Articles and News

By Don Pham, IDEC New laser scanner technology allows plant personnel to address safety challenges with more comprehensive coverage zones and configurations. This article will explore some of these technology advancements and discuss how they help improve safety and optimize operations.

The Automation Competency Model has been a tool for educators and parents, industry management, and lawmakers.

By Bill Lydon, Editor, Automation.com Connecting the manufacturing plant floor with the business enterprise through a single, open network has been an elusive goal in today's automation industry. Many industrial automation people believe that TSN will become a high volume, low cost technology with adoption by automotive and consumer industries

By Rick Delgado, Freelance Automation Writer It used to be that automation was only available to larger businesses because of the cost or software involved, but a new wave of innovation has brought automation tools specifically designed for all sizes of businesses that make it more accessible to even the newest ventures,

The dead band is the range through which an input signal may vary, upon reversal of direction, without initiating an observable change in output signal.

By Peter McDermott, MDI According to research from Deloitte and The Manufacturing Institute, 2 million manufacturing jobs are likely to go unfilled over the next decade. Tapping into the myriad abilities of people with disabilities can be part of the solution.

By Michael Risse, Vice President, Seeq Corporation These five types of people often hinder big data analytic projects, but recognizing their characteristics can make them allies instead of enemies.

Industrial pervasive sensing devices lower energy requirements and reduce maintenance costs.

By Ola Lennartsson, Axis Communications For a long time, physical security was strictly analog, and it’s only connection to the IT network was at its end point. But now, now that IP-based security systems are becoming the norm, with all the associated benefits, both IT & OT professionals need to be aware that the game has changed.

By Matt Smith, Cortet Engineering This article will help readers navigate through the deluge of IoT information and identify which technology choices will have the biggest positive impact on upcoming product plans.

By Bill Lydon, Editor, Automation.com Connectivity is the name of the game in today’s IIoT atmosphere and ODVA is the latest to join the push for open communication standards. ODVA’s Common Industrial Cloud Interface (CICI) Special Interest Group is working on enhancements to ODVA specifications to connect CIP (Common Industrial Protocol) protocols, EtherNet/IP & DeviceNet with cloud applications.

By Travis Schneider, Parker Hannifin To increase the chances for success in these collaborations, clear ongoing communication between the motion supplier and OEM customer is critical. The following guidelines are crucial in any engineering collaboration of this type.

Model predictive control excels at dead-time dominance and simultaneous optimization while accounting for future prediction of proximity to constraints.

By Jorgen Saxeryd, ABB In 2014 in the UK, a large food manufacturer had to pay a £800,000 fine after a serious industrial accident. This article explains how safety procedures must be developed in food processing plants.

How to develop a proper control system for separation of multiple batch components by vacuum stripping.

Closed Loop Input Error (CLIE) approach for on-line parametric estimation of a continuous-time model of a DC servomechanism functioning in closed loop.

A butterfly valve has a circular body and a rotary-motion disk-closure member. The physical blocking mechanism in a globe valve is a plug.

By Maria Ferrante, PMMI PMMI had a chance to speak about new technologies and trends in automation with Don Wickstrum, president and owner of Quest Industrial, a robotics integrator based in Monroe, Wisconsin. Wickstrum will present an Innovation Stage seminar at the inaugural ProFood Tech (April 4-6; McCormick Place, Chicago) on how robotics can fill the labor shortage in the food industry.

By Alan Grau, Icon Labs Recent WikiLeak documents allege that the CIA developed, or sought to develop, or even “borrowed”, cyberattack technology that could target a wide range of IoT devices, including smart TVs, connected cars, and mobile phones. What can we learn from this?

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