Number 1
January 2010
INSIDER
The
announcement late last year from the EDDL Cooperation Team (ECT) that
it was to be renamed the FDI Cooperation and that its then existing
technology trade organization members – the Fieldbus Foundation,
the HART Communications Foundation, the OPC Foundation, the PROFIBUS
Nutzerorganisation and the FDT Group - were to be joined by all of the
major DCS vendors and by the largest independent device vendor in a bid
to accelerate the deployment of FDI (Field Device Integration)
technology has been followed by a flurry of individual announcements
from the various bodies and companies.To read the full story take
out
a subscription to Industrial Automation INSIDER.
“The Business Value Proposition of Control in the Field” is the title of a new white paper from ARC which was presented by the Fieldbus Foundation at the recent SPS/IPC/DRIVES exhibition in Nuremberg, Germany. Control in the Field (CIF), based on function blocks which can reside either in a DCS, in field devices or both, is the key differentiator between Foundation fieldbus and the other two most popular process fieldbuses, Profibus PA and HART. However, while Foundation fieldbus adoption has, in ARC’s words, “skyrocketed” in recent years, CIF remains a comparative rarity. To read the full story take out a subscription to Industrial Automation INSIDER.
.ANSI puts wireless ball
back in ISA’s court
The American National Standards Institute (ANSI) confirmed to ISA shortly before Christmas that it must hear the appeal filed by CONTROL magazine editor in chief Walt Boyes and others against the ratification of the ISA 100.11a wireless standard back in August 2009. It was ISA’s handling of what is now widely referred to as “the Boyes appeal” which resulted in ANSI failing to accept ISA 100.11a at its regular meeting in November. To read the full story take out a subscription to Industrial Automation INSIDER.
IOM Europe seeks to establish its own identity
Giuseppe Caltabiano, Invensys Operations Management (IOM) vp of marketing for Europe, Russia and Africa (EURA), took time out from a brief visit to a snowbound UK shortly before Christmas to brief INSIDER on the messages delivered to journalists, analysts and ‘ecosystem partners’ at IOM’s OpsManage event at Disneyland Paris in early December. Caltabiano was formerly responsible for the development and coordination of Wonderware’s marketing strategy in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. To read the full story take out a subscription to Industrial Automation INSIDER.
deal with Metso
Implementation of the agreement reached between GE and FANUC in August 2009 (INSIDER, September 2009, page 1) to dissolve the GE Fanuc Automation Corporation Joint Venture was completed on December 11th last with the respective portions reverting to their parent companies. “We will continue to invest in our product and solution platforms that allow our customers to compete and succeed in a challenging economy,” said Maryrose Sylvester, president and CEO of the GE portion which will now be known simply as GE Intelligent Platforms. “In addition, we intend to utilize our world-class enterprise software as a platform for faster growth for the entire GE portfolio.” To read the full story take out a subscription to Industrial Automation INSIDER.
Smarter panels offer hope
after drastic decline
The worldwide market for operator panels suffered a drastic decline in 2009 after the extreme years of 2007 and 2008 and will only recover slowly over the next few years, according to ARC’s newly published ‘Operator Panel Worldwide Outlook’. In line with its new policy, ARC doesn’t tell us how big the market is – you have to pay up to find that out – but the un-annotated bar graph which accompanies the press release suggests that it will grow by a third in all or approaching 6% per annum between 2009 and 2014. To read the full story take out a subscription to Industrial Automation INSIDER.
Modular approach meets needs of panel builders
The Sirius Modular System from Siemens Industry Automation & Drive Technologies (IA&DT) is claimed to reduce wiring work and space requirements as well as cutting control panel-related power dissipation by as much as 10%. Higher power ratings are adopted within the same external dimensions, thereby saving space in the control panel while integrating functions into components and simplifying the connection method cuts wiring work. Controls and switchgear in plants can be connected via IO link and AS-Interface while integrated application monitoring improves plant availability. In addition a new System Module substantially reduces planning and configuration. “For machine and control panel manufacturers, Sirius will mean not only greater speed and efficiency in terms of control panel assembly and handling, but also simplified planning and configuration,” claimed Siemens IA&DT head of control components Eckard Eberle. “Automation engineers will now be able to simply link the industrial controls to the automation level, and for end users these new developments help us prevent sources of error and also enhance plant availability while at the same time reducing operating costs.” To read the full story take out a subscription to Industrial Automation INSIDER.
Which automation vendor won the PR battle in 2009?
One of the automation vendors’ principal ways of communicating with their actual and potential customers, intermediaries in the channel and, indeed, competitors is still via the good offices of the editors of technical publications and, increasingly, web sites and blogs. So what did 2009 look like to the editors and what can we learn from the different approaches taken by the various suppliers? To read the full story take out a subscription to Industrial Automation INSIDER.
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THEY
SAID IT
“I really put a lot of extra time in the list this year to get everything exactly right.”
Larry O’Brien,
ARC Advisory Group,
“It’s not a nice to have – it is an operational requirement.”
Steve Ryan,
General Manager, Process Solutions,
GE Intelligent Platforms,
“... almost as much energy is consumed during production rest periods as during actual production itself.”
Thomas Schott,
Head of Factory Automation,
Siemens Industry Automation & Drive Technologies
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This site last updated 14.01.10
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