Operations

Automation Drives Operational Excellence

Gary Mintchell — Thu, 24 May 2012 03:35:50 +0000

Bayer Crop Science presentation at The Automation Conference shows way to use automation technologies to drive operational excellence.

Keynotes Hit a High Note with Automation Conference Attendees

Grant Gerke — Wed, 23 May 2012 23:12:15 +0000

The Automation Conference's (www.automationworld/tac2012) second day keynotes touched on automation standards, holistic manufacturing training and an update from Dr. Bryan Griffen on Nestle's continued focus on packaging automation and PackML developments

Remote Diagnostics at Coke Plant

Grant Gerke — Wed, 23 May 2012 08:44:32 +0000

Kai Mariappan, plant control specialist at the Egan, MN, plant of Coca Cola, shared with his audience in the packaging track an example of a successful remote diagnostics application for packaging and production.

The Automation Conference: Label Procurement Meets Automation

Grant Gerke — Wed, 23 May 2012 07:03:55 +0000

Mark Moorhead, director of marketing at WS Packaging Group, showed the audience in the 1:00 p.m. session of the Packaging Track how Gilchrist & Soames turned to a Web-based automated system to help tame SKU proliferaton in label procurement.

Discrete, Process Automation and Packaging Come Together at The Automation Conference

Grant Gerke — Wed, 23 May 2012 01:04:20 +0000

The first annual Automation Conference, bringing together process, discrete and packaging professionals in one conference, kicked off this morning with keynotes speakers from Boeing and ExxonMobil.

Pepsi bottler shares secrets of OEE, Six Sigma, Lean

Grant Gerke — Tue, 22 May 2012 23:59:18 +0000

Pepsi Bottling Ventures boosts uptime, improves OEE scores 21 points, adds more than an hour to daily productivity and covers automation costs in one year in Nampa, Idaho, the project's leader told attendees learned at The Automation Conference session.

Automation Evangelist asks: Are you certifiable?

Grant Gerke — Tue, 22 May 2012 07:32:17 +0000

A leading consultant says automation pros are under-appreciated, and makes a compelling case for nascent certification programs.

Infrared Thermometers Survive Dust, Water and Drops

Renee Robbins Bassett — Mon, 21 May 2012 16:48:37 +0000

The new 62 Max and 62 Max+ infrared thermometers are designed to withstand the harsh conditions faced by technicians in electrical, service, HVAC, process, industrial and facilities maintenance applications.

Embedded Industrial Computer for Image Capture

Peter Cleaveland — Mon, 21 May 2012 15:09:38 +0000

The 4Sight GP is a high-performance embedded system for image capture, processing, display and I/O.

System Integrators: New Robotic Certification Program Snares Four Companies

Grant Gerke — Thu, 17 May 2012 14:45:03 +0000

The new certified Robotic Integrator Program offers accreditation to integrators to help benchmark their companies in the industry.

Sustainability: Operational Risk Management by Any Other Name

George Shurtleff — Sun, 13 May 2012 16:55:30 +0000

Manufacturing companies and process plants need to proactively manage all areas of operations that may impact their “social license” to do business in a particular community. Some essential processes, carried out in the name of compliance, help to mitigate and are important to the overall performance of the firm.

Cycle Counting: Tool for Inventory Management, Records Accuracy

George Shurtleff — Sun, 13 May 2012 16:43:38 +0000

Verify perpetual or continuous inventory records remain accurate without incurring the costs and business disruptions associated with conducting wall-to-wall physical counts.

MESA International’s Global Education Program

George Shurtleff — Sun, 13 May 2012 16:06:38 +0000

Manufacturers and producers have been asking for a full MES/MOM education program. They understand the benefits but have concerns about the effectiveness of their deployments without their people being properly trained.

The Connection Between Change Management and Risk Management

George Shurtleff — Thu, 10 May 2012 20:44:26 +0000

Management of change is a concept that has been around for more than 25 years. But as production systems and associated software increase in complexity, and technical staff members retire in large numbers, the process becomes more important than ever. If you don’t have a good handle on managing change, you don’t have a good handle on the risk to your operations.

Changes to Change Management

George Shurtleff — Thu, 10 May 2012 14:42:49 +0000

A brief timeline in Change Management evolution since the 1980s.

Siemens PLM Conference Attracts 1,800 plus

Gary Mintchell — Wed, 09 May 2012 16:48:26 +0000

Chuck Grindstaff, president and CEO, opened this iteration of the Siemens PLM user conference welcoming the 1,800 plus attendees to what was called the longest running user conference of its type. There were over 400 sessions to educate them.

Emerson Acquires Level Measurement Maker ISE Magtech

epakowski — Wed, 09 May 2012 14:17:50 +0000

Emerson announced it has acquired ISE Magtech, enabling Emerson Process Management to strengthen its level measurement solutions in the oil and gas, refining, chemical, and power generation industries.

German and Italian Partnership Produces TPA Italia

Grant Gerke — Wed, 09 May 2012 08:06:08 +0000

Expanding on their partnership, Deutsche Messe and Fiera Milan announce a new event called TPA Italia at a news conference at the FluidTrans trade show in Milan Italy.

Food Producer Success: New Automation Strategy Drives Control System Migration

George Shurtleff — Sat, 05 May 2012 15:16:25 +0000

A major food producer sought to replace its legacy distributed control system to handle a greater variety of automation tasks. The catch: production operations had to be up and running with the new system in less than two weeks.

Detect Problems in Electrical Control Systems

George Shurtleff — Fri, 04 May 2012 20:04:48 +0000

The FTR-Birdie is a self-contained electrical test and fault-finding logger that records and displays all on/off voltage changes at its 16 inputs.

Food Manufacturing: Batch Control for Multiple Kitchens

George Shurtleff — Thu, 03 May 2012 19:23:30 +0000

With only 11 weeks before the first production trials, a systems integrator concurrently creates hardware designs and programming based on the ISA 88 Batch standard to support three cooks and more than 1,000 piping routes.

Machine Vision Issues for Automation

George Shurtleff — Thu, 03 May 2012 19:12:13 +0000

Machine vision has experienced a rapid rise during the last years.

Pharma Collaboration, Reauthorization, Cheaper Costs Needed

George Shurtleff — Thu, 03 May 2012 16:07:42 +0000

Jamie Hintlian is optimistic about the pharmaceutical industry.

Mass Air/Gas Flow Meter

Peter Cleaveland — Wed, 02 May 2012 19:15:48 +0000

The ST100 is now remote mountable for hazardous locations.

CSIA Cites Growth in North America, Global Expansion

Grant Gerke — Tue, 01 May 2012 21:45:56 +0000

The annual Control System Integrator's Association's Conference, held in Scottsdale, Ariz. from April 25-28, kicked off the event with a focus on continued growth in North America, better resources for system integrators and early ventures into extending the brand globally.