Articles and News

HMI information needs to be displayed in meaningful and actionable ways rather than as "raw data."

Wireless technology for industrial automation applications has requirements regarding standards, protocols, methodologies, and support tools

Updates help automate device replacement and enable backwards compatibility among different revisions of FOUNDATION devices used in plant automation systems.

The redesign is now optimized to work with all major Internet browsers including Internet Explorer, Firefox, Chrome and Safari.

Automation.com, December 2012 By Bill Lydon, Editor Maintenance strategy is becoming an important topic because of aging systems and the lack of experienced personnel. The goal of a maintenance strategy is to achieve the highest automation system availability consistent with the organization's safety, capital investment and profit goals.

The 2013 General Assembly will be held in Shanghai, China, on March 12-15, 2013.

AMT says with a year-to-date total of $4,753.68 million, 2012 is up 5.3% compared with 2011.

Despite the overall decline, certain machine vision components have enjoyed positive year-over-year growth through the first nine months of 2012.

The Pawnee Station set up a cause code system for their text messages in the event of a shut down or malfunction. Each code represents a cause and is texted to plant managers and maintenance personnel.

Emerson will supply Ovation control and SCADA technology for the Catalina Solar and Pacific Wind renewable energy projects.

ABB will supply the switchyard, switch room and other electrical equipment, together with the control system for the Bozshakol mine.

Automation.com, December 2012 By Rebecca Guthrie, Dan O'Brien, et al. Honeywell Performance Materials and Technologies approached Honeywell Process Solutions for assistance on a solution for a standard manufacturing execution system (MES) platform that would reduce total cost of ownership and take advantage of industry standards.

Be extremely careful to select knowledgeable technicians to install capillary seals. Many a pipefitter has pulled them out of the box and bolted them up without the proper gaskets and spacers. If this

In addition to the obvious needs in power generation, the retirement of generating assets in certain areas will create pockets of grid instability that must be addressed.

Advantech has become an authorized distributor of InduSoft’s InduSoft Web Studio HMI/SCADA software package.

Catalog presents technical information clearly so customers can quickly source standard wire and cable products and custom build-to-order solutions.

Guide covers enclosure solutions for oil refining and purification, biodiesel production, etc., with relevant safety classifications.

Classes on safety, security, surge protection, Ethernet, wireless and I/O run from February through April 2013.

Red Arrow replaced unreliable capacitance-based level measurement devices with guided wave radar (GWR) transmitters from Emerson Process Management.

Honeywell will install its MES solution at four power plants in Kuzbassenergo and two power plants in Yenisei, Siberia, as well as at SGK’s head office in Moscow.

CSIA names four new members, four certified members, and three recertified members.

Subcontractors and suppliers will be showcasing their solutions and services to the international audience at Industrial Supply (8-12 April 2013).

Process integration and interdisciplinary product development are core themes of Digital Factory, 8 to 12 April 2013.

The 564 page catalog covers a wide range of machine safety subjects and the complete line of ABB JOKAB SAFETY products.

Accurate mass flow measurements have improved product quality and reduced production time by 10–15 per cent at the Unilever facility in Gebze, Turkey.

Siemens will supply two Robicon Perfect Harmony variable frequency drives (VFD) to the Big Stone Plant, a coal-fired power plant in South Dakota.

Students will design and construct Rube Goldberg machines, which are overly complex contraptions, for hammering a nail.

Motion, Drive & Automation (MDA) trade fair will be staged at the upcoming HANNOVER MESSE from 8 to 12 April 2013.

A goal for the German government is to explore and develop forward-looking new technologies that will lay the groundwork for Germany’s future. The companies exhibiting at Research & Technology are a crucial part of this effort.

PI welcomes the new basic technology as an important contribution toward the widespread use of drives with PROFIBUS and PROFINET in applications.

ABB's S+ Control PDP800 PROFIBUS Interface is built on FPGA technology and intellectual property (IP) cores provided by Softing and does not require a dedicated ASIC.

The USB3 Vision standard supports easy camera connectivity to newer off-the-shelf computer products with built-in USB 3.0 ports.

DARPA will use aPriori as an automated back-end solution for optimizing manufacturing cycle time and product costs for the Adaptive Vehicle Make (AVM) program.

PI views the announcement by Emerson Process Management that it is expanding its AMS Suite to include connectivity to PROFIBUS PA as good news.

By Mark Howard, Zettlex Inductive sensor terminology and techniques can be confusing. This article explains the various types and operating principles, as well as their consequent strengths and weaknesses.

PROFINET functions for process automation include CiR, redundancy, time synchronization, and time stamping.

The Consortium will use the National Instruments Single-Board RIO General Purpose Inverter Controller (GPIC) as the integrated control system for a new 100 kilowatt intelligent power stack module.

Honeywell will supply an Experion Process Knowledge System and plant security to Alliance Oil Company for its Khabarovsk Refinery in far east Russia.

Automation.com, December 2012 By Bill Lydon, Editor Emerson is expanding their role of providing lifecycle services and achieving the "trusted advisor" status with customers. With the addition of new employees and products, they are positioning themselves to better serve process automation users.

The leaflet covers VA Master FAM540, Armored purgemeter FAM3200, PurgeMaster 10A6100, and VA Master glass tube meters.

Users of the EPLAN Platform can use the macros to create overview drawings, electrical and pneumatic circuit diagrams, and PLC overviews of Festo CPX/MPA valve terminals.

VIPA is a manufacturer of PLCs, I/O modules and HMIs in Herzogenaurach, Germany.

"Advanced Control Foundation: Tools, Techniques, and Applications" by Terry Blevins, et al, provides a more thorough understanding of the concepts and capabilities of advanced control products and solutions.

Study says over the next five years, the United States, Germany and Japan will be challenged to maintain their competitive edge against China, India and Brazil.

The PC-based software tool emulates complete Sercos networks and the connected Sercos slave devices.

The EtherCAT Technology Group (ETG) has attracted more than 2,200 member companies from 56 countries.

The Semiconductor Technical Working Group of the EtherCAT Technology Group published 12 comprehensive profile documents since October 2011.

Automation.com, November 2012 By Bill Lydon, Editor The automation industry has been centered on a five layer hierarchical architecture for years but new technology is making it possible to streamline this model to eliminate layers, increase performance, and lower software maintenance costs.

The organizations will work on the interface between BACnet (ANSI ASHRAE 135 / ISO 16484-5) and OPC-UA (IEC 62541).

Employ setpoint filters, velocity limits and external-reset feedback to meet the process control objectives at your plant or facility.

Use disturbance rejection tuning, external-reset feedback, and a setpoint filter in your PID controller to achieve loop performance objectives.

Illinois companies involved in green technologies and advanced manufacturing are invited to join a trade mission to Turkey in June 2013.

Now users can incorporate HART, WirelessHART and FOUNDATION fieldbus information into one standard environment for data and device management.

MACH-ProAir, MACH-ProZone, RC-Archive version 3, and RC-Studio 2 have been certified by BACnet Testing Laboratories (BTL).

The $8 million annex to the existing Reliable Controls building is a targeted LEED Platinum facility.

Passing the Torch: ISA Social Media Community Manager

Update includes integration of the first parts of the PLCopen specifications on motion control.

Advanced Motion Controls has been awarded the PLCopen Motion Control Certificate for its product Click&Move (C&M).

QA Graphics is providing marketing resources to help clients upsell their customer base when discussing graphic needs for projects.

For the first nine months of 2012, motion control product shipments are up 2.3% over the same period in 2011, according to the Motion Control Association (MCA).

Experion SCADA will be used to integrate and manage data coming from than 160 monitoring and control stations along a 1,400 km gas distribution network.

The document contains a general overview of the implementation of safety around presses, coupled to twelve defined function blocks.

IMS says the Asia-Pacific PLC market will be driven by Chinese domestic consumption because no other industry is growing.

Siemens predicts that future production will involve virtual processes for product and plant development increasingly integrated with real production.

Petock was formerly Vice President, Global Marketing and Communications, at Tridium.

IMS Research projects that revenues in the Asia-Pacific PLC market (excluding Japan) will rise to only $3.6 billion in 2016.

Catalog covers Traco Power DC-DC converters and AC-DC power supplies.

Online tool allows users to customize tower light selections and view related information. It works with a variety of operating systems including iPad and Android tablets.

Automation expenditures in the food and beverage industry are expected to reach $7 billion by 2016.

The recovery in the temperature transmitter market was mainly due to an increase in orders from growing industries such as oil & gas, chemical, and electric power.

This remote-monitoring solution allows OEMs to identify and resolve technical issues, perform scheduled and preventive maintenance, and monitor their installed base of machinery.

The interactive 3D CAD drawings are high-quality, photorealistic images that can be rotated and zoomed for a complete view of the product.

After the market suffered as a result of the financial crisis, culminating in a trough in 2009, the market rebounded to exceed its previous peak of over $6 billion in 2008.

The operating range of SDSL broadband routers are now up to 15 kilometres at rates up to 10.4 Mbit/s via standard telephone wires.

Rockwell will supply PACs, variable frequency drives, software and engineering support services for machinery control systems onboard U.S. Navy and Coast Guard surface ships.

Recently I watched the movie Apollo 13 again, this time including my four children who had never seen the cinematic classic. I’ve personally seen it too many times to count; it’s one of my favorites

Automation.com, November 2012 By Bill Lydon, Editor At a recent annual update, Schneider Electric's Jeff Drees said their big software bet is centered on StruxureWare Software - a platform and suite of applications between automation and enterprise computing.

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly of Magmeters

Automation.com, November 2012 By Bill Lydon, Editor Industrial Ethernet protocols, coupled with low cost pervasive Ethernet technology, have made the support of multiple protocols on a single controller a reality, enabling users to leverage the advantages of various networks and make technology additions to existing systems.

The demand for oil and gas is expected to boost investments in upstream and mid-stream oil and gas segments which, in turn, will result in greater demand for controls.

MobiliTec at Hannover Messe trade fair covers hybrid and electric powertrain technologies, mobile energy storage and alternative mobility solutions.

Technical and maintenance staffs are shrinking at manufacturing operations and companies are turning to systems integrators for support. CSIA added some standards.

Based in Calgary, Alberta, Simark Controls is a Semaphore authorized distributor for customers in western Canada.

The app provides section news and events through an integrated events calendar and Twitter feed.

Previoiusly, Arnold was responsible for marketing at SDL Language Technologies, and Marketing Program Manager for CoCreate Software.

Siemens will provide five ROBICON Perfect Harmony Drives and electrical distribution equipment such as panelboards, switchboards, safety switches, switchgear and busway systems.

With more people than ever using a smartphone as their calendar, contact list, day planner, encyclopedia, calculator, and even (believe it or not) their phone, ISA Toronto is pleased to announce the r

The automated gear deburring system drastically simplifies the deburring process by giving Fairfield the capability to automatically deburr a wide range of gears safely and efficiently.

The LVDT lets SL Series Linear Position Sensors from Control Products provide long stroke position measurement in heavy duty applications where rod-type sensors do not hold up.

The two companies will unify Siemens' Teamcenter Product and Production Lifecycle software and Bentley's ProjectWise Factory Infrastructure Lifecycle software.

Over the next five years, manufacturing stalwarts like the United States, Germany and Japan will be challenged to maintain their competitive edge.

The industry to see the most capital expenditure in the Americas will continue to be oil and gas, representing over one third of the region’s total.

By Mike Hughes, Schaeffler Specifying linear motion systems isn’t the black art many engineers think it is. Here are some useful tips on how to select suitable linear actuators for single and multi-axis positioning systems.

Use precise valves, scheduled tuning, external-reset feedback, directional rate setpoint limits, and an enhanced PID to stop split range oscillations.

In 1977, FANUC USA was founded with headquarters originally in Elk Grove Village, IL, to provide service & support for imported machine tools.

Lenze Americas donated $10,000 to the American Red Cross to assist with disaster relief and rebuilding efforts to help the victims of Hurricane Sandy.

ZigBee Input Device is the global standard for greener, innovative and easy-to-use mice, keyboards, wands, touchpads and other input devices used with computers and CE devices.

After Emerson Process Management replaced existing valve positioners with Fisher digital valve controllers, the plant gained $40,000 in annual maintenance savings.

Auto-tuning of cascade control systems

Williamsport Area High School in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, requested that the AF provide technical guidance in enhancing its automation and controls course for students in grades 10-12

Davide Bocciardo from the University of Edinburgh won with his entry “Customising UniSim Design: membrane separation and its application to carbon capture.”

Schneider Electric will be using ConneXium Tofino Security technology to protect its industrial automation systems.

NEC Display Solutions will supply LCD monitors and touchscreen solutions.

ODVA appointed director Cyril Perducat chairman of the board, director Frank Kulaszewicz as treasurer, and Richard Harwell as chief technology officer (CTO).

Gateways from Yokogawa, Honeywell and Nivis successfully demonstrated interoperability with a WCI test client.

September 2012 U.S. manufacturing technology orders totaled $667.47 million, up 40.7% from August and up 13.4% from September 2011.

Uponor is using the Catalyst Historian to improve performance characteristics of its assets and identify areas of potential improvement in each OEE area. During the past six months, scrap has been reduced by 6 percent, saving more than $100,000.

The program offers end users, EPCs, and OEMs the ability to reduce operational costs and improve engineering effectiveness.

By Ingenia Field Oriented torque Control of a brushless motor is possible using one shunt sensing circuitry, obtaining an ultra-low cost but high performances device.

Automation.com, November 2012 By Bill Lydon, Editor Homeland Security's Lisa Kaiser gave a sobering presentation on cyber security issues and attacks. Kaiser emphasized that we are playing catch-up, noting that Foreign Cyber Espionage in the USA has been more intense in the last few years with a large black market for buying and selling information.

An old hot stamp press at American Label & Tag is brought back to life with AutomationDirect’s CLICK PLC and C-More touch panel.

Industrial Automation (8-12 April 2013) focuses on the efficient use of energy and resources, including smart production systems and processes.

ABB will design, engineer and supply an integrated automation and electrification system for Anglo American’s new Grosvenor coal mine in Queensland on the east coast of Australia.

Rotork is supplying an all-electric valve actuation package for the DanTysk offshore wind farm in the North Sea.

All production and warehousing will be relocated to the Eagle Creek Industrial Park in Savage, Minn.

By Peter Seeberg and Jürgen Lange, Softing An OPC toolkit is a collection of libraries, classes and interfaces that simplify the development of OPC applications for programmers by providing standard functions for reading and writing OPC items, browsing and managing the OPC address space, and much more.

ISA and NAMUR have identified five common working groups that offer immediate collaborative opportunities.

CABA and AEE will establish forums about energy and intelligent buildings for regulatory organizations, energy service providers, and building automation vendors.

Prior to joining the Leicester based company, Moore spent about 20 years implementing lean manufacturing tools for an electrical products manufacturer.

Designing and/or improving a control system is practically impossible if the team does not understand the process.

Visitors to ComVac from April 8 to 12, 2013 can look forward to a complete overview of the state of the art in compressed air and vacuum technology.

Liberty Property Trust owns 79 million square feet of office and industrial space throughout the US and the UK. eSight manages them all.

Industrial Defender's Automation Systems Manager (ASM) Monitor has been tested and verified for use with the ABB 800xA control system.

SLM uses 17 ABB robots to apply metal and ceramic coatings to a wide variety of OEM and repair parts and machine components to minimize corrosion and extend part life.

Mobile Access app enables field operators to view and respond to live information from Experion PKS while they are on rounds or inspecting the plant.

The two companies will provide street lighting management solutions, which will be based on wireless mesh devices and Central Management Software.

In addition, Omron will match employee donations in support of local relief efforts.

You're an automation professional, but what do you want to be when you grow up?

Technical Spec Writing and Modbus Protocol Training

ARC clients can now make use of ARC’s supplier selection process for Advanced Process Control (APC), Analytics, Batch Control, CPM/MES and Distributed Control Systems (DCS).

Five online condition monitoring systems were installed on wind turbines at the Crystal Rig wind farm in Scotland. 20 more are expected to be installed later this year.

With a total screen surface of 40 m by 8.4 m, Airtel’s LED video wall is probably the world’s largest suspended LED video wall.

The Hybrid HVDC breaker will be capable of ‘interrupting’ power flows equivalent to the output of a large power station within 5 milliseconds.

White paper provides a detailed comparison between RFID and vision identification technologies to assist manufacturers in selecting the ideal track and trace technology to meet their application demands.

Q&A from CCST Review: Time Constant in a Transmission System

The Apple iPhone or iPad app allows mobile access to important and time-critical work tasks assigned by the company’s Wonderware ArchestrA Workflow Software.

With this app, customers can determine spot size measurement conditions for the company's infrared sensors on their smartphone.

PT-400 Pressure Transducers are ATEX and IECEx certified EX II 1G Ex ia IIB T4 Ga, for use in hazardous locations.

A true as-built model of the facility was not available, so laser scanning was used to generate an intelligent PDMS model.

The POSITAL Programmable Potentiometer has been added to the list of products referenced by the Rockwell Automation PartnerNetwork.

Wind 2013 will be held from 8 to 12 April at the Hannover Exhibition Center.

Sunapsys uses TopVew in its SCADA systems for municipalities using voice callout of alarms over standard dialout telephone technology.

InduSoft ha añadido asistencia en español a las posibilidades de ayuda existentes para clientes y usuarios de InduSoft Web Studio.

The CTAs recognize the heroes and superstars of the HVAC, Controls and Building Automation Industry.

IFS says traditional enterprise resource planning (ERP) software is not meeting all of the needs of project-driven companies.

CarePlans now cover temperature and pressure calibration instruments.

The Aegis suite is being used for process management including route control, quality data collection and alarming, material validation and internal and external reporting.

The demo will show various Sercos III and EtherNet/IP devices connected to controller prototypes from Bosch Rexroth and Schneider Electric using a common Ethernet infrastructure on a single cable.

On-off valves should not be used as control valves (for throttling) and control valves should not be used as on-off valves (for isolation).

Automation.com, November 2012 By Bill Lydon, Editor Analytic computing methods are increasingly being applied in business and technology with software emerging in the automation industry giving users actionable insights and understanding of performance based on data and statistical methods.

Automation.com, November 2012 By Bill Lydon, Editor Invensys Foxboro describes their Modernization Program as taking a holistic approach based on business requirements with four major goals - Reduce risk of failures, operational improvements, new & existing systems integration, and securing automation systems from cyber-attack.

Automation.com, November 2012 By Bill Lydon, Editor Improving operator interaction is a good topic but this perspective may be holding back automation industry progress. It seems to me the industry should be putting more effort into developing more advanced automation with the goal of eliminating operators.

The contract includes licenses and services worth $11.5 million.

"101 Tips for a Successful Automation Career," by Gregory K. McMillan and P. Hunter Vegas, offers career planning recommendations, guidance on technical issues and challenges, and interpersonal and workplace advice.

OLDI promoted Jeff Besola to President, Mark Knebusch to VP of Marketing, and Todd Parker to CFO.

Booklet helps technicians determine sources of problems with hydraulic systems and understand the importance of good filtration practices.

Metso will deliver all the automated process valves required for Sappi's fiberline expansion in the Ngodwana mill in South Africa.

SEL will reduce prices by 30 percent and expedite delivery of all SEL products going to customers affected by Hurricane Sandy.

The expanded Midrange system portfolio includes scalable Allen Bradley servo drives, variable frequency drives, and industrial Ethernet switches.

The trade fair IndustrialGreenTec will take place as part of HANNOVER MESSE 2013 April 8-12, 2013.

Energy, a tradeshow for energy technology, will run April 8-11, 2013 under the umbrella of HANNOVER MESSE.

Hell formerly was the Chief Executive Officer of DivX, Inc., a publically-traded technology company.

Ten system integrators have now received the Certified Robot Integrator designation from the Robotic Industries Association (RIA), the industry’s trade group.

Moxa’s solar power system is one of the largest solar developments in Orange County, California, at 35,000 square feet and produces over 311 kW DC using 1,133 PV panels and a central inverter.

New topics included in this revision are the ‘close proximity point of operation AOPD’ safeguarding devices, and a means of safeguarding referred to as ‘Safe Speed.’

Congratulations to our ISA Fellows and Honorees

The Fieldbus e-learning course is available for delivery either online in a cloud-based option or as a download.

Ulrich Turck has been elected as Chairman of the Europe, Middle East & Africa (EMEA) Executive Advisory Council (EAC) for the next annual term of office.

Presentations from the inaugural OPC Technology Summit have been made available for download at its web site.

RIA says 16,363 robots valued at $1.1 billion were ordered in the first nine months by companies in North America, an increase of 20% in units and 29% in dollars over the same period in 2011.

The European motor services market is moving toward predictive maintenance, which offers significant advantages to motor manufacturers and end-users says Frost & Sullivan.

FCI CD Catalog assists engineers in specifying the right flow, level or temperature instrument for improving plant process control lines or increasing OEM equipment performance.

Automation.com, October 2012 By Bill Lydon, Editor My discussions with users at the IANA and IMTS shows make it clear that industrial automation is imperative to increase productivity, quality, and competitiveness in world markets. The event provides users and machine builders with an opportunity to see and compare offerings from multiple vendors in one trip.

The GLC Series are enclosed to IP67 standards and are approved for UL/CSA 8750 and 1310 class 2 or 1.

The iRING name represents the solution architecture and best practices for interoperability based on the ISO 15926 reference data standard.

The 4th Edition of the Technical Guide has updates on power drive systems including the drive, motor and load, together with cabling, site considerations, circuit protection, earthing and harmonics.

The PlantPAx system with EtherNet/IP and ControlNet network connectivity passed tests for “61b,” the Fieldbus Foundation’s most demanding host profile.

The training sessions are intended for salespeople of vendors providing infrastructure products and services to the manufacturing, distribution and energy industries.

In 2011, the FCC said all private land mobile radio licensees operating in the 150-174 MHz and 421-512 MHz VHF and UHF frequency bands must change to narrowband technology by January 1, 2013.

Softing's interface boards provide AMS Suite with PROFIBUS asset capability needed to access diagnostic information from PROFIBUS DP and PA devices when connecting to third party host systems.

The software replaces a paper-based defect mapping process at the electronics manufacturer.

The free app provides mobile access to information about Endress+Hauser instruments, such as operating instructions and technical details, from a smart phone and other mobile devices.

The percentage of firms that are highly engaged in sustainability has risen from 18% in 2006 to 42% in 2012, while the percentage of firms viewing environmental initiatives as costs or legally required fell from 33% in 2006 to 17% in 2012.

Operator buy-in and approval are critical to automation project success. Get the operators involved in the design process early and listen to what they say.

IMS Research estimates that global motor drive sales in the first half of 2012 were down more than 9 percent compared to the first half of 2011

A survey found that Americans have a jaundiced view of the nation’s overall economic health, with 59 percent indicating that the economy has “not improved or gotten better” in recent years.

The University of Miskolc is now the preferred site for certified FOUNDATION fieldbus training in the Central & Eastern Europe region.

ISA released the dates, locations and Call-for-Papers deadlines for ISA’s Division Symposia taking place between April–September 2013 in various locations across the USA.

Earnings are down, but ABB reported steady orders and higher revenues in the third quarter of 2012 despite a challenging environment.

Jairo Blanco will lead the company's efforts to expand sales of embedded and industrial computers in the region.

Rotork's Type K provided a ‘drop-in-place’ retrofit installation, matching the dimensions of the existing damper drive footprint on all eight of the replacement installations in Units 1 and 2.

ENI Petroleum used the NCS NET Concentrator System as a real-time communications link between its Devil's Tower oil platform off the coast of Louisiana and drill ships operating more than 100 km away.

Metso supplied a Metso DNA automation system as a complete turnkey package to the plant, including all the stages from engineering to commissioning.

Aervoe’s ERP system, installed 8 years ago, was unable to keep up with the multiple acquisitions and product line expansions being undertaken at Aervoe.

eSight provides Allstate with the ability to analyze energy usage data across their buildings, including the capability to drill-down to more granular information at the click of a button.

Forbes Marshall, an India-based steam engineering and control instrumentation company, has joined ISA100 WCI as a supplier member.

ClamPAC robotic system is designed to case pack clamshells. Earthbound was so satisfied with their first four ClamPAC systems, they purchased four more.

ABB will supply the electrical power and automation system for ore agglomeration, conveying, leach pad stacking and reclaiming.

ABB’s smallest robot, the IRB 120, plays the role of painter, transcribing the overnight movements of sleeping guests participating in the project.

Cook joins Moxa from IDS Imaging Systems where he served as National Sales Manager.