Articles and News

Students from the University of Minnesota in the Igus Y.E.S. (Young Engineers Support) Program developed a chainsaw variation of an Alaskan Mill for cutting large blocks of ice for the commercial use of Ice Occasions, one of the largest manufacturers of ice statue making equipment.

Nachi Robotic Systems recently upgraded its Quality Management System from QS9000/Tooling & Equipment Supplement: 1998 to ISO 9001:2000. This certification reflects Nachi’s commitment to continuously improve its quality management system to provide customer satisfaction by incorporating a process-oriented system.

Yokogawa Electric Corporation and its group companies have launched the Vigilant Integration Partners (VIP) Initiative, an open, non-exclusive, standard-based, and interoperability-driven partnership that enables Yokogawa customers to integrate best-in-class field devices supplied by VIP member companies with the industry-leading CENTUM series production control system and the PRM asset management system.

Yokogawa's Plant Resource Management (PRM) System provides a framework for monitoring and diagnosing the health of field devices, such as process sensors and valves. GE Energy's System 1(r) platform provides similar functionality for the mechanical and thermodynamic health of rotating, reciprocating, and fixed machinery. The two platforms can exchange a variety of status and diagnostic data, allowing users to monitor and manage the condition of a broader cross-section of plant assets than by using either system individually.

Joe Remisiewicz has joined WAGO as a Senior Field Sales Application Engineer. Working out of his home office, in the Detroit, Michigan area, Remisiewicz will be providing application support for the WAGO-I/O-SYSTEM for customers in Michigan, Northern Ohio, Upstate New York, and the Province of Ontario.

Green Hills Software has joined Texas Instruments Incorporated's (TI) TMS320™ Third Party Network as a software and embedded services provider.

Series 2400 SourceMeter® Instruments have received the Test of Time Award from Test & Measurement World Magazine. The Test of Time Award, which was created to recognize product lines that provide state-of-the-art performance for at least five years after their introduction, was announced at the magazine’s awards ceremony on February 9, 2006, during the APEX Show in Anaheim, California.

The readers of Test & Measurement World have voted the National Instruments PXI-5922 flexible-resolution digitizer the 2006 Test Product of the Year. This is the second Test & Measurement World honor for the digitizer, after it was named a Best in Test winner in December. Released in March 2005, the digitizer extends the industry-standard PXI platform with measurement capabilities that exceed the performance of high-end traditional instruments.

Roach is one of seven elected board members directing the technical, marketing and financial responsibilities for the OPC Foundation, a non-profit international standards organization dedicated to providing standards for interoperability in industrial automation.

EDN magazine editors selected NI LabVIEW 8 and the NI PXI-5922 flexible-resolution digitizer as finalists for the magazine’s annual Innovation of the Year award. It also recently honored the NI LabVIEW Embedded Development Module and the NI PXI-5922 digitizer as two of the magazine’s Hot 100 Products of 2005.

Kevin Roach is the Vice President of Rockwell Software where he is responsible globally for all automation and information software. Grant Wilson is Vice President of Technology for Emerson Process Management where he leads the DeltaV System Development team.

The PROFIBUS Trade Organization (PTO) and the PROFI Interface Center (PIC) announced two new courses as part of the PROFItech Certification Training Course program for 2006. The two new classes added to the program include a PROFIBUS Installer’s Class and a PROFINET Certified Network Engineering Class.

The international "Industrial Building Automation" specialist trade fair during HANNOVER MESSE (Hannover Fair) 2006 is the ideal place to find out about the latest innovative solutions in the international building automation market and the expected trends for the years ahead.

Many companies have been attracted by low wage and production costs to leave their traditional base in Germany and transfer production to low-wage economies. However, other companies decided to stay in Germany, focusing instead on the introduction of automation technology to improve productivity. "Factory Automation" and "Digital Factory" are among the leading international trade shows within HANNOVER MESSE 2006.

Microprocessor veterans Rich Belgard, Gary Hoffman, Dr Nick Tredennick and Jim Turley have all accepted the role as advisors to Imsys Technologies. Each of them has a long and outstanding experience in the semiconductor industry, all the way from processor designs to marketing and sales.

"Foundation Fieldbus" by Ian Verhappen and Augusto Pereira provides quick reference information on the FOUNDATION(tm) Fieldbus H1 protocol and installation tips. The resource also provides other useful information that design engineers, control system engineers, and instrumentation technicians need to know about FOUNDATION Fieldbus.

Suncor Energy Inc. and Emerson Process Management announced a 7-year agreement that names Emerson as Suncor’s supplier for automation products, solutions, and services for capital projects at new and existing North American facilities.

There is a growing challenge on the plant floor if you haven’t experienced it yet, I am sure you will soon. A study by ARC predicts that the number of factory floor devices with an IP address is going to TRIPLE in the next four years and those devices are pushing lower and lower into the controls architecture… from systems, to sub-systems down to sensors… so Ethernet equipment with an IP addresses are increasing rapidly.

The ISA EXPO 2006 technical conference program will address major themes in the automation industry and was developed by volunteer experts at a conference committee summit. The five themes chosen for the conference are: Safety and Security, Process Automation, Environmental Controls, Industrial Networking and Systems Integration.

Cognex announced a new series of free machine vision seminars exclusively for pharmaceutical industry professionals involved with packaging operations. This brand new series of seminars called, "Applying Machine Vision to Pharmaceutical Packaging," are half-day events that show how easy it is to integrate, validate, maintain and use the latest generation of machine vision systems to ensure label accuracy, package integrity and product traceability.

Emerson Process Management has received a contract to install its PlantWeb digital plant architecture with the Ovation® expert control system and Foundation™ fieldbus technology in Units 7 and 8 of the Zouxian Power Plant. The project, Zouxian Phase IV, was awarded by China Huadian Group Corp. It represents the first installation of Foundation fieldbus device technology for monitoring and controlling processes at a power generation facility in China.

Rockwell Automation has received the Frost & Sullivan 2005 Customer Service Leadership Award for its demonstrated excellence and outstanding contributions to the worldwide medium voltage drives market. The award recognizes the commitment Rockwell Automation has shown toward understanding customer requirements and providing high-quality products and services for its customers around the world.

The acquisitions made in 2005 (PMI, Elau, ABS EMEA, Juno Lighting and BEI Technologies) and the full-year impact of the acquisitions made in 2004 (Andover Controls and Kavlico) contributed a significant €433 million, or +4.2%. The currency effect became slightly positive, increasing sales by €74 million, or +0.7%.

Blackfin DSP helped Ann Arbor shatter the traditional price/performance barriers that have slowed the thermal infrared imaging camera market. Infrared imaging is critical in manufacturing applications, such as die-casting and plastic injection, for specifications that are not visible to the naked eye.

This new Joint-Venture, will be named Schneider (Shaanxi) Baoguang Electrical Apparatus Co. Ltd. (SSBEA) and will be incorporated in the city of Baoji (Shaanxi Province) as soon as the customary conditions precedent and regulatory approvals are satisfied. Schneider Electric will own a 70% interest in the company while Shaanxi Baoguang Group will hold the remaining 30%.

Under the umbrella of HANNOVER MESSE (Hannover Fair) 2006, "Factory Automation" will present the latest products, systems and services for a complete spectrum of industrial applications.

On January 1, 2006, ISA introduced three new member benefits. The benefits enhance the membership experience of thousands of automation professionals. Each full dues paying Member now receives a free standard each year of their membership. Each Member also has free access to a library of web seminars and free downloads of technical papers from past ISA conferences.

The just-released government NIST 23 standards for the calculations and properties of industrial gases and steam are embedded in the special code created by Emerson as part of a multi-year contract with Air Liquide Large Industries U.S. LP.

BAE Systems has selected the Green Hills GMART SPARK Ada-compliant kernel and AdaMULTI development environment for the new Hawk military trainer development aircraft.

Four different NI products – NI LabVIEW 8, the LabVIEW Embedded Development Module, NI cRIO-4408 and NI SignalExpress 1.1 – were named finalists in five Design News categories, with winners selected online by readers until February and announced in March.

The Embedded Microprocessor Benchmark Consortium (EEMBC) has standardized on the NI LabVIEW graphical development environment and NI PXI data acquisition hardware to implement EnergyBench, a new EEMBC metric that shows the energy a processor uses to run EEMBC performance benchmarks.

As part of the agreement, ProSoft Technology now owns the full rights, patents and intellectual property associated with the OPACTS Terminal Automation & Management Systems, developed by Octal Systems. The agreement will ensure continued support for Octal Systems' products and is seen by both ProSoft Technology and Octal Systems as a positive development for Octal's existing customer base.

The NOF is a Trade Association representing approximately 200 member companies in the North of England who supply goods and services to the oil, gas, marine and renewable energy industries. The capabilities established by NOF member companies in the harsh, demanding environment of the North Sea are highly respected by the developing oil and gas nations around the world.

Transbotics, an integrated solutions provider specializing in automated guided vehicles (AVGs) and automation technology, will integrate KUKA Robotics’ industrial robots into its automatic material handling systems.

Intergraph it has signed a three-year Software License Agreement with CDI-Process & Industrial, a unit of CDI Engineering Solutions, Inc., to globally standardize on Intergraph software. Under the agreement, CDI-Process & Industrial is standardizing on Intergraph’s entire SmartPlant® Enterprise portfolio of plant engineering, design and information and materials management applications.

The awards honor manufacturing companies that are using automation and information technologies to transform their business and create a sustainable competitive advantage. A panel of judges will select seven award winners: one who best demonstrates mastery of each of six business disciplines, plus the Progressive Manufacturer of the Year award for the company that has best mastered technology-driven business transformation across their organization.

Groschopp announced compliance with the European Restriction of Hazardous Substances (RoHS) directive by producing fractional HP motors that use lead-free solder. The company will replace its Sn50 Pb50 solder for Sn96.4Ag3.0Cu0.5 lead-free solder. Solder processes including the flux and cleaner used will remain the same.

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.