The Institution of Chemical Engineers (IChemE) has appointed a new Australasia director. Peter Slane succeeds Jan Althorp, who has held the position for 10 years. [ + ]

Things are looking up for the New South Wales economy, according to SAGE Automation. SAGE has projected an optimistic outlook for strong growth in NSW and has demonstrated its commitment to the NSW market by appointing a Business Development Manager for NSW. [ + ]

National Instruments (NI) and Universiti Malaysia Perlis (UniMAP) have announced their collaboration in advancing engineering and robotics education, signing a memorandum of understanding at UniMAP’s Agrotechnology Research Station. [ + ]

ANCA Motion has opened new headquarters in Melbourne’s eastern suburbs. [ + ]

Invensys Operations Management announced yesterday that it has signed a licensing agreement with Valero Energy Corporation, allowing use of Invensys’s patented ACA.HF Advanced Alkylation Measurement Solution. [ + ]

The transaction is anticipated to close by 31 May 2012. [ + ]

CompAir Australasia has launched a dedicated Custom Engineered Products division in response to growing customer demand for CEPs. CEP Australasia is headed by David Laurenson. With over 20 years of compressed air industry experience, and having previously been responsible for the CompAir Asia Pacific CEP division, Laurenson is well placed to lead CEP as its director. [ + ]

Schneider Electric has announced a partnership with Krohne that the companies say will provide customers with a complete automation and instrumentation solution, which will include Schneider’s PlantStruxure process automation architecture and Krohne’s instrumentation offer. [ + ]

The signing of the Metre Convention by representatives of 17 nations took place on 20 May 1875. It’s now celebrated worldwide as World Metrology Day. This year’s theme for World Metrology Day is ‘Metrology for Safety’. Fluke Calibration joined the global metrology community to celebrate the importance of measurements on 21 May this year. [ + ]

The gender imbalance looks like it might be levelling out in an unexpected profession: the traditionally male-dominated field of engineering. The University of Sydney’s Faculty of Engineering and Information Technologies has experienced a steady increase in the number of female students enrolling and graduating over the last decade. [ + ]

ABB Australia has acquired Bob White Electrix and LE Jarvis for an undisclosed amount as part of a strategy to broaden its motor and generator repair and service business in Australia. ABB anticipates the acquisition will close in July. [ + ]

A report commissioned by the Australian Petroleum Production and Exploration Association (APPEA) says the oil and gas industry contributed about $28.3 billion to the Australian economy in 2010/11. [ + ]

Honeywell today announced the global launch of Intuition Executive, the flagship product of its new Intuition software portfolio. [ + ]

South Australian Premier Jay Weatherill and Siemens executives have signed a memorandum of understanding for Siemens to become a strategic partner in a project to build an advanced manufacturing complex in Adelaide. [ + ]

ABB recently announced its decision to invest in TaKaDu, a provider of advanced monitoring solutions for water distribution networks. TaKaDu provides a software-as-a-service (SaaS) solution that gives real-time alerts on water network faults, leaks, bursts, network breaches, faulty meters and other inefficiencies. [ + ]