Articles and News

Siemer, an energy industry veteran with extensive experience in leveraging software technologies to transform complex industrial operations, comes to OSIsoft from Devon Energy Corporation

By Bill Lydon, Automation.com The PAR meetings to represent one of the most knowledgeable groups of automation professionals gathered in one place, at any one time, to discuss automation issues, and the 2018 event was no exception.

By Darcy Simonis, ABB This article discusses how food manufacturers can help reduce consumer food waste due to label confusion.

The Switzerland-based company, founded in 1897 with approximately 15,500 employees, chose Rockwell Automation’s PharmaSuite Manufacturing Execution System (MES) software to digitize the operations in their manufacturing environments

Working with AWS, iBASEt provides A&D manufacturers with a platform to leverage native services to create and deploy a variety of applications and manage regular platform updates.

The digital transformation continues to flow throughout manufacturing, generating electricity among the audience at event after event. At the 2019 Dassault Systèmes 3DEXPERIENCE in May, it was Boeing, and Lucia Chung, Senior Director, IT Factory Operations, who provided insights into Boeing’s digital transformation effort.

In this webinar, Kepware and JPI introduce the KEPServerEX Configuration API and discuss two advanced use cases that allowed JPI to quickly implement critical connectivity for their customer’s operations

The solution is designed to improve manufacturing spans, quality and compliance by giving plant managers complete visibility into their product production and offer efficiency and continuous improvement through data capture and analysis.

By Dominique Stucki, ABB Control Technology There was widespread panic across Europe in mid-2017 when millions of eggs were recalled due to being contaminated with Fipronil — a highly toxic insecticide that is banned in the EU.

By Stefan Reuther, COPA-DATA Industry 4.0, the Fourth Industrial Revolution or the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT). Regardless of the phrase used to describe digitalization in manufacturing, there’s no denying that a shift has already taken place. This article gives three predictions for industrial automation in 2019 — no buzzwords included.

Lydon brings more than 10 years of writing and editing expertise to Automation.com, plus more than 25 years of experience designing and applying technology in the automation and controls industry. Lydon started his career as a designer of computer-based machine tool controls; in other positions, he applied programmable logic controllers (PLCs) and process control technology. In addition to working at various large companies (e.g., Sundstrand, Johnson Controls, and Wago), Lydon served a two-year stint as part of a five-person task group, where he designed controls, automation systems, and software for chiller and boiler plant optimization. He was also a product manager for a multimillion-dollar controls and automation product line and president of an industrial control software company.

Siemens will design, engineer and commission a new production management system (PMS), based on the Siemens Minerals Operation Management Solution.

By Martin Grune & Patrick Kraus, infoteam Software AG How can production be optimized, where can improvement opportunities be found, which processes may even indirectly slow down operative business from the background? Overall Equipment Effectiveness (GAE) or Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE) has established itself as the key performance indicator for this.

By Shan Zhan, ABB Control Technologies In summer 2017, 15 EU states, Switzerland and Hong Kong were affected by the Fipronil contamination scandal. This article looks at what the scandal can teach food manufacturers about the importance of traceability processes.

The combination of the AS/RS and layer pick system allows Heaven Hill to convey pallets from palletizing to storage and to truck-staging lanes, thereby streamlining the entire order fulfillment process.

As part of a corporate initiative, Columbia Tech and Cogmedix were both investing in new systems to help the companies grow, enhance consistency, and improve quality and traceability. This included upgrading their Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system and adopting Manufacturing Execution System (MES) and Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) systems.

By Robert Glass, Food & Beverage, ABB Food safety has been one of the top priorities for food manufacturers and consumers for many years. This article explains how smart technologies are helping manufacturers exceed food safety standards.

By Larry Smentowski, Rockwell Automation Smart manufacturing or Industry 4.0 initiatives present an opportunity to help all automakers address their challenges. But those initiatives will only be successful if automakers first have network, control and software standards in place.

BIDCO Africa Limited, with HighJump and the support of iWMS, is gaining end-to-end supply chain transparency to improve workflows and adapt to its growth trajectory. This includes evolving operations with traceability and recall management, inventory management, tracking and shipping via FEFO/FIFO expiry dates, and worker productivity.

With programming modes, customization capabilities and compatibility, External-Array’s solutions have helped the company establish an international reputation and a customer base in China.