Beckhoff has received the 2008 Windows Embedded Partner Excellence Award, in recognition of its innovative and creative application of Windows Embedded technology.

Tyco Flow Control Pacific has been accredited by Profibus International (PI) as the first Profibus International Competence Centre (PICC) in Australia. Profibus is now a $60 billion market and dominates all sectors of industrial automation. It has more devices in the field than all rival Fieldbus systems combined.

Compressed air and gas system manufacturer CompAir has been acquired by the US-based Gardner Denver Group.

Schneider Electric integrates its operations to create the largest automation company in the Pacific.

Inaco Automation Controls and NHP Electrical Engineering Products will assume distribution roles for Rockwell Automation products in Australia and New Zealand, effective 7 November 2008.

Cavotec has successfully trialled its pre-conditioned air system with Airbus.

Fraunhofer researchers have created a fluidic energy transducer that creates electricity from fluid motion in the surrounding air or water, enabling the development of self-powered sensors for air or fluid systems.

BHP Billiton says it expects the first stage of its five-phase Olympic Dam expansion to be in production by 2013.

APESMA has urged the government not to include engineers in forecast migration cuts, saying the migrants would complement increased investment in domestic engineering skills.

Digi International has introduced DigiMesh on 900 MHz and 2.4 GHz XBee-embedded RF modules, providing mesh networking support for processes using battery-powered devices.

Global EARS Limited has taken an innovative Australian invention from an idea to a prototype to an internationally successful product innovation in a very short space of time. In doing so, the company has been declared the winner of the Small Business category of the 2008 Governor of Victoria Export Awards and has also claimed the Commendation for Innovation Excellence.

SCADA provider Citect is integrating its field operations with that of parent company, Schneider Electric and has announced plans to further invest in R&D.

SEW-Eurodrive has used the ‘Driving towards industrial energy savings’ seminar to urge industry to consider the total life cycle energy cost of the entire drive system when using a motorised process.

Yokogawa has won the 2008 Frost & Sullivan Asia–Pacific Distributed Control System (DCS) Company of the Year for the outstanding performance of its DCS across the Asia–Pacific region.

Emerson Process Management and Beamex will combine Emerson's AMS Suite Intelligent Device Manager with Beamex's CMX Calibration Software to provide an integrated calibration management solution.