Articles and News

By Stefan Hoppe, OPC Foundation The Industrial Internet of Things – abbreviated to IIoT and known in Germany as Industrie 4.0 – is a technology trend that is the enabler of the 4th industrial revolution, and is bringing about a transformation in the way we do business.

WoMaster held Cyber Security training for its partners to demonstrate how they can provide a complete protection of IIoT network according to ISASecure - IEC 62443-4-2 from currently existing threats

Art in STEM is absolutely necessary for automation professionals to better appreciate process and better visualize what the future holds.

The CMS Certification Committee will offer a pilot examination for the industry's first Level-One Certification for coordinate measuring machines (CMM) operators. The Coordinate Metrology Society will also offer a pilot assessment for a CMS Level-Two Certification program for 3D Scanner users during their upcoming conference.

The project is backed by Future French Champions, the partnership between CDC International Capital and Qatar Investment Authority, which will own 32% of B2A Technology’s share capital alongside key executives, managers and employees.

The larger facility offers more than 15,000 square feet of space. SignalFire expects to operate with full functionality in its new corporate headquarters by the end of March 2018.

The integration of KNX into CODESYS will be presented for the first time at "light+building" in 2018. The product offer consists of a configurator for I/O channels, a KNXnet/IP protocol stack in the form of a runtime system component, and a data exchange function with the ETS5 configuration system.

With the 3rd edition of the IEC 61131-3 standard and some additional wishes from the implementers, an update was needed. The final version 1.01 will have the major changes in Table 26 – Mapping IEC 61131-3 elementary datatypes to OPC UA built in datatypes, which in addition contains a new column with a NodeID for each type , and in Table 39 – Numeric Identifiers for IEC 61131-3 defined nodes.

The Vršany Lom open-pit quarry covers an enormous area and mining takes place at several locations simultaneously. The entire network is now running entirely on Westermo WeOS-powered devices, consisting of 60 Westermo Lynx switches and 40 Wolverine Ethernet extenders.

From February 19-22, 2018, in San Antonio, Texas, approximately 130 people gathered for four days of product presentations, emerging technology discussions and a market trend outlook at the Siemens Factory Automation SCADA/IPC Days 2018.

The ICS Village is a traveling interactive experience that showcases ICS technologies and highlights the security controls that enable them to power the secure operations of chemical processing plants, pulp and paper manufacturing facilities, power generation systems, oil and gas processing, telecommunications networks and other elements of critical infrastructure.

A Type X pressurization system reduces the classification within the enclosure from Division 1 to nonhazardous and, therefore, permits the use of ignition-capable equipment inside the enclosure.

Commenting on the Lebanon, Ohio facility, Thorsten Julich noted the in-house development of Siemens IPC technology for this market segment will include both software and motherboard manufacturing.

The CNC Quick Tip videos provide answers to frequently asked questions about various CNC functions. The first videos in the series address the layout of Mitsubishi controls, customizing counters on the monitor page, and performing a program search using an SD card, memory or HDD.

The combination brings together AVEVA’s design, engineering and construction capabilities with Schneider Electric’s industrial software business, which ranges from simulation through to real-time manufacturing operations management.

With this new certification, EDC has established itself as a strategic solution partner and system integrator focused on helping manufacturers with obsolete drive and control technology to automate manual processes and upgrade aging equipment.

As part of a commitment to provide trained engineers who understand the complex process environment, NovaTech has sought to coordinate with the IPE Program at USC Aiken.

As part of an initiative to integrate more renewable sources into its energy mix, JPS has incorporated about 160 MW of renewable energy into the power grid, accounting for about one quarter of its total generation capacity.

Sotzing has primary responsibility for ensuring the development and deployment of the company’s Sea Machines 300 technology system, as well as managing the engineering team.

ASHRAE Standard 223P: "Designation and Classification of Semantic Tags for Building Data” provides a dictionary of semantic tags for descriptive tagging of building data including building automation and control data along with associated systems.

The old pyramid model of control is being replaced with a new model of zones and intrazone conduits based on ISA and IEC standards.

Working in tandem, Schneider Electric experts helped upgrade Dow Corning’s existing Foxboro I/A Series control system to the EcoStruxure Foxboro DCS in phases, ensuring continuous, transparent operations

By Jonathan Wilkins, EU Automation Robots are rapidly appearing in manufacturing facilities, but are they taking over? This article explains how automation is impacting the US manufacturing workforce.

The U.S. industrial valve industry will see growth of 1.45% in valve shipments in 2018, a rate that brings the value of those shipments up to $4.615 billion for the year. That rate of growth is slightly behind 2017 when it was 1.89%, which translated to shipments worth $4.549 billion.

Together, the combined company intends to offer products that measure position with precisions that will benefit industrial automation, next-generation construction, autonomous vehicles, and smart cities.

RTS will become a wholly owned subsidiary of congatec. The company will continue to operate independently, doing business as it always has, providing it’s software to run on any x86 hardware, but now with worldwide sales and technical support teams ready to support the product.

As part of the cooperation between the two companies, Wireless Data Systems will integrate and support Radiflow’s industrial intrusion detection and security gateway products as part of the cybersecurity solutions and system integration services that Wireless Data Systems provides

When equipped with the CXPI option, the DLM Series oscilloscopes will decode and display CXPI frames in real time, produce a list display of the decode results, and allow highlighting of points on the list for display in a zoom window.

As part of the MOU, EQUATE will test Honeywell technologies, including the latest additions to the Honeywell Connected Plant portfolio, as well as assess EQUATE’s requirements and ideas at Honeywell facilities.

At the Hannover Messe 2018, Siemens will be showcasing a series of examples which demonstrate how users can harness the potential of Industrie 4.0 by implementing Digital Enterprise solutions.

The North American robotics, machine vision and motion control markets continue to set new records. This was the tone as The Association for Advancing Automation (A3) revealed its annual report on automation and robotics market statistics.

The installation is part of Otis’ sustainability efforts and is anticipated to beat the Florence facility’s five-year greenhouse gas emissions reduction goal of 15 percent, compared to 2015 energy consumption, by year three.

By Craig Witt, MotionPoint Disruptive technologies like Internet of Things (IoT), artificial intelligence and machine learning get a lot of press and attention today. Yet marketers across the manufacturing sector have one of the most powerful digital transformation technologies right at their fingertips already

A tuning methodology called lambda tuning solves many of the challenges of tuning a PID controller for an integrating process. The lambda tuning method allows the user to choose the closed loop respon

The Siemens portfolio ranging from production planning and engineering software to automation and drive technology, including industrial communication networks and cloud-based solutions is designed to optimize battery production

By Dr. Alexander Horch, HIMA This article explains why the process industry needs to switch from passive to active defense mode for cybersecurity and what it must do to ensure plant security in the digital era.

As president of FDS, he will lead the team to develop solutions that harnesses the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) to integrate the wireless monitoring of industrial equipment health with computerized maintenance management systems (CMMS), and supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) systems.

With the WindEDIT Lite app, users can monitor any PLC parameter, and change set points and other values. Data register, input, output, timer and counter values can be monitored and controlled using the standard Dialog Interface.

In a P7ID diagram, a "circle" enclosed in a "square" indicates it is an instrument that has a shared display or a shared control.

YESCO implemented Schneider Electric’s System Platform as a SCADA solution to gain better access to data that was often not readily available to improve performance.

At the ARC Industry Forum which was held in Orlando, Florida, from February 12 – 15, HIMA presented its comprehensive functional safety concept which offers security by expanding the scope from the safety instrumented system to its security-relevant environment.

Petrochemical and oil processing industries usually take advantage of advanced control platforms to improve the product quality and yield.

Truitt has an engineering background with 35 years of experience transforming businesses, optimizing manufacturing and supply chain operations and deploying software and technology solutions. Most recently Mitchell served in finance management roles at Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) for 18 years in various business units including Applications and Supply Chain & Operations.

The students designed and built the “Jiggy Jukebox,” which gives music lovers a voice into the music selection at proms, radio stations, and even restaurants. The company announced the winner on Saturday, February 17, to kick off its National Engineers Week celebration.

With the recent release of their H2Know solution, Magnus is monitoring and controlling the supply of water to the fracking operations of key oil company clients across the U.S.

By Graham Smith, Curo Talent Something that isn’t talked about nearly enough is the fact that the IT sector, which, by nature, should enable remote working, hasn’t moved away from the inflexible office environment. This article explains how remote working could close the IT skills gap.

ISA offers real solutions to mitigate cybersecurity risks. The organization has the standards, training, and technical resources for manufacturers and other industry organizations to improve operation

In his new role at ABB, Gilliam will lead a team that represents all of ABB’s current business units. The team will take responsibility for educating and informing food manufacturers on the impact digitalization is having on the industry

The customers and interested parties can browse through all available terminal blocks and can also access intelligent, technical product information such as 3D CAD models, PDF data sheets, product videos or other websites with a click

A joint working group between OPC Foundation and FieldComm Group, tasked with developing a protocol independent companion specification for process automation devices, was formed in late 2017.