Articles and News

Catalog has an easy-to-use quick reference guide, application examples from a wide range of industries, and details on the latest Chainflex cables.

The OPC Technical Advisory Council (TAC) has approved a charter for a new joint working group with PLCopen to create an OPC UA information model corresponding to the IEC-61131 standard.

PLCopen launched the Fluid Power Control Function Blocks technical group at a kickoff meeting June 23, 2009 in Frankfurt, Germany. The initiative will extend PLCopen specifications to include fluid power.

PLCopen member Beckhoff is applying PLCopen standards to wind power applications. Beckhoff controls are being used in the new 2 MW converter from DeWind AG, Germany, also known as the D8. The wind power converters use Beckhoff Industrial PCs, TwinCAT automation software, and Bus Terminal technologies. Dewind wind power experts used the Beckhoff TwinCAT software to develop applications in the IEC 61131-3 open standard software.

PLCopen North America has created a Control Applications Support Group on LinkedIn to help engineers with applications.

Nol-Tec’s 24/7 Emergency Service provides around the clock support when a machine, process or production line is down.

MOTIONEERING helps machine builders quickly specify the right gearhead to satisfy specific application performance requirements.

ISaGRAF 5 programming software will be used on SIXNET’s IPm2m RTU and Datalogger.

The 116-page, illustrated guide contains safety requirements and guidelines for North America to ensure the safety of machinery and people.

April U.S. manufacturing technology consumption totaled $97.04 million, according to AMT - The Association For Manufacturing Technology and AMTDA, the American Machine Tool Distributors’ Association.

AMT urges Congress and the Administration to protect the manufacturing technology supplier base in the wake of GM’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing, but AMT’s attempts to reach out to the President’s Auto Task Force have so far not been answered.

Accreditation is a formal recognition that a test laboratory is competent to carry out specific tests in compliance with the PLCopen guideline “Compliance Testing & Certification.”

The initial batch of 16 National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)-recognized interoperability standards will help ensure that software and hardware components from different vendors will work together.

Automation expenditures in the process industries reached $45.5 billion dollars in 2007 and are forecast to exceed $61 billion by 2012.

Invensys Process Systems integrated Pepperl+Fuchs intrinsically safe I/O interface product lines with I/A Series DCSes.

MTConnect Institute seeks to promote manufacturing system interoperability.

Eaton's Training Services is a PLCopen certified training center for the IEC 61131-3 programming language standard.

Students at Akron CNC Training Center learn machinist skills on a MAG 4020 FX vertical machining center provided by machine supplier HM Technology.

Erich Janoschek from TÜV Rheinland was elected chairman of the PLCopen Technical Committee for Safe Software.

ISaGRAF software will be used in CSE-Semaphore’s Kingfisher series of Advanced RTUs, which are now available with Secure DNP3 Authentication.