Chris Vains, Business Unit Manager - Automation Systems at Siemens, will be speaking at the upcoming ACI Connect conference in Melbourne in April. [ + ]

The plight of many manufacturing companies has been well reported in recent years. Gone are the heady days of the 1960s when manufacturing was contributing over 25% of Australia's GDP, with that figure now at below 10%. [ + ]

Poor alarm management is one of the leading causes of unplanned downtime and has been a major contributor to some of the worst industrial accidents on record. In Part 1 of this article we discussed the release of the ISA-18.2 standard, and in this part we look more at how it can be implemented. [ + ]

In our day-to-day office and personal environments, we've become accustomed to a wealth of benefits delivered by internet-based technologies. As we move further and further towards a common IP highway, we consider the significant benefits that could be delivered by Ethernet backbones in industrial processes. [ + ]

In a good example of an automation company taking advantage of its own technology, ABB has implemented its own robots to streamline the designing, developing and manufacturing of low-voltage circuit-breakers at ABB SACE's Frosinone plant in Italy. [ + ]

South Pacific Seeds is one of the world's largest vegetable seed companies, producing 2.930 tonnes of seeds in the 2011-2012 crop year. Atmospheric dust generation was a problem until better handling of bulk gypsum was introduced. [ + ]

Bruce Kendall, Manager - Business Implementation, RMIT, will be speaking at the upcoming ACI Connect conference in Melbourne in April. I recently caught up with Bruce for an update on his keynote address. [ + ]

In the future, production facilities will be able to communicate and interact with one another, and machinery will often be remote serviced. But no company boss wants to run the risk of opening the door to industrial espionage and sabotage with unsecured networks. [ + ]

Until recently, operators at a water treatment plant in Colorado were feeding powdered activated carbon (PAC) from 20 kg bags, manually carrying them up a flight of stairs to dump them into a storage hopper above a feeder - risking injury and creating excessive dust. The problem was solved with a bulk bag discharger. [ + ]

While most of the market fundamentals driving increased global demand are still prevalent, it is clear that only the companies which are able to manage cost along their entire supply chain, and manage production and scheduling based on better demand forecasting, will have the sustainable business model to thrive. [ + ]

Poor alarm management is one of the leading causes of unplanned downtime and has been a major contributor to some of the worst industrial accidents on record. Changing the practices and procedures used in the plant has become easier and more important with the release of the ISA-18.2 standard, which provides a blueprint for creating a safer and more productive plant. [ + ]

With a capacity of 727 million barrels, the US Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) is the world's largest stockpile of government-owned emergency crude oil. To retrieve oil from the salt caverns it is stored in, water is pumped in, making the oil rise to the surface. As a result of this design, the brine disposal lines need to be measured regularly for leaks, to meet environmental regulations. [ + ]

An integrated packaging concept that guarantees that finished products are packaged hygienically, reliably, swiftly and efficiently is an important component in modern production of meat and sausage products. [ + ]

Tupras is Turkey's largest industrial company and leading refiner, operating four refineries of which the Izmit Refinery, in Kocael Province by the Sea of Marmara, is the largest. A major modernisation program is underway for the existing plant which includes a retrofit project that will deliver automated actuation and control for over 900 valves at the existing refinery's tank farms. [ + ]

The ability to automatically recognise defects up and down the supply chain has become an integral part of quality control in the food industry business and is a legal requirement in many processes. Remarkably, the vast majority of food processing facilities around Australia still rely on human beings to do the track and trace inspections. [ + ]