Wireless networks have been creeping into process plants, factories and utilities for some time now — the convenience and efficiencies they provide being obvious, but the cybersecurity risks must be managed well. [ + ]

Industry 4.0 brings significantly enhanced reliability, cost-optimised servicing, longer system service life and assured specific power for compressed air users. [ + ]

While enabling unprecedented performance in electric motors and delivering dramatic energy savings, most VSDs rely on conditioning voltage and frequency, causing inherent time delays in processing control signals. In contrast, direct torque control (DTC) drives greatly increase motor torque response, among other benefits. [ + ]

EU directives on the serialisation of pharmaceutical products come into effect over the next three years and will affect the way manufacturers label and package their products. [ + ]

The Fourth Industrial Revolution is being driven mainly by five trends that have gained significant importance within our rapidly changing industrial environment. [ + ]

Wireless networks have been creeping into process plants, factories and utilities for some time now, the convenience and efficiencies they provide being obvious, but the cybersecurity risks must be managed well. [ + ]

Implementing Industry 4.0 in your organisation means beginning with a strategy that is appropriate for your needs and that can be adapted as technology and needs change. [ + ]

In Australia the approach to Industry 4.0 has been somewhat more disjointed than in Germany, with a large reliance on Industry 4.0 technology being mainly promoted by individual Germany-based vendors or suppliers. Individual manufacturing companies are tending to go it alone, keeping technology providers at arm's length and not truly leveraging the global collective knowledge on I4.0. [ + ]

Innovation is, of course, partly about technology. But it is also about massive improvements in productivity through the empowerment of a business's only uncapped resource: its people. [ + ]

In an increasingly digitally connected world, the potential for efficient manufacturing is limited only by the ability to comprehend and utilise innovative applications and technologies. [ + ]

Wireless networks are showing up more commonly in industrial environments but have the drawback of more complex network design challenges, not the least of which are concerns about cybersecurity. Perhaps the latest research into light-based wireless networks offers a solution. [ + ]

The Australian Water Association's international water conference and trade exhibition, Ozwater, will be held 16–18 May at ICC Sydney. [ + ]

In the world of process control, we are seeing tremendous advances in technology ranging from smart devices through to process control analysis tools that promise to optimise the efficiency of our industrial sites. But will digitisation really deliver what we expect? Or are we simply catering to the whims of process engineers who crave the latest and greatest technology, in the same way that we all 'just have to have' the latest smartphone? [ + ]

Sean Carter of SICK discusses the benefits of Industry 4.0 technologies for the mining sector. [ + ]

For small- and mid-sized food manufacturers, one of the biggest challenges is how to start scaling up operations. Today there is an endless amount of information available but interpreting this and making the best choices for your business is not simple. [ + ]