabling IT and engineering to work together successfully.

Summa provides IT consulting services and customized software development for companies in various industries.

The center shows integration of the Stardom RTU unit, the CENTUM CS 3000 Distributed Control System, the ProSafe-RS Integrated Safety System, and software packages.

Siemens Energy & Automation, Inc. recognized five U.S. companies for outstanding technological leadership during the 2007 Siemens Automation Summit held at Disney’s Coronado Springs Resort in Orlando, Fla.

More than 860 Siemens Energy & Automation, Inc. customers, Solutions Partners and employees participated in three and a half days of best practice sharing, hands-on training and networking at Disney’s Coronado Springs Resort in Orlando, Fla.

This self-paced training course which covers all of these aspects of Gas Monitors. Learn how these instruments work, what do they measure, how to select them, install them, calibrate them & maintain them. The subject is explained by means of text, rich graphics, Flash based animations, real-life plant photos and videos and interactive simulation exercises. There is also a self-assessment test & a glossary.

Puritan Automation specializes in the design and manufacture of fully-automated, semi-automated, or manual assembly and test equipment.

Awards were given to David Lavery of NASA, Harvey Castner of EWI, Martin Hägele of the Fraunhofer Institute, and Bala Krishnamurthy of Aeolean.

Yokogawa and MAVERICK Technologies have been selected as the main automation and control contractors for Chevron’s global refineries.

The Technology and Application Center in Erlangen, Frauenauracher Straße, Germany, houses machine tools and production machinery that are available for demonstrations and training courses.

Type 950XP is now compliant with ATEX directive 94/9/EC for equipment intended for use in potentially explosive atmospheres in Europe.

The brochure describes using 4-20 mA vibration data for cost effective vibration monitoring.

ABB appointed Ravi Uppal, head of the company's Indian business and South Asia region, to its management board as head of Global Markets.

Emerson completed a major modernization program at a custody transfer gas metering installation at the Makpetrol Border Station in Macedonia.

June 25-27, 2007 Boston, MA Bruce Seiler will speak on “The Use of Collaboration Tools throughout the PLM Cycle at ATG.”

Banner Racing Team finished 3rd and 7th overall.

Located in Singapore, Smartag develops RFID tags for applications such as library management, cosmetics, pharmaceutical, etc.

Motion control components based on Ethernet Powerlink is being used by Harland Machine Systems, manufacturer of linear labeling machines.

Siemens Metals Technologies will add a new wide Temper Mill to Nucor's existing Cut-to-Length Line.

G-TECH, based in Hsinchu, Taiwan, was founded in 1988 by a group of sound and vibration experts.

ISA published ANSI/ISA-61804-3 (104.00.01)-2007, Function Blocks (FB) for Process Control - Part 3: Electronic Device Description Language (EDDL).

Levine previously was executive Vice-President with Schneider Electric Motion.

Bison Gear will receive the award from the River Valley Workforce Investment Board in Aurora, Illinois, for its outstanding contribution to workforce development during the past year.

ControlSoft's INTUNE loop optimization software will be an option in GE Fanuc's Proficy Process Systems solution.

Businesses must navigate an increasing number of standards and an increasing number of threats associated with industrial automation. "It won't be all plain sailing," warns Joachim Fietz, CEO, Innominate.

Dust Networks has been selected as the provider for Streetline's City Infrastructure Technologies (CiT) Platform.

The Kingfisher PLUS+ Series RTU embeds the ISaGRAF 5 control software, so it support boths the IEC 61131-3 and IEC 61499 standards.

NASA will use ORBexpress RT in a research project to develop a software architecture solution for NASA’s next-generation software defined radios.

Vincent will be succeeded by Jeffrey A. Burnstein, who has served as RIA's number two executive for more than two decades.

The centers have advanced flow laboratories where Emerson engineers can investigate valve technologies and verify valve performance.

The two companies will work together globally to serve manufacturing enterprises with solutions in Production Management.

Advanced dynamic simulation technology will enable BFLP to train operators on all aspects of plant operations.

The Honeywell VersaFlow line includes electromagnetic, Coriolis, ultrasonic and vortex flow meters made by Krohne.

The company's digital motor efficiency controllers obtained Canadian Standards Association (CSA) and Underwriter Laboratories (UL) certification.

Thermo Fisher and Megaware will market a software solution which provides bioequivalence functionality on a single platform to help speed up and manage clinical trials.

Brian Bullock has joined the firm as Director of the Design Group's Raleigh Office.

ABB is supplying GE Healthcare with a complete System 800xA extended automation solution that will help boost its production of protein separation media by 50 percent.

The catalog provides the most up-to-date information and specifications for Dataforth’s signal conditioning, data acquisition, and data communication products.

Tata Steel selected the ARL 4460 Optical Emission metals analyzer for its LD1 steel melting shop at Jamshedpur, Jharkhand State, India.

FKI Logistex will provide a turnkey, fully integrated, automated material handling system for ZipZoomfly.com's new 250,000 sq ft warehouse in Newark, CA.

Green Manufacturing Expos will be held at four manufacturing trade events in 2008, in Anaheim, Chicago, New York, and Charlotte, NC.

The program strives to positively influence the professionals of the future, provide technical knowledge and networking opportunities, and elevate the reputation of the industry.

By Bruce Bradley, Boehringer Ingelheim Chemicals This paper describes everything you should consider when applying fieldbus in hazardous areas, then shows how it was done. Author uses it in a class he teaches on hazardous environments.

UHF transceivers will be integrated within the Topcon GR-3 Satellite Receiver. The initial award involves the delivery of several thousand radios by September 2007.

BlueCielo ECM Solutions acquired DataCore Technology in an all-cash transaction. DataCore implements electronic data management (EDM) systems.

An Italian manufacturer of EMI and RFI filters formed a new company in the United States for the sale and manufacture of RFI/RMI filters.

Joey Stubbs, ETG North American representative, will run the office in Austin, Texas.

The working group will focus on developing standards for equipment used in potentially flammable locations within underground mines.

By Ilpo Ruohonen, et al AC drives are smaller, more intelligent, easier to install and control, have better communications, and are suitable for many more applications

BEI Industrial Encoders manufactures optical encoders and associated electronics for the industrial market.

Copps Industries will streamline its batch manufacturing processes with a DEACOM ERP system, replacing its legacy DOS-based system.

Oracle has validated the integration of DSI's dcLINK 5.0 automated data capture solution with JD Edwards World A9.1.

New Innominate mGuard industrial RS is the only device enabling both Ethernet and dial-up connections, cutting manufacturing costs

Livingston & Haven now sells the Mitsubishi Electric Automation product line; it will add the full line of articulated and SCARA robotic products.

Short Form Catalog includes new products and industry approvals for Precision Air Pressure Regulators, Transducers and Relays.

ThreadX RTOS and NetX TCP/IP networking stack support Ethernet-enabled and CAN-enabled Stellaris microcontrollers. Free demo available.

Poling will be in charge of all direct sales staff as well as managing the company’s network of manufacturers’ representatives.

IntraVUE 2.0 network management software is now available from Ethernet Direct.

The solution includes SimSci-Esscor DYNSIM process simulation and FSIM Plus controls simulation, supporting a variety of operator training functions.

Amin Rawji resigned as President and CEO. Company founder Nizar Somji will resume the role of President and CEO.

Best-selling author and business and technology pundit Chris Anderson to address more than 2,000 scientists and engineers.

Sheepscot changed its name to Sheepscot Dispensing Systems to more accurately reflect their core business, the metering of both single and plural component reactive resins.

November 28-29, 2007 Everate, WA This event will integrate OMAC Working Groups into a body that will work toward enhancing collaboration between process and discrete industries.

The Center of Excellence includes development and domain experts who are committed to enterprise software innovation and application development for the IBM System i platform.

KUKA will supply floor and shelf mounted robots for Negri Bossi's injection molding systems.

Flowserve will supply 400 pumps, seals and a hydraulic de-coking system for Marathon Oil's refinery expansion in Garyville, Louisiana.

Hansen makes asset management software, while Workbrain makes workforce management solutions.

The lab solves particle size reduction challenges in all industries by using wet-mix process systems for high- and low shear mixing of emulsions and dispersions.

France's Largest SolidWorks distributor to sell and support Seemage CAD content management software.

The organization will promote adoption of FOUNDATION fieldbus technology in India.

July 22, 2007 Richmond, British Columbia, Canada A three-hour wireless tutorial is being presented by the Wireless Industrial Networking Alliance (WINA) and ISA.

50-page catalog has an overview of encoder technologies, dimensional and electrical information, mounting tips, and equipment to help obtain the optimal signal quality.

Hirschmann held a ground breaking ceremony at the future site of their headquarters for the Americas in Chambersburg, Pennsylvania.

Site covers tools for industrial video servers and IP surveillance software.

The catalog covers sensors for liquid-level applications such as oil and gas, food and beverage, pharmaceutical, and specialty chemical.

200+ page resource includes a full color selection guide to assist users in choosing the optimum AS-Interface components.

The NEMA-rated cabinets range in size from 20x21x8 in. wall-mountable to 84x197x18 in. heavy duty free-standing units.

SeayCo Integrators used Rockwell Automation Integrated Architecture to achieve 99.5 percent read accuracy at McLane Company's distribution center.

Before being named EA vice president, Timms had a four-year assignment as the division's vice president of marketing and sales.

Co-drivers Leighton Reese and Tim Lewis Jr. drove the No. 6 Banner Engineering Pontiac GXP.R to a first place finish.

Markus Sandhoefner, Sales Manager with B&R, was elected as a representative to the board of directors of the OMAC Packaging Workgroup.

Eurotech (Far East) Ltd in Hong Kong will distribute and market the full line of Industrial Ethernet products. Euro-tech primarily focuses in areas such as water treatment, water plant, power plant and rail projects.

IntraVUE, from Network Vision, provides automatic and accurate real time viewing to highlight the major sources of plant floor disruptions.

Synchronics, now Radiant Systems Retail Division, installed the NiceLabel Print Engine for embedded label printing in its CounterPoint V7 and CounterPoint SQL software products.

Honeywell won a $2.9 million contract to provide the process automation technology for Saudi European Petrochemical's polypropylene plant, located in Al Jubail.

The DeltaV controller and firewall have passed Achilles Level 1 Certification Testing, which assesses the overall security of automation controllers.

The program offers a free, limited-time-usage CD with the latest versions of Proficy Historian and Proficy Real-Time Information Portal applications.

Oct 15-19, 2007 in Miami and Nov 12-16, 2007 in Lisbon, Portugal. Each conference focuses on how Thermo Scientific's solutions enable organizations to maximize the productivity of their laboratories.

The 600-plus page catalog contains TURCK's proximity sensor line, as well as specialty sensors for non-traditional applications.

June 5-7 2007 Austin, Texas ISA's 7th Annual Fugitive Emissions-LDAR Symposium focuses on compliance with today's complex leak detection and repair requirements, methods, and management.

Transpara’s Visual KPI works with Marathon’s everRun software, so that business-critical operational data is available without fail.

ABB will supply underwater power cables and electrical equipment for phase one of the Thornton Bank wind farm, about 30 kilometers off the Belgian coast in the North Sea.

ERP software producer tripled its office space in Wayne, PA.

Fleischmann's has deployed Infor ERP LX at all four of its North American manufacturing facilities.

Emerson will automate an oil sands bitumen upgrader facility being built by North West Upgrading in Alberta. Emerson will supply PlantWeb and DeltaV hardware, plus engineering, commissioning, and service.

Paul Mercier previously served as the national wireless specialist for Phoenix Contact USA. In his new role, Mercier will focus on the continuing growth of wireless and Foundation Fieldbus technologies.

Rockwell will acquire Industrial Control Services Group Limited for £110 million in cash. ICS trades and does business as ICS Triplex, a supplier of critical control and safety solutions to the process industries.

The TRUNKSAFE brochure explains how it is not necessary to duplicate an entire fieldbus segment, duplicate the field instruments, nor have any special software at the DCS to achieve fieldbus redundancy.

Automation services are benefitting from several converging factors that will provide 12% annual market growth over the next five years, according to ARC Advisory Group.

Proficy products have been named a solution-of-choice for complex manufacturing systems within DuPont.

Power Architecture Compilers chosen by Freescale and IBM for use in EEMBC Certified Performance Benchmark testing.

Intel Core Duo processors feature two computation kernels in one processor case. This technology enables multitasking and improves the throughput in multithread applications.

An electronic magazine ranked NI as Number 66 in its list of top 100 employers.

Henrik F. Stoltenberg was appointed Group Executive VP, responsible for the daily operation of JAI A/S.

June 19-21, 2007 Beijing, China The LXI Consortium's General Meeting will be held in Beijing, China, June 19-21, 2007, the first General Meeting to be held in Asia.

MTL Instruments Group plc acquired Elpro International Pty Ltd, an Australian based developer and supplier of wireless solutions.

Invensys will be a sponsor of the No. 17 Rahal Letterman Racing Team Ethanol IndyCar driven by Jeff Simmons.

The products enable network users to upgrade installed networks to 10 GbE over existing LAN cabling.

MOXA will be exhibiting at Booths D202 and D301 in Hall 1, with a focus on industrial IT.

Thomas Insprucker is a finalist in the Best Marketing Executive category for the 2007 American Business Awards.

Bill Hawkins spent 20 years with Hercules Chemical as an industry user and his next 20 years with Rosemount as a control system supplier.

Siemens landed orders from Baoshan Iron & Steel Group Co. Ltd. in Shanghai to supply drive and automation equipment for the modernization of the Hot Strip Rolling Mill No. 1 and expansion of the plate mill.

The Committee will organize fieldbus-related activities, including training seminars, trade show displays, and end user demonstrations.

Fieldbus Foundation will present a fieldbus educational seminar on July 12, 2007, at the Renaissance Hotel in São Paulo, Brazil.

Controllers from Yokogawa, Emerson, Invensys and ICS Triplex earn Wurldtech Labs Achilles security certification

ABB received a $26 million order as the Main Instrumentation and Main Electrical Contractor for two oil platforms being built for Maersk Oil Qatar.

During 2006, the company had sales of 190 million euros.

InfoWorld, May 2007 By Matt Hines The first remotely-exploitable vulnerabilities in Supervisory Control And Data Acquisition (SCADA) systems have been identified by researchers.

The two-story building will span 35,000 square feet with facilities for research and development.

This 1500+ page, two-volume set is a comprehensive machine and process safety product and technical reference guide.

Attendees will learn how to “Optimize Plant Performance” and have the opportunity to ask questions during live question and answer sessions. Webcasts run June through September.

Field demonstrations of FOUNDATION for Safety Instrumented Functions wil be held at Shell, Amsterdam; Saudi Aramco; BP, Germany; and Chevron, Richmond, California.

CSA and INMETRO approved the RT-Ex15 meter-mounted flow monitor for use in Class I/Div 1 hazardous areas.

Amy R. Defayette will do Product Marketing for the company's VarioFlow conveyor product line.

Emerson will install PlantWeb digital plant architecture and Ovation expert control system on two 300-MW coal-fired units at Amarkantak Power Plant in India.

Blue C Sushi implemented RFID equipment from Intermec and Microsoft BizTalk RFID software to track its food and automatically calculate customers' bills.

Attendees will explore techniques for mechatronics-oriented design with software, electromechanical sensing and actuation; graphical programming for embedded systems; and remote monitoring and support.

The solution combines Square D PowerLogic ION EEM software with engineering services to deliver a customized set of energy modeling, dimensional analysis and visualization tools.

November 13-15, 2007 Chicago, Illinois Rockwell Automation will host the 16th annual Automation Fair, a free forum with more than 100 exhibitors and 10,000 attendees from around world.

The ZigBee Alliance says its members are joining forces and leveraging their global wireless and utility expertise to fight the predicted global energy crisis.

The comprehensive forum is an essential source of information for those in the environmental field, providing the necessary tools and technical advice to help scientists performing trace element analysis.

IAS Industore installed and commissioned 13 Hänel Rotomat automated vertical storage systems at Benning, a manufacturer of power supplies in Ireland.

The division was formed by merging Endevco, Meggitt Aerospace Systems and Meggitt Electronics groups into a single entity.

Dennis Brandl, Principal Consultant of BR&L Consulting, Inc., and Dave Emerson, Principal System Architect, Yokogawa Corporation of America, are recipients of the Thomas G. Fisher Award.

Honeywell will supply automation and control for the Nuon Magnum plant, a 1200 MW coal/biomass and natural gas power station planned in Eemshaven, the Netherlands.

Dinesh Paliwal, President, will leave ABB at the end of June.

Robert Owen Inc. will resell Kepware device communications software with its sensor and signal conversion hardware.

FAS developed an ultrasonic welding and tubing cutoff machine using Misumi's locating pins, linear shafts, linear bushings, stopper blocks, timing belts, timing pulleys and hexagonal posts.

A series of free safety webinars begin May 24, 2007 and run for four months. Topics include risk assessment, U.S. and international safety standards and new safety technology.

Downloadable machine guarding products brochure includes non-contact sensors and control units for industrial machine safety.

Garland Manufacturing offers custom-machined chain guides and wear parts for high-speed and heavy-load conveyor applications.

TWINLINX will develop an electronic chip that prevents tampering with MIKOH's Smart&Secure RFID tags.

Version 5.1 of ISaGRAF has been confirmed by TÜV Rheinland to be compliant with the requirements detailed in the IEC 61499 standard.

The 28-page catalog details the drive's architecture, a bus for plug-in expansion options, software configuration for different motor types, and Ethernet Powerlink capability.

Spectra Colors, a supplier of dyes, selected DEACOM ERP software to replace its homegrown UNIX System.

Avantis.PRO enterprise asset management (EAM) software solution has been Windows Vista certified.

Larson will provide a bridge between Marketing and Engineering to help develop and optimize the commercial exploitation of Moore's intellectual property.

Mamzo has held executive positions with Serena, Merant, STEP Technology and Vermont Creative Software.

Honeywell will implement 10 UniSim Operator Trainer Simulator projects at MOL's Duna and Slovnaft refineries over the next three years. MOL is one of Europe’s largest oil and gas companies.

The web site showcases Junot's NLINK OPC to SAP Solution..

Everest Automation will be a distributor and Top Control will provide consulting services and optimization solutions based on Matrikon products.

Headquartered in Baden, Switzerland, the CPM Operations business will provide support in the United States, Europe and Asia.

Twenty years ago, CEO Ron Bullock, purchased Bison Gear and expanded it to become a world class gearmotor, electric motor and gear reducer manufacturer.

Website provides info on ERP software for building component, manufactured building, process, and mixed-mode manufacturing.

Approved by the Fieldbus Foundation,TRUNKSAFE achieves fault-tolerance without duplicating every component and installing special software at the DCS.

Wonderware celebrates its 20th anniversary as a developer of factory and industrial automation and information software solutions.

ABB will create a foundation with total funding of $16.6 million to sponsor talented and needy students in engineering and natural sciences.

Metso is producing a large shipment of Neles control and on-off valves for the new SABIC 400,000 tpa polyethylene plant in Wilton, UK

The new resource center includes key engineers formerly with Flow Solutions process integration group.

Automated Test Summit 2007 will be hosted live on the Internet May 8, and will be available on demand for 90 days.

Phoenix Contact will distribute Innominate's mGuard industrial security products.

InTech magazine and CITGO are starting a blog that will cover CITGO's design and implementation of a secure process control network.

The soft master implementation will make SERCOS III the only bus on the market that offers both hardware and software based master implementations.

ST Robotics’ R17 anthromorphic robot arm was featured in “The Last Mimzy,” a science fiction film about the future.

A Honeywell Profit Controller at Glanbia PLC in Ireland paid for itself in six months, meeting Honeywell’s guaranteed payback of investment within 12 months.

TorqSense transducer uses a RF link to constantly monitor shaft torque in the UK's Nimrod reconnaissance and attack aircraft.

Replacing a torque meter with a torque sensor has revolutionized the validating process for Fireset sprinkler systems built by Grundfos Pumps Ltd. in Leighton Buzzard, UK.

Siemens appointed Dennis Sadlowski President and CEO, succeeding Aubert Martin, who is retiring.

MED will build headsets based on polymer organic light emitting diodes (P-OLEDs), a competitor to LCD flat panel displays.

NiceLabel version 5 now provides a toolset that enables users to manage print jobs.

Power Distribution, Inc., manufacturer of power distribution, power monitoring and static switching equipment, has been acquired by Bertram Capital.

ABB will manage maintenance operations at ATC Panel's Pembroke, Ontario, Canada plant.

Honeywell will supply a $7.7 million Experion PKS and Safety Manager for the $1.2 billion Sohar Aromatics plant, located at Oman’s Port of Sohar.

Lockhart has more than 20 years of R&D experience and more than 10 years in management. Previously, Lockhart was a Program Manager at BAE Systems, where she was responsible for projects based on MEMS technology with real time embedded systems.

The 15,000-sq-ft center has a demonstration room, training facility, application lab, office space and a warehouse.