Articles and News

The Avantis unit of Invensys Process Systems today announced new software enhancements that further improve Avantis' award-winning maintenance and purchasing analytics for manufacturing and executive decision-makers. The new software builds on the Avantis.DSS web-based decision support solution, which transforms transactional data into visible, meaningful and actionable business analytics based on the individual's specific role in the organization.

Measurement and Automation Catalog 2007 describes software and hardware for test, control and design applications. For 2007, NI has made it even easier for customers to find what they need by providing the catalog in a searchable, downloadable eBook format.

Invensys will upgrade existing Foxboro distributed control systems (DCSes) at Saudi Aramco's Shedgum and 'Uthmaniyah Gas Plants to the latest Mesh Control Network technology. Invensys Middle East will provide all engineering, procurement (hardware and software), and site services for the DCS upgrade project.

Invensys will provide Foxboro distributed control systems (DCSes) and Triconex safety systems and fire & gas systems for the Yemen LNG Company Ltd. plant being built at Balhaf, on Yemen's south coast. The new $2+ billion grassroots plant is the first LNG plant in Yemen, and the Foxboro implementation will be the first major DCS in Yemen.

Enhancements to DIAdem 10.1 interactive software for inspecting, analyzing and reporting test data, extend the platform’s data mining and data management functionality so engineers can share data among groups with DIAdem 10.1 and DataFinder Server Edition.

The Fieldbus Foundation held its inaugural EMEA (Europe, Middle East, Africa) conference in Mannheim, Germany during the last week in September. The meeting was hosted by Pepperl+Fuchs at the company's headquarters.

Patrick Gouhin, Executive Director and CEO of ISA, joined 169 US business leaders in the banking, insurance, energy, aerospace, automotive, pharmaceutical information technology and service sectors who attended a two-day summit in Mumbai.

Academia RFID offers courses in Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto, Ottawa, Quebec City, Saint-John, Halifax and at their head-office, which includes a classroom and state-of-the-art RFID lab, in Montreal.

Carlo Gavazzi is using RTP's PermaStat PLUS compounds to meet ATEX requirements in its Tripleshield Capacitive Sensors. This compound is permanently static dissipative and provides the necessary surface resistance to meet the ATEX requirement of less than 1 Gohm.

The University of Kansas will be presenting "Intelligent Asset Management using RFID: Real ROI in Asset Management and Closed Loop Systems" on Wednesday-Friday, February 28 to March 2, 2007, at the Hampton Inn and Suites, Country Club Plaza, Kansas City, Missouri.

Enhancements include Startup Sequencing, Mechanical Trip Protection Replacement, GE Trip Protection Upgrade, and Westinghouse Trip Protection Upgrade functions.

Honeywell will install an Experion R300 PKS and other equipment valued at $3.7 million at Huntsman’s new polyethylene plant in Wilton, UK, due to open in 2007. The single plant-wide automation system will be provided through engineering contractor Simon Carves Limited and will include Honeywell C300 controllers, integrated safety systems and process field device integration.

Festo now offers individual services to customers wishing to achieve more efficient use of compressed air. The Energy Saving Service covers everything from consumption and leakage measurements to machine inspection and final analysis.

Rexroth catalog SC-400.10 features 128 pages of technical and ordering information and an overview section on Series QR1 pneumatic push-in fittings.

This announcement endorses the longstanding alliance relationship that DuPont and Rockwell Automation have shared over the last 15 years for PLC-based control systems. It now expands the relationship to leverage Rockwell Automation’s process system capability.

Barry-Wehmiller will purchase the assets of Sandiacre Rose Forgrove, a division of Molins PLC. Sandiacre will be integrated with Hayssen Packaging Technologies to form one of the largest flexible packaging equipment providers, with more than $80 million in revenues. Hayssen is a division of Barry-Wehmiller.

These new editions are the second publication of updates in 2006. More than 20 Specification Enhancements were integrated into these editions, allowing more comprehensive and useful information to be contained within EDS files, adding DTM configuration options, and facilitating the deployment of these networks with increased flexibility.

The "Field Device Tool for CIP Networks: Annex to FDT Specification" provides the schemas required to implement the Device Type Manager (DTM) configuration option for the currently available adaptations of networks built on the Common Industrial Protocol (CIP), which include DeviceNet, EtherNet/IP and ControlNet.

SERCOS International and ODVA announced that SI will adopt CIP Safety as its functional safety protocol for SERCOS. ODVA will extend The CIP Safety Specification to include safety profiles for SERCOS devices. SI will develop the SERCOS III network adaptation to utilize CIP Safety. SI and ODVA, jointly, will develop and establish conformance testing for devices implementing CIP Safety on SERCOS.

To date, the company has been selected to install its PlantWeb digital plant architecture with the Ovation expert control system at seven new coal-fired power plants, all slated to go into commercial operation within the next five years. These new plants represent an additional 5,505 MW of new generating capacity.

Gordon McFarland, senior power plant performance analyst with Emerson's North American Power & Water solutions division, has received the ISA's Standards & Practices Award. The award recognizes McFarland for his leadership in the initial development of fossil power plant standards, and for 25 years of continuous support and direction of those standards.

Emerson will install its PlantWeb digital plant architecture and an Ovation expert control system at Xcel Energy's new Comanche Power Station Unit 3, located near Pueblo, Colo. The 750-MW, supercritical plant is Xcel Energy's first new coal-fired electric generation unit in nearly 30 years.

The Ovation system has a bus platform that supports Foundation fieldbus, DeviceNet and PROFIBUS DP industry standard communications protocols. The bus platform also has the capability to incorporate emerging protocols, such as PROFINET and EtherNet/IP.

This achievement in the Kingdom is being celebrated with a gala dinner for customers and partners at the Sunset Beach Resort, Al Khobar.

The Industrial Automation display area at HANNOVER MESSE 2007 (the Hannover Fair, 16 to 20 April) combines three international trade fairs in one: INTERKAMA+, Factory Automation, and Industrial Building Automation. The range of products and services encompasses all key disciplines in the field of automation - from open- and closed-loop control technology, measuring technology, electronics and electrical engineering, to mechanical engineering, robotics and networking for industrial processes.

Enhancements to Wizcon 9.3 include two features for secure integration into enterprise IT systems and for video security in facility management. It integrates support of Active Directory / LDAP, which gives administrators the option to use their IT infrastructure to control login to Wizcon applications. A video management module enables building and facility managers to integrate video streams into their Wizcon application.

ISA will accept nominations for its 2007 Honors and Awards Gala until 10 February 2007. The Society recognizes the achievements of automation professionals around the world with Society Service and Technical awards. Many of the awards do not require the recipient or nominator to be an ISA Member.

Roberto Tunioli, Vice Chairman and CEO of Datalogic, is the winner of the 10th Italian edition of the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award, which is given to business leaders who have distinguished themselves for their talent, initiative, commitment and contribution to the socio-economic growth of their country.

AMT is staffed and ready to provide a full range of programming, training and support services for Behr EcoRP6 robots, Behr fixed automation systems and Behr’s 3D-Onsite computer simulation software.

This desktop reference guide offers details and specifications on Keithley's general-purpose and sensitive sourcing and measurement products, DC switching, RF switching and measurement, data acquisition solutions, semiconductor test systems, and optoelectronics test hardware. Tutorials simplify choosing solutions for specific applications.

The BiSS webinar on December 6 is part of a campaign launched recently by Danaher called the "Campaign for Absolute Freedom," which seeks to accelerate the adoption of BiSS and encourages engineers to petition drive manufacturers to support the BiSS protocol on their drives.

The GRF has been re-engineered to make it last longer. GRF is a pneumatically controlled spring return gripper which is used to secure difficult parts with more force by positioning of the gripper finger. Gripper components are available with three different angles of rotation: 35, 90 and 95 degrees, depending on the grip required.

This new agreement expands Emerson's current use of Intergraph's lifecycle instrumentation engineering software and enhances interoperability and efficiency between Emerson's DeltaV digital automation system, a core component of the company's PlantWeb digital plant architecture, and Intergraph's SmartPlant Instrumentation software.

Rockwell Automation honored its most accomplished engineers at the 24th annual Patent and Innovation awards celebrations Nov. 14 in Milwaukee, and Nov. 16 in Cleveland, Ohio. Keith Nosbusch, chairman and CEO, and Sujeet Chand, senior vice president and chief technology officer, presented the company’s two most prestigious recognitions, the Odo J. Struger Automation Award and the Engineer of the Year award.

Bemis, the world's largest manufacturer of toilet seats, is to implement Barco's PLANTMASTER MES to provide real-time production monitoring, scheduling and operator tracking at its injection molding facility in Burnley, Lancashire, UK.

Ethernet Direct Asia Pacific has offices in Vietnam and agents in Singapore, Thailand and Middle East.

This 150-page guide provides complete technical information, features, benefits and an easy-to-use selection guide for RFID and barcode products, including a new family of barcode imaging cameras.

Leading Edge Controls, San Antonio, specializes in industrial control systems. Stephen Horras, founder of Leading Edge Controls, will direct the new location. The San Antonio location will also support the needs of established JMP clients, especially Toyota and their new 2000 acre truck manufacturing plant opening later this year.

Matrikon's Australian division will supply a Process Information Management System (PIMS) to Xstrata’s Australian copper and zinc-lead-silver operation, Mount Isa Mines. The solution will allow Mount Isa Mines to optimize metallurgical operations and increase production and processing performance through the web-based access to real-time and historical operations data.

The 12 minute on-line Flash demonstration shows how the company's software automates paper-based quality system processes. It covers Automating quality and regulatory processes, Document Control, Training Management, CAPA, Change Control, Quality Audit, Customer Complaints, Nonconformances and Sarbanes-Oxley Act processes.

Airbus selected National Instruments DIAdem data analysis and report generation software as its standard tool for processing wind-tunnel test data, including the effects of specific thermal and aerodynamic parameters on airliners.

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI), Mitsubishi Corporation and Duro Felguera, a Spanish heavy machinery manufacturer, have jointly received orders for large-scale flue gas desulfurization (FGD) systems from two major Spanish electricity providers: Iberdrola Generacion, SAU and Endesa Generacion, SA. The FGD system for Iberdrola will be an altogether new installation while that for Endesa is to upgrade a previously delivered FGD system.

PackML is a set of packaging machine language guidelines that have been developed by the OMAC Packaging Workgroup. Packaging machines that follow the PackML guidelines can be more easily integrated into a packaging line and their associated manufacturing execution (MES) systems, minimizing engineering costs and reducing project schedules.

The Silver Crescent Foundation and The Society of Manufacturing Engineers (SME) Education Foundation will help South Carolina middle school students explore career opportunities in engineering and technology.

Codelco, the world's largest copper producer, has selected ABB to integrate numerous isolated automation systems at its Andina underground mine in Chile into a single, ABB-managed platform, using System 800xA Extended Automation. Andina is one of four underground mines that Codelco operates in Chile.

This brake and clutch solutions catalog details the complete line of electromagnetic friction brakes and clutches, and The Genuine Wrap Spring™ family of wrap spring clutch/brakes. The new AKB and PMB series power-off spring set brakes are also included.

Industrial Control Software Ltd has been awarded the 2006 Innovation Award by the Northern Offshore Federation in the UK. ICS won the award for a new software product they have just released which will revolutionize the way alarm overrides are handled in the Control Room by eliminating the need for paper logbooks.

ControlNet has been adopted by the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) of the People’s Republic of China as part of a machinery industry standard for the People's Republic of China. This adoption, by one of the world’s leading technology countries, extends nearly the entire family of CIP Networks to China ’s manufacturing industry.

Emerson won a contract to install its PlantWeb digital plant architecture with the Ovation expert control system at Plum Point Energy Station, a new pulverized coal-fired plant in northeastern Arkansas. The Ovation system will monitor and control the IHI boiler, as well as the burner management system and balance of plant processes.

JetCon 1301 Industrial 10/100Base-TX to 100Base-FX Multi-Mode fiber converter has been passed the EtherCAT system test.