Articles and News

PLC I/O replaced with DCS I/O while keeping existing PLC sequence logic.

ETT operates approximately 69,000 miles of pipelines. It installed a new control system based on the Rockwell Automation Integrated Architecture platform, CompactLogix controllers and medium voltage Allen-Bradley SMC Flex soft starters, running on a ControlNet network.

By Rockwell Automation King's Hawaiian had reached capacity at its California factory and bakery. Bachelor Controls created an architecture that got new equipment up and running in 10 months, while laying the groundwork for information gathering and sharing throughout the enterprise.

By Bill Lydon, Editor According to a recent survey, automation users want and deserve more from an automation controller. Albert Rooyakkers, CTO of Bedrock Automation, explains why they went back to the drawing board to design and develop this new, innovative automation controller.

FACTORY I/O is a real time automation sandbox where users can build and simulate industrial systems and use them with the most common automation technologies.

Egemin Automation will update controls or install completely new PLC-based control systems for pumping stations along Belgian rivers and canals.

PLC Technician II now contains ten 3DWorlds within the PLCLogix software, enabling users to simulate a “hands on” experience using the Logix 5000 PLC with interactive 3D animations.

By Bill Lydon, Editor Some industrial automation vendors and computer technology providers are offering cloud services that include historians, analytics, and complete MES (Manufacturing Execution System). These services offer a new way to improve operations by applying more computing power. Another important trend is leveraging new, more powerful controllers within the secure automation system environment. Should you be using one or the other, or both?

PLCopen and OPC Foundation created an open standards ecosystem that simplifies the communications of packaging machines with other plant systems and the business enterprise.

The integration of Eplan Electric P8 and GX Works2 allows transferring data from electrical engineering directly into PLC programming.

Traditionally, body panels are inspected by using a robot to present the part to an array of proximity switches. Ford improved on this method by using machine vision. The camera connects to either the robot or the PLC using the Ethernet/IP protocol.

Crimson-enabled products allow companies to easily integrate almost any PLC, PC or SCADA system for data collection, monitoring and control.

Ridgeline Pipe manufactures about 125 different PVC pipe products that vary in length, diameter, color, markings and other requirements. Allen-Bradley ControlLogix L61 programmable automation controller (PAC) manages all control and motion functions for each piece of equipment in the PVC manufacturing process.

Combining PLC processing and HMI monitoring and control into a single hardware platform is becoming a more available and popular option. This article compares the combined HMI+PLC unit with the separate HMI & PLC system and highlights where each excels.

New England Institute of Technology (NEIT)'s automation lab will be used by students enrolled in the Bachelor of Science Degree program in Electrical Engineering Technology.

Omron designed the facility to give customers access to engineering and technical resources in one centralized location.

By Russ Butchart, Puffin Automation Vision system for an unnamed manufacturer inspects defects as small as 0.008" on all four surfaces of an engine ring with a changeover time of less than 1 min.

The Boston One Campus will also serve as the company’s new North America headquarters and is built to house approximately 750 employees across all disciplines of Schneider Electric’s business segments.

July U.S. manufacturing technology orders totaled $354.63 million, down 11.5% from June and down 1.4% when compared with the total of $359.70 million reported for July 2013.

By Bill Lydon, Editor The OPC Foundation Information Revolution 2014 Conference was held at Microsoft's Redmond Campus on August 4-7, 2014. The conference featured industry experts who both presented and learned more about OPC Unified Architecture. This article summarizes the highlights from the conference.