Articles and News

By Bill Lydon, Editor In February 2013, Schneider Electric announced the PlantStruxure PES (Process Expert System) as, “The innovative Process Automation System that brings together the best from the PLC/SCADA and DCS worlds and combines this with integrated energy management features…” To gain a better understanding, I had the opportunity to ask their Product Marketing Manager some questions about this new offering.

As end users increasingly focus on energy-efficient production, pump manufacturers for the food and beverage industry will need to design cost-effective offerings that support energy optimisation.

Catalog covers weighing solutions for the chemical, pharmaceutical and food industries with hazardous environments.

Wilkinson has over 14 years’ experience in the industry having worked for some of the world’s leading control systems manufacturers including Honeywell, Siemens and Rockwell Automation.

Shipments for the U.S. industrial valve industry will grow to nearly $4.3 billion, according to figures released by the Valve Manufacturers Association (VMA). This exceeds the industry’s previous 10-year peak in 2008.

By Bill Lydon, Editor Siemens COMOS 10 is an enterprise platform for the process industry that integrates functions including automation design, plant engineering, operations, and enterprise interfaces.

Analytical Technology’s Q45P AutoClean pH monitors and D15-76 monitor with an Air Blast AutoClean system to indicate water quality and the presence of suspended solids in its waste water stream for Britannia Food Ingredients.

By Bill Lydon, Editor At PackExpo there were two innovations that really stood out as representing “thinking outside the box” creative solutions - one was Adaptive Robotic Tooling by FESTO and the other was the XTS Linear Carrier System by Beckhoff Automation.

Machine Control Group, an engineering focused solution provider, will represent B&R Automation in Missouri, Arkansas, and western Tennessee.

Automation.com, January 2013 By Bill Lydon, Editor The addition of an EtherNet/IP stack to the Siemens Sinamics drives offers another option and makes life easier for users and machine builders. The Sinamics S120 drive products now support Profibus DP, PROFINET, EtherNet/IP, and Ethernet TCP/IP.

By Bill Lydon, Editor The Tofino Security Appliance and its management software withstood a variety of sophisticated reverse engineering attacks conducted by Digital Bond, the world's most respected sources for control system security research.

The International Federation of Robotics (IFR) will host an exclusive press event for editors - CEO Round Table Discussion - at AUTOMATE in Chicago on 22 January 2013.

Beam Global Spirits & Wine has three 939s Versatron Case packers handling bottles of cordials at a plant in Cincinnati, OH, running at 25-30 cases per minute.

STICorp has brewing expertise and SlimSoft provides packaging solutions.

IMS Research predicts that from 2011 to 2016, revenues from articulated robots with a payload of below 15kg will grow on average by 6 percent a year.

Accurate mass flow measurements have improved product quality and reduced production time by 10–15 per cent at the Unilever facility in Gebze, Turkey.

Automation expenditures in the food and beverage industry are expected to reach $7 billion by 2016.

The free app provides mobile access to information about Endress+Hauser instruments, such as operating instructions and technical details, from a smart phone and other mobile devices.

ClamPAC robotic system is designed to case pack clamshells. Earthbound was so satisfied with their first four ClamPAC systems, they purchased four more.

The research says only 32% of managers are very confident that the gas detectors in their workplace actually work.