Articles and News

This online tool is designed for a range of industries and applications, including industrial/manufacturing, food, chemical, water and other processing environments, oil refining and petrochemical processing, and others that have become dependent on microprocessors, PLCs, and VFDs.

With built-in security protecting valuable information and operating data, the FITS platform will enable cloud, enterprise, on-premise, and a single-user desktop deployment method meeting the needs of the process, hybrid and discrete manufacturing sectors.

Power/mation has warehouses and sales offices in Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, North and South Dakota, and Wisconsin. Heitek Automation will now be distributing the full line of Festo pneumatic and electric automation components and systems in Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico.

By Nick Boughton, Digital Lead, Boulting Technology It has only been in the past five years where augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) have made their way into industrial environments. This article explains how AR and VR are re-defining plant maintenance.

To control an industrial process you have must see it, and usually measure it, so that enough resolution to enable the underling picture to be seen.

By Patricia Mattsson, Emerson Automation Solutions The widespread departure from manual measurements to automated solutions has helped improve worker efficiency while providing more accurate measurements. New level measurement technologies can do even more.

ABB will take up a designated seat on the board of the OPC Foundation in 2019 to further help accelerate development of the new technology.

The goal of this initiative is to deliver an open, cohesive approach to implement OPC UA including TSN and associated application profiles. This will advance the OPC Foundation providing vendor independent end-to-end interoperability into field level devices for all relevant industry automation use-cases.

By Mike Devine, Zebra Technologies E-commerce is booming globally. The increasingly higher expectations of smartphone-savvy, always-connected consumers have urged retailers, manufacturers and logistics companies to collaborate hand in hand to meet the growing shoppers’ needs in the on-demand economy.

This catalogue has been specifically developed to support automation and manufacturing markets and includes products of Koganei, a user and reseller of Automation Studio

In its role, Emerson will update control and safety systems, fire and gas systems, field instrumentation control and isolation valves, and other equipment to improve production efficiencies.

The additions to the machine safety portfolio are all designed to communicate over EtherNet/IP and are tested against machine safety standards to ease compliance. The products will also be included in the next release of the Safety Automation Builder software tool.

The competitive award is for students enrolled in a CNC machinist, CNC operations, engineering or manufacturing certificate or degree program. As part of the award process, the scholarship recipient's school will also recieve a $500 donation made to their machining or manufacturing department.

The goal of this initiative is to deliver an open, cohesive approach to implement OPC UA including TSN and associated application profiles. This will advance the OPC Foundation providing vendor independent end-to-end interoperability into field level devices for all relevant industry automation use-cases.

Despite IIoT, Industrial Ethernet and Industry 4.0 initiatives, digital networks are still not used everywhere. Organizations stuck in an analog world should look carefully at what they are missing.

During the workshop, featured experts reported that the rapid pace of digital technology and the increasing sophistication of cyber tools at the disposal of foreign entities are making it more difficult to protect critical infrastructure and the industrial control systems that operate them.

By Jonathan Wilkins, EU Automation Technology has rapidly caught up with the human ability to read faces, progressing to a stage where facial recognition could improve industrial security.

Indonesia is working to become Southeast Asia’s biggest digital economy by 2020. The “Making Indonesia 4.0” initiative was developed to revitalize the Indonesian manufacturing sector through the adoption of Industrie 4.0. It focuses on five sectors for the initial implementation: food and beverage, textiles, automotive, chemicals, and electronics.

The constant between pipes of differing diameters is the flow rate (and other fluid properties) is the same in both pipe lengths.

Founded in 1989, Primary Systems Inc. is based in Old Bridge, N.J. The company is a system integrator that helps its clients produce products while meeting all compliance requirements. PSI designs, implements, and troubleshoots systems for the process and manufacturing industries.

Approximately 100 students visited Phoenix Contact’s U.S. headquarters in Middletown, Pa., on Monday, October 29, to kick off the second annual “Think BIG!” program. The partnership with Harrisburg School District is a yearlong curriculum designed to get elementary-age students excited about STEM careers.

By Chuck Cimalore, Arena Solutions With the rise of the Internet of Things (IoT) and centralized data management platforms like Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) technology, companies can create a closed-loop, data-driven DfR program to improve predictability and reliability and achieve better-performing products.

The robotic system will be used to piece pick inventory items for retail store replenishment using a “goods-to-robot” configuration. The order fulfillment system will support replenishment of approximately 50 retail stores and is scheduled to start up during the 2nd quarter of 2019 in a new distribution center building.

The Linear MOTIONEERING tool retains the Thomson engineering calculations for design engineers and has added new product families, interactive navigation, expanded global support and mobile access.

By Jonathan Wilkins, EU Automation Remote monitoring is not a new phenomenon. The technology has already established itself as standard part of control in manufacturing. This article explains how manufacturers can optimize their supply chain with remote monitoring.

Mr. Burke will remain as an officer on the Board of Directors and will continue his widespread evangelism for OPC UA adoption across various domains. Stefan Hoppe took over the operational activities and responsibility for worldwide adaption of the OPC standards and the further development of the organization.

The City partnered with Indegy to implement an industrial security solution that provides visibility, protection and control to detect and prevent threats before they can impact the operation and safety of its water supply systems and utilities.

The complexity of modern automation systems requires partnership and collaboration with an expanded set of industrial and technical disciplines.

By Brith Isaksson, ABB Food & Beverage Commissioning a new system for a food manufacturing plant requires software assistance to plan effectively and with digital twinning, manufacturers can optimize its ongoing operations.

The Norland products will be incorporated into Thorlabs’ existing Vytran business unit, a 20,000 square foot facility located in Morganville, New Jersey.