Articles and News

By Dan DeYoung, Rockwell Automation Implementing a smart manufacturing approach requires an automation system that can keep up with these demands – a system that integrates all smart devices on a single network with one control platform. Automation systems must be able to deliver the promise of smart manufacturing

By Bill Lydon, Editor, Automation.com As automation technology gets more advanced, with more capabilities, so to does it come with an increasing number of cyber security vulnerabilities. As such, this week’s Deep Dive will revolve around Deloitte's new cyber risk platform

By Don Pham, IDEC New laser scanner technology allows plant personnel to address safety challenges with more comprehensive coverage zones and configurations. This article will explore some of these technology advancements and discuss how they help improve safety and optimize operations.

Automated Control Concepts, Inc (ACC), announced that key executive team members have been promoted to advanced roles within the company as the company founder, Robert Tomasetta, retires from the operational role he has held for 34 years to serve as Chairman of the Board.

By Bill Lydon, Editor, Automation.com Connecting the manufacturing plant floor with the business enterprise through a single, open network has been an elusive goal in today's automation industry. Many industrial automation people believe that TSN will become a high volume, low cost technology with adoption by automotive and consumer industries

Teel Plastics was inspired to find a solution that would allow operators to control all pieces electronically and reduce human error. They ultimately found that Kepware’s IoT Gateway for KEPServerEX provided the way to control all the essential components.

The combination is intended to result in a comprehensive offering for customers of industrial automation, by pairing B&R's products, software and solutions for modern machine and factory automation with ABB’s offering in robotics, process automation, digitalization and electrification.

Dr. Wade—who has more than 50 years of experience designing, applying and installing process control systems—says the updated edition builds upon the real-world experiences and process knowledge of engineers and technicians to demonstrate the application of successful regulatory control strategies and techniques.

The Bedrock controller is part of an integrated plantwide SCADA system. Users connect to that system via Ignition software from Inductive Automation. Ignition is an industrial applications platform that coordinates control and data acquisition for all plant PLCs and remote transfer units (RTUs).

GE's Industrial Internet Control System IICS is a central control system for industrial asset and plant control on the basis of analyzed machine data.

The partnership between IBM and Opto 22 enables developers to design, prototype, and deploy applications to connect existing industrial assets to the IBM Watson IoT platform and share their data, capabilities, and resources with other connected systems and assets, to build the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT).

The Cyber Trainers are designed and equipped with full-function industrial automation system hardware and software configured to perform like the IACS and networks in a real operating water plant or other critical infrastructure.

The Profibus-enabled, ATEX-rated failsafe Rotork actuators have been installed in critical valve areas to prevent potential spillages by automatically closing-off the flow of fuel on receipt of an overfill alarm signal.

The agreement comprises the jointly developed H-system termination boards and associated modules from Pepperl+Fuchs, which are connected through pre-assembled system cables to the connector boards of the HIMax family.

The Bangkok-based operation will provide a range of engineering services, including switchboard supply and fabrication, to the country’s sugar mill, starch, automotive tyre, and food and beverage manufacturers, as well as utility suppliers.

As one of the world’s biggest copper ore operations, the Chilean mining company Compañía Minera Doña Inés de Collahuasi SCM based in Las Condes/Chile commissioned Siemens to modernize the drive system of four of its ore mills.

The expansion allows Huffman Engineering to accommodate a growing client base in the western part of Nebraska, as well as Colorado and Wyoming.

Business Industrial Network, a leading provider of industrial training, announced the release of the new OPC Training for SCADA & DCS Certificate Course software.

2016 was an exciting year of innovation and exploration in industrial automation. All this cutting-edge development fuels the excitement, but also begs a relevant question: Will these developments lead to convergence, divergence, and/or chaos in 2017?

Electromechanical switches have their place in the modern plant, but a digital upgrade could pay off in many applications