Articles and News

Automation.com, February 2011 By Gerald Shankel, Fabricators & Manufacturers Association Manufacturing creates jobs, but manufacturers simply cannot find the skilled labor needed today to handle the kinds of sophisticated production processes and tasks required on the manufacturing shop floor.

Automation.com, February 2011 By Fluke Technicians working on hazardous equipment and high-voltage circuits deserve every advantage to complete electrical test and measurement jobs safely. New test tools provide new ways to work safely and reduce exposure to electrical shock.

Many applications use one or more motors operating in parallel at the same desired speed. Using one Variable frequency drive (VFD) to control these multiple motors provides a host of advantages

In 2010 there were more jobs added in manufacturing than were lost – 130,000 of them. This is the first time this has happened since 1997.

Automation.com, February 2011 By Chris Bowman, TR Electronic Ethernet communication, specifically the PROFINET adaptation, presents automation experts with another avenue for improving system design, achieving growth and increasing competitiveness.

By Marketing Sherpa As marketing strategies evolve from outbound to inbound tactics, there is also a shift in the ways in which money and resources are spent. Marketing Sherpa asked more than 1,100 marketers how they foresaw budgets changing in 2011 for the following marketing tactics.

By Mark Howard, Zettlex The pros & cons of custom versus standard position sensors and why new technology is changing the rules. Includes an explanation of "bespoke" for U.S. engineers.

By Jay Bartsias, TURCK NFPA 79 code permits the use of molded-on cordsets—including quick-disconnect connectors and rugged cable for exposed-run installations—for powering motors, pumps and other machinery. Here’s how to apply them instead of using hard wiring.

By Ethernet Direct How to choose the right Industrial rated IP-67 switch? The need for Industrial switches is mostly defined by the environment they will be subjected to.

By Christina Hilligoss, KardexRemstar Parallel picking is often implemented into industrial product picking operations when standard picking methods become too slow or constrictive.

Remke Industries recently introduced The Flexible Solutions Center on Remke.com. This new section on the company website is 100% dedicated to designing custom products, specials, adaptations & variations.

Automation.com, October 2010 By Mark Howard, Zettlex Traditional rotary encoders can be readily fitted to shaft diameters of less than 2 inches, but what happens if your design needs a much larger diameter through shaft or bore?

By Don Morrison, Honeywell Process Solutions Key misconceptions are based on the common shortcomings of traditional model predictive control: complexity of configuration, speed of execution, interpretation of noise in the system, and over-active movement of the final control element. But an intelligently implemented MPC strategy can result in increased plant efficiencies over PID.

By Dr Peter Harrop, IDTechEx Energy harvesting is the conversion of ambient energy into electricity to drive small or mobile electronic and electrical devices.

By Mubeen Almoustafa, Flow Dynamics Inc In order to be confident that a meter is accurately measuring the flow volume or mass, it must be recalibrated on a periodic basis.

Automation.com, September 2010 Honeywell Process Solutions India organized its annual User Meet on 30th & 31st Aug 2010 at Madh Island, Mumbai on the theme of ‘Optimize. Innovate. Sustain.’ The event saw an overwhelming participation from companies across all industry segments and focused on providing solutions to increase business performance & protect automation investments.

Enough has been written during the past couple years to convince most plant managers of the benefits of connecting plant floor equipment and processes to the Internet or Intranet. So, now that we're all convinced of the benefits of web-enabled automation, what pieces and parts are required to put this technology to work?

Automation.com, July 2010 By V. Lakshminarayana, CMC Limited India’s transmission and distribution losses are among the highest in the world--up to 50%. A Smart Grid will help cut losses.

Automation.com, July 2010 By Mark Howard, Zettlex The accuracy, resolution and repeatability of a position transducer are critical selection factors, but often cause confusion amongst engineers.

By Mark Lampert, Banner Engineering Vision provides a valuable snapshot of the full Food and Beverage application in process. Thus, it is able to analyze multiple features of interest at once, such as label presence and placement, and hue variations that could mean the difference between a “good” and “bad” product.