Articles and News

From a small workshop in Maldon, UK, ICS Triplex has grown into a world-wide organisation and one of the few remaining independent manufacturing and engineering companies in the automation industry today. With its Headquarters still located in Maldon, UK, ICS Triplex maintains the technology driven, customer led ethos that has been the force behind 40 years of successfully protecting people, investments and the environment.

Southern Peru Copper Corp. (SPCC) has selected PlantWeb® digital plant architecture with FOUNDATION™ fieldbus (FF) technology for digital automation of its Ilo Smelter, Peru facility.

Intermec Inc. today launched two ambitious RFID purchase programs designed to help companies worldwide obtain the superior business benefits of Gen 2 RFID equipment and technology, while maximizing previous investments in earlier-generation RFID. The programs are designed to aid both companies that purchased RFID equipment and tags to meet early compliance deadlines, and companies now considering initial RFID implementations.

Mafelec is a specialty manufacturer of onboard push-button switches for railway, overland and maritime transportation applications. The sale, which is part of the company’s acquisition by its management (Gilles Heinrich and Eric Heitz), demonstrates Schneider Electric’s commitment to supporting the entrepreneurial spirit of its employees.

LCRA will employ I/A Series digital automation from Foxboro in a control system modernization at the Fayette Power Project, a 1,641-megawatt, three-unit, coal-fired generating facility near La Grange, Texas. The new controls implementation will replace existing ash handling PLC systems controls in Units 1 and 2, each with a capacity of 598 megawatts.

The certification recognizes a Microsoft Competency in ISV/Software Solutions and in Networking Infrastructure Solutions. Microsoft Gold Certified Partners represent the top tier of organizations within the Microsoft Partner Program and membership is only awarded to those who have demonstrated the highest level of expertise in creating and implementing solutions based on Microsoft technologies.

Kagan is technology marketing director at Foxboro, Mass.-based Invensys Process Systems. He has worked in the automation and controls industry for more than 25 years. He headed Foxboro’s systems engineering group for a number of years and was part of the original team that developed the ground-breaking, standards-based I/A Series automation system.

AEC, a supplier of automated machinery and control systems, will integrate KUKA industrial robots into their new family of foundry automation cells. These customized cells are designed for casting, grinding, polishing, and material handling applications in the foundry industry.

The system includes the new Datastick® VSA-1212 Vibration Spectrum Analyzer module that attaches securely to select PDAs running Palm OS; new Datastick Spectrum handheld software that collects and stores vibration measurements while displaying them in time waveforms and FFT spectra complete with alarm levels; and Datastick Reporting System(TM) (DRS) software for PCs, which is based on Microsoft Excel.

The program honors the memory of James (Jim) O. Gray, a long-time leader in the Fieldbus Foundation who passed away in 2002. It establishes a perpetual $250,000 endowment fund providing awards to eligible students studying industrial automation.

General Colin Powell, USA (Ret.), will serve as the featured keynote speaker for Intergraph 2006, the company’s international users conference to be held June 12-15, 2006 in Lake Buena Vista, Florida, at Disney’s Coronado Springs Resort.

ABB's 2005 net income reached $735 million compared to a $35-million loss in 2004, with strong increases in orders, revenues and EBIT. Continuing market strength and further operational improvements in the fourth quarter of 2005 contributed to the strong result.

MTS has expanded the services offered to existing and potential new customers to assist them in specifying, installing and maintaining level sensors in a wide variety of applications. For a reasonable fee, MTS will offer a site survey and pre-sale specification; evaluation and recommendations for the upgrade path; on-site training and hands-on training at the factory; installation and commissioning; scheduled periodic maintenance; and factory-authorized repair service.

A major international petroleum company has standardized on ProcessDoctor for auditing, monitoring and optimizing the assets that control plants for all 16 of their refineries and gas plants. The roll-out of the technology has already begun with one refinery being fully commissioned and two more with plans for immediate deployment.

As announced on January 30, 2006, OMRON Corporation expects to achieve highest ever consolidated profits in FY2005, making this the company's fourth consecutive year of record consolidated revenues and income. We are fully aware that this success is due in large part to the support of our shareholders and other stakeholders.

OMRON has established OMRON Automation PVT Ltd., a new, wholly-owned subsidiary in New Delhi, India. The move marks the beginning of a full-scale entry to the rapidly growing Indian factory automation (FA) market by OMRON's Industrial Automation Business (IAB). The new company will handle the sales and servicing of IAB's control equipment and is scheduled to start operations in April 2006.

The status was attained through successful certification of two new plant-to-business integration solutions. The first is Wonderware's Business Package for Process Performance Analysis 60.1 integrated with the SAP NetWeaver Portal. The second is the combination of the SAP NetWeaver Exchange Infrastructure (SAP NetWeaver XI)-based Content Package for Order Processing 30.1 integrated with SAP® ECC 5.0 and Wonderware Enterprise Integrator 2.0.

The contracts include design engineering, implementation, system integration, testing and support. The systems will enable the companies to implement flexible, reconfigurable manufacturing operations, streamline plant-floor communications system requirements, reduce costs and complexity, eliminate legacy serial communications and leverage IP network investment.

Numerous exhibitors taking part in INTERKAMA+, one of the leading international trade shows that make up HANNOVER MESSE (Hannover Fair) April 24-28, 2006, are staging an information-packed event that examines the possibilities and limitations of Ethernet in industrial applications.

ISA recently announced plans for its 6th annual NOx Emissions and Source Monitoring Technical Conference and Training event. This year's event will be held 7-8 June 2006 in Anaheim, California. Co-located with POWID/EPRI Conference, the event will feature presentations from industry experts on the latest NOx emissions and source monitoring technology.

Ethernet-compatible servo motor drives are catalyzing a breakthrough in the performance of tube bending machinery - allowing multi-stage bending operations to take place in parallel, while also reducing the electrical bill of materials and machine footprint.

Case IH, a worldwide leader in the farm equipment industry, has been using System E2 Energy Chain® to house and protect hydraulic cables on its line of 1200 ASM Series Planters. The 1200 Series is a top-of-the-line precision planter that delivers accurate population and precise in-row seed placement. Energy Chain plays an important role for each machine both on and off the field.

Students from the University of Minnesota in the Igus Y.E.S. (Young Engineers Support) Program developed a chainsaw variation of an Alaskan Mill for cutting large blocks of ice for the commercial use of Ice Occasions, one of the largest manufacturers of ice statue making equipment.

Nachi Robotic Systems recently upgraded its Quality Management System from QS9000/Tooling & Equipment Supplement: 1998 to ISO 9001:2000. This certification reflects Nachi’s commitment to continuously improve its quality management system to provide customer satisfaction by incorporating a process-oriented system.

Yokogawa Electric Corporation and its group companies have launched the Vigilant Integration Partners (VIP) Initiative, an open, non-exclusive, standard-based, and interoperability-driven partnership that enables Yokogawa customers to integrate best-in-class field devices supplied by VIP member companies with the industry-leading CENTUM series production control system and the PRM asset management system.

Yokogawa's Plant Resource Management (PRM) System provides a framework for monitoring and diagnosing the health of field devices, such as process sensors and valves. GE Energy's System 1(r) platform provides similar functionality for the mechanical and thermodynamic health of rotating, reciprocating, and fixed machinery. The two platforms can exchange a variety of status and diagnostic data, allowing users to monitor and manage the condition of a broader cross-section of plant assets than by using either system individually.

Joe Remisiewicz has joined WAGO as a Senior Field Sales Application Engineer. Working out of his home office, in the Detroit, Michigan area, Remisiewicz will be providing application support for the WAGO-I/O-SYSTEM for customers in Michigan, Northern Ohio, Upstate New York, and the Province of Ontario.

Green Hills Software has joined Texas Instruments Incorporated's (TI) TMS320™ Third Party Network as a software and embedded services provider.

Series 2400 SourceMeter® Instruments have received the Test of Time Award from Test & Measurement World Magazine. The Test of Time Award, which was created to recognize product lines that provide state-of-the-art performance for at least five years after their introduction, was announced at the magazine’s awards ceremony on February 9, 2006, during the APEX Show in Anaheim, California.

The readers of Test & Measurement World have voted the National Instruments PXI-5922 flexible-resolution digitizer the 2006 Test Product of the Year. This is the second Test & Measurement World honor for the digitizer, after it was named a Best in Test winner in December. Released in March 2005, the digitizer extends the industry-standard PXI platform with measurement capabilities that exceed the performance of high-end traditional instruments.