Articles and News

Honeywell will upgrade the plant to Profibus, and update the existing controllers on El Tiempo’s Goss Newsliner and Universal press lines.

Automation.com, February 2012 By Bill Lydon, Editor At Automation Fair 2011, Rockwell Automation released the new 5730 line of CompactLogix controllers. These controllers allow users and machine builders to get the power of the Logix architecture for smaller applications. Here's an overview of the new line.

Automation.com, February 2012 By Bill Lydon, Editor During a half day session at the Sixteenth Annual ARC World Industry Forum Conference some automation vendors made it clear they are adopting OPC UA. This adoption is intended to close the gap between advances in the general computing industry and industrial automation systems.

The OPC Foundation says TopView successfully demonstrated OPC excellence in compliance, interoperability and robustness in the OPC Foundation Certification Test Lab.

Starting with version 5.10, Softing is including a one-year free-of-charge OPC Foundation membership for every company buying a new OPC toolkit.

Automation.com, February 2012 By Bill Lydon Rockwell Automation firmly believes there are users that only want simple controllers and users that want integrated control and information products. In order to meet these requirements Rockwell has two separate product and software architectures, Connected Components and Logix.

FDT Group, Fieldbus Foundation, HART Communication Foundation, PROFIBUS & PROFINET International and OPC Foundation founded the company.

The water and wastewater products company installed a MicroLogix PLC, PowerFlex 4 drive, and EtherNet/IP to automate its demonstration plants.

Automation.com, February 2012 Barbers Farmhouse Cheesemakers in the UK uses Rockwell Automation’s ControlLogix PAC and 3D laser scanners to control an Arcall C52 cheese cutter. Another PAC controls a suite of conveyors driven by servo motors. All communications are via EtherNet/IP.

Automation.com, February 2012 By Jessica Forguites, Rockwell Automation Embedding Ethernet switch technology into devices brings new advantages to high-performance applications. It simplifies machine design, configuration and maintenance.

An unnamed manufacturer of cable and conductors in Spain used Rockwell Automation’s Integrated Architecture, including CompactLogix PLCs connected to PanelView Plus operator terminals via EtherNet/IP.

This guide walks PROFIBUS and Foundation fieldbus users through a logical process to identify the proper application of all FieldConnex bus solutions.

Site promotes OPCSystems.NET as the complete SCADA solution for Enterprise Business Applications.

Automation.com, January 2012 By Matthew Littlefield, LNS Research There are a whole slew of new technologies and system architectures being adopted in the automation industry at a very rapid pace. Companies today face the very real possibility that if they don’t effectively understand, adopt, and leverage these new technologies to their advantage; they will be left in an increasingly uncompetitive position.

The Milwaukee office is headed by Joel Warren. Rick Forsgren will manage the Eagan, Minnesota office.

Automation.com, January 2012 By Bill Lydon, Editor The 17th Annual PI North America General Assembly Meeting was held October 4-6, 2011 in Phoenix, AZ and included vendors and users who provided updates on PROFIBUS and PROFINET technologies. Topics included PROFINET survey, GE IP, Chrysler-Fiat, Wireless and PROFIenergy.

Automation.com, January 2012 By Bill Lydon At the recent PI North America General Assembly Meeting, Bernie Anger of GE Intelligent Platforms discussed why they chose PROFINET as the backbone for their Programmable Automation Controller portfolio. The PROFINET philosophy fits with GE's evolving legacy of high performance distributed systems.

TOP Server Version 5.7 passed the OPC Server Certification tests administered by the OPC Foundation’s Independent Certification Test Lab.

Automation.com, December 2011 By Gregory Wilcox, Mike Hannah and Mark Devonshire, Rockwell Automation The rise of Ethernet and emerging technologies such as integrated plantwide architecture and Common Industrial Protocol (CIP) have lead to the increased popularity of converged network infrastructures . These infrastructures allow innovative designs, specifically layer switches, that allow manufacturers to combine the simplicity and maintainability of many individual networks with the power and flexibility of a single network design.

Automation.com, December 2011 Gram Equipment in Denmark is a manufacturer of equipment for industrial ice cream production. To simplify system complexity, it based its control topology on an Allen-Bradley GuardLogix platform and EtherNet/IP.