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Automated Material Handling Portal: Products, News & Resources
Automated Material Handling Products, News, Articles, Events & Resources
Welcome to Automation.com's Automated Material Handling portal with valuable information and resources that enable controls and automation professionals to solve problems, increase efficiency, and improve supply chain logistics and throughput of material handling systems. Readers will find information on the latest material handling and logistics equipment, systems, software, consultants and systems integrators. Material Handling is the movement, protection, storage and control of materials and products throughout the process of manufacturing, distribution, consumption and disposal. Material Handling involves a broad array of equipment and systems that aid in forecasting, resource allocation, production planning, process flow, process management and inventory management. Get the latest information on Automated Material Handling sent to your desktop as soon as they are published on this page.
Articles
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Vision system sorts strawberry plants
- 02/28/10 Vision Systems Design, February 2010 Researchers at Carnegie Mellon University’s National Robotics Engineering Center have developed a plant-sorting machine that uses machine vision and image processing. The machine inspects and grades harvested strawberry plants, and then mechanically sorts by quality—tasks that until now could only be done manually. |
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Machine Vision Sorts It All Out
- 02/28/10 Machine Vision On Line, February 2010 By Winn Hardin When it comes to sorting letters and boxes at the post office, machine vision handles the three most common types: post (or letter); parcel, usually measuring up to 40 inches on a side; and carton, which contain multiple parcels, products, etc. |
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Outsourcing Your Engineering
- 02/28/10 Manufacturing.net, February 2010 By Amanda Earing Outsourcing your engineering can free up your in-house engineering department to focus on other projects, and saves time and money. |
White Papers
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Motorola’s Manufacturing RFID Solutions
RFID can impact the entire manufacturing process from receiving raw goods to transferring or shipping finished products by improving inventory visibility to feed just-in-time systems, allowing manufacturers to make faster, better and smarter decisions. This white paper contains three case histories: Purdue Pharma, Boeing and a CPG manufacturer. |
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Using Controls Standards to Accelerate Continuous Improvement Initiatives
By GE Intelligent Platforms The OMAC Packaging Workgroup (OPW) has released their PackTags and PackML standards, which define naming conventions and “structural” guidelines that ensure consistency in the way the building blocks of code are used and described. |
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The Case for Choosing AC Electric Forklift Trucks Over Vehicles Based on DC Electric or Internal Combustion
By Jeff Bowles, Jungheinrich Lift Truck Three incentives to consider when buying an AC electric truck, as opposed to a DC electric or an internal combustion (IC) vehicle, are cost savings, freedom from pollution and performance. |
Application Stories
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Sorting Color-Coded Cubes
- 02/28/10 Vision Systems Design, February 2010 By Andrew Wilson Machine vision and custom color image-processing combined with pneumatic actuators sort clothing identification tags at 300 parts per minute. |
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In-Sight camera identifies capless bottles
- 02/19/10 Process and Control Today, January 2010 Imprint Verifier machine vision system from Orbis uses Cognex In-Sight cameras to ensure error proof production At VIP-Juicemaker’s Kuopio plant in Finland. Imprint Verifier checks for capless and empty bottles at the beginning of the production line to ensure they are removed. |
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TCP/IP-compatible drives simplify development of advanced crane simulator
- 02/19/10 Process and Control Today, February 2010 A three-axis motion platform based on Baldor Ethernet-compatible drives is helping to increase the realism of crane training experience by physically moving a simulator system’s replica operator cabin in synchronism with computer-generated images. |
Resources & Literature
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Poll Question - How many different networks do you have in your facility?
How many different communication networks do you have implemented in factories and/or plants? The list of available networks includes, but is not limited to: Foundation Fieldbus, ControlNet, PROFIBUS, Interbus, AS-Interface, CanOpen, CC-Link, PROFINET, HART, Ethernet, EtherCAT, Ethernet Powerlink, SERCOS, Modbus, LonWorks and DeviceNet. |
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Gotcha Stick - Safe Distance Scale for Machine Guarding
Is that Hard-Guard Adequately Protecting your Machine Operators? Based on revised anthropometric data, the "Gotcha Stick" from STI is a three-segment safe distance scale used to verify that openings in machine hard-guards will not allow the point-of-operation to be accessed by the operator. |
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Siemens Automation and Drives Interactive CD Catalog
The interactive catalog of Siemens Automation and Drives Business (CA01) gives you information on more than 80,000 products and systems used for industrial automation and control. |
Training & Seminars
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Mechanical Components E-Learning Course
- 10/18/09
PMMI introduces "Basic Mechanical Components," an online self-study course to help operators, mechanics and technicians identify and care for all types of basic mechanical components. |
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Online Robotics Training Program
This self-paced, interactive Robotics Technician Certificate training program offers an easy-to-use home study format that requires a computer and internet connection to complete. The CD-ROM based multimedia program is divided into 13 modules, each consisting of about ten sections, or major topics. |
Featured Products
Product Announcements
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SEW-EURODRIVE releases stainless steel helical gear reducers
- 03/16/10
RESF37 and KESA37 resist bacteria, chemicals and processes common to the food processing industry. |
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Sepro America announces Axess 44 servo robot
- 03/09/10
Axess 44 robot has a standard horizontal stroke of 2500mm for use with injection-molding machines as large as 1000 tons. |
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IntelLiDrives releases RR-18-14 direct drive rotary table
- 03/08/10
Direct drive RR-18-14 provides angular positioning and eliminates backlash, friction and wear problems associated with worm, gear and belt drives. |
Company & Organization News
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ARC says automation increasing in Food and Beverage
- 03/10/10 Automation expenditures in the food and beverage industry are expected to reach $6 billion by 2013. |
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January manufacturing technology consumption up
- 03/08/10 January U.S. manufacturing technology consumption totaled $130.96 million, down 40.3% from December but up 26.2% from the total of $103.77 million reported for January 2009. |
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ARC says prices are coming down on automation products
- 03/07/10 One element contributing to the price erosion is that controllers are rapidly becoming an automation commodity in some sectors. |
Project News
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Flexpoint to develop nip sensor for Sensor Products
- 03/03/10 Flexpoint Sensor Systems will develop a “nip sensor” to measure actual contact (interfacial) pressure and distribution between two mating or impacting surfaces. |
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Jervis Webb to supply sand conveyors to U.S. Silica
- 11/15/09 Webb will supply 800 feet of 24-, 30- and 36-inch conveyors, which will move sand through the purifying process at the U.S. Silica plant in Rockwood, Mich. |
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SmartTCP to automate structural steel welding at Waiward Steel
- 09/01/09 The robotic welding solution for steel fabrication combines hardware and software for production of Waiward’s high volume of ‘one off’ and small batch parts. |
Events
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