Articles and News

The PLCopen organization and Automation.com conducted a joint survey of PLC programming preferences. Here are some of the results to inform you of current trends in PLC programming and users thoughts on vendors.

By Jonathan Wilkins, EU Automation Today’s plant managers are faced with a dearth of automation technologies but it’s not always obvious what will work best. There is rarely, if ever, a one-size-fits-all approach. This article discusses what manufacturers should consider when choosing which type of robot to invest in.

Industry 4.0 initially focused on discrete manufacturing, and now there is an additional focus on process automation

Instrument location plans are most often used to support new plant installations and give the installer information about the actual physical location of the installation of an instrument.

It is time to think of a drone as more than a flying camera. It is a mobile platform for easily delivering sensors to various locations.

By Robert Glass, Exel Composites Composites have transformed the technologies of many industries —although the materials used to manufacture them have evolved. This article examines the progress of composites and their advantages over traditional materials like steel.

The future of the oil & gas industry will depend on operators that can survive the industry’s highly volatile nature and still achieve operational excellence in all areas of business, including mainte

The arrival of new technologies like artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) is transforming the way industries have been operated from decades. These technologies are bringing revolutionary transformations that are impacting industries at large.

The fieldbus intrinsic safety concept simplifies the rules governing energy storage in field cables and makes more power available to the fieldbus trunk.

By Jonathan Wilkins, director, EU Automation Errors in the pharmaceutical supply chain can lead to late delivery, increased costs and poor-quality products, which can have a detrimental impact on consumers. This article explains how organizations can use digital technologies to improve the pharmaceutical supplychain and minimize the risk of errors.

Robotic manipulators in industry perform repetitive tasks in manufacturing processes, and ensure a high production volume along with high quality standards.

By Bill Lydon, Automation.com The 2019 Inductive Automation Ignition Community Conference was another high energy, creative, and stimulating leadership event. With the company illustrating the power of the next level of software technology and leveraging this with a new business model, Inductive Automation illuminated their progression to be more responsive to industry and customer requirements.

By Darcy Simonis, ABB food and beverage With research showing that only 21 per cent of all product recalls over the last decade were detected by the company themselves, it is more important than ever that food and beverage manufacturers review and prevent contamination and mislabeling. This article explores the rise of recalls and what food companies can do to mitigate this alarming trend.

Coriolis meters provide the only true mass flow measurements, which offer a very accurate density measurement as well.

by Gabriel Smith OEE is a quality systems management tool which enables manufacturers to assess a plant’s effectiveness. Used wisely, OEE allows a manufacturer to identify major losses, create a road map to find problems, and enhance capacity.

Hydraulic actuators are driven by a high-pressure fluid (up to 4,000 psig) that can be delivered to the actuator by a pump that is remote from the actuator itself.

Cryptography is a good way to enhance understanding of the more esoteric portions of a journey to understand the difference between what is stochastic and what is deterministic.

By Zane Blomgren, Belden Active network scanning can deliver much more information than passive scanning, and can be an incredibly valuable tool in any industrial environment.

Self-study workbooks ensure that all students have been exposed to the same learning objectives and material.

Intelligent Automation will help these companies and their engineers to beat the competition and make an impact in this highly competitive and evolving digital trend of integrated Cyber – Physical world of manufacturing, called Industry 4.0.