Articles and News

Hannover Messe 2016 is staging Europe’s leading platform for foreign trade: Global Business & Markets in Hall 3.

Siemens upgraded the production line for a confections manufacturer to increase efficiency, production and speed.

Pigler Automation upgraded a Siemens Simatic PCS 7 used to produce electricity and steam for a paper company at one of its mills in Western Europe.

HEMAQ is the exclusive distributor for Central America, Cuba and the Dominican Republic.

At Meccancotecnica Umbra in Italy, a Cognex vision system takes 24 snapshots of a rotating part in two seconds to verify the external profile in a complete 360° inspection.

Hänggi inspects sealing rings for automotive injection pumps with VisionPro at two parts per second.

Most common technologies available for continuous level measurement are ultrasonic, free space radar, guided wave radar, capacitance, gamma, and pressure

By Bill Lydon, Editor Many industry experts believe OPC UA is an enabling technology for the Internet of Things and Industry 4.0. OPC UA enables multivendor multiplatform secure reliable interoperability for moving data and information from the embedded world to the enterprise.

The market increasingly demands individualized products. Product life cycles are getting shorter and average lot sizes are getting smaller. Considering this, cost efficient production in a globalized and resource limited environment requires a highly flexible (IT-) infrastructure that also works well in cross-enterprise networks. It requires a reshaped automation data pyramid.

Besides the existing Request/Response mechanism, which requires a “standing” connection between an OPC Client (data consumer) and an OPC Server (data provider), OPC UA will be enhanced with an additional communication schema following the principles of Publish-Subscribe.

Process design kit (PDK) enables customers to design complex ICs with multiple EDA vendor tools.

TAQA’s UK operations include five platforms that produce from 13 fields spread across the Northern North Sea and the Central North Sea.

FLIR Intelligent Transportation Systems develops a wide variety of hardware and software solutions for vehicular/pedestrian traffic video detection and monitoring. Many of these systems rely on the open standard OPC UA to obtain information from the different subsystems.

Our website now has short YouTube videos demonstrating Eisele connector products and how to use them.

H2M Technologies, a French company that builds packaging machines for the pharmaceutical and cosmetics industries, uses Keyence's XG-7000 vision system for on-line inspection of statutory markings and data matrix codes.

Recent analysis indicates that oil prices may in fact be on the rebound

This year's event—first time held outside of North America—draws nearly twice as many attendees as previous year.

Our Turkish partners Besttech Bilişim Company has presented AggreGate at the Win Automation Fair.

In Hall 7, Booth C40 COPA-DATA will present scalable software solutions with zenon for vertical data integration for the Smart Factory at the Microsoft booth.

Demand for improved productivity & competitiveness will force companies to invest in new, innovative & connected ways to optimize plants & supply networks.

By Bill Lydon, Editor The industrial Ethernet protocols for automation were designed long before serious discussions about the IoT and IIoT. Existing industrial networks will need to transform before users can fully experience the benefits of IIoT implementations. This article highlights my observations related to this transformation.

The U.S. food industry is forecast to grow at a steady rate of 2.9 percent CAGR through 2022, according to PMMI

Siemens’ software solutions are replacing the legacy system of German automotive supplier Bosch in its Electrical Drives division.

AutomationML is a data exchange standard for engineering data standardized in IEC 62814.

The plant in Chennai, India, now has a full-fledged service center which includes on-site service capabilities.

The 17,000 sq. ft. building will more than double capacity, enabling more robotic systems to be built and powered concurrently. “

AutoQuiz: error readings in pressure instrument calibration

CP replaced a 40-year-old DC motor that used an obsolete control system, was not very accurate and often caused bottlenecks in the production process.

Virginia Tech, Arizona State University, University of California, Georgia Tech and University of Arizona to feature research, business startups and global partnerships.

By Manjish Naik, Meridium Use high accuracy metrics or sufficiently-good data to analyze asset performance as far as it will allow, while you keep improving processes and the quality of the rest of your data to make it sufficiently good.

By Dr. Wolfgang Martin, Wolfgang Martin Team Will it create more jobs than it destroys?

Forecast for manufacturing production is to grow 1.1% in 2016, 2.4% in 2017, and 2.5% in 2018

On March 1st the ISA100 Wireless Compliance Institute hosted an End User Conference with a general focus on ISA100 Wireless Applications.

Centers are in Milford, Ohio, Lisbon and Munich.

United Launch Alliance selects video systems from Industrial Video & Control for monitoring safety of space vehicle launches

Vimba 2.0 supports Windows 10 and can be used in combination with Allied Vision's GigE Vision, Firewire, Camera Link and USB3 Vision interface cameras.

IRC5 Operations Web Based Training will teach students how to operate a robot, on their own schedule, without having to travel to a training facility

PLC Performance Enhancement by Field Programmable Gate Array Design

A motor branch circuit, including a Variable Frequency Drive (VFD) and one or more Motor Protection Circuit Breakers (MPCBs), is a complex system and its performance depends on all components, devices, configuration and their interconnection. This publication explains some considerations for the selection of MPCBs. The information in this paper has been developed through known engineering principles and validated by thorough testing and simulation.

270 new patent applications and 456 patents granted in 2015 is a new record.

Survey shows pitfalls of unplanned growth and underlying anxiety in ability to succeed in the face of growth and change.

Rotork RC200 scotch-yoke pneumatic actuators will be installed in new subway tunnels under construction for the Istanbul Metro.

Orders were down 30 percent from December, according to AMT – The Association For Manufacturing Technology. Year-over-year orders declined 21 percent.

Companies failing to upgrade aging IT systems will struggle to survive as the Internet of Things momentum gathers pace

T&M Solutions develops multidisciplinary solutions to test, measure, inspect, assemble and validate products in nearly all segments of the production industry.

The integrated automation solution will manage end-to-end production in the pulp industry — from the woodyard to the baling line — from a single control room

ISA's training and education opportunities in April 2016.

Hannover Messe is always an exciting and informative event which showcases products and innovations from around the world. This year, the theme is Integrated Industry and the United States will be the Partner Country. President Obama will be on hand to open and tour the fair with German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

By Peter Thorne, Director, Cambashi New connectivity enables new data flows. New data flows trigger new ways of working. The changes that happened in production years (and in some cases, decades) ago can now happen in product development, driven by the new connectivity of Industry 4 and Internet of Things initiatives. This article explores Industry 4.0 and Internet of Things (IoT) from the point of view of the design engineering process.

Implico is integrating OpenTAS software with SAP and field equipment at six tank farms and a refinery.

AggreGate Network Manager monitors Cisco-based wireless network and IT infrastructure of Peoples’ Friendship University.

The key trend of global smart motor market is the tremendous increment in the demand of smart motors for applications in industrial automation.

AutoQuiz: What is the MOST appropriate technique for modeling linear relationships for a large number of correlated inputs where the equations are unknown?

More than 5,000 exhibitors and 180,000 industry professionals, political and opinion leaders from around the globe will attend the event from April 25-29 in Hannover, Germany.

The study says that innovation and capital investment play a significant role in driving multifactor productivity growth.

Stephen Huffman will deliver a presentation to a nationwide assembly of K-12 STEM educators later this month that shows how competency models can help young people secure rewarding careers in automation, industrial cybersecurity and engineering.

January U.S. cutting tool consumption totaled $153.14 million, down 2.1% from December’s $156.48 million and down 16.7% when compared with the total of $183.91 million reported for January 2015.

The new edition is available for comments until April 8, 2016.

ISA President Jim Keaveney tackles the issue of leadership and showcases ISA's extensive network of volunteers.

In Hall 15, Stand H31, NORD will present drive functions for smart factories, new approaches to condition monitoring and predictive maintenance, as well as advanced autonomous control functions of the latest electronic drive units.

ATEX, IECEx and Class I Div 2 for CP10 and CD5 now available

Schneider will hold its annual Automation Conference at the New Orleans Marriott Hotel beginning Monday, May 23.

In 2014, the global market for thermoelectric modules was valued at US$364.1 mn and is estimated to reach a value of US$829.5 mn by the end of 2023

Dr. Dave will be directing all North America related research activities, new technologies and projects with HARTING’s key technology partners.

Alarms keep production running smoothly and safely, but how can you cut through the clutter and respond in an effective way?

Emerson will provide automation technologies including control and safety systems, predictive maintenance software, control valves and measurement devices, and services such as engineering, project management and lifecycle care.

The 2016 ISA Food and Pharmaceutical Industries (FPID) Symposium will be held 14-15 March in Cork, Ireland.

Power Construction is using the environmental monitoring system to collect and transmit temperature and humidity data in a 27-story hospital in Chicago.

The event will be held 16-19 May in Denver, Colorado.

A lot of folks imagine the process of bringing a robot onto their production floor as, literally, bringing a robot in. Alternatively, you can assign a worker who will service the robot while contemplating a philosophical question: “Who works for whom? Does the robot work for me or do I work for the robot?”

Almost every industrial plant will end up with a mix of wired and wireless technology. Ultimately, choose the solution that makes sense.

By Bill Lydon, Editor There are a number of worldwide initiatives to improve manufacturing flexibility, productivity and efficiency with high levels of integration. Manufacturing and automation professionals should study these initiatives and strongly consider their future automation investment strategies.

The two founders of Axiom Analytical Inc. Norm Jennings and Dr. Mike Doyle, will work as consultants for the newly established Hellma Axiom Inc.

The Motion, Drive & Automation North America show is co-located at IMTS from September 12–17, 2016, at McCormick Place in Chicago.

The article highlights the present scenario of Industry Automation market in India, challenges exist and the solutions from IndAXonline.