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Programmable Controllers e-Newsletter Archive

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Company & Organization News

		Endress+Hauser and Rockwell Automation Open Training Unit in Philadelphia - 05/07/12 The Process Training Unit features Endress+Hauser instruments and Rockwell Automation PlantPAx process automation system for educating field technicians, engineers and sales personnel.

		Spies, Hackers and Energy - Preventing a Digital Pearl Harbor - 04/26/12 OilPrice.com, April 2012 By Jen Alic The real threat to US energy infrastructure from the cyber theater is China and Russia, both of whom are believed to be developing cyber warfare methods capable of dealing a major blow to critical infrastructure.

		OMRON Integrates Sales and Support - 03/05/12 Omron Industrial Automation and Omron Scientific Technologies combine sales forces for machine automation systems and safeguarding.

		Frost & Sullivan says debt crisis in Europe will affect PLC sales - 02/20/12 The European PLC market dropped in 2009, but made a strong recovery in 2010. The debt crisis afflicting the Eurozone will determine the future prospects of the European PLC market.

		How China is Stealing Our Secrets - 01/22/12 PD&D, January 2012 By Michael P. Collins U.S. Intelligence agencies say that both Russia and China steal technology information over the internet as a matter of national policy. It is hard to say if China is still the red menace from the cold war, or if they have morphed into a new form of winner-take-all amoral version of capitalism.


		B&R opens offices in Minnesota and Wisconsin - 01/15/12 The Milwaukee office is headed by Joel Warren. Rick Forsgren will manage the Eagan, Minnesota office.

		ABB donates Drives and PLCs to Milwaukee College - 12/01/11 ABB provided 15 motor drives and PLCs to the Milwaukee Area Technical College.

		PLCs close in on DCS market - 11/14/11 The distinction between PLCs and distributed control systems is narrowing, but their combined market in Europe will hit €6.45 billion in 2017.

		Manufacturing technology orders up 101% from 2010 - 10/10/11 August U.S. manufacturing technology orders totaled $460.61 million according to AMT and AMTDA.

		Mitsubishi Announces Remote Asset Management Service - 09/22/11 Support Connect enables administration, predictive maintenance and remediation of remotely managed assets without an upfront investment in data center hardware.

		TÜV Certifies Mechatrolink Network Safety Protocol - 09/14/11 Certification of the Mechatrolink field network for safety makes it possible for MMA members to build motion control and machine control systems for use in applications that comply with safety standards.

		ProSoft Technology promotes Janice Hungerford to CEO - 07/25/11 Hungerford, the first employee of ProSoft Technology, was promoted from Managing Director of North America.

		Mechatrolink Membership Reaches 900 Companies - 07/21/11 The MMA is a group of Mechatrolink product developers and users who promote the use of Mechatrolink, the most widely used motion control network in Asia.

		Copalp achieves PLCopen Conformity Level ST Certification - 07/19/11 Copalp successfully passed tests performed by the test laboratory of iƒak in Germany, for certification of a system according to PLCopen Conformity Level ST (Structured Text).

		Manufacturing technology orders up 108.0% in 2011 - 07/11/11 With a year-to-date total of $1,984.87 million, 2011 is up 108.0% compared with 2010.

		Siemens identifies potential security weakness in SIMATIC Controllers - 07/06/11 Siemens published safety guidelines which operators of industrial plants can follow to minimize the risk of external intervention from the start.

		Siemens updates S7-1200 firmware to fix vulnerability - 06/13/11 Siemens released a firmware update of its S7-1200 PLC that eliminates vulnerabilities and improves the security and robustness of its S7-1200 product family.

		ISaGRAF signs infoteam Software as distributor - 05/16/11 Infoteam Software will distribute ISaGRAF in Europe, Germany and China.

		AMCI signs N.O. Holder as rep - 04/18/11 N.O. Holder & Associates is now representing Advanced Micro Controls (AMCI) in North Carolina, South Carolina, and Virginia.

		AutomationDirect to resell KEPServerEX - 04/03/11 AutomationDirect will sell KEPDirect OPC Server for use with its controllers and remote I/O.

		Siemens launches Plantville interactive game - 03/24/11 Online game simulates a Plant Manager’s experience and challenges players to increase productivity, sustainability and the overall health of an industrial plant.

		China‘s PLC and PAC Market to grow - 03/20/11 ARC predicts strong growth of the PLC and PLC-based Programmable Automation Controller (PAC) market through 2014 in China, but provides no numbers.

		WAGO 2011 Innovation in Automation Tour Underway - 03/16/11 Consisting of two identical vans, IIAT presents WAGO’s latest Automation, Interconnect and Electronic solutions directly to industrial professionals.

		Jody Markopoulos named President & CEO of GE Intelligent Platforms - 03/15/11 Markopoulos, who will report to GE Home & Business Solutions President and CEO Charlene Begley, succeeds Maryrose Sylvester who was recently named as president and CEO of GE Lighting.

		Rockwell Automation announces Lifecycle Service Agreement - 03/14/11 The agreement helps manufacturers minimize the serious financial consequences due to extended unplanned downtime when spare parts or speedy repair are unavailable for outdated Rockwell Automation components.

		Cognex to add POWERLINK to In-Sight vision products - 03/13/11 Machine manufacturers will benefit from the synchronization of Cognex In-Sight products and the B&R control system, as well as easy integration with a wide range of machine designs.

		Online Development names Mark Knebusch VP of Operations - 03/07/11 In this expanded role, Knebusch will lead the company's business operations for all product development and will continue to focus on new business expansion.

		3 Packaging OEMs join Rockwell Automation PartnerNetwork Program - 03/07/11 Douglas Machine Inc., Kliklok-Woodman and Nercon Engineering & Manufacturing will have the opportunity to increase market awareness with customers, expand into new market sectors, and improve technical and functional excellence.

		eWON signs Standard Electric Supply as a distributor - 01/04/11 Standard Electric will distribute eWon intelligent Internet remote access devices for PLCs and automation systems in the Great Lakes region of the U.S.

		ProSoft Technology signs on as distributor for SlotServer by FieldServer - 12/16/10 SlotServer products provide in-rack connectivity between Rockwell Automation ControlLogix control platform and Building Automation Systems and Fire Alarm Control Panel protocols.

		WIB Releases Comprehensive Cyber Security Standard - 11/10/10 The international standard outlines a set of specific requirements focusing on cyber security best practices for suppliers of industrial automation and control systems.

		Rockwell Automation adds Options for Critical Control Applications - 11/02/10 Options include redundant I/O, alarm and event server redundancy, network resiliency and faster controller cross-loading.

		ISaGRAF signs rep in Germany - 10/16/10 Marc Schoeters will act as ISaGRAF Northern European Business Development Manager.

		Rockwell Automation and FANUC to combine CNCs and PACs - 09/13/10 The two companies will work on connectivity between their respective controller platforms through open communication technologies, such as the EtherNet/IP and FL Net protocols.

		GE to develop water software for EPA - 08/31/10 GE will develop a software-based platform based on Proficy software and PACSystems controllers that improves decision making capabilities across a water system.

		Rockwell Trains Teachers at Alexandria Technical & Community College - 08/16/10 ATCC staff members will complete a Rockwell Automation train-the-trainer course, which will allow ATCC to offer five certified Rockwell Automation training courses to students.

		Chairman of PLCopen PC1 Committee steps down - 08/12/10 Chairman of the PLCopen PC1 Committee Ralf Wohlschläger resigned.

		ARC says PLC and PAC Market May Rebound - 07/15/10 The PLC and PLC-based PAC market declined significantly across the world in 2009 and ARC thinks it might be coming back--but it's not sure.

		MathWorks Simulink PLC Coder Certified by TUV SUD - 06/29/10 CeTÜV SÜD assessed Simulink PLC Coder as suitable for development processes that must comply with IEC 61508-3 and its process industry adaptation, IEC 61511-1.

		European Water and Wastewater Industry increasing use of controls - 05/19/10 Stringent regulations have paved the way for growth opportunities for PLCs, SCADA systems, DCSes, HMIs and software in the European W&WW sector.

		Direct-Industrial to sell surplus factory automation - 05/13/10 Direct Industrial will buy automation parts in any condition (new or used) from any manufacturer including Allen Bradley, Siemens and Mitsubishi.

		Beckhoff buys its rep in the UK - 05/06/10 Hayes Control Systems has been acquired by Beckhoff and renamed Beckhoff Automation Ltd.

		Automation.com celebrates 10 years of growth - 04/15/10 Since its inception in 2000, Automation.com has grown to become the leading online publisher of automation-related news, information and resources. Each month, the site attracts more than 115,000 automation professionals from around the world.

		Opto 22 Offers Free Product Training - 04/14/10 To date, more than 2000 students from dozens of countries worldwide have come to Opto 22 corporate headquarters in Temecula, California for free product training.

		Frost & Sullivan says DCSes are threatened by PC-based systems - 04/11/10 DCS manufacturers will have to be wary of competition from SCADA systems, which use PC-based software to integrate programmable logic controllers (PLCs) on a network to replicate the functions of DCS.

		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.

		WAGO offers free IEC 61131-3 training - 03/04/10 WAGO is hosting five free IEC 61131-3 programming training seminars for customers at its Milwaukee area headquarters.

		CoDeSys supports Texas Instruments C2000/28x CPU - 02/24/10 Embedded devices based on the C2000/28x CPU family from Texas Instruments can now also be programmed with IEC 61131-3 development tool CoDeSys.

		CoDeSys to hold User Conferences in Germany and Switzerland - 01/24/10 CoDeSys Users’ Conference will also come to Italy, the Netherlands, Russia and Sweden and, for the first time, also tour through China.

		Automation Systems Market is coming back very slowly - 12/08/09 ARC says the short term forecast for discrete automation systems looks bleak, but moderate market growth is expected five years from now. China and India are doing well, of course.

		ISA appoints Bill Lydon chief editor for InTech - 12/02/09 Automation.com's Bill Lydon was appointed editor of InTech, further strengthening ISA’s partnership with Automation.com to jointly publish several e-newsletters for InTech and Automation.com subscribers.

		ABB reorganizes automation divisions - 11/29/09 Business units in the Automation Products and Robotics divisions will be regrouped into two new divisions – Discrete Automation and Motion, and Low Voltage Products.

		Molex PLC/PAC communication modules supported by Rockwell Automation's IAB - 11/17/09 Brad PLC/PAC communication modules for the ControlLogix and SLC 500 systems are now supported within Rockwell Automation’s Integrated Architecture Builder (IAB).

		25 Years of PC-Based Control - 11/15/09 At the 1984 ISA Show, 25 years ago, Intellution introduced The Fix, the first configurable PC-based HMI/SCADA software program. Process control and automation changed forever.

		Rockwell and EPLAN plan to improve controls data exchange - 11/10/09 Utility will merge hardware design with software programming to help improve efficiency and reliability of controls data exchange.

		ABB promotes Daniel Huber to manager of Open Control Systems - 11/08/09 Most recently, Huber was global Technology Manager for ABB’s Process Industries Products business, and oversaw product roadmaps and forward evolution for ABB’s control systems portfolio.

		Vishay Nobel weighing equipment works with Schneider Electric PLCs - 11/01/09 Vishay Nobel standard KIS, KOSD, KIMD, and KISD load cells and weighing modules work with Schneider PLCs via Ethernet Modbus TCP communication.

		CoDeSys Automation Alliance up to 100 members - 11/01/09 The CoDeSys Automation Alliance for IEC 61131-3 programming signed up its 100th member.

		ISA selects Automation.com as advertising sales partner In addition to daily and weekly digital and online content, ISA will publish 6 print issues of InTech magazine in 2010. ISA selected Automation.com as the advertising sales representative for InTech magazine’s print, digital, and online editions.

		ABB orders decline 15% in Q3 - 10/29/09 ABB reported third-quarter net income of $1 billion. Orders declined 15% and revenue was down 5%.

		ISA selects Automation.com to provide E-Newsletters - 10/07/09 The co-branded e-newsletters will be distributed to Automation.com’s subscribers, InTech subscribers, and ISA members and customers, creating a combined total distribution of more than 90,000 world-wide automation professionals.

		Siemens merges four divisions into one - 10/01/09 Siemens Energy & Automation, Siemens Transportation Systems, Siemens Building Technologies, and Siemens VAI Services merged into a new company, Siemens Industry.

		Rockwell Automation Automation Fair expects 8,000 - 09/28/09 Rockwell Automation expects to host more than 8,000 attendees in Anaheim, CA, Nov. 11 and 12 at its 18th annual Automation Fair event.

		Software Toolbox joins Siemens Premium Add-on Program - 09/28/09 Software Toolbox products listed in the Siemens catalog include TOP Server and TOP Server UCON for Siemens Simatic WinCC and WinCC flexible products.

		PLCopen Fluid Power Task Force Kick-off Meeting - 09/14/09 On June 23, 2009 in Frankfurt, Germany, the PLCopen Fluid Power Task Force had its first technical meeting to define function blocks for fluid power and hydraulic applications. Founding members of the task group include Bosch Rexroth, Eaton and Parker Hannifin bringing broad fluid power and controls experience; B&R, Eckelmann, ISG, Siemens representing control and integration expertise; 3S CoDeSys with a commitment of tightly integrated control software tools.

		ABB Q2 revenues down - 07/23/09 Orders decreased across all divisions and regions compared to the second quarter of 2008 on a combination of lower volumes and price decreases resulting from both lower raw material costs and reduced demand.

		ARC says PLC Market will bounce back in 2010 - 07/02/09 In spite of the current gloom and doom in the global economy, the market growth will resume in 2010 and beyond.

		PC-Based Controls Choice Still Evolving Control Design, May 2009 By Mike Bacidore Detailed responses from the Control Design reader survey on PLCs vs PACs. Includes opinions of all the machine builders, system integrators and automation suppliers who responded.

		Control Platforms Show Breadth Control Design, May 2009 The PLC is king of controllers for machine control platforms, but it’s not the only game in town. According to a recent Control Design survey, two-thirds of respondents said they primarily use PLCs. Both PACs and PC-based controls are each used by 13% of the participants in the survey. Embedded-board controls are used by only 5%.

		ARC says process industries are weathering current economic storm - 05/21/09 Automation expenditures in the process industries reached $45.5 billion dollars in 2007 and are forecast to exceed $61 billion by 2012.

		Honeywell to sell MasterLogic PLC worldwide - 05/05/09 Long sold in Asia, MasterLogic is now sold, delivered and supported by Honeywell’s global organization.

		HANNOVER MESSE receives 210,000 visitors - 04/26/09 210,000 visitors came to Hannover to see 6,150 exhibitors from 61 countries. 70% of the visitors were from Europe, 25% came from abroad, but only 7% came from the Americas.

		ABB Q1 revenues steady despite economic challenges - 04/23/09 ABB’s first-quarter 2009 revenues rose 3 percent to $7.2 billion while orders decreased by 3 percent to $9.2 billion.

		SERCOS lll software now available without license fees - 04/22/09 SERCOS III will be the first high performance real-time protocol which makes driver software available as source code, without any license fees and without any usage limitations.

		Beckhoff increases turnover to 278 Million Euros in 2008 - 04/16/09 Beckhoff Automation closed the 2008 business year successfully with robust turnover growth of 20 percent.

		ABB relocates North American headquarters to Cary, NC - 04/14/09 Among the primary factors behind this move are significant cost savings and a favorable business climate in the Triangle, as well as closer proximity to growing customer and employee bases.

		HANNOVER MESSE 2009 stresses energy effiicency - 04/06/09 The subject of energy efficiency is a recurrent theme throughout the range of offerings at the 13 international trade fairs that form this year's HANNOVER MESSE.

		Siemens announces Regional User Conference schedule - 03/25/09 Conferences will be held in Mobile, AL, King of Prussia, PA, Park City, Utah, and Houston, Texas.

		PLCopen updates Compliance Testing & Certification specs - 03/17/09 Specs for certification of IEC 61131-3 editors have been updated for the first time since 1998.

		ARC says machinery automation market to reach $21.2 Billion - 03/14/09 The market for AC Drives, PLCs, motion controls, CNC, and machine safeguarding was $18.0 billion in 2008 and is forecast to be over $21.2 billion in 2013.

		Rockwell Automation and ProLeiT to pursue brewery applications - 03/02/09 ProLeiT will integrate its Plant iT with the Logix control platform for applications in the brewing, dairy and related industries.

		Flying robots at HANNOVER MESSE - 02/23/09 UAVs (Unmanned Air Vehicles) will be a special highlight. This will be backed up by live demonstrations of glass façade-cleaning robots - also decidedly "aboveground."

		ABB orders decrease in Q4, but 2008 income up - 02/12/09 Orders decreased 19 percent in the fourth quarter but full-year EBIT nevertheless reached a record $4.6 billion.

		Consumers want safe, modern and sustainable U.S. manufacturing - 02/09/09 Survey shows most Americans believe highly automated factories are important to economic growth. The majority support a stimulus package to modernize U.S. factories.

		Jerry Yen joins Mitsubishi Electric Automation - 02/09/09 Jerry Yen has been named director of the company’s new Custom Solutions Center.

		Hannover Fair covers optimizing energy efficiency in industry - 01/27/09 The INTERKAMA+ tradeshow at HANNOVER MESSE 2009 is gearing up to make a contribution of global significance in this area via its "Energy Efficiency in Industrial Processes" display.

		ILS Technology offers lab to Florida Atlantic University - 01/27/09 ILS is opening its development-and-testing labs to FAU researchers working on technologies such as programmable logic controllers and radio-frequency identification (RFID) equipment, among others.

		Integrated Automation Solutions Become More Important To PlC Suppliers Differences in performance and appearance between PLC hardware from different suppliers are becoming less, says IMS Research. Accordingly, major PLC suppliers are focusing more on being a ‘solution provider’ to expand both their PLC and other automation business. This integrated automation solution market for PLCs is growing faster than the traditional PLC market, in which PLCs are sold as a single hardware component.

		Kepware to supply PLC connectivity software to Systech International - 12/22/08 Kepware will provide connectivity software for PLCs on pharmaceutical packaging equipment.

		Legal disputes among suppliers halts exiderdome U.S. tour - 12/21/08 Legal disputes have prevented exiderdome from being transferred from a barge to land for the second half of its U.S. tour.

		Schneider Electric USA names Amelia Huntington COO - 12/10/08 Huntington will have managerial responsibility for the United States, Canada, Mexico, Juno Lighting Group and several other core Division functions and business operations.

		GE Fanuc PACMotion meets PLCopen motion control standard - 12/01/08 PACMotion fulfills the requirements in PLCopen Compliance Procedure for Motion Control Library V. 1.1 and Part 2 – Extensions, Version 1.0.

		PLCopen at Pack Expo 2008 Visit the PLCopen Organization booth and see how PLCopen member companies are committed to control software standards that improve your quality and productivity.

		ABB Q3 net income up 26% - 10/23/08 ABB reported increases in revenues, earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT), net income and cash flow in the third quarter of 2008.

		GE Fanuc's SafetyNet approved by Lloyds Register Group - 10/14/08 PACSystems SafetyNet can now be used in safety applications, including fire & gas, emergency shutdown and burner management for marine, offshore and industrial applications.

		GE Fanuc takes its paper mill show on the road - 10/03/08 Tractor trailer with a complete working system that is capable of controlling activities within a paper mill will visit locations in the U.S. and Canada.

		Rockwell Automation to lay off 600 people - 10/02/08 Restructuring involves headcount reductions, primarily in selling, general and administrative functions, involving three percent of the company’s global workforce of 20,000 people.

		AutomationDirect funds lab at Northern Illinois University - 10/01/08 The AutomationDirect Automation Laboratory supports the Departmental Programmable Logic Controller (PLC) course and the Automation course.

		McObject signs G-Tek as distributor in Turkey - 09/29/08 G-Tek, a software distributor and engineering firm in Ankara, Turkey, will resell and provide integration services for McObject's eXtremeDB and Perst database systems.

		SCADA market in Oil & Gas industry to reach $1.3 Billion in 2012 - 09/22/08 The worldwide market for SCADA Systems for the Oil & Gas industry is expected to grow at a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of 9.3% over the next five years.

		PLCopen adding IEC 61131-3 to OPC UA - 08/13/08 PLCopen is re-activating Technical Committee TC4 to define an IEC 61131-3 based information model as additional part of the overall OPC UA specification.

		ABB Q2 Net Income up 34% - 07/24/08 ABB reported record orders, revenues and earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) in the second quarter of 2008, with net income reaching $975 million.

		ProSoft Technology mourns loss of President/Founder, assigns successor - 07/22/08 Douglas Sharratt, lost his life in a plane crash in Sunriver, Oregon. ProSoft Technology names CFO, Gary Joke, his successor.

		InduSoft achieves Microsoft Gold status for fifth straight year - 07/18/08 InduSoft attained Gold Certified status in ISV/Software Solutions, Mobility Solutions, Business Process and Integration, and Custom Development Solutions.

		ABB appoints Joseph Hogan CEO - 07/17/08 Hogan is currently CEO of GE Healthcare and is a member of the GE Senior Executive Council. He will join ABB on September 1, 2008.

		DCS vs ACS: power utilities seek improved productivity South Africa Instrumentation & Control, July 2008 Power generation utilities in southern Africa are expected to increasingly adopt automation and control solutions (ACS) to counter the effects of the current power shortage. Frost & Sullivan finds that DCSes are the most widely used solution in power generation. However, DCS faces increasing competition from inexpensive solutions such as SCADA and PLCs.

		Which safety technologies protect the most machines? Control Engineering, July 2008 Venture Development says the largest dollar volume shipments are in light curtains and electromechanical single-function relays. Over half the worldwide shipments of safety PLCs in 2007 were of those integrated with machine controllers.

		Will DIN-rail PCs with I/O revolutionise industrial PCs? Control Engineering Europe, July 2008 With unit shipments expected to more than triple between 2006 and 2011, DIN rail PCs with incorporated I/O (also known as programmable automation controllers, or PACs) are going to have a lasting impact on the worldwide industrial PC market according to a report by IMS Research.

		Opto 22 Videos prove to be popular in automation market - 07/09/08 OptoVideos have been downloaded by the tens of thousands since they debuted three months ago, and are featured on the websites of several industry-leading blogs and trade publications, including Automation.com.

		Emerging Economies and PACs Driving PLC Growth Control Engineering Asia, June 2008 Strong economic growth in Asia and Eastern Europe significantly boosted the programmable logic controller (PLC) market in 2007. While economic expansion is expected to continue, future growth will be at a slower pace. The worldwide market for PLCs, which reached nearly US$9 billion in 2007, is forecast to grow at 6.5% to over U$12 billion in 2012.

		ARC says PLC market to reach $12 billion by 2012 - 06/10/08 The PLC market reached nearly $9.0 billion in 2007 and is forecasted to grow to over $12 billion in 2012, according to a new ARC Advisory Group study.

		Rockwell Automation selects MatrikonOPC for FactoryTalk - 06/03/08 Combining MatrikonOPC technology with the FactoryTalk Gateway provides unlimited secure OPC access to plant systems.

		ABB Automation World held in Houston with record attendance - 05/05/08 A record 3,300+ customers, distributors, channel partners, original equipment manufacturers and ABB employees attended the three-day trade show and conference that ran from April 29 through May 1 in Houston, Texas.

		ABB first quarter net income up 87% - 04/24/08 ABB's first-quarter net income reached $1 billion, an increase of 87 percent compared to the same quarter in 2007.

		GE Fanuc acquires machine safety assets From MTL - 03/31/08 GE Fanuc will acquire MTL Open Systems Technology (MOST) product lines including the MTL8000 I/O, intrinsically safe I/O, SafetyNet system, and process control technologies.

		PLCopen revives TC6 - XML - 03/31/08 PLCopen TC6 first published its XML schema and documentation in June 2005 as version 1.01. After feedback from companies starting to implement this specification, it's been revised.

		PLCopen Releases Safety Specification User Guidelines - 03/26/08 The PLCopen Technical Committee 5 (TC5) Safety Software User Guidelines is a reference for control people implementing safety control systems.

		Omron opens regional headquarters in Mexico - 03/25/08 The office will provide sales, technical support, and training for Omron industrial automation customers across Mexico.

		Engineers Turning to Portals to find Product Information - 03/13/08 Control Design, March 2008 By Joe Feeley A study by Control Design magazine says engineers are getting tired of using Google and Yahoo because “too many of the results have nothing to do with what they’re actually looking for.” Instead, the use of portals, such as www.automation.com/portals, to find information is increasing.

		Moore Industries bakes NCS data acquisition system for three years - 03/02/08 The NCS has been running since February 2005 in an environmental chamber at temperatures up to 221°F. The only problem so far: Labels are turning brown.

		Frost & Sullivan says power companies in Africa adopting automation - 02/20/08 Power generation utilities in Southern Africa are expected to increasingly adopt automation and control solutions based on DCSes, PLCs or SCADA to counter the effects of the current power shortage.

		ABB reports $29.2 billion in revenue in 2007 - 02/14/08 ABB's net income increased to a record $3.8 billion in 2007 from $1.4 billion a year earlier as markets remained strong and further operational improvements were made.

		Rockwell Automation renews OEM Agreement with Kepware - 02/13/08 Kepware will provide third-party communications for FactoryTalk View Site Edition and FactoryTalk View Machine Edition products from Rockwell Automation.

		ABB CEO Fred Kindle leaves company - 02/13/08 ABB Chief Executive Officer Fred Kindle is leaving the company due to irreconcilable differences about how to lead the company. Chief Financial Officer Michel Demaré is interim CEO.

		National Instruments Reports Record Revenue and Net Income - 01/30/08 National Instruments reported record quarterly revenue of $205 million, up 13 percent and the company's best revenue growth quarter for 2007.

		Frost & Sullivan says Brazilian and Mexican DCS and PLC Markets growing - 01/23/08 Frost & Sullivan says the Brazilian and Mexican DCS and PLC market earned revenues of $448.7 million in 2006 and estimates this to reach to $926.0 million in 2012.

		Schneider reports record growth in 2007 - 01/22/08 Schneider Electric sales for 2007 rose 26.1% to €17,309 million, double the Group’s sales in 2003.

		PLCopen publishes standard on XML Control Logic - 01/21/08 PLCopen XML schemas and documentation as well as an introduction are available free on the internet.

		Research on PLCs and PACs Control Engineering, December 2007 By Dick Johnson Programming software is a bigger differentiator than hardware features, say respondents, who are also looking for a variety of networking options. In the most recent survey, done in conjunction with Reed Research, 548 respondents made it clear that the modern PLC/PAC has met their expectations.

		Frost & Sullivan predicts PLC sales in China to reach $1 billion in 2013. - 12/28/07 Developing customized products for specific industries that have particular requirements could help companies attain an edge over competitors.

		ARC predicts China PLC Market to hit $1.3 billion by 2011 - 12/13/07 The China market for PLCs is expected to grow at a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of 12.4% over the next five years. The market was close to $750 million in 2006 and is forecasted to be over $1.3 billion in 2011.

		Schneider Electric sales up in third quarter - 10/23/07 Schneider Electric sales for the third quartertotaled €4,468 million, up 28.4% from the year-earlier period.

		ABB expects increased earnings from 2007 to 2011 - 09/05/07 ABB expects to increase revenues at almost twice the rate of market growth and three times the rate of global GDP growth over the period.

		Omron appoints Gregg Holst President and COO - 08/10/07 He assumes the position immediately, filling a 10-month-long vacancy created by the death of the previous COO and President.

		ARC ranks ABB top automation services provider - 08/08/07 The study reports that the total worldwide market for these services was close to $14 billion at the end of 2006, and will increase by more than $10 billion over the next five years, to $24.9 billion in 2011.

		ARC predicts PLC market to reach $12 billion by 2011 - 07/31/07 The worldwide market for PLCs is expected to grow at a compounded annual growth rate of 7.3% over the next five years.

		ABB Q2 net income doubles to $729 million - 07/26/07 Earnings in the quarter rose to $1 billion on a 27% increase in revenues and net income doubled to $729 million.

		ARC says SCADA Market for Oil & Gas to reach $1.1 Billion - 07/18/07 The worldwide market for SCADA Systems for the Oil & Gas industry is expected to grow at a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of 8.9% over the next five years.

		Mitsubishi expands distribution agreement with Livingston & Haven - 06/06/07 Livingston & Haven now sells the Mitsubishi Electric Automation product line; it will add the full line of articulated and SCARA robotic products.

		Schneider Electric exec named finalist in American Business Awards - 05/21/07 Thomas Insprucker is a finalist in the Best Marketing Executive category for the 2007 American Business Awards.

		Beckhoff Automation sales increase 26% in 2006 - 05/17/07 During 2006, the company had sales of 190 million euros.

		Dinesh Paliwal leaving ABB - 05/10/07 Dinesh Paliwal, President, will leave ABB at the end of June.

		ABB creates engineering and science education foundation - 05/04/07 ABB will create a foundation with total funding of $16.6 million to sponsor talented and needy students in engineering and natural sciences.

		Sadlowski named Chief Executive Officer for Siemens - 05/03/07 Siemens appointed Dennis Sadlowski President and CEO, succeeding Aubert Martin, who is retiring.

		Moore Industries Promotes Tina Lockhart to Director of Engineering - 05/02/07 Lockhart has more than 20 years of R&D experience and more than 10 years in management. Previously, Lockhart was a Program Manager at BAE Systems, where she was responsible for projects based on MEMS technology with real time embedded systems.

		ABB Announces income up 163% in Q1 - 04/27/07 ABB's first-quarter net income rose 163 percent to $537 million from $204 million in the same period of 2006, driven primarily by continued strong market demand and further operational improvements.

		PLCopen forms Security working group for control systems - 04/12/07 The goal is to define a test bed and a set of routines, implementing a set of software tools and scripts to perform these test, and making this available to the public in order to be able prove a level of networking security within a broad set of control systems.

		Bosch Rexroth sales hit $6.2 billion - 03/22/07 Bosch Rexroth AG increased sales in 2006 by 7.1 percent to approximately $6.2 billion (4.9 billion Euros). Sales grew 16 percent in Middle and Eastern Europe and 14 percent in Asia, including 33 percent growth in China. Sales in North and South America declined slightly in a difficult economic environment.

		Syncroness study confirms trend of outsourcing new product development - 03/15/07 According to the study, 83% of respondents had outsourced some or all of NPD activity, confirming that outsourcing of core product development is extremely important in today’s market.

		ISA leads efforts to develop an Automation Engineering Degree Program - 03/15/07 A committee of industry leaders and academia met at ISA headquarters to begin work on the learning objectives for an automation engineering curriculum for universities. "Our goal is to develop curriculum content for a 4-year automation engineering degree program," said committee chair Randy Buchanan of the University of Southern Mississippi.

		Hannover Fair offers live automation demos The real automation highlight this year is the new Application Park, a project run jointly by the VDMA (German Engineering Federation) and Deutsche Messe. At this show within a show, mechanical engineers, robot manufacturers and automation service providers will be showcasing complete production solutions.

		Schneider Electric's Jim Pauley elected vice chairman of ANSI Board of Directors - 03/07/07 Jim Pauley has assumed the role of vice-chairman of the American National Standards Institute (ANSI). He will also continue serving as vice-president, industry and government relations for Schneider Electric North America.

		ABB 2006 net income rises 89% to $1.4 billion - 02/16/07 ABB's net income rose 89 percent to $1,390 million in 2006 amid strong demand for technology to increase power grid reliability, industrial productivity and energy efficiency. Revenues for 2006 reached $24,412 million, an increase of 11 percent (10 percent in local currencies) over 2005, while orders were 22 percent higher (22 percent in local currencies) at $28,401 million.

		Beckhoff Automation promotes Mark Lewis to Support Manager - 01/24/07 He will be responsible for managing Beckhoff’s technical support, field service and repairs departments at the company’s Burnsville, Minn. headquarters.

		Beckhoff Canada hires new Sales Manager - 01/09/07 Calvin Wallace has been hired as Regional Sales Manager for Southwestern Ontario. Wallace will provide direct sales support to Beckhoff customers located in an area that extends from Windsor to Guelph.

		Schneider Electric appoints Ralph Harris vice president of sales - 01/03/07 Ralph Harris has been promoted to vice president, U.S. sales. Harris joined the company in 1991 as a regional sales manager in the Retail Products Division. Since that time, he has held numerous key leadership positions in sales, marketing and organizational development. Most recently, Harris held the position of regional vice president, Southern Region.

Automation.com Real-time Information for the Automation Professional May. 26, 2012

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