Articles and News

More than 800 Indonesian schoolchildren will soon be starting classes in four new schools at Meulaboh and Banda Aceh, leaving behind them the tents which gave them temporary shelter and served as classrooms.

The Automation Federation is starting a new initiative aimed at creating a set of specifications and processes for the security testing and certification of critical control systems products. The Automation Federation will provide financial and personnel support for the initial feasibility study project.

A bird's-eye view of the entire stadium and playing field of the New England Patriots' Gillette Stadium provided the background to the more than 20 ABB control, drives, instrumentation and process automation products for visitors to the recent "Results-Driven Power Control" ABB Low Voltage Products Roadshow here.

Intermec, Inc. (NYSE:IN) and Symbol Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:SBL), pioneers and leaders in automated identification and data capture (AIDC) technologies, have reached an agreement that settles all outstanding intellectual property (IP) disputes between the two companies.

Pepperl+Fuchs Systems & Solutions Business Unit recently received UL508A, UL698A and UL698B accreditation from the Underwriters Laboratories Inc. for the manufacture and certification of general purpose and hazardous location control panels.

Industry veteran with 15 years experience will be responsible for sales in Michigan and all points west of Ohio, Louisville, Ky., Nashville, Tenn., and west of Alabama.

ISA's standards committee on wireless systems for automation, ISA-SP100, has just issued calls for proposals (CFPs) to encourage a variety of experts to collaboratively create a new series of wireless communication standards for industrial monitoring and control.

Citect announced sponsorship of the "Global Manufacturing: MES and Beyond Benchmark Report," written by the Aberdeen Group.

The five-year contract will enable the Navy and other Department of Defense agencies to quickly acquire engineered systems and services from Rockwell Automation that are vital for daily and strategic shipboard operations, domestically and globally. The contract is a milestone for Rockwell Automation as it marks the first time a long-term U.S. Navy contract has been directly awarded to Rockwell Automation as the prime contractor.

At a recent meeting held at Sensors Expo in Chicago, ISA's Wireless Systems for Automation standards committee (ISA-SP100) announced the completion of several Use Case studies and plans for continued efforts.

La Tortilla Factory, headquartered in Santa Rosa, CA, has chosen the DEACOM Accounting & Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) Software System to integrate its entire food manufacturing operations to maximize productivity and profitability.

Quantum Devices, Inc. meets all applicable Reduction of Hazardous Substances (RoHS) regulations as of July 1, 2006 for electronic components and hardware. RoHS regulation states that new electrical and electronic equipment cannot exceed maximum concentration values for any homogenous material within the equipment.

The new Customer Application Center will provide an enhanced customer experience with products and solutions that improve plant reliability and productivity for the power generation, oil and gas, pulp and paper, cement and mining segments.

New white paper explores how an integrated control and information system can reduce costs, improve regulatory compliance and improve time-to-market.

Invensys Process Systems announces that its 2006 North American Customer Conference will be held on December 4-7th at the Hilton Anatole Hotel in Dallas, Texas.

The combined exposition will occupy all 800,000 square feet in the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center, creating the nation's largest design and manufacturing tradeshow. The co-located events are expected to include 1,800 exhibiting companies and attract nearly 50,000 attendees.

Innova Holdings received a multiple unit order for the recently launched URC3 (Universal Robot Controller) from a custom fabricator of parts for the trucking industry.

Beaudet will be responsible for providing overall leadership to the continued development of world-class quality systems for the drives operation, which manufactures and ships drives to customers throughout North America.

Life sciences personnel are required to undergo continuous training in GxP regulations, and FDA investigators typically review employee competency whenever a deviation is observed during inspection. Companies certified to ISO 9001:2000 have similar training requirements to ensure that employees know how to perform their duties within company and industry guidelines.

This acquisition builds on the longstanding partnership between the two companies, as well as on the 60%-40% joint venture set up by Schneider Toshiba Inverter and VA TECH ELIN EBG Elektronik in 2004.

How will the world's 32 million books be accurately scanned for inclusion in the universal digital library? The answer lies in highly efficient, highly reliable, page turning and scanning machines that exemplify the latest in automation science, an emerging field that is the focus of an increasingly influential new journal, the IEEE Transactions on Automation Science and Engineering (T-ASE).

Pilot implementations of SmartPlant Enterprise will be conducted in Air Liquide engineering centers in France and the United States. The overall deployment will then be extended to the company's centers in China, Japan and India.

In all his years of higher education, on-the-job experience and management successes, Peter Batey didn't have training for the kind of devastation that Hurricane Katrina brought to his refinery.

ISA's First Annual Marketing & Sales Summit will be held 13-15 September 2006 at the Omni Austin Hotel Downtown in Austin, Texas. The summit, entitled "Best Practices in Customer Acquisition and Retention," will help marketing and sales executives in the automation markets meet the strategic and tactical challenges of the 21st century. The event is sponsored by the Management Division of ISA.

WAGO Corporation is pleased to announce the launch of its mobile marketing program, also known as the "Innovation in Automation Tour." The tour is set to start the first week in August, beginning in Wisconsin, and continuing on through the rest of North America.

Siemens will add interfaces to its Simatic PCS 7 process control system and its Process Device Manager (PDM) tool to support FOUNDATION fieldbus. Emerson will similarly expand its DeltaV and Ovation control systems, as well as the company's AMS Suite, with an interface for Profibus DP and Profinet.

Neil Cooper, general manager of the Invensys Avantis business unit, will speak at the 2006 Canadian Manufacturing Week Expo and Conference this September.

The Schneider Electric North American Operating Division today announced Christopher B. Curtis will assume the role of president, Schneider Electric USA. Curtis will be responsible for electrical distribution, automation and control, and services business activities within the United States.

Schneider Electric North American Operating Division today announced it will host Initi@tive 2006: the Gateway to the New Electric World - a debut trade exposition in the United States. Successful Schneider Electric Initi@tive events have previously been held in Mexico, Australia, Belgium, Thailand, Turkey and other countries around the world.