Articles and News

A report from IDTechEx rambles over RFID, the Internet of Things, and how wireless sensor networks are affecting the world.

By Bridget Fitzpatrick Track: Human Performance Bridget Fitzpatrick from Wood Group Mustang presented on the topic of Human Factors Engineering (HFE) in the context of Automation projects. The talk centered around defining HFE and providing an overview of how it applies to automation projects.

By Nikki Bishop Track: Asset Performance Wireless instruments, asset monitoring algorithms, and the combination of the two serves as a gateway to overall improvements in plant reliability, allowing operations to take advantage of market conditions to maximize profitability.

By Bill Lydon Executives from supplier and end-user companies, along with a leading industrial business analyst provided their insights into the future of automation and industry issues. Peter Martin, Ph.D., Vice President, Business Value Solutions at Invensys, assembled and moderated the panel. Here's a summary of the discussions.

BEST aims to inspire middle and high school students to pursue careers in engineering, science and technology through participation in science- and engineering-based robotics competitions.

Emerson’s onboard monitors will recognize excess vibration in key shovel components and notify operators in real time to prevent shutdowns and damage to the huge excavating machines.

VRcontext is a developer of 3D visualization and training software for displaying complex engineering data in the shipbuilding and plant construction industries.

By Bill Lydon, Editor Greg Hale, Disney's Chief Safety Officer and Vice President, highlights how Disney uses innovative technologies to implement safety and maintenance systems and improve guest experience, including those with disabilities, at all of their theme parks.

Automation.com, May 2012 By Beamex White paper describes how the Beamex MC6 can be used to calibrate modern smart instruments.

Held on Tuesday evening at ISA Automation Week 2012, several authors and standards leaders received awards for their contributions to InTech magazine, ISA Books, ISA Transactions, and Standards.

Track: Asset Performance In a series of three papers written by experts and early adopters, and presented by Jim Christensen, leader of the IEC 61499 maintenance project, managers and engineers attending this session learned that technical enhancements in the Second Edition make IEC 61499 even more suitable for advanced intelligent, distributed industrial process automation and control.

John McKenna, former CEO of Ashcroft, will lead the five companies in the Flow Division, AW-Lake Company, KEM-Küppers, EXACT Dispensing, Litre Meter, and Vögtlin Instruments.

This reception is held in celebration of FIRST® (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology). Dick Morley, Greg B. Hale, Calum Pearson, and NASCAR® driver Jennifer Jo Cobb will join us on the showcase floor as we enjoy music, food and drinks, and fun.

Metso will supply 145 automated on-off valves and actuators ranging in size from 3/4” to 24” to the Algiers Refinery, 10 km South of Algiers, in Algeria.

Systems Brochure summarizes the company's expanded engineering services and system capabilities in motion control or custom actuation solutions.

Gold mine in Nevada expects to grind up 582,260 ounces of gold and 29.1 million ounces of silver for the next 10 years.

The robots, typically configured two or four per line to achieve the necessary throughput, are stacking cups for multipacks and case packing in the dairy industry.

The brief includes “The Manufacturing Performance Dilema, Part 2: From Enterprise Manufacturing Intelligence to Operations Intelligence” by Gartner analysts Simon Jacobson and Leif Eriksen.

While the original pneumatic actuator worked well once set up, adjusting its force and speed to accommodate a different size container was complicated.

Get Your Automation Week Daily

By Marcos Taccolini Track: Wireless This presentation will give a description on the combined technologies that are modeling the next generation on industrial automation software and the key features those tools will now deliver. As practical examples, some potential applications using cloud technologies with be reviewed.

By Michael Macchiarelli Track: Wireless Attendees will leave this presentation with a comprehensive understanding of energy harvesting technology and the benefit and value of utilizing off-grid solar power to reduce maintenance and operating cost.

The iPad and Microsoft .NET, Unified SCADA Environment will present the solutions and standards used to create a SCADA, HMI, and MES engineering framework, which allows deploying applications, with safety and efficiency, in this current distributed scenario.

By John Barth Track: Wireless A new generation of automated intelligence tools for project management, procedure execution and other key tasks running on real-time wireless can drastically change the way you do turnarounds at your facility - for the better. One investment - perpetual return.

By Dick Caro Track: Wireless This session gives a summary of the failed attempt to develop a method to converge the two wireless standards, both directed at the same market, and a third standard that has also emerged to further cloud the issue.

The "Father of the PLC," Dick Morley, will host an interactive discussion, offering attendees a rare opportunity to sit and talk with one of the best known legends of automation.

On Thursday, 27 September 2012 from 9:30 to 11:00 a.m., don’t miss the panel discussion "The Best of the ISA Mentor Program – Building the Future" where Greg McMillan and Hunter Vegas will review the highlights of the ISA Mentor program and discuss the accomplishments of their protégés and other opportunities for improvements, including the need for more mentors.

By Michel Ruel Track: Control Performance Fuzzy logic control is used when an experienced operator has better control over a process than a PID or a MPC controller. This paper presents a successful example of a multi-variable fuzzy logic controller.

By R. Russell Rhinehart Track: Control Performance This tutorial will present the concepts behind two SISO nonlinear process-model based controllers that can be implemented in-house - Generic Model Control (GMC) using steady-state (SS) models and Process-Model Based Control (PMBC).

By Jeremy Pollard Track: Asset Performance While every process and application is different, I will make the case for why you should do it, and how some simple steps can begin your trek down the predictive maintenance path.