Varec has announced that Transient Controls Australia has been appointed the sole Australian distributor for the Varec tank gauging range of equipment.

Industrial automation company, Rockwell Automation has appointed Les Cutajar as its new standard drives product manager. With 14 years' sales experience with the company, Cutajar believes his new role represents an opportunity to emphasise the commitment that Rockwell Automation has made to the drives market in Australia. Through the PowerFlex product range, Rockwell Automation delivers a broad range of variable speed drives in the market. The range encompasses simple and high-performance models rated to kilowatts or megawatts.

Australian-owned Lafayette Mining's Rapu-Rapu project has been given a 30-day trial period by the Philippines government to prove it can operate within environmental standards.

A $700 million pulp mill project at Heywood, in south-west Victoria, has been given the go-ahead by the Victorian government. The Heywood pulp mill is worth around $400 million, but when the power station and other facilities, as well as upgrades to road, rail and port facilities are added, the project will come close to costing $700 million.

AES has announced the launch of 'The Automation Business Forum 2006', a business matching event set to take place in Melbourne for one day only on 16 October 2006.

Queensland-based manufacturing businesses will have an opportunity to see the latest developments in manufacturing technology by attending the 2006 Queensland Manufacturing Technology Exhibition (QMan) at the Brisbane Convention & Exhibition Centre, 17-19 October.

Emerson Process Management's PlantWeb digital automation architecture and system integration services have helped Brunei Shell Petroleum Co. Sdn Bhd (BSP) start up its Phase III Champion West oil and gas field platform. The platform, located off the coast of Brunei, operates completely unmanned.

The largest Chinese trade fair for the water industry, the Water China in Canton (Guangzhou), will be again held in 2007 from 7-10 March. It is organised by the China Foreign Trade Centre Group in association with Merebo Messe Marketing based in Hamburg/Germany.

This year’s ‘Aussie Cup’ TPM3 team competition is shaping up to be an international affair.

The Fieldbus Foundation has announced that Hans-Georg Kumpfmueller has been named to its board of directors. In addition to chairman John Berra of Emerson Process Management, current foundation members include Kenneth Deken, Rockwell Automation; David Eisner, Honeywell; Motofumi Matsumura, Fuji; Shuzo Kaihori, Yokogawa; Jim Porter, DuPont; Claude Ricaud, Schneider Electric; Ron Szanyi, ExxonMobil; Mark Taft, ABB; Hirozume Sone, Yamatake Corporation; John Eva, Invensys; and Hans-Georg Kumpfmueller, Siemens AG.

BHP Billiton Ltd says base metal prices will remain around historical highs for some time to come. In its base metals briefing, base metals division president Diego Hernandez said the market fundamentals were sound. He said that with low stocks and healthy demand, prices should remain around historical averages for some time to come.

Michael Eckle has been managing Wampfler Australia following his predecessor Ivor Watt's retirement earlier this year. The company, with its headquarters in Brisbane, is a 100% subsidiary of Wampfler AG, a manufacturer of systems for energy and data transmission to mobile consumers.

Omron Corporation, the US$5.5 billion Japanese manufacturer of automation and sensing products, has revealed more specific plans related to the November 2005 announcement of a US$20 million worldwide investment in the RFID business over a two-year period. The company announced that RFID inlay manufacturing capacity will be increased to support production of more than 250 million inlays per year at its Minakuchi factory in Shiga, Japan.

Controlotron and Siemens have signed an asset purchase agreement for Siemens to acquire the assets and the business activities of Controlotron, which is based in Hauppauge, New York, USA.

Six students from the University of South Australia have been awarded Scholarships in Engineering and Information Technology by the Defence Science and Technology Organisation (DSTO).