Articles and News

Lights out machining gets the headlines. But today, we’re exploring how automation’s biggest impact often happens with the lights on. Explore how the right solution can increase capacity, reduce scrap, and help skilled machinists focus on higher-value work.

The newly updated Fourth Edition of A Guide to the Automation Body of Knowledge is the only officially authorized book covering ISA’s body of knowledge core competencies. This revised guide provides an overview of important automation concepts and processes, while also describing the technical skills required to implement them in today’s industrial environment.

The new mark of five million robots operational in factories worldwide is more than double the number seven years ago. The strongest growth is taking place in Asia, followed by Americas. Europe is moving ahead more slowly.

Factories generate enormous quantities of sensor data, yet most of it is never translated into timely operational decisions, leaving significant production capacity unrealized. The next industrial advantage will belong to companies and countries that build infrastructure capable of interpreting this data in real time and using it to improve factory operations.

America’s manufacturing expansion faces not only a labor shortage but a loss of institutional knowledge as experienced workers retire. Factories must capture human decisions alongside machine data to create a sovereign knowledge repository that helps future workers diagnose problems, act faster, and avoid repeating mistakes.

For plants weighing modernization against budget and downtime constraints, extracting existing HART data is one of the lowest-disruption steps available.

A new metric is changing the conversation about the value of control loop performance.

When technology works, why does a pilot or project fail? Here are three clues to better outcomes.

Like a lot of things in engineering and construction, it’s hard to teach everything and risky not to, but getting it right the first time saves time and money.

Valmet launches the world’s first fully non-contact, nuclear-free quality control system (QCS) for tissue production.

Monitoring moisture is critical for success in the pulp and paper industry. Near-Infrared Moisture meters provide a way to quickly and reliably determine moisture levels.

The recovery boiler upgrade will improve the safety and reliability of Sappi Saiccor Mill in South Africa.

Valmet and Lenzing AG have a long-term automation partnership dating back to the 1990s, when the first Damatic XDi DCS was delivered to the pulp mill and boilers.

The quest for optimization begins with digital connectivity, unlocking opportunities for insight generation, automated modeling and predictive maintenance, all essential for productivity in today’s demanding process environments.

Operating mean targets can be shifted after variability has been reduced or stabilized to increase cost savings and production. This article explains how.

Three use cases and an example project illustrate the design elements and processes involved in developing a successful and repeatable ISA-95-based architecture from data generated by brownfield paper machines.

The investment enables Price to meet growing demand and strengthen its position as the leader in woodyard operations in North America. 

Modernizing and safeguarding plant floor operations will help keep the plant operating continuously, efficiently and safely.

The new evaporation line significantly improves the mill’s energy and water efficiency, meeting the needs of Altri’s mill expansion. 

The intelligent system will support the performance and ensure quality of the mill’s tissue machine PM 35.