March 2008 Contents
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Cover Story
Building the Talent Pool
With the automation skills shortage becoming a leading concern for both suppliers and end users alike, G Venkatesh takes a look at the extent of the problem and examines some of the steps companies are taking to recharge the talent pipeline.
It is going to be like this for the next few years. It is going to be good for drivers because there is a shortage of drivers. That is a quote from Gregory Biffle, a NASCAR race driverin the US....
Editor Comment
Talent crunch
Once is happenstance, twice is coincidence, the third time it’s enemy action. The words of arch James Bond villain Goldfinger on his evidently less-than-chance encounters with 007 in the 1964 f...
Inside Process
Building on the Foundation
Steady improvements and enhancements over the last decade together with an increasing knowledge base in the process industries have made it far easier to realize the promised benefits of Foundation fieldbus plant network technology. Jonas Berge explains more.
When Foundation fieldbus (FF) was first introduced, manufacturers, engineering companies, and plant personnel needed to climb the learning curve of technology, products, and practices. Thousan...
News
Yokogawa reveals the next step
A significant milestone in Yokogawa’s history of technological innovation. So said Dr Tony Lee, Managing Director, Yokogawa Engineering Asia, kicking off the February 5 launch event in ...
Rockwell makes machine safety acquisition
Rockwell Automation announces that it has reached a definitive agreement to acquire the Safety and Automation business of Switzerland’s Cedes. Safety and measuring light curtains, as wel...
Parallel promises at NIDays 2008
You know Christmas is over and Chinese New Year is on the way when the invitations roll in to attend NIDays, National Instruments’ annual, day-long technology fair. This year saw the eve...
Microsoft announces Windows Server 2008
It has taken three years and some 5000 development staff, but finally, the successor to the Windows Server 2003 enterprise operating system is here. At the APAC Launch Wave Media Summit held i...
Weidmüller wins iF Product Design Award
Two cable insulation stripping tools from Weidmuller, the AM 16 and AM 6/10, sufficiently impressed the iF jury to win the prestigious design prize for 2008. The award – the iF label ̵...
Mitsubishi Electric introduces e-F@ctory
Mitsubishi Electric introduced its e-F@ctory manufacturing solution for all industries at the 12th Annual ARC Forum in Orlando, USA. Constituting the company’s vision for manufacturing, e-...
Hannover to highlight machine automation
Demonstrating why Germany’s engineering sector is a global front runner is the purpose of the special display Application Park at Hannover Messe 2008 (April 21-25), which has been jointl...
Pepperl+Fuchs drops FDT/DTM fees
In what it is calling “a sign of appreciation” to loyal customers who have been using FDT/DTM (field device tool/device type manager) technology for many years and aided in its wor...
Emerson migrates legacy power plant controls
Emerson Process Management has won a contract to replace existing controls at Boryeong thermal power plant Unit 1 and Unit 2 with its PlantWeb digital plant architecture. The contract was awarde...
Bosch opens packaging machinery plant in Goa
Bosch Packaging Technology has inaugurated a new manufacturing facility in Verna Industrial Estate, Goa, India. The 2600 square meter facility produces and assembles packaging technology equipme...
Personal robotics growth creating component opportunities
According to ABI Research, over the next several years, growth in the personal robotics market will create significant revenue opportunities for key enabling components including processors, m...
New Solutions
High capacity industrial Ethernet switch
The launch of the EKI-7626C 16+2 gigabit combo unmanaged industrial Ethernet switch from Advantech is in recognition of the continuing growth of Ethernet in industrial applications and the nee...
Service oriented architecture for MES
Citect announces the release of version 3.2 of its manufacturing execution system (MES), Ampla, which provides new features to support service oriented architectures (SOA) and significantly ...
Vision software is camera independent
VisionPro 5.0 machine vision software from Cognex has been developed for use with any camera or image source. With its broad camera support, acquisition independence – including GigE Vision, F...
Motor control development kit
The 3-phase Motor Drive Application Kit from Infineon Technologies combines the company’s XC886 series of 8-bit MCUs, capable of supporting field oriented control (FOC), with its latest...
Space-saving flowmeter for offshore applications
Engineers wondering where to locate liquid and gas flowmeters aboard offshore platforms, FPSO Vessels and subsea installations may like to take a look at the selfconditioning V-Cone Offsho...
Inside Machines
Special Motor Design
By Thomas Fladerer and Dieter Seifert.A number of drive applications can only be fully realized with a technically and economically optimized solution that comes with a special motor design.
When designing three-phase asynchronous motors, the fi rst step is defi ning the shape of their magnetic active parts, i.e. the layout of the lamination sheets for both stator and rotor. The s...
Executive Insight
An American Asian
Fluent Japanese speaker and selfprofessed enthusiast for all things Asian, Mike Train, President, Emerson Process Management Asia Pacific, has helmed the regional business through a major expansion over the last six years and remains enthusiastic for more growth and success.
CEA: How long have you been here in Asia with Emerson Process Management? Train: It’s almost exactly six years now. Prior to that, I spent five years as the vice pr...
Wireless World
Challenges to the Wireless Future
Madanmohan Rao reports.While the wireless wave may indeed be coming, valid concerns remain over technical standards and low awareness levels amongst IT executives.
Industrial companies are increasingly adopting wireless sensor network (WSN) technology to increase production, improve efficiency, reduce environmental impacts, and ease the cost of complying ...
Inside Industry
OEMs: In Search of Excellence
Faced with time-to-market pressures, cost concerns, and the ongoing need to update technology, machine builders are looking for sources of expertise – and automation suppliers are gearing up to provide it.
The booming Asia Pacific economy translates into opportunities for original equipment manufacturers (OEMs). Some of these machine builders operate locally and regionally while others do so on a...
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