Five to ten times per day in the United States, a worker is severely injured or killed in an electrical arc flash accident, according to Joe Weigel, product manager in Square D Services Marketing for automation and electrical products supplier Schneider Electric, in Palatine, Ill.

  Gartner Inc., the Stamford, Conn., market research firm, has identified the top 10 technologies and trends that it says will be strategic for most organizations.

  The war between plant operations and IT is over. Here’s a look at the major trends in information technology that are having a direct and growing impact on plant operations.

  Safety is a topic that is on everyone's mind. No one wants to be interviewed on television after an explosion at their plant or after a severe injury occurs.

  Using wireless sensor technologies in process automation is finally getting out of the labs and into the plants. There remains a reluctance to publicly come out of the closet about using it.

  “What do we mean by automation software?” asks Nathan Massey, sales engineer for B&R Industrial Automation Corp., Roswell, Ga. A trick question? More of a thought starter.

  

  Last year, the Colombia-based engineering firm, Omnicon Ltd. wanted to help a dairy customer integrate its automation production system with its enterprise business system.

  By developing closer links between 3D simulation tools and factory floor automation, major PLM and controls vendors are aiming to move digital manufacturing technology one step closer to the mainstream.

  The goal of tightly integrating processing and packaging, as well as devising an industry standard method of machine control, is still gaining momentum.

  Global politics and economic expansion in developing countries have shot petrochemical prices into orbit. The political and economic pressures are forcing governments and consumers to take a greater interest in alternative energy sources such as biofuels.

 (Sidebar to "ISA88 Beyond Batch" from the February 2008 issue of Automation World)

  The tenets of ISA88 are now being applied to packaging, as well as to continuous and discrete manufacturing.

  While not everyone likes the name, a new generation of programmable automation controllers that feature multi-domain control functionality are helping to reduce costs for a growing number of manufacturers.

  While the fogginess around mechatronics may not have dissipated entirely, one thing is increasingly clear: as a conceptual schema for design, mechatronics continues to become more visible—and its importance can only grow over the next few years.

 Wireless instrumentation proved to be the best way to monitor chemicals in remote rail cars.

  Improved HMI visualization makes plant and enterprise data easy to share, and also easy to understand.

  Manufacturers boost profits with smart inventory automation.

 It’s seldom a good feeling in the pit of your stomach when management issues you a challenge.

  Automation World recently invited five major vendors of distributed control systems (DCS) to comment on the competitive impact of programmable automation controllers on their businesses.