Articles and News

Automation.com, October 2011 By Bill Lydon, Editor The CArS architecture is a modern systems level approach defined by the joint Chrysler and Fiat Manufacturing Engineering Council that improves the process flow for designing and implementing production lines.

K-Tork Internationalcompleted a $1.9M retrofit contract for the supply and installation of valve actuators at the Las Vegas Water & Pollution Control facility.

August U.S. manufacturing technology orders totaled $460.61 million according to AMT and AMTDA.

HayssenSandiacre is now manufacturing Novus packing systems at its Duncan, S.C., facility.

The competition is open exclusively to companies and institutions that will be exhibiting at HANNOVER MESSE 2012. The closing date for submitting entries is 22 February 2012.

A Little About Valves

The idea of using a PLC-based system rather than a DCS has become a philosophical and technical debate in the industry. DCSs have been the primary solution for process automation but now many PLC vendors are arguing that a single integrated architecture based on PLCs and/or PACs is the best approach to total plant automation.

Automation.com, October 2011 By Rick Zabel, Publisher Annual salary survey indicates higher job satisfaction with little or no pay increase. While many feel greater pressure to increase productivity and reduce costs, more than 80% of respondents indicated they are satisfied with their job. Read the story and analyze the stats to see how you compare.

ISA99 issues security draft for committee ballot

Automation Week Keynoter talks real-time optimization

While 2010 showed a comeback in DCS revenue numbers, ARC does not expect the revenue to surpass the 2008 peak until 2012.

Based on the growth in incoming orders for new project business, ARC expects a rebound to double-digit growth for control valve shipments to many of the ‘hot’ developing countries in 2011.

V77 Sourcebook includes test, measurement, control and calibration equipment from leading manufacturers.

OSI will supply a SCADA/EMS system to Interconexión Eléctrica in Colombia and two of its subsidiaries: TRANSELCA in Colombia and Red de Energía in Peru.

Metso will supply a batch cooking optimization solution for the specialty cellulose pulp mill of AV Cell Inc. in Atholville, Canada.

99 page catalog features a complete line of FHP Gear motors, Motors and Reducers and Controls.

Fieldbus Foundation, the HART Communication Foundation (HCF) and PI have joined forces to create a common architecture for a WirelessHART gateway device

GE Intelligent Platforms has announced a global series of seminars supporting the use of PROFINET in its automation systems.

PI North America welcomes GE Intelligent Platforms into the PROFINET fold.

Manual control systems at a Southeast Asia fats and oil producer are being re-vamped with automation systems based on PROFIBUS and PROFINET, leading to ROIs measured in months.

This new standard will take advantage of the soon-to-be prevalent USB 3.0 ports that will be standard on most PCs. USB3 Vision offers bandwidth of 3.2 Gb/s with both power and data over the same passive cable.

This is set to be a record year for worldwide machinery production, recording aggregate 10.2 percentage growth, according to IMS Research.

The office will provide local sales and application support in addition to local inventory supporting the US market.

Sixnet is a manufacturer of flexible industrial Ethernet switch, automation and wireless solutions for the industrial market, and employs around 110 people.

The site includes self-learning resources, case studies, and a technical library with datasheets and white papers.

The Siemens design team employs the Opera electromagnetic simulator from Cobham to help develop new wind generator concepts.

The ADAM robots will be used to automatically transport work-in-process materials and finished goods between production machines and the automated storage system.

OPC-UA Device Server Software Development Kits for Microcontrollers and Microprocessors have been certified for standards compliance by the OPC Foundation test lab.

ABB PLCs control the modular natural free cooling system at the Thor Data Center in Reykjavik.

Pilz has been awarded full accreditation as a skills training provider by The National Skills Academy for its 1, 2 and 4-day City & Guilds Machinery Safety Courses.

The Safety Automation Forum, Nov. 14 and 15 in Chicago, precedes Automation Fair, scheduled for Nov. 16 and 17.

Measurement Specialties acquired the capital stock of Celesco for $35 million, or approximately 6 times trailing 12 month EBITDA.

Three Metso DNA automation systems and three safety systems will replace the existing systems in three of Porvoo refinery’s over forty process units.

Dulaney was appointed chief executive officer of the company’s newly-formed Infrastructure & Cities (IC) Sector in North America, which comprises the United States, Canada, Mexico and Central America.

ORMEC signed two new ORMEC distributor organizations and a Chinese representative to sell motion control products.

Hendrick Motorsports, winner of 10 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series championships, is a longtime user of Hexagon Metrology products for inspection and assembly of auto body, chassis and engine components.

C&E has 30+ field sales people and technical specialists to service customers in Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky and Tennessee.

Lorentzen & Wettre manufactures equipment for quality control, process optimization and test instrumentation for the pulp and paper industry.

Rotork IQT and IQTM actuators are operating butterfly valves in the plant that will provide heating, cooling and electricity to buildings on the Olympic Park and Athletes’ Village.

G3-PLC Alliance will support deployment of the new power line communications protocol called G3-PLC.

Laurent Giai-Miniet spent 20 years with Texas Instruments (TI), where he held several management positions.

Tormatic AS will distribute end-to-end wireless sensor network and smart metering solutions.

Automation.com, October 2011 By Bill Lydon, Editor National Instruments typical applications in the automation industry require very high speeds, high precision, and special functions. According to Christian Fritz, in these challenging applications, they are not competing against PLCs - PLCs just cannot do the job.

ISA12 Members Maintain a High Activity Level at October Meetings

Specification defines transducer block for interfacing HART devices to FOUNDATION fieldbus.

Automation.com, September 2011 By Martin Rostan, EtherCAT Technology Group There is no giant marketing machine behind it, nor is EtherCAT the successor to a market leading fieldbus system – and yet EtherCAT enjoys an outstanding adoption rate worldwide, and the ETG has become the world’s largest fieldbus organization.

Automation.com, September 2011 By Vincotech System developers are becoming increasingly aware that the selection of power devices for remotely-sited applications is critical.

Virthualis’ 3-D visualization technology, called MindSafe, will be linked to Honeywell’s existing UniSim simulation tool.

HARBEC is pursuing certification to the newly released ISO 50001 energy management systems standard, which requires systematic documentation of carbon emissions.

The Karlsborg mill in Sweden is installing a Metso Kappa Q to replace two old analyzers in its bleached softwood kraft fiberline.