Articles and News

The Fieldbus Foundation has announced that an updated version of its FOUNDATION fieldbus specifications is now available. The new specification defines features that enhance fieldbus functionality and provide additional incentives for automation equipment suppliers to get on the "Fast Track to Fieldbus."

WINGAS GmbH, Kassel awarded a contract to Rösberg Engineering GmbH from Karlsruhe for the modernization of the control system of Germany’s largest natural gas storage facility in Rehden. The contract contains the engineering, delivery and priming installation of the complete electrical equipment for PLC and DCS, the commissioning and the trial operation plus the disassembly of the old systems.

The contract covers 18 units at three BP U.S. refineries – Whiting, Ind., Texas City, Texas, and Carson, Calif. Combined, these facilities refine about 1 million barrels of crude per day, or about 7 percent of total U.S. refining capacity. The upgrades are part of BP’s ongoing commitment to improving facilities in North America.

The ARC “Machine Safeguarding Solutions Worldwide Outlook” study determined Siemens has a 23.6% global safety PLC market share, 6.6% more than its nearest competitor. The VDC study reported Siemens has a 33.3% market share for safety PLC shipments in North America.

Intermec Inc and Cascade Corp are teaming to develop a forklift system that incorporates RFID technology into a forklift's very infrastructure, replacing today's cumbersome and inefficient bolt-on approach to data collection.

The Fieldbus Center at Lee College, a National Science Foundation (NSF) recognized and funded institution, today announced an agreement with Westlock Controls to train their sales professionals on the basics of FOUNDATION fieldbus. This is the first such agreement between a Fieldbus Foundation-certified training center and major automation equipment supplier.

This year's event, themed "Compliance, Confidence, Credibility," will address the needs of the expanding FOUNDATION fieldbus market in China and Asia/Pacific, and will feature end user presentations, technical training workshops, and tabletop product exhibits.

"Until recently, most buyers of infrared imaging cameras had to make a budgeting choice between a low-resolution 160x120-pixel camera or no camera at all, but they soon learned they missed a lot at low-resolution," asserts Jon Chynoweth, Vice President of Mikron Infrared.

Emerson Process Management, an Emerson business based in Austin, Texas, (NYSE:EMR), will be at the base of the 25-meter-high Olympic Flame when it ignites Friday, heralding the beginning of the 20th Winter Olympic Games. Emerson is providing the technology that will ignite and maintain the iconic flame as it burns until the close of the competition Feb. 26.

Invensys Process Systems executives presented current trends and technologies in selecting and installing offshore SCADA hardware and related critical technologies at a Zeus Development workshop on Hurricane Evacuation and Remote Operations (HERO). Invensys’ presentation, was part of a series of executive-led discussions on improving availability and utilization of remotely controlled production assets during hurricane related evacuations.

RF Monolithics' Wireless Systems Group is participating in a Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) contract awarded to Nanotherapeutics, Inc. to develop an improved system to detect improvised explosive devices (IEDs).

The initial order is for 22 Adept Cobra s600 vision-guided robots, and is the first part of a multiphase program that could yield several additional lines over the next two years. This program also represents Adept's first design win destined for a major Japanese disk drive manufacturer.

Honeywell is showcasing its newest products for the pulp and paper industry at EXFOR 2006, the world’s largest annual exhibition of technology for the manufacturing of pulp and paper products.

National Instruments is joining more than 20 leading test, measurement and technology companies to host the PXI Technology and Applications Conference (PXI TAC). The PXI TAC is a series of free, full-day events in 15 cities across the United States, Canada and Mexico featuring in-depth informational sessions on the latest PXI platform technologies and roadmaps, case study presentations, hands-on technical training and networking with industry experts.

C.M.H. Manufacturing is a manufacturer of foundry equipment providing a full line of casting equipment to its die casting customers. Waltonen Engineering is a service, integration, design and resource provider to its customers that include major automotive manufacturers, tier one automotive suppliers, defense contract suppliers, appliance manufacturers and product manufacturers.

Intergraph has acquired Alias Ltd., a leading global provider of piping design automation software, based outside of Manchester, England. Alias provides piping software automation solutions, including the popular ISOGEN® product, to Intergraph and other vendors of 3D design software.

Emerson Process Management announced today that it had won a major contract from Reliance Life Sciences Pvt. Ltd. to supply PlantWeb® digital automation architecture and solution services to their new biopharmaceutical manufacturing facility in India. Reliance Life Sciences is a member of the Reliance Group of Companies, India’s largest private sector enterprise.

the CONTROL SYSTEM INTEGRATORS ASSOCIATION (CSIA) announced today that the annual meeting of its members will take place May 11-14 at the Marriott Bay Point Resort in Panama City, FL.

ÅF-Process AB has signed a five-year, multi-million-dollar Software License Agreement to standardize on Intergraph software. Under the agreement, ÅF-Process AB is migrating from existing legacy systems and standardizing on Intergraph’s integrated engineering environment, SmartPlant® Enterprise, through an engineering portal solution to be deployed across the entire ÅF Process division.

The EC21 Embedded Controller is a stand-alone CPU for switching cabinet installation. With an interface for the B&R X2X backplane already on board, the EC21 can be connected to 3 different B&R I/O systems (X67 I/O, compact I/O and the new X20 system) thus allowing for maximum machine flexibility.

Providing operators with enough information to prevent abnormal situations and to diminish the impact of unpreventable abnormal situations is the key to an effective alarm management process. The phased alarm management approach offers a proven, measurable and easily implemented methodology that will guide a plant to a higher level of safety, environmental and production standards.

Nearly 50 leaders of ISA held a three-day meeting at ISA offices in Research Triangle Park, NC at the end of January to discuss how the Society can set the standard for automation in the future. The automation professionals from around the world serve in the senior leadership positions in ISA.

Revenues were $13.0 million, an increase of $1.2 million or 10.1% over the comparable period in fiscal 2005. Gross margin for the second quarter 2006 was $6.8 million, an increase of $1.5 million or 28.5% from the same period of the prior year. Adept reported net loss of $10,000 for the three months ended December 31, 2005, versus net income of $60,000 for the same period a year ago.

Emerson Process Management announces that it has recently completed a $500,000 PlantWeb® digital plant architecture project at the Gedeon Richter tank farm in Budapest, Hungary. The project is an extension to the company’s central tank farm installation which supplies four plants with solvents.

Honeywell (NYSE:HON) announced today it has won a significant contract worth $1.2 million to install a new Experion® Process Knowledge System (PKS) into UPM-Kymmene’s pulp mill in Tervasaari, Finland and to upgrade existing Alcont systems to Experion technology. A major benefit of the project is that UPM-Kymmene will be able to consolidate its control operations into a single central control room, allowing them to enhance the efficiency of process control at the plant.

Tricon TMR systems will be implemented for emergency shutdown and fire and gas applications at the El Gassi, Zotti, Al Agreb and Al Agreb West gas compression and re-injection lift facilities. Invensys will also provide project management, hardware integration, testing, and training services for SonaHess engineers and operators.

Schneider Electric has signed an agreement through its subsidiary Schneider Electric España to acquire AEM S.A., a Spanish firm that designs, manufactures and markets low voltage electrical distribution installation systems and equipment for the Residential and Building markets. AEM S.A. generated revenue of nearly €20 million in 2005.

AlarmAnalyst presents graphical on-line representations of the state of a process plant using alarms, events and operator actions. Time stamps on all values are obtained from the control systems, as part of the acquired data, for a true sequence of events analysis. Plant stability can be assessed using real-time displays of trends in alarm behaviour.

Opto 22, along with business partners Advanced Control Solutions, RCK Controls and Cognex/DVT, is sponsoring a Machine Vision Show at the newly opened Georgia Aquarium in Atlanta, February 21st, from 5:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m.

Mike Kelly, currently the CEO of Kinsale Associates, LLC, a Silicon Valley merchant banking firm and previously the Vice Chairman of Broadview Jefferies, a leading middle market investment bank, has nearly 25 years of experience with high technology businesses, guiding their development and profitable growth into both Japan and emerging Asia markets.