Articles and News

The 15,000-sq-ft center has a demonstration room, training facility, application lab, office space and a warehouse.

ABB's first-quarter net income rose 163 percent to $537 million from $204 million in the same period of 2006, driven primarily by continued strong market demand and further operational improvements.

Free catalog introduces UEIPAC Programmable Automation Controller Cubes and UEIModbus Cubes with Modbus TCP support.

The portal site is a 'one-stop-shop' for the latest information in English on OMRON's industrial automation products and services

The WBF North American Conference will have 25 technical presentations on automation topics including industrial wireless, mining in batch alarm records and the quest for the perfect batch.

The goal is to define a test bed and a set of routines, implementing a set of software tools and scripts to perform these test, and making this available to the public in order to be able prove a level of networking security within a broad set of control systems.

Mitsubishi will integrate Wonderware software into its e-F@ctory MES solutions and PLCs.

ISaGRAF is compatible with Beck's IPC@CHIPR SC123/SC143 series of embedded web controllers. By using ISaGRAF 5, IPC@CHIPR users have the option of using the IEC 61499 standard to easily create distributed control applications.

Invensys is providing Foxboro I/A Series distributed control systems (DCS) for two new Husky Energy grassroots ethanol refineries in western Canada. Each of the two new plants will produce 130 million litres (34.3 million gallons) of ethanol annually, to be blended up to 10 percent into gasoline products.

Bosch Rexroth AG increased sales in 2006 by 7.1 percent to approximately $6.2 billion (4.9 billion Euros). Sales grew 16 percent in Middle and Eastern Europe and 14 percent in Asia, including 33 percent growth in China. Sales in North and South America declined slightly in a difficult economic environment.

Strong economic activity in Asia is spurring the growth of manufacturing, which in turn is propelling the growth of the automation market in the region. The Asian market for Distributed Control Systems (DCS) is expected to grow at a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of 9.0% over the next five years, according to a new ARC Advisory Group study.

A committee of industry leaders and academia met at ISA headquarters to begin work on the learning objectives for an automation engineering curriculum for universities. "Our goal is to develop curriculum content for a 4-year automation engineering degree program," said committee chair Randy Buchanan of the University of Southern Mississippi.

According to the study, 83% of respondents had outsourced some or all of NPD activity, confirming that outsourcing of core product development is extremely important in today’s market.

The real automation highlight this year is the new Application Park, a project run jointly by the VDMA (German Engineering Federation) and Deutsche Messe. At this show within a show, mechanical engineers, robot manufacturers and automation service providers will be showcasing complete production solutions.

The new subsidiary will be headed by Ramon Diaz. Diaz has gained extensive experience in automation and drive technology in Germany and Spain.

Invensys will supply Foxboro distributed control systems (DCS), Triconex safety systems and fire & gas systems, and Foxboro instrumentation to Aker Kvaerner, Inc. for a new LNG receipt terminal being built near the Gulf Coast of Louisiana.

"Programmable Controllers, 4th Edition" by Thomas A. Hughes discusses all phases of programmable controller applications from systems design and programming to installation, maintenance, and startup.

Jim Pauley has assumed the role of vice-chairman of the American National Standards Institute (ANSI). He will also continue serving as vice-president, industry and government relations for Schneider Electric North America.

ABB will supply burner management, boiler controls, and BOP controls for two 330 MW circulating fluidized bed boilers at Cleco Power's new $1 billion Rodemacher Power Station, a 660 MW generating unit near Boyce, LA. ABB will provide System 800xA with operator stations, Harmony Bridge controllers for monitoring and control, and PLC interfaces to the turbine controls via standard OPC technology.

ABB won a $2 million order to upgrade the Control System at Australian Vinyls PVC resins plant located in Laverton, Victoria. The project will evolve the existing control systems to ABB's IndustrialIT System 800xA with Batch Manager and MOD AC460 controllers. Installation and commissioning is scheduled to be underway by January 2008.