Articles and News

By Mille Gandelsman, Indegy Looking at 2019 and beyond, ICS threats will continue to escalate and evolve, but we predict the solutions to combat these threats will effectively address whatever emerges.

Wipro’s Automotive Innovation Center will develop and showcase solutions that leverage artificial intelligence, analytics, Industrial Internet of Things (IIOT), cloud and crowd sourcing.

It's time to get a little more specific with what the PLC CPU controls: PLC I/O! This article will discuss discrete I/O, analog I/O and briefly introduce industrial communications protocols.

Fluids have a lot of condition-dependent properties. They consist of solids, liquids, gasses, or combinations. Industrial engineers must deal with a number of fluid state issues.

The document is an overhaul and rewrite of RC 1.0.2 (2013) that incorporates current features and functions of MTConnect and OPC UA.

The acquisition is intended to accelerate delivery of Emerson’s digital transformation roadmap by adding skillsets in information technology/operational technology (IT-OT) and application knowledge to help integrate data from the plant floor to business systems.

The car battery plant in Kobierzyce, near Wroclaw will be capable of supplying up to 250,000 electric cars with batteries per annum. It is also the first large-scale lithium-ion battery plant for automotive applications producing all battery components, from electrodes to cells, modules and packs.

The competition will involve using SimCentral, AVEVA’s industrial simulation platform, to solve a problem created by the company in collaboration with Dr. Richard Turton, renowned author and industry expert in the field of chemical process simulation.

The document is an overhaul and rewrite of RC 1.0.2 (2013) that incorporates current features and functions of MTConnect and OPC UA.

The new home of the Machine Tool Services & Solutions will be headquartered in Hebron KY, and support the activity of over twenty service centers worldwide, including the seven in North America - Hebron, KY, Seattle, WA, Valencia, CA, Wichita, KS, Charlotte, NC, Fond du Lac, WI and Cambridge, Ontario.

The organization shared the high points of the festive event, met the award winners, and highlighted four members who were just appointed as fellows.

This 241 page report has a comprehensive Executive Summary and Conclusions for those with limited time. 10 primary conclusions are presented then infograms with data.

As a complement to HANNOVER MESSE USA in the odd-years, Digital Industry USA will take place from September 10-12, 2019 at the completely renovated Kentucky International Convention Center in Louisville, KY.

Lydon brings more than 10 years of writing and editing expertise to Automation.com, plus more than 25 years of experience designing and applying technology in the automation and controls industry. Lydon started his career as a designer of computer-based machine tool controls; in other positions, he applied programmable logic controllers (PLCs) and process control technology. In addition to working at various large companies (e.g., Sundstrand, Johnson Controls, and Wago), Lydon served a two-year stint as part of a five-person task group, where he designed controls, automation systems, and software for chiller and boiler plant optimization. He was also a product manager for a multimillion-dollar controls and automation product line and president of an industrial control software company.

An improved PID controller based on predictive functional control is developed and tested on the chamber pressure in an industrial coke furnace.

Key supplies to the substations include ABB Ability-based automation and control systems, intelligent protection equipment, transformers with sensors, digitally enabled switchgear and advanced communication systems.

Siemens will design, engineer and commission a new production management system (PMS), based on the Siemens Minerals Operation Management Solution.

Common noise must be in phase between conductors, or it converts to normal mode or differential noise.

By Robin Whitehead, Boulting Technology This article explains how this is impacting the role of the chief information security officer (CISO) and resulting in the need for end-to-end digitalization.

Beta testers of the ammonia and carbon monoxide detectors receive up to fifty percent discount on the first three ammonia or carbon monoxide Vanguard detectors they purchase.

Tricco was tasked with developing a secure and reliable way to collect data from control systems running at power plants located hundreds of kilometers from the Siemens office. The first phase was to be a pilot—to connect his WinCC OA SCADA system to a Siemens T3000 DCS running at a power plant located about 100 kilometers from Buenos Aires.

Drawing on Siemens expertise in the mining industry and Industry 4.0, the solution will be based on the advanced architecture and performance of Siemens WinCC Open Architecture. As part of the contract, Siemens will also provide inter process communication (IPC), accessories, plus software engineering and site commissioning services.

Tricco was tasked with developing a secure and reliable way to collect data from control systems running at power plants located hundreds of kilometers from the Siemens office. The first phase was to be a pilot—to connect his WinCC OA SCADA system to a Siemens T3000 DCS running at a power plant located about 100 kilometers from Buenos Aires.

The partnership combines Schneider Electric’s EcoStruxure IIoT capabilities with Transpara’s Visual KPI solutions to help customers in operationally intensive industries, including refining, petrochemical, energy and mining

By Emma Cygan, Pailton Engineering Cost versus quality. Humans versus automation. Hardware versus software. Is the vehicle manufacturing industry fuelled with tension? This article explains how vehicle manufacturers must balance the procurement of hardware and software for new vehicle concepts.

One scholarship a month will be awarded in January, February and March 2019. Winners will be announced Feb 12th, March 12th and April 16th

CyberX is currently partnering with GE’s global community including GrayMatter, GE’s No. 1 software channel partner and a CRN “IoT Innovator.” GrayMatter’s customers include global organizations implementing a range of Smart Manufacturing, Smart Building, and Smart Water initiatives.

The anual leadership meeting in Montreal enabled automation professionals and members to collaborate, brainstorm, and make decisions about future direction.

Siemens shares the vision of the OPC Foundation to extend the scope of OPC UA down to field level communication and is looking forward to contributing in standardization activities in the upcoming working groups of the OPC Foundation concerning information models for devices, necessary adaption of OPC UA core standards, application profiles, etc.

The modular ABB Ability PowerStore microgrid solution and Microgrid Plus automation system will enable EEM to increase the island’s adoption of solar and wind power and raise the share of renewables in the energy mix from 15 to 30 percent.

The software-based interface can be implemented in controllers offered by any device manufacturer, which makes it an interesting feature to vendors of both master devices and diagnostic tools.

By Chris Johnson, SMB Bearings Vibration analysis can provide valuable insight into machine condition, flagging up problems before extensive damage occurs. This article explains the steps machine builders should take to reduce the likelihood of bearings being the root cause.

This agreement spans all three of KBR’s synergistic global businesses: Hydrocarbon Services, Technology, and Government Services.

The Coordinate Metrology Society (CMS) announced it has formally issued a call for technical papers for the 35th annual Coordinate Metrology Society Conference (CMSC) to be held July 22 – 26, in Orlando, FL.

Tuning a PID controller for two of the most common complex dynamic responses: self-regulating, second order; overdamped and integrator plus first order lag.

By Chassis Plans High-performance computing is used for solving advanced mathematical calculations and performing data processing through the use of computer modeling, simulation and analysis.

The COMSA team and technology will join the Mentor business, part of Siemens PLM Software, where it will add key harness engineering and design data analytics capabilities to the Siemens product range.

High-performance computing is used for solving advanced mathematical calculations and performing data processing through the use of computer modeling, simulation and analysis. HPC systems delivers sustained performance through its unique synchronal parallel processing power.

Dzilno has been instrumental in making EtherCAT a fieldbus in chip manufacturing. He is currently Head of Engineering at the ALD Division as Managing Director and Senior Principal Member of Technical Staff at AMAT.

Attendees from around the world -- including national and university labs and supercomputing centers in Japan, China, Saudi Arabia, Spain and the United States -- brainstormed strategies to converge Big Data and the high-performance computing tools necessary to make sense of massive data sets.

By Bill Lydon, Editor, Automation.com Last year, we explored Dell Technologies quest to accelerate IoT focus to the edge. Through numerous discussions and presentations over the last few years, Dell Technologies has clearly aligned itself to provide industry with solutions that span from computing at the network edge to cloud services.

Pressure transmitters require periodic maintenance and calibration to ensure optimal performance.

The integral term of the PID control algorithm increases (or decreases) at a rate inversely proportional to the integral time of the controller.

Entering the fifth year of collaboration, SEL looks to expand zenon’s SCADA capabilities in more upcoming power management applications.

The initiative plans to address use cases not currently in scope for EtherNet/IP. It could also simplify other use cases, especially in multi-vendor, controller-to-controller environments and for the vertical integration of field devices.

By integrating their IoT software to HMS hardware, HMS’ Solution Partners help customers acquire, monitor, process and analyze data from industrial devices, machines and systems. Partners who join the program work with products from HMS’ brands Anybus, IXXAT and eWON.

By John Fryer, Stratus Technologies Today’s technological advances put the industrial industry on the edge of a transformative period especially as the number of these IIoT devices continues to rise. Will manufacturer's take the leap?

Deutsche Messe will cancel CEBIT 2019 because of declining visitor numbers and a continuing reduction in space bookings. The latest CEBIT concept consisted of an exhibition, conference and festival.

An IEC systems committee is intended to set high-level interfaces and functional requirements that span multiple work areas across the IEC and its partner, the International Organization of Standardization (ISO), to achieve a coordinated standards development plan.

By Nigel Smith, TM Robotics As we enter the era of Industry 4.0, this article will help dispel some common misconceptions about implementing smart manufacturing.