Orica says a relief valve in its ammonia storage plant lifted prematurely as a result of a mechanical malfunction - but this occurred well before the alarm’s trigger point in this section of the plant. [ + ]

Specialist industrial automation and controls distributor Inaco Automation Controls has announced a new distribution alliance with Rittal for Australia. [ + ]

An ammonia gas leak occurred at Orica’s Kooragang Island site in Newcastle on 11 March, with an unconfirmed quantity of ammonia from a 60 m high vent stack. [ + ]

The Queensland Gas Conference and Exhibition committee is calling for abstracts on topics demonstrating innovation, thought leadership and best practice across the supply chain, from production to midstream industry. [ + ]

Hosted by Peter Welander, the NCS NET Concentrator System video details the advantages of using a distributed I/O network to send information between instrumentation devices and control elements in a control room or on a factory floor. [ + ]

Restaurants are increasingly resorting to gimmicks to set them apart from the crowd. A Chinese restaurateur has taken this concept up a notch, opening a restaurant that is staffed almost entirely by robots. [ + ]

Government grants are available to businesses to support the review, implementation, acquisition or innovation of new technology or energy-efficient resources in their business. However, many companies aren’t aware of which government grants they are eligible for. [ + ]

Women earn lower incomes than men across the engineering profession and are less likely to hold top management responsibilities, according to a survey released today by Engineers Australia. [ + ]

Sitting in a dark room watching a moth fly into a light might not be everyone’s idea of a good time, but it’s paying dividends for a University of Oxford researcher. [ + ]

National Instruments has released its Embedded Systems Outlook 2013 report, which outlines the company’s conclusions about the direction of the embedded systems market. [ + ]

National Instruments is giving university students across Australia and New Zealand the opportunity to demonstrate their engineering skills on an international platform in the third annual NI Autonomous Robotics Competition. [ + ]

The continuing drive by industry to reduce energy costs has enables the Energy Efficiency Services division of CAPS Australia to expand its range of services and number of staff. The company has invested more than $150,000 in its growth. [ + ]

Honeywell has launched its annual process control design competition, which rewards students’ innovative projects designed using Honeywell’s UniSim Design simulation software. [ + ]

Honeywell has announced the opening of its new regional Automation College in Hanoi, Vietnam, in partnership with PetroVietnam and PetroVietnam University. [ + ]

Motion Technologies has been announced as a systems integrator and Australian distributor for all Delta Tau products. [ + ]