Articles and News

Application of management, operational & technical controls will reduce risks to industrial automation & control systems and will mitigate vulnerabilities.

By Pat Garrehy, Rootstock There is a general consensus that, by 2023, most of the installed MFG ERP systems will be Cloud-based. But, will they be multi-tenant or hosted? There are arguments for both.

Considerations for Selecting A Controller- or Server-Based Batch Sequencer

By Bill Lydon, Editor The inaugural Haystack Connect event introduced a movement that has the potential to be the next big wave in building automation by fostering an entirely new open system in the industry that goes beyond open protocols to encompass system software.

The increased cost of using individual fuses will be quickly recovered by the reduced time to troubleshoot and resolve field wiring problems. One or two instances of bringing production back on line w

Implementing cybersecurity programs for industrial automation & control systems requires identification of areas to be protected & assessment of threats.

The Control System Integrators Association (CSIA) recently held their annual conference in St. Petersburg, Florida. This article provides a brief recap of the conference and outlines why, as a systems integrator, you can’t afford to miss next year’s conference. And while you're reading, I provide five reasons why you should think about joining CSIA.

ISA Training and Education in June: Learn, Advance, Succeed

Information needed to take advantage of the best industrial technology and address all of the considerations of an application is often difficult to find.

By Bill Lydon, Editor Three legendary industry veterans including Eddie Habibi - PAS Founder & CEO, Larry Evans - AspenTech Founder & former CEO, and Pat Kennedy - OSIsoft Founder & CEO, shared their industry insights on improving human reliability at the recent conference.

If the information is detailed & useful, an operator will be able to run a control system much more independently & resolve problems without outside help.

The Molecule: Why Professionals Matter Over Equipment

By Bill Lydon, Editor In February 2013, Schneider Electric announced the PlantStruxure PES (Process Expert System) as, “The innovative Process Automation System that brings together the best from the PLC/SCADA and DCS worlds and combines this with integrated energy management features…” To gain a better understanding, I had the opportunity to ask their Product Marketing Manager some questions about this new offering.

ISA Houston Section Sponsors June Technical Training Camp

Wireless transmitters can rapidly prototype, demonstrate, analyze and justify installations of online diagnostics, metrics and improvements.

By: Pat Garrehy, Rootstock While analysts project that the adoption rate for Cloud HR is over 60 percent and for Cloud CRM over 75 percent, the present adoption rate of Cloud ERP for manufacturers is less than ten percent. One major obstacle is that the larger ERP vendors are On Premise providers.

Having a hard time finding someone to service your older PLC? Turbocraft can help! We gladly service many types of older PLC's, which many Systems Integrators no longer have software or equipment for.

Industry experts on alarm management share insights on alarm systems; real engineers presenting real solutions and real results.

By Bill Lydon, Editor Downsizing has become a way to increase profits by “leaning out” operations. Most engineers are working with lean staff, which limits their scope of work to basic necessities. In most cases this means they do not have the time to work on improving the competitiveness of their companies.

By Bill Lydon, Editor The Danish company, Universal Robots, has created a new breed of robots that are significantly lower in cost than traditional robots. With this new bread, even small companies can use them to improve productivity. I recently interviewed Thomas Visti, Vice President/CCO of Universal Robots, to learn more. This article highlights my interview questions along with Visti’s responses.