Articles and News

By Mark Howard, EU Automation According to data from the Energy Information Administration, wind power is set to surpass hydroelectric as the largest renewable energy source in the United States in 2019. As the nation transitions to greener energy, how can plant managers maintain facilities and substations on this ever-evolving grid?

Despite widespread awareness of cybersecurity issues and availability of training competency & preparedness remain varied in the industrial landscape.

ROI equations do not account for lost opportunity to collect investment interest on money diverted to fund an automation project or the time value of money.

By Edward Naranjo, Emerson Accuracy, response speed and measurement range must be understood when designing, installing and maintaining fire and gas detection systems.

By Paul Welch, Arena Solutions While IoT helps create better user experiences and greater customer satisfaction, there’s also a clear need to manage the requirements that define how IoT capabilities will work in the first place.

The only barrier for systems integrators in learning basic scripting languages is having a passion for making things work and knowing how to use Google.

By Laura Sallstrom, Access Partnership Regulation should be targeted at actions and human behavior, not at a type of technology. Regulatory approaches that take this into account – like the ethics by design concept – are a good way forward.

When technology that has the potential for revolutionizing an industry emerges, typically only a few companies with vision see it as attractive and leverage it.

By Ben Smye, Matmatch It has been 35 years since the first instance of what we now think of as additive manufacturing (AM), or 3D printing. Lauded for its rapid production speed and minimal waste, the process is becoming a staple of product prototyping. However, there is still room to improve the sustainability of this process.

By Seth Patin, Founder and CEO, LogistiVIEW AR technology ensures consistency, so an unskilled workforce can think and behave in the same way as those workers with years of experience. Workforce technology is all about efficiency, consistency, repeatability, and safety, regardless of the person performing the task.

Gain is defined in industrial control theory as the change in input divided by the change in output.

By Kostas Poulios, Pailton Engineering This article explains how 3D printing is used in large vehicle manufacturing and whether this method could play a role in the production of safety critical parts.

Smart cities are not just about installing digital interfaces in traditional infrastructure. They use technology and data to help us make better decisions & deliver a better quality of life.

By Bill Lydon, Automation.com The PAR meetings to represent one of the most knowledgeable groups of automation professionals gathered in one place, at any one time, to discuss automation issues, and the 2018 event was no exception.

Is IIoT really a game changer for the industrial automation and process control industries? Or is it just a trendy buzzword?

By Frank Charles Cozza, Gondola Skate The ability to move pallet racking units of any type in as little as fifteen minutes with as few as four employees, is the new definition of an “automated warehouse.”

Spurious trips and nuisance trips are indicative of “safe” failure modes, not “dangerous” failures.

By Darcy Simonis, ABB This article discusses how food manufacturers can help reduce consumer food waste due to label confusion.

By Mark Howard, EU Automation When a business is global, it’s essential to optimize logistics to ensure that products are delivered efficiently and on time. This article is intended to help understand how to improve logistics in the maintenance sector to keep downtime to a minimum and guarantee customers’ satisfaction.

The ISA recommended practice is not on the process of calibration but on a calibration management system