Articles and News

Working with OBG, Ithaca Beer Co. upgraded to a semi-automated brewing process based on the FactoryTalk Craft Brew solution from Rockwell Automation. The pre-configured solution offers control to customize and automate a craft brewhouse. And it is pre-engineered, -programmed, -tested and -validated, significantly reducing commissioning and startup time.

The facility was highlighted for voluntary and proactive measures taken to improve the environment and foster sustainability. Besides being the headquarters for the fluid control & pneumatics businesses, the facility houses the global development center for the ASCO brand of fluid control solutions.

The USPS will start deploying 300,000 TC77 mobile devices to scan, track and trace packages across its carrier network as its Mobile Delivery Device in the first half of 2020.

Automation professionals may well benefit from taking a chance to develop options beyond the obvious, finding elegant solutions that are superior.

The various models in the Y-Fi laser series are employed in a multitude of demanding ultrafast applications, including 2- and 3-photon imaging, ophthalmology, and time resolved studies in the NIR and MIR.

By Neill Sciarrone, Trinity Cyber, Inc. Despite major advancements in technology, the global approach to cybersecurity has remained the same for decades: respond and recover. To slow the frequency of dangerous and costly cyberattacks, companies should be shifting their efforts towards focusing on adversary disruption.

The contest tested robotic programming knowledge by challenging students to complete a set of tasks on a FANUC education robot in three hours. The objective included program planning, end of arm tool selection, robot programming and teamwork. A panel of experts judged the 23 teams on their ability to complete the assignment, efficiency, teamwork and robotics knowledge.

By Mark Howard, EU Automation This article looks to establish a realistic ten-year prediction for the future of manufacturing digitalization in the United States.

The contest tested robotic programming knowledge by challenging students to complete a set of tasks on a FANUC education robot in three hours. The objective included program planning, end of arm tool selection, robot programming and teamwork. A panel of experts judged the 23 teams on their ability to complete the assignment, efficiency, teamwork and robotics knowledge.

Bentley Systems acknowledged 18 Year in Infrastructure Awards winners and nine Special Recognition Awards winners at a ceremony and gala on October 24 at the conclusion of the Year in Infrastructure 2019 Conference in Singapore.

The ISA Executive Board is focused, communicating, and working together for the collective good of all members.

Finger Lakes Community College (FLCC) has been awarded a $50,000 manufacturing grant from the FuzeHub Innovation Fund to support its work with New Scale Robotics, accelerating development of New Scale’s precision measurement and gripping tools for a range of collaborative robots (cobots).

Finger Lakes Community College (FLCC) has been awarded a $50,000 manufacturing grant from the FuzeHub Innovation Fund to support its work with New Scale Robotics, accelerating development of New Scale’s precision measurement and gripping tools for a range of collaborative robots (cobots).

Vysozki’s furniture piece, called Frida, has a soft-padded design on the upholstered sofa with two backrests and an armrest. A plate integrated in the armrest can be converted into a writing desk. She used igus products for bearing and adjustment on the table.

By Thomas R. Cutler Only when a small manufacturer has a grasp on operation elements can the promise of lean manufacturing and continuous process improvement be realized

At the upcoming HANNOVER MESSE (20–24 April 2020), some 6,000 companies from all around the world will present a broad array of industrial products and solutions.

Digital twin cloud services provide an intuitive and immersive 4D environment converging digital context and digital components with digital chronology for “evergreen” infrastructure digital twins over asset lifecycles. For infrastructure professionals, BIM and GIS are effectively advanced through 4D digital twins.

Wilfried Eberhardt succeeds Walter Zulauf, Director of Technology, Güdel Group AG, whose three-year term had ended. Walter Zulauf will continue his contributions to the board and was elected as Vice Chairman.

Automation systems are vulnerable to many cybersecurity risks, but email viruses pose the least risk to disrupt operations and create an emergency situation.

The project aims to test the production of hydrogen gas through brown coal gasification, liquefaction of hydrogen gas, storage and loading onto a specialized carrier for transport across the Asia-Pacific.

The tool also offers cost analysis, insights on cyber insurance limits and deductibles, and an estimated incident costs calculator that helps organizations better understand how to protect themselves against current and emerging cyber threats.

While many manufacturers are aware of the benefits of digitalization, it can be difficult to figure out where to begin, in order to reap those benefits. EPICOR has put together an architecture for companies, particularly small and medium manufacturers, to implement Industry 4.0, and Internet of Things conceptsy.

EtherCAT G was introduced by Beckhoff Automation in 2018 as an extension of the EtherCAT standard. Beckhoff recently presented the gigabit technology addition to the ETG, and after thorough review, the organization’s Technical Committee accepted it. Right now, the ETG is working to add EtherCAT G to the corresponding technology specifications.

Corning will use Verizon’s 5G technology to test how 5G can enhance functions such as factory automation and quality assurance in one of a fiber optic cable manufacturing facility.

By Bill Lydon, Automation.com The foundations of the automation industry are being reshaped by the flood of ideas, software, and products driven by Industry 4.0 and digitalization of manufacturing and process industries. Machine builders many finally start to benefit from the leveraging of open standard control software.

The convergence of the IT and OT knowledge for industrial automation environments is well underway. Soon IIoT will approach the network edge for almost every industrial application.

The data illustrates that IoT/ICS networks and unmanaged devices are soft targets for adversaries. Some of the top findings noted that these networks have outdated operating systems (71 percent of sites), use unencrypted passwords (64 percent) and lack automatic antivirus updates (66 percent).

The MachineMetrics IIoT Partner Ecysostem is powering a range of services and enabling complete end-to-end solutions and continuous value creation for both discrete manufacturing customers and participating partners, and includes a number of companies like Amazon Web Services, Hurco, Tsugami, SECO Tools, Saint Gobain, and McKinsey and Company

By Jonathan Wilkins, EU Automation Automated guided vehicles (AGVs) have been an industry staple since 1953. However, their reliance on environmental markers and the fact they follow a pre-determined route, means AGVs are best suited to structured environments in the absence of humans. This article discusses the rise of mobile robots and what challenges need to be faced for their uptake.

The Buford, Georgia office is planned to be opened by the end of 2019 to accelerate distribution efforts. The office will serve as the headquarters for sales, marketing, training, and customer service in the Americas.

Teradyne will acquire privately held AutoGuide for $165 million; $58 million net of cash acquired plus $107 million, if certain performance targets are met extending potentially through 2022. The acquisition is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2019, subject to customary closing conditions and regulatory approval.

Make the pilot lab more flexible, accurate, and productive while maintaining the Class 1, Division 2 hazardous area classification.

A better understanding of closed-loop control, and how to tune it, can be found by looking at the individual parts of the PID equation and the effect of each on the controlled output

OPTEK is an designer and manufacturer of large-format, granite-based video (VideoMic) and x-ray (InnerVision) dimensional measurement systems

The development is based on CENIT’s FASTSUITE Edition 2 software, which will be customized to work in perfect synchronization with the newly built machine.

At TMC Innovation Institute, ABB will develop robots that are able to carry out repetitive, delicate and mundane processes, leaving medical and laboratory staff free to undertake more valuable roles and ultimately treat more patients.

By Mark Howard, EU Automation Additive manufacturing (AM) is drastically altering a range of industries, from manufacturing to the medical sector. But what are the limitations of the technology? This article shares some insights behind the manufacturing and legal issues surrounding additive manufacturing.

The partnership will result in the delivery of an Enterprise Asset Management and Predictive Maintenance system that provides industrial organizations with tools to assess, manage and optimize their industrial assets and maintenance processes using Industry 4.0 best practices. The collaboration began in 2018 as part of the Manufacturing Technology Centre’s Factory in a Box project.

By Darcy Simonis, ABB While Bitcoin itself has divided many and attracted criticism, the technology that it is built upon, the blockchain, has garnered significant interest due to its promise of immutable digital record-keeping. This article explains why the emerging technology stores the key to greater traceability and reduced food wastage.

Trimantec’s Engineered Solutions and Electromechanical Manufacturing groups underwent the validation process and were awarded the ISO 9001:2015 QMS certification based on the following scope: design, manufacturing, fabrication, and assembly of electromechanical and machined components.

The 28,000sqm factory, announced in June, will produce 5G and Advanced Antenna System radios to boost network capacity and coverage to meet the demand for rapid 5G deployments in North America.

The partnership will result in the delivery of an Enterprise Asset Management and Predictive Maintenance system that provides industrial organizations with tools to assess, manage and optimize their industrial assets and maintenance processes using Industry 4.0 best practices. The collaboration began in 2018 as part of the Manufacturing Technology Centre’s Factory in a Box project.

Rushing to startup, taking shortcuts, or bypassing the FAT typically means many engineering mistakes and problems that will need to be fixed later.

Effective immediately, Doyle will begin offering value added services to CableEye users, providing design and manufacture of single or multi-block panels that are 100% electrically tested by CableEye and include a detailed test report.

Control strategies are used in wastewater treatment plants to improve effluent quality, lower operating costs, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

The presentation layer for protocols used in control systems provides the translation of data received into a usable format, such as binary data from a programmable logic controller into floating poin

Operations research concepts are well-known in the field of project management and are evident in Gantt charts and critical path method organization and planning.

By Mark Howard, EU Automation Surpassing all expectations, the Federal Reserve announced a rise in the US manufacturing production index of 0.5 per cent in August 2019. This article discusses the potential long term upswing of US manufacturing and how to achieve it.

Dr. Dekorsy, who brings more than 30 years of executive level business experience within the electronics and automotive Industry to his new position, will provide worldwide leadership and development of Mikrotron's global business as the organization strives to meet its growth goals.

In industrial automation, the mechanical-to-informatics ratio has nearly inverted over the past two decades in diverse industries including assembly, energy distribution, and batch processing.

By Frank Kenney, Cleo By taking a proactive approach to EDI integration and ecommerce, and by moving EDI processes to the cloud, manufacturers can more easily navigate the winding pathway towards automating operations while also innovating for brand differentiation and reducing order fulfillment costs.

Proper installation of thermocouple extension wires requires special terminal blocks to prevent additional junctions from being formed.

Adesto’s SmartServer IoT is a multi-protocol industrial edge server with an open, extensible interface. It lets customers connect their industrial data to Microsoft Azure IoT to perform analytics on that data.

The whitepaper from HMS Networks provides an overview of the industry’s opinions towards 5G technology as an emerging trend and future standard in the manufacturing and industrial automation industry.

MESTECH offers technology consulting services, solutions design and deployment, support, plant asset management, and staffing solutions for discrete, hybrid, and process applications across multiple industries including Life Sciences and Automotive.

To help enterprises prepare for the implications of quantum computing, Sectigo, a commercial Certificate Authority (CA) and a provider of purpose-built and automated PKI management solutions, has created a broad set of 15 educational resources for security industry professionals in the form of a whitepaper, podcast episodes and transcriptions, and articles.

By Andrea Carcano, Nozomi Networks Recent research and experience in the modern world have shown that when things connect to the internet, they become a target for malicious hackers. It is imperative that smart building operators make security a priority.

DCS migration topics: proper setting of tuning parameters, controller output scales, anti-reset windup limits, grounding, wiring, & configuration practices.

Each week during the month of October, Indegy will release a new video with a security executive who will speak from the front lines of OT cyber security. They will share their insights on the new threats to critical infrastructure and the steps they are taking to own, secure and protect against them.

Dream Report 5.0 R2 delivers the first of several FactoryTalk® connectors enabling it to access historical data without the need for third-party interfaces such as OPC or ODBC.

The aim of the cooperation is to develop joint offers in the field of measurement and automation technology for the process industry. This involves the integration of measuring instruments and accessories into the next generation of mobile communication networks as well as digital services based on them.

Dream Report 5.0 R2 delivers the first of several FactoryTalk® connectors enabling it to access historical data without the need for third-party interfaces such as OPC or ODBC.

Gräff took up his initial managing director position at the Technology Group at the beginning of 2015 and joined the Group’s management board at the beginning of 2019.

This acquisition is intended to create synergies and opportunities for Dukane and Aurizon, allowing both companies to share their technical expertise in the hygiene, personal care, medical disposable and packaging industries.

Each week during the month of October, Indegy will release a new video with a security executive who will speak from the front lines of OT cyber security. They will share their insights on the new threats to critical infrastructure and the steps they are taking to own, secure and protect against them.

The BionicOpter, a flying object based on the dragonfly, was named there as the world record winner for biggest flying robotic insect.

Of the Kaspersky solutions installed on ICS computers, 41.6% experienced and blocked a cyber threat. The three main cyber threats detected in energy ICS environments included worms (7.1%), spyware (3.7%) and cryptocurrency miners (2.9%).

By Frances Brunelle, Accelerated Manufacturing Brokers Selling a manufacturing company requires consideration of several factors, including automation-readiness.

ISA 2019 President Paul Gruhn discusses critical industry issues related to professional licensure. He also celebrates ISA's 75th birthday and invites readers to attend the annual ISA leadership confe

Established in 1990, the Collegiate Inventors Competition is a program of the National Inventors Hall of Fame and is sponsored by the USPTO, Arrow Electronics (People’s Choice Award), Merck, Hologic and Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati.

By Sam Cece, Swift Sensors Beyond preventing accidents in the moment, IIoT analytics can help identify areas that need safety overhauls for better long-term worker protection. Here's how the IIoT is improving safety in each of the major manufacturing injury categories.

Because both manual and automated assembly lines improve productivity, efficiency and quality of manufacturing while reducing labor costs and cycle time, the market for new assembly machines is expected to grow 27% by 2025, according to recent research by Global Market Insights.

Cyclic redundancy checking is a method of checking for errors in data that has been transmitted on a communications link.

Curtis and Ott each received a $5,000 scholarship at an awards ceremony held at PACK EXPO and Healthcare Packaging EXPO 2019 in Las Vegas, produced by PMMI, the Association for Packaging and Processing Technologies. Emerson also awarded two grants of $1,000 to benefit the engineering departments of MIT and Missouri S&T.

To be eligible for the scholarship, applicants must submit a 1000-1300-word essay via CNC Machines’ online form about why they chose to pursue a care in manufacturing; what they think can be done to attract younger generations to the field; as well as include information on their skills, goals and future plans.