Information Management

Prototype Internet Of Things Apps for $20?

Dave Greenfield — Thu, 15 May 2014 14:15:33 +0000

Though it’s barely on the radar for most manufacturers—at least in terms of doing anything concrete with it—the Internet of Things has been a popular concept in the industrial space for the past fe

A new microcontroller from Texas Instruments enables engineers to prototype Internet of Things connectivity ranging from sensor gateways to control networks.

News

A Few Tools for Continuous Improvement

George Shurtleff — Wed, 31 Jul 2013 14:55:27 +0000

These days everyone has a continuous improvement program of some kind. Six Sigma is used quite extensively, as is Lean Manufacturing.

Whichever flavor of continuous improvement program you use, it seems there are always more problems to tackle. Some tools geared specifically toward continuous improvement can really help.

Column

Integrator View

It’s Time You Speak for the Plants

George Shurtleff — Wed, 03 Jul 2013 15:28:42 +0000

The Lorax might speak for the trees, but who speaks for the plants? I’m not talking about the Grickle-grass or various flowery plants in Dr. Seuss’s world of the Lorax.

The Lorax might speak for the trees, but who speaks for the plants? The time has come for someone to speak for the manufacturing sites, production facilities or processing plants most of you are working in or supporting every day.

Column

IT View

Manufacturing Intelligence from Existing Data

Dave Greenfield — Tue, 04 Jun 2013 18:40:31 +0000

Manufacturing intelligence applications have been in wide distribution for nearly two decades.

A new enterprise manufacturing intelligence software package from Northwest Analytics is designed to leverage data in existing databases rather than through creation of a new database.

News

Help with Best Practices Is a Phone Call Away

George Shurtleff — Tue, 12 Feb 2013 21:58:54 +0000

Smart phones and other handheld devices play their part in solving the problem by linking workers to reservoirs of best practices “digitized” by workflow-management software.

Mobile and wireless technologies are fast becoming an important part of industry’s response to what many warn is a looming crisis of technical know-how.

Feature Article

Fluke: Keeping Track of BYODs on the Company Network

Peter Cleaveland — Wed, 23 Jan 2013 06:01:00 +0000

As smartphones and tablets come onto corporate networks, it is increasingly critical for network engineers to be able to identify and report on them, optimize the network for BYOD in real-time, and

BYOD (bring your own device) classification capability reduces the cost and time needed to optimize and secure a wireless network for authorized and unauthorized smartphones and tablets.

Product

FDT Provides Factory Fieldbus Flexibility

George Shurtleff — Tue, 22 Jan 2013 17:12:05 +0000

Traditionally, Field Device Technology (FDT) had been associated largely with process automation and process field devices, but this is no longer the case.

FDT-enabled applications within the automation system can manage field devices regardless of the device’s manufacturer, and regardless of the fieldbus protocol employed.

Column

Industry View

Moxa Americas, Inc: Network Management Software Supports PoE

Lara Krieger — Mon, 14 Jan 2013 06:01:00 +0000

These functions are expected to strengthen MXview's value proposition as a comprehensive monitoring, diagnostics and management platform for converged automation networks.

Version 2.2 of Moxa MXview industrial network management software provides new support for Power over Ethernet (PoE) device visualization and third-party device management, along with device availability and inventory reporting capabilities.

Product

Pepperl+Fuchs : AS-Interface I/O Modules

cnichols — Mon, 31 Dec 2012 00:08:55 +0000

The first two modules offer two analog outputs each; one for 0-20 mA operation for flat cable connectivity and one for 0-20 mA operation with an M12 round connector.

Pepperl+Fuchs’ three new G11 Series AS-Interface I/O Modules feature a simple, round housing design that enables the AS-Interface cable to easily exit the housing in any direction to significantly simplify installation and operation.

Product

Moxa Americas, Inc: PoE+ Gigabit Switch for Machine Vision or Broadband Wireless

Lara Krieger — Fri, 16 Nov 2012 22:21:20 +0000

The EDS-G205A-4PoE features 5 Gigabit ports, 4 of which deliver up to 30 watts of power according to IEEE 802.3af/at PoE+ standards for Power Sourcing Equipment (PSE).

A new industrial PoE+ switch simultaneously supports both bandwidth-hungry and power-hungry applications, making it ideal for high-performance PoE applications.

Product

Industrial Software: Buying Versus Building

George Shurtleff — Wed, 31 Oct 2012 15:34:55 +0000

In the late 1970s through early 1980s, the idea of developing software packages to address the needs of common commercial applications across industries started to take hold.

Be practical in your evaluation—although COTS MES is much further along than years past in terms of reliability and multi-functionality, products are still evolving.

Column

IT View

OPC A Well-Known Technology

Gary Mintchell — Mon, 29 Oct 2012 15:19:43 +0000

Over 900 manufacturing professionals responded to an online survey in late September 2012 providing information about use and intended uses of OPC and OPC UA.

A joint OPC Foundation / Automation World survey revealed OPC has broad acceptance and brand recognition.

News

Banner Engineering: Embeddable Wireless

Dave Greenfield — Thu, 25 Oct 2012 14:29:08 +0000

With wireless sensor networks proliferating across industries (outside of facilities where heavy electromagnetic interference can cause communication issues), more companies are opting to use wirel

Banner Engineering releases an embeddable gateway module for use in building out a wireless sensor network to coordinate multiple machines and processes.

Product

3eTI Launches Military-Grade Secure ISA100 Wireless Mesh Network Solution

Gary Mintchell — Thu, 18 Oct 2012 12:55:01 +0000

3e Technologies International (3eTI), an Ultra Electronics company and provider of government-validated, cyber-secure network solutions that enable security for critical information systems, infras

AirGuard iMesh low-power wireless mesh products leverage IEEE 802.15.4 and government-validated technologies to provide the enhanced security essential for industrial sensor networks.

News

The Art and Science of Production Knowledge

George Shurtleff — Fri, 05 Oct 2012 19:34:47 +0000

Databases are the refrigerators of the industrial world.

For the most part, database issues are left the to IT department. But with the volume of production data typically residing in numerous databases in a manufacturing facility, engineers and operators need to be more aware of the databases that house their critical production information.

Feature Article

New Industrial Network Survey Reveals Upgrades Are Needed

Renee Robbins Bassett — Tue, 14 Aug 2012 14:36:06 +0000

A survey of 128 engineering, operations and IT professionals reveals that, when it comes to industrial networking, their number one concern is reliability.

Industrial Ethernet is firmly in place, and two-thirds are actively using wireless communications, but current network infrastructure is in need of modification.

News

Primacy of Information

Gary Mintchell — Thu, 09 Aug 2012 18:17:39 +0000

Things always seem to come in bunches when you’re studying something.

A confluence of trends around mobility, always-on networks and information is having a tremendous effect upon automation and manufacturing.

Column

Feed Forward

Beckhoff Automation: EtherCAT Box for Incremental Encoder Connection

Lara Krieger — Mon, 30 Jul 2012 16:32:25 +0000

In order to support I/O connectivity to a wider range of devices outside electrical cabinets, the company has released the new EP5101 EtherCAT Box.

I/O module synchronously reads encoder values via high-precision EtherCAT Distributed Clocks

Product

Four Siemens Customers Awarded for ‘Delivering Success’

Renee Robbins Bassett — Thu, 05 Jul 2012 14:03:27 +0000

Safety systems, wireless communications, motion control and more were technologies at the heart of superior automation solutions called out by global industrial automation giant Siemens as it wrapp

See why ConocoPhillips Alaska, Fori Automation, GOSS International and GT Advanced Technologies got the nod over hundreds of others.

News

Creating an Automated World

George Shurtleff — Sun, 01 Jul 2012 19:40:36 +0000

This extends well beyond the industrial automation topics that are regularly explored in this magazine.

In humankind’s never-ending effort to be free from mundane tasks, we have applied automation to a variety of processes that govern our lives.

Column

IT View

China Leads M2M Growth; Europe Not Far Behind

George Shurtleff — Thu, 07 Jun 2012 19:06:40 +0000

People in the 21st Century love connectivity, everywhere and every time.

China Mobile became the world’s largest M2M connectivity provider at the end of 2011 with around 14 million subscribers. If the trend continues, the Chinese market will surpass the United States within two to three years.

News

Industrial Networking: Verizon Wireless certifies CalAmp 4G broadband router

Lara Krieger — Wed, 06 Jun 2012 12:08:02 +0000

The Fusion-LTE enables broadband communications for industrial, Smart Grid and other mission-critical applications.

CalAmp Corp., a provider of wireless products, services and solutions, announced that its high-performance, multi-band Fusion-LTE 4G router platform has been certified by Verizon Wireless for operation on the Verizon nationwide cellular data network.

News

Ethernet, Collaborative Platforms are the Future

George Shurtleff — Thu, 03 May 2012 16:39:43 +0000

“We’re simplifying how we think about the industrial communication backbone and focusing on Ethernet,” said Bernie Anger, general manager of control and communication systems for GE Intelligent Pla

With all technology trend lines showing that 1) everything is moving toward the use of Ethernet to enable more connected enterprises and 2) greater use of cloud computing, automation vendor GE Intelligent Platforms (www.ge-ip.com) announced that it has standardized on Profinet as its communication backbone of choice.

Perspective

Interoperability and Ethernet

George Shurtleff — Tue, 01 May 2012 19:55:23 +0000

If I add a new instrument to my industrial network, I expect it to show up in my programming and asset management software, to quickly find documentation about set up and configuration, and to have

We want things to work together. If I add a printer to my network, I expect it to join the network and to start working.

Column

Feed Forward

Device-Level Wireless Solutions Gain Traction in Process Manufacturing

George Shurtleff — Tue, 01 May 2012 18:54:34 +0000

The advent of robust industrial wireless standards in a segment still served largely by proprietary solutions has captured the attention of end users, original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and sy

The incremental value proposition for wireless networks in process manufacturing is much larger than for serial and Ethernet-based networks. The tangible business benefits that can be achieved using wireless instrumentation are spurring increased interest and product availability.

Column

Industry View