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. [ + ]

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. [ + ]

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. [ + ]

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. [ + ]

Both large and small manufacturing operations can greatly benefit from the use of robots and, with Australia's currently well-publicised manufacturing industry challenges, perhaps now is the time to consider the advantages of increased application of robotics. [ + ]

A substantial increase in vehicle manufacturing is needed if Australia is ever to have a sustainable car industry, according to preliminary findings released today by the Productivity Commission's inquiry into Australia's Automotive Manufacturing Industry. [ + ]

The Australasian Oil and Gas Exhibition and Conference (AOG) is set to be even bigger in 2014, with the addition of the Australian Industry Zone, a new exhibition zone that will provide a platform for Australia's oil and gas manufacturers and service companies. [ + ]

Inspectahire is an international supplier of specialist remote visual inspection technology, services and solutions to companies in many industries around the world. [ + ]

In the hygiene and personal care industries, there is demand for ever-larger batch sizes for products such as toothpaste, as well as for a larger range of variants to be produced at each site. [ + ]

For the most part, the future is a complete unknown and very difficult to predict with any accuracy. But if one thing is certain, it is that robots will be an integral part of that future, entering parts of the economy and our personal lives that a few years ago we could only imagine. [ + ]