Articles and News

By Bill Lydon, Editor Late last year, Siemens rolled-out of its new Cyber Security Managed Services in the United States. This new offering is aimed at providing continuous, comprehensive cyber protection for production environments. Siemens plans to subsequently introduce this service in Europe and Asia.

What are the Benefits of Multiproduct Manufacturing in the Biopharmaceutical Industry?

Valve position control can be implemented in a matter of hours to start optimizing the efficiency or capacity of a unit operation.

By Bill Lydon, Editor The OPC Foundation held their General Assembly meeting on December 4, 2013. Dr. Grant Wilson of Emerson Process Management and Foundation Chairman of the OPC Board opened the meeting, and Tom Burke summarized the Foundation’s current successes as accelerating adoption of OPC technology, successful OPC certification program, IEC standardization, and continuous improvement.

What Test Equipment Should You Use in a Hazardous Area?

By Mike Fahrion, B&B Electronics Ten commandments—rules, that is—for wireless communications. Covers RF power, frequency, long range reception, noise, rain, interference, antenna placement and more.

Cyber attacks on industrial operations are a growing concern with potential to disrupt the economy and do harm.

By Bill Lydon, Editor Big data is a term used to describe large, complex collections of data sets. Big data is a hot topic in business, manufacturing, and IT circles because, if utilized correctly, it provides an opportunity for companies to improve efficiency and productivity. The challenge for many organizations is that in order for big data to be used most effectively, the organizational silos within companies need to cooperate.

Set a precedent of mutual respect and professionalism from the very beginning. Once the precedent for a relationship has been set, it is difficult to change.

SCADA systems were traditionally “walled off” from other systems operating independently from the network. Prior to the awareness of possible attacks, this seemed to provide all the protection the SCADA system needed. They were largely proprietary systems with such limited access and esoteric coding that very few people would have the ability to access them to launch an attack. Over time, however, they became integrated into the larger company network as a means to leverage their valuable data and increase plant efficiency. Therefore, the reality is their security is now often only as strong as the security of the network.

Getting Your MES Project Right the First Time

This article focuses on the moving magnet voice coil style of actuators and compares it with other short stroke linear motion technologies, in order to choose the best component for the specific application. The discussion includes moving coil voice coil actuators, moving magnet voice coil actuators, solenoids and piezo actuators.

By Bill Lydon, Editor The term reshoring is being used to describe the act of companies bringing back desirable jobs to the United States – those jobs that have been lost to decades of offshoring. This is all well and good, but U.S. companies should not lose sight of the fact that automation is the key to increased productivity and quality.

A comprehensive asset management system enables operations and maintenance personnel to quickly access and analyze information in response to alarms and incidents.

Use tieback models, modeling objects and online adaptation of dynamics and parameters to achieve the fidelity needed for simulation applications.

By Bill Lydon, Editor On February 11, 2014, along with dozens of other journalists from all over the world, I attended the 2014 Hannover Fair Preview Event in Berlin, Germany. The primary focus of the preview event, as well as the upcoming Hannover Messe, is the next steps for achieving the vision of integrated industry, also known as Industry 4.0 or the 4th Industrial Revolution.

How Can Advanced Calibration Strategies Improve Control Performance?

By Bill Lydon, Editor Ted Krevis of Sherwin Williams gave an enthusiastic presentation about their HMI software implementation at Inductive Automation’s Ignition User Conference last fall. I had the opportunity to talk personally with Krevis and the Lead Software Developer about their experiences using Ignition software. Below is a synopsis of my interview.

What's the Best Way to Integrate Packaged Equipment into Plant SCADA Systems?

By Bill Lydon, Editor Cyber-attacks of automation systems are increasing while the industry is broadening the attack surface with more IP-based Ethernet networks. The need to integrate information from controllers with business systems and the implementation of cyber security defenses are working against each other.