There are thousands of industrial robots used in manufacturing, processing and packaging applications that take-up a great deal of floor space, simply because of outdated safety provisions. Moving to proximity-based safety can release space and improve production efficiency by allowing more freedom of movement on the shop floor, says Oliver Giertz.
To ensure it is able to keep pace with evolving food safety regulatory demands, Blakemans has employed an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system that enables integrated management of its production process — from quote to dispatch.
Today’s engineering projects are executed by a variety of stakeholders. But, can the process control system provide a reliable basis for effective and efficient collaboration? Manuel Keldenich believes they can.
Festo believes it can now offer the simplicity of pneumatics to the world of electric automation, with the electric Simplified Motion Series.
The FDT integration standard is about to transition into an information exchange platform which will enable cloud-based asset monitoring for field devices. This will reduce maintenance costs, improve asset reliability and provide useful information to personnel in a timely manner, says Suriya Selvaraj.
Built in 1997, the LNG Portovenere and LNG Lerici are ships designed for the transportation of liquid natural gas. Having reached the middle of their lifespan, the ships needed to undergo a total renovation project including a new distributed control system.
Find out more about CIP Security – an enhancement to EtherNet/IP technology to address cybersecurity – which allows devices to defend themselves using industry-standard, widely adopted technology.
The communication network is the single most important technological component of a machine or plant control system. Martin Rostan offers some food for thought about how the fieldbus choice is made.
A Research and Markets report – Internet of Things (IoT) Digital Twinning: Market Outlook for IoT enabled Physical to Virtual Mapping and Management 2017-2022 – stated that, by 2022, 85% of all IoT platforms will embrace digital twins. Suzanne Gill set out to see if industry is still on course to meet these figures.
Invertek Drives has automated the testing phase of its variable speed drive production line by incorporated two Universal UR5 cobots.
Michael Risse believes that there are three main trends driving more rapid insights from manufacturing big data.
A producer of caprolactam – an organic chemical used as a precursor to the manufacture of synthetic fibres – required a solution to enable continuous monitoring of high-temperature liquid levels in tanks.
Understanding, monitoring and controlling flow rate, as part of industrial processes, are essential elements to the viable operation of production systems. Brendan Robson discusses what is involved in getting such measurements right and the hazards of getting it wrong.
ABB Ability Smart Sensors are providing wireless condition monitoring for Dodge gear reducers to help prevent unexpected downtime and extend equipment life.
Find out how a medical appliance manufacturer cost-effectively solved a data gathering headache in a factory full of multiple branded devices.
Carefully selected measurement instrumentation and a suitable inventory management system help avoid the health and safety risks associated with the necessary chemical injections in the oil and gas industry and can also help reduce costs.
Dome loaded back pressure regulators are often used in processes where constant pressure is needed in a chemical reactor. Electronic pressure controllers can offer an effective solution to automate such processes.
Volker E. Goller discusses time-sensitive networking – He looks at why it is being developed and what advantages it will offer for industrial communications.
Any unscheduled downtime will cause a major headache for engineers in the food and beverage manufacturing sector. John Rowley believes that predictive maintenance can offer a solution.
According to automation vendors there is still some way to go before industry starts to reap the benefits promised by Industry 4.0. The next step is the adoption of a variety of enabling technologies.