As well as being a source of information, the internet allows people to interact on a social level. Social internet-based environments have many powerful applications that can be utilised to service equipment in the industrial sector.

What kind of controller is best for your application? Is it a PLC? Perhaps you should use a PAC? Maybe a PAD? When it comes down to it, the name is not that important. What is important is developing a clear understanding of your needs and then finding the controller that best targets them.

Finding specialised qualified staff and the need for greater efficiency in an increasingly competitive marketplace motivated Peter Harrison, the General Manager of Melbourne-based Hilustre Coatings Pty Ltd, to investigate the possibility of using a robot at the company’s spray painting facility.

In 2006, Sykes Group sold a number of QSPCP200 (Quiet Solution) pumps to a South Australian government department. The pumps have been commissioned to take water from one of the Murray River tributaries and discharge it onto the dry flood planes. The result is, its not only saving the old river red gums but bringing life back to trees.

Sykes Group was recently approached by a mine in Central Queensland to supply a pump for a duty of 200 L/s at 90 m head in an area that is inaccessible in wet weather and can also flood.

SMC Pneumatics has developed an Energy Saving Software Package which is designed to assist industry calculate the cost of compressed air and to assess cost savings associated with the implementation of proposed energy-reduction strategies.

Australian milk processor Murray Goulburn (MGC) has reduced its carbon footprint by 35% after the implementation of CompAirs recommendations in its demand side audit of the plants air system. The company has saved over AU$147,000 in energy and maintenance costs and cut carbon emissions by more than 1900 t at its Leongatha plant in Victoria after just five months.

In Part 1 of this article we looked generally at the types of innovations that have been used to make use of ethernet in process plants and factory automation. This month we look at some of the most well-known implementations.

Every mining operation has budgets, production targets, business goals and a sustainability plan, but achieving budgets and business goals requires the efficient use of all internal resources, such as people, plant, raw materials, maintenance, reagents and procedures.

In a black and white world, using photoelectric sensors would be very straightforward. In the real world, things are not so simple. In their technicolour lives, photoelectric sensors are often utilised to sort coloured products, identify coded markings and confirm the presence of an adhesive or date codes on a package.

As part of its Solution Enhancement Support Program (SESP), OneSteel implemented a secure, online connection to Honeywell’s global technical assistance centre (TAC) support team enabling faster and more accurate problem identification and resolution.

The installation of an Outotec PSI 500 particle size analyser at Rio Tinto Iron Ore at Paraburdoo, in the Pilbara, is the first in Australia.

In response to a specific request to improve safety and operating efficiency, a hydraulic system has been redesigned to eliminate the use of multiple manifolds and valves. Effectively replacing these items with a single manifold, the new design also incorporates state-of-the-art electronic control components.

One trend in discrete part manufacturing is towards faster and higher precision part production — more parts per minute and better quality. Traditional control solutions can be stretched to their limits. By replacing traditional control solutions with time-based control, higher spped and precision can be realised.

Melbourne Airport recently embarked on an upgrade and expansion of its baggage-handling system, enlisting materials handling and automation group BCS Group to carry out the redevelopment. BCS Group implemented the new baggage-handling system, founded on technologies from drives solutions group SEW-Eurodrive.