Articles and News

The idea of using a PLC-based system rather than a DCS has become a philosophical and technical debate in the industry. DCSs have been the primary solution for process automation but now many PLC vendors are arguing that a single integrated architecture based on PLCs and/or PACs is the best approach to total plant automation.

Automation.com, October 2011 By Rick Zabel, Publisher Annual salary survey indicates higher job satisfaction with little or no pay increase. While many feel greater pressure to increase productivity and reduce costs, more than 80% of respondents indicated they are satisfied with their job. Read the story and analyze the stats to see how you compare.

PI North America welcomes GE Intelligent Platforms into the PROFINET fold.

Automation.com, October 2011 By Bill Lydon, Editor National Instruments typical applications in the automation industry require very high speeds, high precision, and special functions. According to Christian Fritz, in these challenging applications, they are not competing against PLCs - PLCs just cannot do the job.

Automation.com, September 2011 By Martin Rostan, EtherCAT Technology Group There is no giant marketing machine behind it, nor is EtherCAT the successor to a market leading fieldbus system – and yet EtherCAT enjoys an outstanding adoption rate worldwide, and the ETG has become the world’s largest fieldbus organization.

College internships are extremely beneficial on the path to a career in industrial automation and manufacturing.

Automation.com, September 2011 By Bill Lydon, Editor In Part 2 of my interview with Eric Byres, leading industrial automation cyber security expert, he expands on the challenges and solutions for industrial cyber security, and includes recommendations for actions to take to protect your company and assets.

Ice Cream Castles in the Land of Automation

Viewpoint on ISA TR84.0.02 Simplified Methods and Fault Tree Analysis

Automation.com, September 2011 By Bejer Any manufacturer of complex machines that include HMIs must face a crucial decision: should you build your own human-machine interfaces or should you buy these ready-made?

Automation.com, September 2011 By William Gilbert, Siemens Today’s AC drive systems now have the technology to regenerate energy back to the AC line--a practical alternative to mechanical braking and non-regen drives in converting, packaging, wireforming and printing industries

Toy Story Midway Mania! is one of the most technologically sophisticated attractions yet developed by Walt Disney Imagineering. It marks the company's first use of industrial Ethernet for a ride's control system which takes advantage of Siemens products.

Linear Relationships for 4-20 mA transmitters

Virtualization simplifies computer maintenance and delivers high performance

Automation.com, September 2011 By Bill Lydon, Editor Bill Lydon talks with Jeff Kodosky, Cofounder of National Instruments and Father of LabVIEW, to discuss real-time control and particularly his continuing work on the problem of visually programming real-time- control applications.

Automation.com, September 2011 By Chris Bowman, TR Electronic Like any industrial communications, there are advantages and disadvantages to using EtherNet/IP. Informing oneself of the limitations will help you to determine if EtherNet/IP is the right way for your installation.

Evaluation Question

Livestream Schedule: Marketing & Sales Summit

Automation.com, August 2011 By Bill Lydon, Editor Norm Gilsdorf of Honeywell Process Solutions sits down with our editor, Bill Lydon, to discuss their organizational changes, asset management, PLC competition, wireless, skill crisis, energy and sustainability.

Automation.com, August 2011 By Bill Lydon, Editor Cyber Security is a hot topic that has become more intense since the notoriety of the Stuxnet virus. I interviewed Eric Byres, one of world’s leading industrial automation cyber security experts, to gain a greater understanding of the challenges and solutions for industrial cyber security.