Articles and News

Automation.com, May 2010 By John Boville, Schneider Electric Companies are partnering with their supplier of electrical distribution, automation and control products and solutions to ensure seamless process changeovers.

Automation.com, May 2010 By Mark Howard, Zettlex A key step in selecting a suitable position sensor for an application is to be absolutely clear about what is needed, particularly with respect to sensor resolution, repeatability and linearity.

Automation.com, May 2010 By Dr Peter Harrop, IDTechEx Wireless Sensor Networks are machine to machine M2M mesh networks operating like the internet in that they are self organising and self healing.

A RFID Case Study demonstrated the benefits of using a single RFID tag to carry information critical in manufacturing, logistics and retail processes.

As many of you know, Hannover Messe is taking place this week in Hannover, Germany. As one of their US-based media partners, three of us from Automation.com had plans to be there to cover the show. Unfortunately, the Iceland volcano had other plans.

By David Johnson, Applied Measurements This weighing approach is cost effective and quick to install, causes a minimum of production down time and is ideal as a retrofitted system.

By Manny Mandrusiak, OPC Foundation The OPC Foundation has been receiving a lot of email lately regarding the different technologies that are now offered in the OPC portfolio in 2010. It is very easy to see where individuals could become overwhelmed with the number of options that now exist. Here at the OPC Foundation we have taken steps to bring some clarity to the marketplace by simplifying the OPC message regarding the three core OPC technologies: OPC Classic, OPC Xi, and OPC UA.

By Motion Controls Robotics Buying a used robot? Here's what to consider.

By Brent Evanger, Banner Engineering Many engineers use machine vision equipment in quality control inspection processes. To attain accurate results from these inspections, however, the user must ensure sufficient lighting.

By Chris Jones, Micro-Epsilon Customers sometimes need to measure to sub-micron or nanometre resolutions, against difficult surfaces or materials that cannot be touched. This article compares four types of non-contact displacement measurement technology, advising on the pros and cons of each.

Automation.com, March 2010 By Sal Austin, DGX With RFID and geospatial technologies, corporations can track and manage their inventory anywhere in the world at real time speed preventing losses and theft.

By Nathan Pocock, Director of Compliance, OPC Foundation The OPC Foundation Compliance and Certification program offers different levels of certification. It is extremely important for individuals who purchase this software to understand the rigors that each level of certification requires, and the benefits of those results.

Are you ready for your e-mail marketing efforts to reach further than your company's own customer database? Read how Automation.com's Custom e-Mail Message and White Paper Alert Message opportunities can play a role in your company's overall marketing strategy.

Attendees came together again on the afternoon of February 10, 2010 for a second, Forum-wide general session. This session included a timely and interesting OpX presentation by BASF's Werner Setzwein; an attention-getting and thought-provoking presentation on immersive virtual environments by Chevron's Kevyn Renner; a brief introduction and overview by Daryl Dulaney, President and CEO of the recently formed Siemens Industry business; and finally, a presentation on a successful continuous improvement process by Dennis Inverso, from DuPont Engineering.

By Paul Miller and Dick Hill, ARC Advisory Group Tuesday morning's general session for all forum tracks included presentations by Andy Chatha, ARC's President and Founder, Marty Edwards from the DHS Control Systems Security Program at Idaho National Laboratories (INL); Thomas Lange, Director of Modeling and Simulation at Procter & Gamble; and Ralph Rio, Research Director, Enterprise Advisory Services here at ARC.

By Nathan Pocock, OPC OPC is still the connectivity standard for Process Control, for ADI, a part of FDI and FDT and STILL the connectivity standard for manufacturing, and PLCs. OPC is a Unified Architecture, and OPC is an Express Interface.

The capabilities of PLCs and weight controllers are maximized and costs reduced when a strong bidirectional interface is used. The PLC is capable of performing a variety of tasks, but a wiser (and now easier) solution is to offload some functions to a dedicated weight controller.

There is no doubt that the global competitive landscape has changed over the past few years. As emerging economies continue to grow and their demand for consumer products increases, new suppliers will sprout up within those economies to help local manufacturers meet those demands. Those suppliers and manufacturers could, and likely will, be your next competitors. Of course, there are challenges to being global, including geography, language and finances. Hannover Messe help you navigate the “unknown waters.”

Evaluation Engineering, January 2010 By David Owen, Pickering Interfaces Article has case histories and gives selection advice on the two most common platforms for switching systems, PCI eXtensions for Instrumentation (PXI) and LAN eXtensions for Instrumentation (LXI).

By Jako Winter, Metacom An automated electrical distribution automation network in Rawsonville, South Africa, proved its worth when a line fault briefly affected power supply to farms and packing houses in the area. Power was restored to 75% of these customers in 90 seconds.