Featured Articles:
-Cutting the Cost of Compliance
-OPC-UA Averts Interface-Protocol Explosions
-Integrated engineering; and more

Resources & Literature:
-Flexibility guaranteed
-Modbus White Paper available from Moore Industries
-Schneider Electric opens Industrial Solutions Center; and more

Application Stories:
-Integrated electrical and automation systems
-Paper company converts Mod 300 to System 800xA
-Phasing in DCS migration; and more

Featured Training:
-ARC European Process Management Academy
-PROFIBUS Installation Guideline for Cabling and Assembly
-Introduction to SCADA Systems - AIT Training Course SCD115; and more

Product Announcements:
-ABB achieves Achilles Level 1 security certification for System 800xA
-Emerson introduces Rosemount 3490 controllers
-Emerson to enhance integration of Wireless into PlantWeb with DeltaV v10.3
-MYNAH releases MiMiC Distillation Modeling Package
-Malcom releases Hot Air Process Heating Control System; and more

Company News:
-ABB Q3 income rises 86% to $738 million
-Emerson engineers receive Excellence in Documentation Award from ISA
-Rockwell Automation to Acquire Pavilion Technologies; and more

Application News:
-ABB to supply power plant controls in India
-Honeywell to integrate operations at China's largest gas field
-ABB automates Ormen Lange gas field; and more

Featured Events:
-OMAC Technical Symposium
-Arab Instrumentation & Automation Exhibition
-MDA India Power Show; and more

Cutting the Cost of Compliance
Control Engineering, September 2007
By Hank Hogan
Regulatory compliance costs can be cut through the use of hardware and software, although the savings may not be direct.

OPC-UA Averts Interface-Protocol Explosions
Automation World, October 2007
By C. Kenna Amos
Two principal features make OPC-UA a communication mechanism across various protocols or standards: its ability to model complex things, and the basic set of services it provides.

Integrated engineering
By David Dobson and Robert Martinez, ABB
The design of a process plant is a daunting task. Numerous sensors and actuators need to be installed and connected, cables must be laid and cabinets wired. The instrumentation within the plant is specified and designed by different teams. Highly complex documentation is required to keep track of all this.

Faking It Isn’t All Bad
CONTROL, October 2007
By Walt Boyes and Nancy Bartels
Simulate or model your loop tuning, operator training, advanced process control or optimization for savings, safety and skill-building

Improving PID Control with Unreliable Communications
By Jianping Song, et al, Emerson Process Management
This paper identifies the poor dynamic response of standard PID algorithms in the case of lost communications. It proposes an enhanced PID algorithm to improve dynamic response under these conditions. The authors evaluated the enhanced PID algorithm under several wireless scenarios.

Avoid blending blunders
Chemical Processing, September 2007
By Tom Blackwood, Healthsite Associates
Why can’t we get every blend to be the same? Because we’re dealing with discrete pieces that have physical size, electrical properties, frictional differences and surface characteristics that can change with the environment. In addition, particulate solids are neither solid nor fluid, but both.

Browse more articles and white papers on the portal.

Flexibility guaranteed
By John Croft, ABB
Technical note describes how software libraries in ABB’s Extended Automation System 800xA can gather information from multiple plant sources and transform it into relevant information for users such as maintenance technicians, process engineers, production managers, or plant operators.

Modbus White Paper available from Moore Industries
The non-commercial white paper describes how Modbus works, and how it can be used in new and legacy process control and automation systems.

Schneider Electric opens Industrial Solutions Center
ISC provides solutions, engineering support, consulting and project management services to manufacturers and industrial customers.

ARC updates Benchmarking Analysis Tool
Tool can compare detailed metrics from 115 different plants around the world.

Deacom releases Process Manufacturing ERP Podcast  
This podcast segment reviews the three stages of a successful ERP implementation within a batch process manufacturing company.

Browse more resources and literature on the portal.

Integrated electrical and automation systems
By Tom F. Nestli and Peter Tubaas, ABB
Seamless integration of electrical and automation systems are highly desirable in a process plant, At the Statoil Snøhvit liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant, the Electrical Control and Supervision System (ECSS) communicates with a wide range of equipment and ensures a stable power supply to the LNG facility.

Paper company converts Mod 300 to System 800xA
By ABB
Technocell in Drummondville, Quebec, converted a MOD 300 control system, originally installed in 1991, to an ABB System 800xA. The project involved 17,000 control loops.

Phasing in DCS migration
Intech, October 2007
By Victor Aparicio, Carlos Balanza, and Eduardo Zambrana
Bolivia’s Carrasco gas plant needed to update its distributed control system (DCS). The solution was to have all facilities under a new DCS system, optimizing control links.

Ethanol plant boosts output and saves energy
Chemical Processing, October 2007
By Jacob Duke, Badger State Ethanol, and Lina Rueda, Pavilion Technologies
Implementation of advanced process control for distillation and dehydration steps allowed Badger State Ethanol to achieve record production rates by finding optimal process operating conditions, and cut the amount of energy needed per gallon of ethanol produced.

Applications of Self-tuning Control
Control Engineering, September 2007
By Vance VanDoren, Control Engineering
Loop tuning is as much an art as it is a science. A well tuned feedback control loop can quickly and safely eliminate errors between the process variable and the setpoint, but endowing the controller with the necessary balance of aggression and patience requires a certain degree of skill and experience.

Samsung Techwin Develops Real-Time Engine Simulation System
By: Moon Sohk Chae, Power System Research Center
Developing a proper engine simulator was vital to our ability to verify the safe and reliable functioning of the gas turbine engine controller we were developing. To implement a safe and highly perfected engine controller, we had to come up with a method of verifying the controller hardware and its algorithm before they could be integrated with an actual engine.

Browse more application stories on the portal.

ARC European Process Management Academy
January 28-30, 2008 Düsseldorf, Germany
Attendees will learn how to manage and optimize production plants using collaborative manufacturing concepts and technologies.

PROFIBUS Installation Guideline for Cabling and Assembly
PI (PROFIBUS & PROFINET International) has published a new Web Based Training package to provide support for assembly and installation staff working on the assembly of PROFIBUS systems. The Web Based Training tells you everything you need to know about assembly in an easy to understand and interactive format. Topics include how to lay and assemble PROFIBUS cables correctly and what you need to be aware of when connecting PROFIBUS stations. It takes approximately 2.5 hours to complete the Web Based Training course.

Introduction to SCADA Systems - AIT Training Course SCD115
Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) technology has evolved over the past 30 years as a method of monitoring and controlling large processes. A variety of
approaches are taken when SCADA Systems are used for automation in numerous and diversified manufacturing industries. This 3-day course will introduce students to SCADA basics.

Emerson’s PlantWeb University Online Learning Center
Free web-based training includes more than 40 brief, practical courses on new automation technologies and strategies. Topics include implementing fieldbus, wireless technology, safety instrumented systems, streamlining maintenance, improving equipment effectiveness, and enhancing plant efficiency.

Basic Instrumentation and Process Control - AIT Training Course ICN110
5-Day Course - This course is a must if you maintain or support process controls systems for manufacturing.

Browse more training and seminar opportunities on portal.

• MYNAH releases MiMiC Distillation Modeling Package
• Malcom releases Hot Air Process Heating Control System
• Horner introduces XLt operator control station
• Semaphore introduces Kingfisher and T-BOX Telemetry
• Watlow introduces EZ-ZONE ST PID controller
• Watlow releases EZ-ZONE PM 1/32 and 1/16 DIN Controllers
• Siemens adds advanced controls to SIMATIC PCS 7
• Siemens introduces Sitrans LUC500 duplex lift station control
• Norcross introduces MP2000 Viscosity Controller
• Omron introduces E5CSV Temperature Controller
• Sealant introduces Peltier Temperature Controller for Fluid Dispensing

Browse more Product Announcements on the portal.

Search all Products by keyword, category, manufacturer or release date.

ABB Q3 income rises 86% to $738 million  
ABB's net income rose 86 percent in the third quarter to $738 million and earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) rose to $1 billion.

Emerson engineers receive Excellence in Documentation Award from ISA
Terry Blevins, Deji Chen, Mark Nixon, and Willy Wojsznis recognized for authoring the most outstanding technical paper published by ISA. Read paper here: http://www.automation.com/pdf_articles/10_improving_pid.pdf

Rockwell Automation to Acquire Pavilion Technologies
Pavilion Technologies software products will be integrated into the FactoryTalk suite and the Logix Control Platform.

MTL Acquires Ocean Technical Systems
MTL acquired OTS, a UK-based company specializing in SCADA solutions for the oil and gas industries.

ISA to integrate WirelessHART with ISA100
The ISA100 standards committee outlined an approach to accommodate and eventually integrate the WirelessHART standard and the ISA100 standard.

Browse more company and organizational news on the portal.

ABB to supply power plant controls in India  
ABB will supply $127 million worth of power and automation solutions for two power plants that will generate electricity needed by steel mills.

Honeywell to integrate operations at China's largest gas field
Honeywell will supply Experion Process Knowledge System (PKS) R300 software and SCADA technology to manage data at the Puguang Gas Field in Sichuan Province.

ABB automates Ormen Lange gas field  
The Ormen Lange gas field in the Norwegian Sea will supply 20 percent of the UK's gas needs via a 1,200 km pipeline controlled by ABB equipment.

Emerson to automate Seattle wastewater treatment plants
Emerson signed a 10-year, multimillion-dollar agreement with King County, Washington State Wastewater Treatment Div to automate wastewater treatment plants in the Seattle area.

Yokogawa to control Coal Fired Power Plant in Bihar, India
Yokogawa received a contract from National Thermal Power to supply automation and control systems for a new supercritical coal fired power plant project in Bihar state.

OMAC Technical Symposium
November 28-29, 2007 Everett, Washington.
This event will focus on integrating the discrete and process industries via standards, best practices and lessons learned.

Arab Instrumentation & Automation Exhibition
December 4-6, 2007 Dubai
Comprehensive display of technology for the instrumentation, control and automation professional - An international gathering that will enable suppliers to meet, demonstrate, and sell to a diverse selection of industry buyers from all over the Middle East, the Mediterranean and the Sub continent.

MDA India Power Show
December 4-7, 2007 Bangalore, India
Motion, Drive & Automation (MDA) trade show is dedicated to power transmission and control technology.

Fieldbus Foundation General Assembly 2008
February 27, 2008 Antwerp, Belgium
The theme of this year's General Assembly, "Why FOUNDATION has become THE standard?" reveals that FOUNDATION fieldbus technology is widely used in process industries.

WBF North American Conference
March 24, 2008 Philadelphia, PA
Keynote speakers, panels, discussion forums, and individual presentations will focus on case studies, current and evolving manufacturing methods and technologies, and implementation of industry standards including ISA-88, ISA-95, ISA-99, B2MML, and Make2Pack.

ABB Automation World Conference & Exhibition 2008
April 29 - May 1, 2008, Houston, Texas
ABB Automation World 2008 will return to the Hilton Americas in Houston, Texas. The event will bring a broad cross-section of ABB customers, channel partners and employees together under the same roof.

Rick Zabel
Vice President, Publisher
Automation.com

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