Articles and News

By Bill Lydon, Editor Automation.com conducted a PLC/PAC Automation Experience survey with the goal to gather vendor ratings based on user experiences. The survey also asked questions on specific industry topics, including what are automation’s biggest problems. This inaugural survey had more than 1,000 participants.

“PLC Handbook: A Practical Guide to Programmable Logic Controllers” is available as a free download. this eBook explains what a PLC is and provides detailed information about what to look for when choosing a controller, with both hardware and software overviews.

By Steve Aposhian, FireFly Equipment Using LabVIEW software and CompactRIO hardware in ProSlab 155 helped the smart machine harvest turf 25 percent faster and use half the diesel fuel that other machines on the market burn.

Vapor Systems Technologies uses a Unitronics Vision350 PLC +HMI to test gas pump nozzles through 1,000,000 cycles.

By Ken Ball Programmable Logic Controllers (PLCs) were more of a technology evolution than a radical development. A noteworthy aspect about the origin was that quite similar concepts were pursued by three separate companies—nearly concurrently but unknown to each other. Part 1 in a series of four articles about the history of the PLC.

PLCopen invites all interested parties to give feedback on this document until October 23, 2015.

The Wormhole module is intended for OEM integration of IEC 61131 Control into board level electronics.

With a year-to-date total of $1,798.34 million, 2015 was down 7.9% when compared with 2014.

.NET Controller SDK for SNAP PAC provides modern .NET interface for developing applications that control and communicate with Opto 22 SNAP PAC control systems.

Training program helps to help bridge skills gap for manufacturers in Southern Wisconsin.

The software from MDT manages changes to 16,000 programmable devices in remote areas across the continent and reduces safety risks to employees associated with unmanaged control system changes.

The app store includes packages ranging from safety, security, and storage to connectivity, graphics, and development tools.

April U.S. manufacturing technology orders totaled $384.81 million, down 8.1% from March’s $418.67 million.

Curt G. Joa, Inc. designs and builds large manufacturing platforms. Using EPLAN and its Schematics to automatically create schematics and help drive its RSLogix 5000 software generator saves Joa hundreds of hours in design time and labor cost for each machine it builds.

Prior to joining Omron, Black served as Business Director for Sensing and Connectivity at Rockwell Automation.

Rockwell’s CompactLogix 5370 controller and three Kinetix 350 EtherNet/IP servo drives are used as the control platform for the new tubing spooler machine.

By Bill Lydon, Editor At the 2015 ARC Forum in February Bedrock Automation demonstrated additional features to the company’s automation controller product. These features exemplify their technology leadership and reflect their commitment to delivering integrated, easy to use, scalable, and secure products. I reviewed the following new new features with Albert Rooyakkers, Bedrock Founder, CTO, and VP Engineering.

Literature covers automation system options on injection molding, blow molding, and die casting machines.

Siemens Sinumerik CNCs, Simotics motors and Sinamics drives were installed at each lathe, with Simatic PLC and HMI as the master of the entire line.

eWON is a Belgian manufacturer of industrial routers and the designer of Talk2M, an innovative cloud-based remote access service.