Factory Automation
ABB completes power project for Polish electric vehicle battery factory
The car battery plant in Kobierzyce, near Wroclaw will be capable of supplying up to 250,000 electric cars with batteries per annum. It is also the first large-scale lithium-ion battery plant for automotive applications producing all battery components, from electrodes to cells, modules and packs.
Hannover Fairs USA announces launch of Digital Industry USA trade show
As a complement to HANNOVER MESSE USA in the odd-years, Digital Industry USA will take place from September 10-12, 2019 at the completely renovated Kentucky International Convention Center in Louisville, KY.
Siemens helps Chinese chrome alloy manufacturer employ new production management system
Siemens will design, engineer and commission a new production management system (PMS), based on the Siemens Minerals Operation Management Solution.
ABB announces commissioning of two Italian digital substations
Key supplies to the substations include ABB Ability-based automation and control systems, intelligent protection equipment, transformers with sensors, digitally enabled switchgear and advanced communication systems.
Siemens helps Chinese coal mines facilitate cloud-based digitalization
Drawing on Siemens expertise in the mining industry and Industry 4.0, the solution will be based on the advanced architecture and performance of Siemens WinCC Open Architecture. As part of the contract, Siemens will also provide inter process communication (IPC), accessories, plus software engineering and site commissioning services.
Schneider Electric announces global OEM and distribution partnership with Transpara
The partnership combines Schneider Electric’s EcoStruxure IIoT capabilities with Transpara’s Visual KPI solutions to help customers in operationally intensive industries, including refining, petrochemical, energy and mining
Siemens announces support for OPC UA with TSN networks
Siemens shares the vision of the OPC Foundation to extend the scope of OPC UA down to field level communication and is looking forward to contributing in standardization activities in the upcoming working groups of the OPC Foundation concerning information models for devices, necessary adaption of OPC UA core standards, application profiles, etc.
AVEVA announces digital transformation agreement with KBR
This agreement spans all three of KBR’s synergistic global businesses: Hydrocarbon Services, Technology, and Government Services.
ABB helps Portuguese island facilitate renewable energy transition
The modular ABB Ability PowerStore microgrid solution and Microgrid Plus automation system will enable EEM to increase the island’s adoption of solar and wind power and raise the share of renewables in the energy mix from 15 to 30 percent.
EtherCAT Technology Group announces Dmitry Dzilno election to Board of Directors
Dzilno has been instrumental in making EtherCAT a fieldbus in chip manufacturing. He is currently Head of Engineering at the ALD Division as Managing Director and Senior Principal Member of Technical Staff at AMAT.
Indiana University hosts Big Data and Extreme-Scale Computing workshop
Attendees from around the world -- including national and university labs and supercomputing centers in Japan, China, Saudi Arabia, Spain and the United States -- brainstormed strategies to converge Big Data and the high-performance computing tools necessary to make sense of massive data sets.
Siemens announces acquisition of COMSA Computer und Software GmbH
The COMSA team and technology will join the Mentor business, part of Siemens PLM Software, where it will add key harness engineering and design data analytics capabilities to the Siemens product range.
HMS Industrial Networks announces HMS Solution Partner Program
By integrating their IoT software to HMS hardware, HMS’ Solution Partners help customers acquire, monitor, process and analyze data from industrial devices, machines and systems. Partners who join the program work with products from HMS’ brands Anybus, IXXAT and eWON.
Zuken, CADENAS and ECAD-Port announce component library cooperation
The three partners are working together to provide online access to free, validated electrical component data to users of Zuken’s E³.series electrical design tools
Industrial Internet Consortium announces results for Smart Manufacturing Connectivity for Brown-field Sensors Testbed
IIC-member participants TE Connectivity and SAP SE, with supporting participants OPC Foundation and ifm, developed a solution that enables operators of decades old manufacturing facilities (brown-fields) to connect sensors to an IT system using existing infrastructure without affecting real-time operations.
YXLON announces Thomas Wenzel as General Manager
On December 1, 2018, Thomas Wenzel will take over the management of the IXS division from Matthias Barz, who has led it since July 2018 as interim manager and who will continue to assist with the initiated measures until their completion
AVL and Comau partner to deliver solutions for the electric vehicles market
The agreement will ensure customers have access to standard solutions on a global scale, backed by a local presence. The initial focus of the partnership will be on assembly systems and end-of-line testing for automotive batteries.
Rockwell Automation receives IEC 62443 security certification
The certification confirms that Rockwell Automation product-development processes adhere to the security requirements in the IEC 62443-4-1 standard. Rockwell Automation is now using the certified SDL at all global development locations to support the development of all hardware and software products.
ABB to help Abu Dhabi petroleum facility integrate automation and electrification solutions
The upgrade will include a fully integrated ABB Electrical, Control and Telecommunication (ECT) solution with 45 power and capacitor bank skids, as well as centralized and localized automation systems.
HARTING announces global partnership with Heilind Electronics
Heilind is a specialty distributor of connectors and electromechanical components. With the partner Heilind, HARTING would like to continue the partnership in North America now also in other countries worldwide.
Rockwell Automation announces control device support for CIP Security protocol
Engineers will be able to implement CIP Security in their systems through Rockwell Automation products and firmware updates to existing products such as Allen-Bradley ControlLogix controllers, communication modules and Kinetix servo drives.
Deloitte Study: 2.4 million manufacturing jobs may go unfilled by 2028
Five out of 10 open positions for skilled workers in the U.S. manufacturing industry remain unoccupied today due to the skills gap crisis. These “skilled positions” require specific training or skillsets and often take months to fill.
Universal Robots hires 20 Rethink Robotics employees, merges Boston office locations
These personnel bring collaborative robotics experience in engineering, product development, and customer applications, which will combine with UR’s expertise to continue to drive new collaborative robotics solutions.
Harpak-ULMA joins Rockwell Automation PartnerNetwork program as OEM Machine Builder
As a member of the PartnerNetwork, Harpak-ULMA is teaming with Rockwell Automation to facilitate the development of smart, connected packaging solutions.
IFS Study: Double-digit increases in industrial IoT sophistication this year
Executives at respondent companies, ranging from manufacturers to trade contractors and oil and gas companies, are collecting more data from connected devices, integrating it with other systems in new ways, and making IoT more central to their businesses.
ABB to help Brazilian power company enhance electrical distribution
Power is generated by hydro plants located in the northern and western areas of the country and by wind farms located along the east coast. It is then transmitted over long distances to urban load centers located in the southeast.
FDT Group announces full-platform independence for FDT IIoT Server (FITS) architecture
With built-in security protecting valuable information and operating data, the FITS platform will enable cloud, enterprise, on-premise, and a single-user desktop deployment method meeting the needs of the process, hybrid and discrete manufacturing sectors.
Festo announces partnerships with Power/mation and Heitek Automation
Power/mation has warehouses and sales offices in Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, North and South Dakota, and Wisconsin. Heitek Automation will now be distributing the full line of Festo pneumatic and electric automation components and systems in Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico.
CNCMachines.net announces $2,000 CNC scholarship
The competitive award is for students enrolled in a CNC machinist, CNC operations, engineering or manufacturing certificate or degree program. As part of the award process, the scholarship recipient's school will also recieve a $500 donation made to their machining or manufacturing department.
OPC Foundation announces standardization and harmonization initiative for OPC UA including TSN enabled Ethernet networks
The goal of this initiative is to deliver an open, cohesive approach to implement OPC UA including TSN and associated application profiles. This will advance the OPC Foundation providing vendor independent end-to-end interoperability into field level devices for all relevant industry automation use-cases.
Emerson to help modernize Algerian gas processing plant
In its role, Emerson will update control and safety systems, fire and gas systems, field instrumentation control and isolation valves, and other equipment to improve production efficiencies.
Rockwell Automation announces enhancements to Machine Safety Portfolio
The additions to the machine safety portfolio are all designed to communicate over EtherNet/IP and are tested against machine safety standards to ease compliance. The products will also be included in the next release of the Safety Automation Builder software tool.
ISA and Siemens' cybersecurity workshop shows cybersecurity investment, sophistication on the rise
During the workshop, featured experts reported that the rapid pace of digital technology and the increasing sophistication of cyber tools at the disposal of foreign entities are making it more difficult to protect critical infrastructure and the industrial control systems that operate them.
HANNOVER MESSE 2020 announces Indonesia as Partner Country
Indonesia is working to become Southeast Asia’s biggest digital economy by 2020. The “Making Indonesia 4.0” initiative was developed to revitalize the Indonesian manufacturing sector through the adoption of Industrie 4.0. It focuses on five sectors for the initial implementation: food and beverage, textiles, automotive, chemicals, and electronics.
Phoenix Contact launches yearlong STEM curriculum for Harrisburg School District
Approximately 100 students visited Phoenix Contact’s U.S. headquarters in Middletown, Pa., on Monday, October 29, to kick off the second annual “Think BIG!” program. The partnership with Harrisburg School District is a yearlong curriculum designed to get elementary-age students excited about STEM careers.
Dematic to help Australian grocery retailer install robotic order fulfillment system
The robotic system will be used to piece pick inventory items for retail store replenishment using a “goods-to-robot” configuration. The order fulfillment system will support replenishment of approximately 50 retail stores and is scheduled to start up during the 2nd quarter of 2019 in a new distribution center building.
Thorlabs announces acquisition of Norland Products' Fiber Optic product line
The Norland products will be incorporated into Thorlabs’ existing Vytran business unit, a 20,000 square foot facility located in Morganville, New Jersey.
HARTING announces expansion to North American headquarters in Illinois
The investment will include the addition of a lab and showroom to the on-site warehouse and distribution center as well as increasing capabilities for injection molding and die-casting processes. The project is slated to create at least 50 new jobs.
ABB to enhance process and power management for Philippines petrochemical facility
The scope of supply includes 69kV high voltage air-insulated switchgear, UniGear medium-voltage switchgear, MNS low-voltage switchgear, power and distribution transformers, a capacitor bank, soft starter, IS-limiters and a process power management system.
HARTING announces support for CADENAS-Zuken interface
HARTING is the first component vendor to actively support the CADENAS-Zuken interface, providing component information for ECAD applications to customers.
