United Process Controls upgraded the vacuum furnace controls and automation platform for Woodward Inc., a U.S.-based provider of fuel and control systems for aircraft engines. According to the company, the controls allow streamlined reporting for Nadcap compliance as well as integration with the company’s enterprise planning system.

In 2018, a glass products manufacturing company in Ohio presented its automation engineers with a new project: Data from manufacturing lines needed to appear in a web-based user interface (UI) already in use by company supervisors.

As part of its five-year investment to boost capacity and operational excellence within its global plastics additives business, BASF awarded Emerson a multi-million dollar contract to modernize automation software and controllers at its specialty chemical production facility in Lampertheim, Germany.

Automation company Endress+Hauser broke ground at its new site in Pearland, Texas, just outside of the Houston area. The $38.5 million, 112,000 ft² facility will include areas for calibration, repair and training, as well as a new process training unit (PTU).

A top technology market research firm for industry and manufacturing has found a staggering number of distributed control systems are nearing their end of life. We discuss the causes of failure of these aging systems and propose practical solutions to maintain or update these systems.

Emerson agreed to acquire Intelligent Platforms, a division of General Electric (GE). Intelligent Platforms’ programmable logic controller (PLC) technologies will allow Emerson, a supplier of automation for process and industrial applications, to provide customers broader control and management of their operations.

Valmet acquired Enertechnix, a provider of combustion diagnostics and monitoring technology based in Olympia, Wash. The company develops technologies for boiler imaging and temperature measuring.

Automated stand-alone hot-bar system combines flux dispensing with hot-bar reflow soldering for applications where process automation, production output and product quality inspection are required. 

Energy improvement offers enormous potential for variable cost reduction and improved environmental performance. These types of improvements can be fast tracked and amplified via internet-based collaboration, but there is a risk that outsourced services can lead to a hollowing out of site expertise. 

Not many Americans like warm beer — except, of course, process cooling engineers who work for breweries. They know that maintaining elevated temperatures within a metal tank in the brewhouse is critical throughout much of the fermentation process.