Most companies take advantage of economies of scale by producing a larger number of goods to gain proportionate saving in costs. However, it is not always the case that the more goods that are produced, the less each unit costs. Nowadays, most companies have reached the optimum point of economies of scale and that the cost for additional units is increasing.
The International Society of Automation celebrated the first-ever International Automation Professionals Day on 28 April. The digital event engaged automation professionals from all around the globe to recognize their efforts in the vastly growing automation industry. ISA President Carlos Mandolesi said that automation professionals make up many diverse sectors, and having a day dedicated to those in the field can offer a learning opportunity for those unfamiliar with automation.
Southwire is proud to announce it has been selected as a 2022 US Best Managed Company. Sponsored by Deloitte Private and The Wall Street Journal, the program recognizes outstanding U.S. private companies and the achievements of their management teams. The 2022 designees are U.S. private companies that have demonstrated excellence in strategic planning and execution, a commitment to their people, strong financial performance and the ability to foster a dynamic, resilient culture.
Increasing energy efficiency is a crucial factor in the fight against climate crisis. In this BLOG article you will learn how efficient power supplies can help to reduce CO2 emissions and why this also leads to financial advantages for companies. Successful protection of our environment starts small. In the industrial environment, modern power supplies can increase efficiency and avoid wasting energy.
Industrial control panels are needed to support the electrical, instrumentation, and control (EIC) aspects of any modern machine or process. Today’s digitally-controlled systems include an increasing number of smart devices and field sensors, and there is an accelerating need to communicate this edge-sourced data up to supervisory systems and the cloud. Therefore, the demand for control panels to house EIC components at the edge is also growing.
Despite the economic disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the demand for packaged products – and a greater variety of such products – is continuing to rise. Specifically, manufacturers in the beverage industry are faced with the pressure of providing the requisite product diversity while ensuring compliance with new FSMA standards. Let’s take a look at four ways in which bottling and capping machine builders are dealing with these challenges.
How do you know that a perfect storm is brewing? If your team is tasked with securing your organization’s operational technology and industrial control systems (OT/ICS), you may have a pretty good idea by now. In critical infrastructure industries, the warning signs have been hard to miss lately. They include the convergence of business IT and OT systems, now accelerated in the cloud; the proliferation of database-driven Ransomware-as-a-Service (RaaS) and phishing campaigns, etc.
From understanding the latest security compliance mandates, to finding, hiring, and retaining high performing security talent, most organizations struggle to manage cyber risk. This is a problem for any organization, but managing cyber risk is especially difficult for companies operating in Critical Infrastructure sectors where specific OT cybersecurity and industrial operations expertise are needed for minimized downtime and reduced cybersecurity risk.
HMS Networks is now presenting several communication solutions for the rapidly expanding battery market. Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS) require communication capabilities to connect to batteries and peripheral components, communicate with the power grid, monitor systems remotely and much more. Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS) may be one of the keys to solve the energy crisis and make the world more sustainable.
Artificial intelligence (AI)/machine learning (ML) are disrupting industrial manufacturing. In this article, we will focus on key trends that help leaders navigate their digital transformation (DX) initiatives with clear foresight. Ten years ago, model creation was the realm of data scientists, but that space has now been disrupted due to availability of easy-to-use tools that empower even the non-data scientist to leverage ML libraries and build models.
Where it’s difficult to hardwire industrial operations to ensure time to market, industrial wireless LANs (WLANs) provide an ideal alternative to traditional wired Ethernet LANs. Indeed, recent advances in wireless technology have contributed to industrial WLANs becoming commonplace solutions in automotive plants, warehouses, and transportation systems, among others, where automated equipment is required that is constantly moving or difficult to wire.
Allied’s Ask the Expert series showcases the unique experience and expertise of subject matter experts hailing from the more than 550 global suppliers that Allied partners with to provide customers with effective solutions for all of their design challenges. For this edition of the Allied’s Ask the Expert series, Allied spoke with Zachary Stank, the product marketing manager for Phoenix Contact’s line of control, safety, and I/O solutions.
Companies required to follow lockout/tagout procedures outlined by OSHA standard 1910.147 must also perform an annual inspection of their established policies and authorized employees. The primary goal of the annual lockout/tagout audit is to confirm that existing lockout/tagout procedures are still adequate and accurate. The audit will also confirm whether authorized employees understand the lockout/tagout procedures in place and that they are using them every time a machine is being serviced or undergoing maintenance.
It’s finally happening — masks are disappearing and glimpses of normalcy are popping up in certain areas of society. But even as the pandemic starts to appear smaller in the collective rear-view mirror, everyone is left with a larger, lingering ripple effect in front of us all. The world of commerce continues to face effectively broken supply chains from widespread labor shortages, mounting inflation pressures on pricing, and more.
This exciting technology is being enabled by advances in safety technology, including sensors, robots, and cell controllers. And it’s attracting manufacturers, OEMs and system integrators alike with promises of increased productivity, reliability and cost savings. For example, FANUC introduced its first-ever force-limited robot: CR-35iA. The robot has a soft outer shell and sophisticated sensing technology.
Data has always existed in the manufacturing environment – in the temperatures, pressures, sounds, and sppearance of machinery – but it hasn’t always been easy to access. Manufacturing professionals would spend years, if not decades, gaining the expertise that would help them understand the meaning of certain measurements and observations. The Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) promises to revolutionize this learning process by turning such observations into quantitive trends that can be leveraged for decision-making.