The Scenario: A high-speed printing company had partially completed an upgrade to their equipment. The printing machine used two alternating print heads to produce units at a rate of more than 11/s. Due to the nature of the product, speed, accuracy, and repeatability were extremely important. The process needed to be consistent as any defect would impact production further down the line.
As a plant manager, your list of responsibilities is never ending. Meet production demands and productivity targets. Manage raw material and energy costs while making profitability goals. Quickly adjust to accommodate marketing’s latest product innovation.
What would a world without internal combustion engines look like? While this is not the current reality, changes in legislation and consumer habits are driving this global shift in a major way.
ABB has been selected to supply a mill-wide distributed control system (DCS) and quality control system (QCS) for the Gulf Ply Paper Company’s new paper mill in Dammam, Saudi Arabia. Based on ABB Ability System 800xA, the solution includes ABB’s Pulp & Paper Library, providing a flexible, consistent and comprehensive means of controlling and supervising manufacturing processes when the new mill becomes operational in October 2019.
Across a wide variety of systems and applications, three-phase induction motors are too important to fail. If and when failure does occur, it can result in unexpected downtime at a high cost to the facility. For this reason, it’s important to invest in a continuous monitoring system for these integral components of your facility.
Do you know the first question you should ask before opening an electrical enclosure? Plant managers, building maintenance staff and electrical repair personnel repeat the question “Is it safe?” so often that it’s practically a mantra. And rightfully so. The people in these professions are constantly at risk of experiencing a life-threatening current while on the job.
Read more: How to Avoid a Shocking End: Protecting Workers...
Choosing the right automation integrated development environment (IDE) is essential for ensuring that your operations run smoothly. Due to their centrality in the automation process, software environments play a major role in determining the organization efficiency of businesses of all sizes.
How do you automate the packaging process in a made-to-order world? Consumer demand for different sizes, shapes and flavors has completely changed the way CPG brand owners and manufacturers produce and package their goods. And for OEMs, this trend means that your packaging equipment needs to perform differently than ever before.
Read more: How Ecommerce is Impacting Packaging Equipment...
In conventional applications, pumps or fan should be run at full speed, then pressure or flow should be controlled with a control valves hence some energy will be wasted when you throttling control valves. One of the major usages of VFD is cost saving through energy saving. But we want to look from different angle of cost saving which is capital saving through removing some instrumentation and control valves and utilize VFD with built-in PLC.
Earlier this year, while attending Hannover Messe 2019, I had the privilege to partake in a private tour of Rexroth’s booth. As I have noted in previous writings on Hannover it is difficult to truly relate the size and scale of the booths at this show if you have not attended, but many easily reach into the 10-15,000 square foot range, and Rexroth’s booth was right there among the largest. Not only that but their booth was the only one that featured hosted 5G outside of the special 5G pavilion and was also toured by German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
Editor's Pick: Featured Article
Put to the Ultimate Test – Part 1: Torsion Tests by HELUKABEL
Cables and wires in industrial robots and other moving machine parts are often required to withstand extreme stresses caused by torsion. Constant repetitive movements put materials under considerable strain. At the same time, operators expect components to function perfectly and reliably throughout their entire service life to avoid disruptions, outages and safety hazards.
For this reason, at HELUKABEL, we simulate intensive and continuous torsion stresses under realistic conditions with our high-tech testing equipment in Windsbach. We have several types of apparatus for doing this because some of our customers, for example those in the automotive industry, have very precise specifications for how a torsion test is carried out. The tests show that our cables and wires withstand speeds up to 1,000°/s, accelerations up to 2,000°/s² and torsion angles up to 720°. Hence, we make sure that each product always meets our customers’ high standards, and that they receive the impeccable quality they rightly expect from us as a leading supplier of cables, wires and accessories for more than 40 years.
What Is Torsion?
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Festo Didactic at the Forefront of Developing Canada’s Future Work Force
With Canadian manufacturing suffering from a growing labour shortage, the participation of industry in skills development is emerging as a vital component in hiring and retention.
The needs are stark: The Canadian Exporters and Manufacturers Association says almost 40% of its members have jobs they can’t fill. Five years from now, 60% expect to be short-staffed, especially when it comes to skilled trades. Statistics Canada forecasts the country’s labour force growth rate will remain below 0.2% for the rest of the decade, below replacement levels.
This growing shortage is affecting companies of all sizes. Already, some manufacturers acknowledge losing out on contracts because they can’t find the manpower to fulfill them.
In reality, the challenge is two-fold: to replenish and expand the workforce to help close the gap between the number of job seekers and vacancies through 2030 when the last baby boomers reach age 65, and ensure workers get opportunities throughout their careers to upgrade or add to their skillset as current technologies evolve and new ones emerge. Festo, through Festo Didactic, one of the world leading provider of equipment and solutions for technical education, intends to help Canada meet this challenge on both fronts. In essence, the approach Festo has always taken is that the learning never stops.
Read more here
Product News
New Emerson Valves Deliver Proportional Flow Control Performance in Exacting Applications
Emerson recently introduced the ASCO™ Series 209 proportional flow control valves, which offer the highest standards of precision, pressure ratings, flow characteristics and energy efficiency available in a purpose-built, compact architecture. With this combination of size and performance, Series 209 valves allow users to precisely regulate the flow of fluid in a wide range of devices that require exacting performance, like those found in the medical equipment, food and beverage, and heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) industries.
Accuracy, response time and repeatability are critical in high-precision flow control applications, such as controlling tool speed in dental chairs, the flow of steam in coffee makers, water flow in cooling systems and hydrogen flow in fuel cells. Series 209 valves have low hysteresis (less than or equal to 5%), excellent repeatability (less than or equal to 1%) and high sensitivity (less than or equal to 0.2%) that contribute to their precision.
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Featured Product
Teledyne Announces New Ladybug6 Cameras for High Accuracy 360-Degree Spherical Image Capture
Teledyne FLIR Integrated Imaging Solutions is pleased to announce the all new Ladybug6— the latest addition to its field proven Ladybug series. Ladybug6 is the leading high-resolution camera designed to capture 360-degree spherical images from moving platforms in all-weather conditions. Its industrial grade design and out-of-the-box factory calibration produces 72 Megapixel (MP) images with pixel values that are spatially accurate within +/- 2 mm at 10-meter distance.
“The new Teledyne Ladybug6 is designed for mobile mapping and all-weather inspection projects requiring excellent image quality and high resolution,” said Mike Lee, Senior Product Manager at Teledyne FLIR. “With the addition of Ladybug6, we are now pleased to offer a wider variety of spherical cameras with higher resolutions ranging from 30 MP to 72 MP.”
To learn more, click here
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