Articles and News

Yokogawa's Newnan, GA, Calibration Laboratory has been awarded ISO/IEC 17025:2005 accreditation from the American Association for Laboratory Accreditation (A2LA).

The end of service for this pervasive OS leaves many computers and devices vulnerable to security issues – whether accidental or deliberate – which could bring operations to a halt.

When interviewing for a position, interview your perspective boss as hard as he (or she) is interviewing you.

By Bill Lydon, Editor Exxon is improving the execution of automation projects. They are challenging automation suppliers to develop products that make installation, operations, and maintenance more efficient. Here's a summary of Exxon's initiative.

The integration of wireless technology into products that were previously wired has caused a steady shift in electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) test services.

Wolf Robotics achieved recertification as part of the Robotic Industries Association (RIA) Certified Robot Integrator program.

WAYJUN IAP series Optical Isolated Amplifier SIP12 package of 4-20mA/0-20mA/0-1V/0-100mV signal isolated converters

Eight analog signal acquisition, isolated converter RS-485/232 output

The IVC Video solution for hydrocarbon leak detection is being used by a major oil company monitoring a 120-mile crude oil pipeline in the western United States.

The guide offers impartial advice on available dimensioning, weighing and scanning technology, system configurations, and what needs to be planned for when implementing new DWS equipment.

Guangdong Peng Zun Energy Development selected Honeywell's UOP C3 Oleflex process technology to convert propane to propylene, a valuable petrochemical used in plastics production.

700 IQ3 non-intrusive intelligent electric valve actuators with Pakscan P3 two-wire digital control systems will be installed at the Pengerang oil and gas Terminal on the south east coast of Malaysia.

Bel will pay approximately $98 million in cash to acquire the ECS business, which had 2013 revenue of approximately $83 million.

Designer Schematic Electronic Design Automation (EDA) software is available from Digi-Key for $300.

After two days of electrifying competition, “Final Cut” from North High School in North St. Paul, MN, was crowned NRL Grand Champion.

June Training and Education Programs Offered by ISA

Clockworks performance management platform is installed on 60 buildings at MIT, monitoring and providing analytics on over 7,000 pieces of equipment using over 14,000,000 data points per day.

The RDC allows TMEIC engineers to establish reliable remote sessions. Once connected, TMEIC engineers can directly control systems and drives, or monitor and assist the customer in troubleshooting, adjusting, or collecting fault data.

The northern Louisiana plant, which will process 200 MMSCFD of natural gas, will be in production in the first quarter of 2015.

PAS Integrity Software Suite and Tripwire NERC Solution Suite are now integrated, reducing the time and resources required to collect audit evidence.

In addition, Tetsuya Hibi was promoted to Senior Vice President and CFO of Daifuku Webb Holding Company.

By Bill Lydon, Editor A pharmaceutical company describes how they invested in multivariate tools and were able to gain better process understanding and improve batch outcomes. In effect, they were able to transform data to actionable information.

With aging substations, a risk of blackouts and increasingly higher maintenance costs, GSE installed a remote monitoring systems based on wireless sensor networks.

Swiss based u-blox acquired Swedish connectBlue, a provider of industrial-grade short range radio modules.

By Brian Roth, Antaira Technologies Wireless networks are typically setup as an access point, bridge or client combination. The major difference is the access point allows multiple individual wireless devices to connect to the access point. A wireless bridge is used to link a smaller network of devices to the main network through a single wireless connection.

New PartnerNetwork companies include members from the Encompass Partner program, OEM Partner program and Solution Partner program.

Hydraulic cylinders and actuators in racing are becoming ever smaller and therefore require more compact, ultra slimline position sensors for measuring displacement and piston position.

Process Data Analysis: Filtering Out the Noise, and Acting On the Signals

Many impediments to creation of a large IoT market are swept under the carpet as large companies and analysts indulge in an unseemly race to the largest forecasts. Its value chain is unclear, paybacks are little understood, and no large orders exist.

GAMBICA says the telecommunications industry wrote a standard where key wireless devices can never be relied upon to report their alarm or status messages in a timely fashion. This restriction is likely to make Europe lose significant competitive ground in the industrial wireless field.

The Exchange helps industrial plant owners and operators connect with control system integrators and suppliers who can meet their industrial automation needs.

China’s leaders are issuing increasingly clear signals that they plan another round of economic stimulus programs, as evidence accumulates that the economy is slowing more than expected this year.

The module significantly reduces the amount of time and resources to develop ISA100 Wireless-compliant products.

LightWise Allegro USB3 Vision cameras work with ActiveUSB series of universal camera SDKs and drivers for developers and system integrators.

The Bussmann business began in a St. Louis garage in 1914 thanks to the vision of the Bussmann brothers – Joe, Al, Frank, Lee and Harry.

Online, interactive benefits calculator answers common questions related to the benefits of Automated Storage and Retrieval Systems (AS/RS) early in the planning process.

The service center is in eastern Germany, in the Leuna industrial area.

OSI delivered a SCADA system to the RAK Investment Authority (RAKIA) of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), but we don't know what it's doing there.

IMPERX designs and manufactures industrial cameras, frame grabbers and advanced imaging solutions used in the machine vision, medical, military, aerospace, surveillance and automation markets.

The unbalance between continuous operation flow & instantaneous batch flow can be spread over available inventory by an adapted rate limited feedforward.

By Jason Cook, MAC Solutions When it comes to selecting an enterprise-wide alarm management system, businesses should consider the pros and cons of a third party specific alarm management tool over a DCS vendor’s offering

March U.S. cutting tool consumption totaled $171 million, up 7.8 percent from February’s total and down 2.5 percent from March 2013.

Hydro-Sherbrooke owns and manages nine hydroelectric generating stations and three major distribution substations in Quebec.

Dr. Thomas Bürger, Klaus Weyer, Alexander Verl and Matheus Bulho were elected to the board.

The Galil DMC-4143 connected to an Apple Mac, moves the sculptures for four shows daily, from their place inside the clock tower, out through the door and into the center of the Glockenspiel.

Motion Controls Robotics (MCRI) achieved recertification as part of the RIA Certified Robot Integrator program.

Sightsys provides stacks, libraries, tools and services for CANopen, PROFINET, EtherNet/IP, EtherCAT and POWERLINK.

By Sasan Montaseri, ITTIA Developers must plan for data management from the earliest stages of product development. Without the right database, developers risk incurring hidden costs as the complexity and scale of the application grows, including: data loss, inconsistency, poor performance, undetected conflicts, and boundless resource consumption.

BP is using Smart Wireless technology from Emerson Process Management as part of a leak detection system that helps enhance safety at its chemical production center in Geel, Belgium.

Yokogawa will supply control systems, safety instrumented systems, analysis systems, and other products for Stage-1 of the Jeddah South supercritical oil-fired thermal power plant project in Saudi Arabia.

Thermocouples vs RTDs: Choosing the Right Temperature Sensor

The two will provide protection of newly developed application code through the entire SAP development lifecycle and automated modernization and code optimization for ABAP customers.

Frost & Sullivan says the market earned $178.8 million in 2013 and estimates this to reach $201.8 million in 2017. Cheap Chinese gages and cutthroat pricing are the rage.

By Nigel Rozier, Raima From batch processing to sophisticated real-time processes, effective data management is the key to boosting efficiency, increasing productivity and reducing costs in industrial applications. This article explores the role of data management solutions embedded within industrial automation systems.

Fiat Powertrain is upgrading the CNC systems of 20 key machine tools used on the crankshaft and cylinder block production lines of its engine manufacturing plant in Campo Largo, Brazil.

March U.S. manufacturing technology orders totaled $492.78 million, up 38.5% from February and up 2.9% when compared with the total of $479.04 million reported for March 2013.

By Maureen Clancy, Teledyne DALSA A multi-talented control and automation team applies its mechanical, electrical, and software engineering chops to celebrate—and solve—a timeless puzzle.

The original 40-year-old controls at Piqua Power System were extremely unreliable, often resulting in unplanned downtime.

SmartStream Digital Conference--Optimizing technology for the changing face of industry--will take place live online on June 4 from 11 a.m. – 4 p.m. EDT.

How Often Should Instruments Be Calibrated?

By Bill Lydon, Editor Manufacturing Intelligence (MI) systems allow the aggregation and subsequent visualization and analysis of data to drive business decisions. Pharmaceutical companies share their companies' perspectives on MI solutions and their implementation plans.

Uncertainly remains over the future of the organic photovoltaic market as a whole, and arguably the industry is going through the period of despair and disillusion.

By Mike Roberts, LNS Research In this article, we’ll present key preliminary findings from a joint survey between LNS Research and MESA International focused on identifying the top metrics and best practices that are driving the most results for manufacturing business leaders today.

Software Development Kit for Linux further enhances the ease with which Leddar™ technology can be integrated into various applications.

LeddarTech, owner of the patented Leddar™ LED-based detection technology, is pleased to announce that its leading-edge sensors are now readily available to the Arduino community.

Treat references as a first step toward engaging a wider group who can provide a more realistic picture of the person or product or company being evaluated.

Mathevan holds a Bachelor’s of Science Degree in Mechanical Engineering and a Master of Science Degree in Industrial Engineering.

E-Mon is now offering Honeywell’s Attune Energy Dashboard service to provide facility management professionals with information on energy usage and trends.

The IPRC, located in Lisle, Illinois, is staffed with experienced reliability engineers who monitor thousands of assets around the world, seven days per week.

B&B Electronics and SeeControl will deliver intelligent, predictive monitoring solutions for Industrial Internet of Things (IoT) applications.

Are You Qualified?

By Peter Engstrom, STEUTE Industrial Controls There is a large selection of devices for transmitting and receiving continuously variable parameters like flow, but there has been little available in the way of wireless devices for generating and receiving simple "on-off" signals. This is changing.

Training courses and workshops teach control systems designers, engineers and operators various aspects of process safety and how to meet worldwide safety requirements.

Sercos scheduled three technical webinars for May and June that will provide interested parties insight into the technology.

A VEGAPULS WL61 radar level sensor is used on a coagulation tank in the Aston-Martin paint shop where the surface is turbulent, it foams readily and heavily, and build up on any form of 'contact' device quickly happens and causes problems.