Read the online version if some of the links don't work in this Automation Software Update.
AutoCAD Electrical Screencast
Watch the free screencast and learn why AutoCAD Electrical is the only logical choice for electrical controls design. Find out how to reduce complex tasks with intelligent design features, quickly build PLC I/O drawings, and minimize errors with real-time error checking – all while maintaining seamless integration with the familiar AutoCAD environment. Get the insider’s look at how AutoCAD Electrical can help you prevent costly errors and speed up your time to market.
From the Publisher:
Will Vista bring a new perspective?
Featured Articles:
5 things about Vista, Ghost writers on the Web, Microsoft in manufacturing, If you can't beat IT, join IT, and more
Resources & Literature:
AutoCAD Electrical demos & why upgrade, Vista webcast, S88 webcast and white papers
Application Story:
AutoCAD Electrical Reduces Design Time by 50%, From loading bay to enterprise
Featured Training:
OPC Workshops, Programming using 61131-3
Product Announcements:
Enhanced Asset Management Suite, OPC File Collector, Motion Module for LabVIEW, Network programming software, and much more
Featured Events:
Microsoft Project seminars, ExperTune and TiPS User's Conference, Matrikon Summit, and more
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Welcome to this Automation Software Update One advantage of an on-line newsletter like this is that it alerts you to trends far sooner than any other resource, such as print magazines. The latest trend in automation software is the new Microsoft Vista operating system. As you will see when perusing the new products listed below, the automation industry has already responded with Vista-ready products. In our hardware newsletters, you can also see I/O boards and controllers touting Vista compatibility. We don’t expect anyone to use Vista for real-time control. It requires a gigabit of memory and a GHz processor just to run it, requiring a large, expensive platform. Microsoft’s reputation for producing “buggy” new software means few industrial companies will trust it for control applications. However, you will see Vista being used in HMI packages, historians and enterprise-level software. In fact, several HMI/SCADA vendors have been running Vista in beta tests for six months now, thus ensuring that their packages will be able to run Vista with some confidence. Vista offers several features of interest to industrial users, including increased security, advanced graphics, dashboards, workflow organization, and easy integration with higher-level software, such as MES and ERP systems. This newsletter and its portal contain the latest product releases, white papers, tutorials and resources about Vista automation software, so you can learn everything you need to know about Vista right here. In case you are not familiar with our newsletter/portal concept, let me explain. A Portal is a gathering place for information on a particular topic, such as Automation Software. It contains articles, white papers, news, new products, events, data sheets, tutorials and so on. In other words, it’s a one-stop location where you can find tons of information on Automation Software without having to Google all over the Internet for hours. We’ve already done that for you. Vendors contribute material to the portal, and we feed the portal on a daily basis with news and products. A Newsletter contains up-to-date information on the topic, including recent articles, products, news, events and resources. Again, you don’t have to Google the Internet looking for the latest information, because we do that for you. In the coming months, you’ll be seeing technical articles in the trade press about Vista, because it’s a “hot topic.” Remember that you saw it here first. Enjoy the rest of this Automation Software update! Rick Zabel |
2007 Salary Survey
Automation.com is surveying automation, process control and instrumentation professionals about career, salary and company information. Find out how you stack up with other professionals, and how salaries vary by job function or geographic region. Please take a minute to complete our survey and then pass it on to your automation friends and colleagues. Survey results will be published in early spring 2007.
Michael Neal, LabVIEW Product Marketing Manager, National Instruments
Windows Vista includes hundreds of new features and many notable changes and improvements, including striking visual effects, improved search capabilities, security enhancements, and a 64-bit option. This article highlights many several aspects of Windows Vista to consider if you are contemplating migrating to this new operating system. Read full article
By Jeffrey R. Harrow, Principal Technologist, The Harrow Group
Software programs can generate text on a given subject that seems relevant, but a casual reading shows it has no meaning. I came across a software program that generates text relating to a given subject. When skimmed, pages of these paragraphs seemed to be relevant to the subject at hand and flowed together as you’d expect. But even a casual reading quickly made it clear that the text was semantically null—it sounded good, but it had absolutely no meaning!
Read full article
By Archie Jacobs, Manufacturing Automation LLC
When Microsoft released .NET technology, writing software for embedded operating systems such as Windows CE became as easy as writing a desktop application. Microsoft’s .NET environment includes a SQL server client for Windows CE, making it very easy to write a small VB program that can read and write to a SQL server. With this advance and the release of Visual Studio 2005, Microsoft created a tighter integration of SQL servers, and made writing a database application simpler.
Read full article
By Jeremy Pollard, CET, Control Design Columnist
Jeremy Pollard reflects on the way Microsoft-based technology revolutionized the face of machine control. You can’t go to a manufacturing facility of any size and not find a PC on the factory floor that isn’t running a Microsoft OS. Microsoft allowed basement companies to form, and create reasonable software because it was “easy.” But the low-hanging fruit has been long picked. The technologies we enjoyed 10 years ago are getting old or have disappeared.
Read full article
Joseph Ogando, Senior Editor, Design News
Factory floor data has simply become too valuable to leave on the factory floor. End-users are demanding the data be passed up to MES and ERP systems. But the typical factory floor is IT's worst nightmare.
Read full article
By Patric Dove, Advantech Corporation, Industrial Automation Group
The embedded version of Windows XP is a componentized version of the well-known Windows XP Professional operating system. Instead of everything being wrapped tightly into a single package, XP Embedded breaks the OS down into more than 10,000 individual components, allowing developers to create systems that have the functionality and familiar features of XP. XP Embedded can fit on a 512 MB CompactFlash® card, and still leave room for system applications and data backup.
Read full article
By Ed Drozdowski. president of Accu-Tech
Application story describes how vision software is used by an accredited contract-measurement lab to trim time off projects while still providing exact measurements and readily traceable standards of accuracy. The software helped make a smooth transition from tactile to vision measurement without learning complicated programming. The software allows use of a wide range of vision sensors instead of, or in addition to, tactile probes.
Read full article
If you design machines or products that move, electrical controls are probably a key component of your design requirement. For years, design teams had to rely on generic applications to manually lay out electrical schematics, wasting valuable design time and money. AutoCAD® Electrical software, part of the AutoCAD® family you already know and trust, is the leading application built specifically to create and modify electrical controls designs. It delivers the tools you need to design and modify industrial controls systems faster and more accurately than ever before.
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Online demos walk you through the key strengths in AutoCAD Electrical, including Data migration tools that reduce the time needed to convert native AutoCAD data into intelligent AutoCAD Electrical designs; Autodesk Vault integration, which makes work-in-progress data more accessible and reusable; and Automatic Wire and Numbering Component Tagging, which allows you to place sequential or reference-based numbers on your wires automatically.
View Demos
In this first Vista webcast, discover the principal new features and changes in Windows Vista that will impact engineers and scientists. The first major Windows release in five years, Vista includes hundreds of enhancements that affect every Windows user. This webcast highlights major new features and important changes in Vista, and explains their impact on engineers and scientists. Topics include security improvements, revitalized search capabilities, a 64-bit option, enhanced visual effects and the .NET-based successor to Win32, as well as Vista availability and system requirements.
View Webcast
S88 Papers from WBF (World Batch Forum) include: White Paper for Beginners; White Paper for Engineers; White Paper for End Users; White Paper for Scientists and Researchers; White Paper for Sales People; White Paper for Universities; White Paper for Production Managers.
Download White Papers
February 21, 2007, 11:00 AM - 12:30 PM EST
Webcast presents an overview of the S88 standard and its purpose with emphasis on the structure for automation and with elaboration of concepts such as recipe, hierarchy, equipment entities and interaction with enterprise systems. Presenter is Lynn Craig, president of Manufacturing Automation Associates.
Register for Webcast
Tegron has automated its drawing creation and revision process with AutoCAD Electrical. In the past, the company's ten offices around the U.S. employed different manual drawing processes. AutoCAD Electrical introduced consistency and standards, which have led to a dramatic reduction in error rates. Productivity has improved so much that Tegron completed a drawing revision project for a customer in three weeks that would have taken three months using the old methods.
Watch video
Read full story
Plains Marketing Canada recently implemented a Bulk Terminal System from ProSoft Technology resulting in unprecedented access to reliable product inventory availability and product movement forecasts, elimination of labor associated with manual data transfer and centralized management of the TMS database on a company-wide basis, resulting in a significant labor cost savings at truck loading facilities.
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Propal Paper Production in Valle del Cauca, Colombia, recently upgraded their plants as part of a strategy to enhance profitability, stay competitive and maximize their Return on Investment (ROI) in the demanding paper market. They used standards-based OPC industrial connectivity to provide a complete off-the-shelf solution to give them quick, reliable and secure access to highly accurate data.
Read full story
FMC Technologies Airport Services oversees Continental Airlines maintenance at the George Bush International Airport in Houston, TX. Three areas of the facility that FMC manages have begun to age and needs replacement parts but, after looking into these parts, they were either too expensive or obsolete. “The failure of the communication ports are preventing critical information being passed to the PLC”, says Larry Buford, Senior Systems Analyst at FMC. The goal was to find a field solution allowing FMC to replace the outdated equipment running Windows NT and migrate to Windows XP and interface with Object Automation (OA) Software.
Read full story
For engineers, developers and integrators who are integrating new systems, expanding current operations, replacing legacy equipment and looking for ways to improve data communication; our OPC hands-on workshops provide a practical approach to learn and understand the methods of accessing data through OPC technology.
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For engineers, developers and product managers who are integrating and implementing OPC in new or current operations, and need to understand how to diagnose OPC issues such as DCOM; our OPC Level 2 hands-on workshops provide individuals with the knowledge, tools, and troubleshooting techniques needed to maximize the efficiency of OPC networks.
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PLCs have become part of the backbone of industrial automation. The International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) has developed a standard set of programming languages for industrial PLCs. IEC 61131-3 is becoming the standard of choice in many industries, and will boost productivity and enhance software quality.
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Emerson enhances AMS Suite for management of critical assets - 02/12/07 Version 2.5 of its AMS Suite: Asset Portal software expands asset management capabilities. It allows users to customize enterprise-wide asset information, including filtering and reporting alerts, polling on demand, and viewing graphical asset health reports. |
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Amplicon announces Ventrix Windows Vista capable industrial computers - 02/12/07 Ventrix 4004 and Ventrix-W 4004 4U rackmount PICMG 1.3 compliant industrial computers are Windows Vista capable. They provide PCI express (PCIe) expansion, use Intel Pentium D Dual-Core LGA775 technology, and have an ndustrial-grade 600W power supply. |
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MatrikonOPC announces OPC File Collector to transfer text data files into any historian - 02/07/07 File Collector monitors a user-specified directory for data files and automatically imports them to any OPC-compliant historian. It typically processes Comma Separated Value (CSV) files containing value, quality and timestamp (VQTs) data points, but can be configured to process any text-based data file. |
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NI enhances SoftMotion Development Module for LabVIEW - 02/06/07 SoftMotion Development Module for LabVIEW allows machine builders and OEMs to create customized motion controllers. Enhancements include support for Windows Vista OS and CompactRIO controllers for motion control. |
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Phoenix Contact enhances RAD-Link network programming software - 02/01/07 Enhancements include a setup wizard that makes it easy to set up new or existing networks. The user can see the name of each radio and review which slaves are communicating with the master and which slaves are communicating through repeaters. The user can choose to set alarms to appear at the bottom of the screen, make a sound, display a pop-up or send an e-mail/text message. A free version can be downloaded. |
Quatech announces Vista-Ready serial I/O products - 02/01/07 Products that are Vista-ready include: USB 2.0 Serial Adapters; USB 1.1 Serial Adapters; Traditional 1.1 USB serial adapters; PCMCIA Serial Cards; Mobile connectivity serial expansion cards; and UPCI Serial Boards. |
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InduSoft Web Studio supports Microsoft's Vista Operating System - 01/22/07 Compatibility with Vista means that InduSoft Web Studio is still the only HMI/SCADA solution that runs on virtually every type of hardware in the automation and control industry, including cell phones, PDAs, embedded computers and panel computers, industrial devices, and desktop workstations with dual-core processors and high-power graphic cards. |
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MGE offers power management software compatible with Microsoft's Vista - 01/18/07 Personal Solution-Pac power management software for Microsoft Vista can be downloaded from MGE's Web site. Personal Solution-Pac gives users information on important parameters such as power consumption and remaining battery life of their UPS. It includes an intuitive screen that displays remaining battery backup time available. |
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Matrox Graphics develops dual monitor upgrade for PCs - 01/18/07 DualHead 2Go Digital Edition external multi-display upgrade device connects to the VGA output of compatible notebook or desktop computers and expands the desktop across two digital displays. It supports high resolution panels, offering a stretched desktop of up to 3840x1200 (or dual 1920x1200) across two displays. it is ideal for adding an extra display to a closed, already validated, mission-critical system or to computers with no available expansion slots. |
ICONICS software is ready for Microsoft Vista - 01/05/07 GENESIS32 and BizViz Manufacturing Intelligence software suite are ready for the new Microsoft Vista operating system. Windows Vista increases productivity and drives business success by improving security and compliance, optimizing desktop infrastructure, finding and making better use of information and enabling the mobile workforce. |
Other Product Announcements
- Theorem launches TPM process manager software - 02/14/07
- ILS Technology to supply deviceWISE 2.0 for Mitsubishi PLCs - 02/14/07
- ILS Technology launches deviceWISE 2.0 connectivity platform - 02/14/06
- Invensys introduces SAP-Certified Real-Time Finance and Production Execution software - 02/13/07
- Wonderware introduces three Performance Management Software packages - 02/13/07
- Real-Time Systems releases Real Time Hypervisor software to mate OSes - 02/13/07
- Thermo Fisher Scientific releases version 8.0 of Nautilus LIMS - 02/12/76
- GE Fanuc Automation releases Proficy Machine Edition Version 5.60 - 02/12/07
- RTI puts distributed real-time developer tools on Eclipse platform - 02/12/07
- Emerson enhances AMS Suite for management of critical assets - 02/12/07
- Northwest Analytical adds Multivariate Alliance tools from Infometrix - 02/12/07
- IXXAT announces Powerlink Starter Kit - 02/07/07
- Groschopp offers free Motortec STP tool for rotational device calculations - 02/06/07
- McObject Releases eXtremeDB Fusion Embedded Database - 02/06/07
- Maplesoft announces Maple-NAG Connector software - 02/05/07
- Rockwell Automation enhances FactoryTalk for automotive applications - 02/05/07
- Rockwell Automation enhances RSLogix 5000 programming software - 02/01/07
- Agilent enhances VEE testing Software to make measurements easier - 02/01/07
- NI releases LabWindows/CVI 8.1 real-time module - 01/31/07
- Eagle adds ProLink II Web Service Request Module to ProTeus V CMMS - 01/31/07
- Eagle Technology enhances ProTeus V CMMS software - 01/31/07
- Green Hills Software releases Version 5.0 of MULTI Compiler - 01/31/07
- Kepware releases DNP drivers for KEPServerEx - 01/30/07
- Matrikon releases free Operational Insight Lite OPC software - 01/29/07
- MGE upgrades Network Shutdown power management software - 01/29/07
- Theorem's CAD translators compatible with CATIA V5 - 01/26/07
- GE Fanuc enhances Proficy Change Management software - 01/25/07
- Wonderware enhances QI Analyst Software - 01/25/07
- Agilent introduces defect-prevention software for electronics manufacturing - 01/23/07
- Active Sensing releases PDXpert PLM software for small business - 01/23/07
- Exele adds diagnostics to OPCcalc 3.2 software - 01/22/07
- Werum upgrades PAS-X MES software - 01/22/07
- GE Fanuc adds four foreign languages to Proficy HMI/SCADA - 01/19/07
- WBF and ISA enhance B2MML for ISA-95, OAGIS and UN/CEFACT - 01/17/07
- Emerson adds audit trail to Ovation Control System - 01/11/07
Product Search
PAS to provide alarm management at 30 Ameron Power Plants - 02/13/07
Ameren selected PAS' Alarm Management Optimization Real-Time (AMO-Rt) software for its enterprise-wide alarm management initiative at all 30+ electric power generating facilities. The AMO-Rt license includes modules for Alarm & Event Analysis, Documentation & Rationalization, Audit & Enforce and State-Based Alarm Handling, providing functionality not previously available to Ameren.
Honeywell to supply MES for natural gas production in Qatar and UAE - 02/13/07
The $13.5 million project will use Honeywell’s Business FLEX applications, integrated with third-party technologies, across Dolphin Energy's entire gas production, processing and pipeline distribution network in Qatar and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
GE Fanuc provides Production Management Software for chewing gum company - 02/08/07
Gumlink, a Denmark-based chewing gum manufacturer, used GE Fanuc Production Management software for improved decision-making, to increase production efficiency by 10%, and achieve payback in less than three months.
Pavilion provides polymer control systems to Shanghai SECCO - 02/07/07
Shanghai SECCO Petrochemical will deploy Pavilion's Polymer Solution on extruder and reactor control applications on six polymer lines, including two Innovene polyethylene lines, one Innovene polypropylene line and three polystyrene lines.
Emerson wins contract for performance monitoring at LNG plant in Trinidad - 01/24/07
Emerson won a $1.7M contract from Atlantic LNG to analyze the performance of process and mechanical equipment at the company’s Liquefied Natural Gas plant in Point Fortin, Trinidad and Tobago. The award is an extension to the existing contract. 340 items of equipment on Trains 1 to 4 will now be monitored by using AMS Performance Monitor.
Automotive supplier installs Infor TRANS4M ERP - 01/23/07
Decoma International has deployed Infor ERP TRANS4M in a just-in-time environment at its new Toledo, Ohio facility. Decoma, which manufactures exterior vehicle appearance systems, selected the solution for its integrated electronic data interchange (EDI), financials and general ledger, and custom programming support capabilities.
Emerson to automate Canada’s largest drinking water filtration plant - 01/18/07
Emerson has received a $5.3 million contract from the Greater Vancouver Regional District (GVRD) to install PlantWeb digital automation architecture at the Seymour-Capilano Water Filtration Plant, which is under construction. When completed in 2008, it will be Canada’s largest drinking water filtration plant combined with the world’s largest ultraviolet (UV) disinfection facility.
Werum PAS-X MES software being used by Organon for pharmaceutical production - 01/17/07
Organon, one of the largest manufacturers of Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (APIs) worldwide, has installed PAS-X MES software in their new API-powder processing production facility in Oss, The Netherlands. Organon uses PAS-X for recipe management, weighing and dispensing, shop floor management, electronic batch recording, and warehouse management.
Lyondell buys Expertune PlantTriage Software for 25 plants - 01/15/07
Lyondell Chemical Company will license PlantTriage Performance Supervision Software at up to 25 of its manufacturing facilities worldwide. Lyondell will use the PlantTriage Performance Supervision Software to monitor and analyze real-time data from their plant control systems. Lyondell Chemical Company is North America's third-largest independent, publicly traded chemical company.
Nizar J. Somji returns to Matrikon as interim CFO - 02/12/07
Somji founded Matrikon in 1988 and was chief executive officer until December 2005 at which time he retired to become Chairman of Matrikon’s board. Somji has stepped down as Chairman of the board but will retain his directorship. Hugh Bolton, who most recently acted as Lead Director following four years of service as board Chairman, will resume the role of Chairman.
Patent Office validates National Instruments' LabVIEW Patent - 01/31/07
The United States Patent Office issued a reexamination certificate upholding the validity of one of National Instruments' patents, U.S. Patent No. 5,301,336 ("'336 patent"), which relates to National Instruments' LabVIEW software. The reexamination process resolves a challenge started on June 16, 2004, by an anonymous petitioner.
Matrikon and Umetrics to combine software packages - 01/29/07
Umetrics and Matrikon will combine Matrikon's ProcessMonitor products with Umetrics' SIMCA-P+ and SIMCA-Batch On-Line data analysis products for the seamless installation of Process Analytical Technology (PAT) solutions in the pharmaceutical market.
National Instruments named 86th on FORTUNE's "100 Best Companies to Work For" - 01/09/07
FORTUNE magazine released its annual rankings of the nation’s top 100 companies to work for, listing National Instruments as number 86. This is the eighth consecutive year National Instruments has appeared on FORTUNE’s “100 Best Companies to Work For” list.
ICONICS signs Gibson Engineering as New England Distributor - 02/13/07
Gibson Engineering is the ICONICS distributor for all six New England states. Gibson is the largest Machine Vision reseller in New England. Established in 1945, Gibson Engineering is an Automation Solution Provider serving the six New England states with regionally located sales engineers and technical support team.
Nematron announces CEO and VP of product management - 01/23/07
Greg Chandler has been appointed President and CEO, and Ralph Damato was appointed Vice President, Product Management. Chandler was a founding member of Nematron in the early 1980s. Previously, Damato developed and marketed industrial computers and flat panel monitors for Xycom Automation.
Datastick hires Derek Norfield as Director of Operations - 01/22/07
Norfield has more than 30 years experience in vibration analysis and balancing, working with the UK division of Reutlinger GmBH and with American Hofmann, before starting an independent vibration, balancing and training company. He is the author of the book, Practical Balancing of Rotating Machinery, published by Elsevier Technical Press.
Matt Bauer of Rockwell Automation named Chairman of MESA - 01/22/07
As chairman of the board of directors, Bauer will work with MESA to promote the exchange of best practices, strategies and innovation for managing manufacturing operations, as well as achieving plant-floor execution excellence. Bauer also has key involvement in the planning direction for the MESA conference.
March 12-14, 2007 - New Orleans, Louisiana
Hands-on seminar, designed specifically for maintenance. Project management software isn't just about Gantt charts and task lists anymore – learn to make the most of Microsoft Project in all phases of maintenance activity. Price: $1,795.00.
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March 19-23, 2007 - Santa Clara Convention Center, Santa Clara, CA
200 classes, tutorials, case studies, roundtables, panels, keynotes and gatherings in 14 subject areas, plus an expo.
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April 17-19, 2007 - Austin, TX
The conference theme, "Build a Stronger Automation Foundation," will focus on technologies and techniques that restore and strengthen your automation infrastructure. Whether your criteria is safety, profit, asset life, uptime—the leaders in every metric are obsessive about maintaining their basic automation assets. ExperTune and TiPS provide products that simplify, streamline, and focus efforts to minimize defects in your automation strategy. Come learn, experience, and leave with a vigor for automation that will empower you to take your company to the peak of plant performance.
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May 7-9, 2007 - Boston, Massachusetts
Hands-on seminar, designed specifically for maintenance. Project management software isn't just about Gantt charts and task lists anymore – learn to make the most of Microsoft Project in all phases of maintenance activity. Price: $1,795.00.
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May 7-10, 2007 - Lincolnshire Marriott, Chicago, IL
Matrikon Summit 2007 is the technology conference for industry executives, process control engineers and other professionals. Come see the latest in process data technology for industries including petrochemical, pulp and paper, mining, oil and gas, and power and learn how it will transform your business. Through presentations, case studies, panel discussions, demonstrations and networking events, you'll be immersed in new ideas for making a step change in operational and business excellence.
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I hope you enjoyed this Automation Software update. If you have any comments or suggestions regarding the content in this e-newsletter or on Automation.com, please don't hesitate to contact me.
Rick Zabel
Vice President, Publisher
Automation.com
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