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ISA will accept nominations for its 2007 Honors and Awards Gala until 10 February 2007. The Society recognizes the achievements of automation professionals around the world with Society Service and Technical awards. Many of the awards do not require the recipient or nominator to be an ISA Member.

Bemis, the world's largest manufacturer of toilet seats, is to implement Barco's PLANTMASTER MES to provide real-time production monitoring, scheduling and operator tracking at its injection molding facility in Burnley, Lancashire, UK.

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI), Mitsubishi Corporation and Duro Felguera, a Spanish heavy machinery manufacturer, have jointly received orders for large-scale flue gas desulfurization (FGD) systems from two major Spanish electricity providers: Iberdrola Generacion, SAU and Endesa Generacion, SA. The FGD system for Iberdrola will be an altogether new installation while that for Endesa is to upgrade a previously delivered FGD system.

PackML is a set of packaging machine language guidelines that have been developed by the OMAC Packaging Workgroup. Packaging machines that follow the PackML guidelines can be more easily integrated into a packaging line and their associated manufacturing execution (MES) systems, minimizing engineering costs and reducing project schedules.

The Silver Crescent Foundation and The Society of Manufacturing Engineers (SME) Education Foundation will help South Carolina middle school students explore career opportunities in engineering and technology.

Industrial Control Software Ltd has been awarded the 2006 Innovation Award by the Northern Offshore Federation in the UK. ICS won the award for a new software product they have just released which will revolutionize the way alarm overrides are handled in the Control Room by eliminating the need for paper logbooks.

ControlNet has been adopted by the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) of the People’s Republic of China as part of a machinery industry standard for the People's Republic of China. This adoption, by one of the world’s leading technology countries, extends nearly the entire family of CIP Networks to China ’s manufacturing industry.

"Motion, Drive & Automation" (MDA) trade fair for power transmission and control will be part of HANNOVER MESSE 2007 (the Hannover Fair). The net display space covers approximately 50,000 square meters, making MDA one of the biggest display areas at HANNOVER MESSE. Around 1,300 international exhibitors will be showing products for power transmission and control from 16 - 20 April 2007 in Halls 19 to 26.

Objective Interface is providing its small-footprint, high-performance ORB express communications middleware to student teams developing prototype software defined radios (SDRs) and participating in the SDR Forum's Smart Radio Challenge.

East Kansas Agri-Energy is expected to achieve an estimated annual value of well over $2.5 million through the deployment of Pavilion's Ethanol Solution at its Garnett, Kansas plant. Through this installation, Pavilion enabled the plant to increase yield of dried distillers grain with solubles (DDGS) and wet distillers grain with solubles (WDGS).

A fully-automated bending and punching cell developed by Unison helped tubular metalworking contractor Olicana Products to dramatically increase its manufacturing capacity. The cell is programmed to fabricate bath stands for four of Europe's leading bathroom product manufacturers. It currently produces W-shaped tubular frames with up to six bends and fixing holes every 11 seconds.

SHL Automation will use the KUKA KR 16 robot in its Automated Grinding system. The new system is designed to grind, scotch and measure door handles, and allow manufacturers to improve worker safety and product quality. The new system will be demonstrated at SHL’s open house scheduled to take place at SHL’s headquarters on December 5-7 from 10am to 1pm.

Dynomax will open a new support facilty in Buffalo Grove, Illinois, in late November. The new facility, which will supplement existing Mundelein operations, is currently undergoing renovations to support the controlled environment necessary for precision manufacturing and assembly.

Continuum Integrated Tray/Shrink System is ideal for packaging loose containers and multipacks in a variety of materials, including glass, PET, HDPE, metal and fiber cans, HiCone, shrink bundles, and paperboard overwrap. These products can be packed into both corrugated and chipboard trays.

Deutsche Messe AG and Fiera Milano S.p.A. have agreed to jointly promote and stage trade fairs in selected growth markets around the world, including the booming markets of India and China. Three new trade fairs on automation, motino control, and material handling have emerged from this alliance and will take place concurrently 27-30 November 2007 at the Bangalore International Exhibition Center.

The KUKA KR 500 robot will be used as the building block of Primal Rides’ new robotic gaming ride. The interactive ride can be designed to match customer’s requirements in theme, intensity and realism. Additionally, the ride offers the option to cost effectively change themes to adjust to rider appeal. Primal Rides will be showing a scaled down concept version of the ride on their booth (#4004) at the IAAPA Expo in Atlanta, Georgia November 15-18, 2006.

Opto 22 has announced partnerships with Allesco Corporation, Fluid Conditioning Company, Kiser Controls Company, and MCR Technologies, Inc. Each of these distributors will add the complete line of Opto 22-brand hardware and software to their already extensive selections of industrial automation and control equipment.

ISA EXPO 2006 wrapped up on Thursday, 19 October in Houston, Texas. The three day event, held at the Reliant Center, featured a cutting-edge technical conference, a renowned training program, and an exhibition featuring some of the newest technology on the market today.

PTO is offering a free booklet that takes a fresh look at Industrial Ethernet and addresses some of the myths and facts about PROFINET. The booklet: "PROFINET or The Story of Pretty Polly, Sweet SUE and the White Knight," is available on request in hardcopy, or for download in.PDF format

AMI Semiconductor, a manufacturer of integrated mixed-signal and structured digital products, has introduced the AMIS-49200 Fieldbus Media Attachment Unit (MAU). The new device can be used as a near pin-for-pin replacement for the Yokogawa (SAA22Q transceiver, which is no longer in production. It provides a physical interface between bus wiring and actual measurement devices in industrial process automation applications.