Articles and News

Automation.com, January 2012 By Bill Lydon At the recent PI North America General Assembly Meeting, Bernie Anger of GE Intelligent Platforms discussed why they chose PROFINET as the backbone for their Programmable Automation Controller portfolio. The PROFINET philosophy fits with GE's evolving legacy of high performance distributed systems.

Operator effectiveness is often overlooked but is an area that can improve the performance and safety of your control system or plant.

Automation.com, December 2011 By Bill Lydon, Editor Companies are looking for ways to improve efficiency and profits but the use of and Real-Time Optimization (RTO) including Advanced Process Control (APC) is still limited. Why?

MEMS development stems from microelectronics industry and combines conventional techniques developed for IC processing with MEMS-specific processes

Guidelines for the tuning and the evaluation of decentralized and decoupling controllers for processes with recirculation

Test time for tuning temperature control can be reduced by using the near-integrating method. It identifies the deadtime and initial ramp rate.

Automation.com, December 2011 By Bill Lydon, Editor An enthusiastic OMAC Packaging Working Group recently presented plans for packaging machine standards. Bryan Griffen from Nestle explained their packaging philosophy and current vision centered on OMAC standards and how they want to optimize control systems in three ways.

IEC 6-1131-3

If on a trend recording a change in an input flow or speed (load) associated with a primary process loop causes a significant change in the primary process variable, there is an opportunity for feedfo

Automation.com, December 2011 By Jerry Belanger, Honeywell Process Solutions Industrial plants need solutions guaranteeing their controls system investments are safeguarded. They want to increase the efficiency of production process, but also reduce the long-term total cost of ownership (TCO) of automation assets.

There is too much hype about the smart grid without looking at the core problems from an engineering and business point of view.

Eliminating Difficult Start-ups with State Based Controls

Linear programs and real-time optimization need the prediction to violation of constraints inherent in MPC.

Automation.com, November 2011 By Bill Lydon, Editor I was recently introduced to a new HMI software offering, Tatsoft FactoryStudio. My first reaction was - Why does the industry need another HMI software product? I interviewed Tatsoft CEO and founder, Marcos Taccolini to learn more.

There’s nothing worse in one’s work life than when the relationship with one’s manager is not working correctly.

Automation.com, December 2011 By Gregory Wilcox, Mike Hannah and Mark Devonshire, Rockwell Automation The rise of Ethernet and emerging technologies such as integrated plantwide architecture and Common Industrial Protocol (CIP) have lead to the increased popularity of converged network infrastructures . These infrastructures allow innovative designs, specifically layer switches, that allow manufacturers to combine the simplicity and maintainability of many individual networks with the power and flexibility of a single network design.

Many of the real costs of plant or facility downtime are hidden in other cost areas and do not show up unless you account for them properly.

Automation.com, November 2011 By Nuris Ismail, Aberdeen Group In today's economic environment, manufacturers are under immense pressure to contribute value to the organization's bottom line by cutting costs and improving productivity wherever possible. In fact, in the Aberdeen Business Review study of over 170 manufacturers revealed that their primary goals for 2011 were profitability and cost reduction.

Automation.com, November 2011 By Bill Lydon for Automation.com Rockwell Automation introduced the new low-cost Micro800 PLC product line suited for standalone machine applications - a completely new architecture and not based on or compatible with the Logix Platform and Integrated Architecture.

Robust PID Tuning Strategy for Uncertain Plants Based on the Kharitonov Theorem