Eliminate 40% Costs when Applying Drives with Totally Integrated Automation

The technology to network drives into a single, holistic plant or production line configuration has been available for several years, but adoption has not been universal, a fact that still surprises Greg Richards, an automation consultant with Siemens Energy and Automation.

“I've gone out to plants and people don't want to do it and I don't understand why,” he says, pointing to cost savings in the 40 percent range when electing to go with this approach over traditional analog systems in the areas of engineering, control, system building, assembly and commissioning. “The benefits become clear once you do it.”

The benefits, says Richards, start with improved information. More information means more control over your processes. “In the past you were very limited in what information you could get out of the process. The drive is now an integral part of the hardware configuration for the PLC. Now, when you integrate a drive into the PLC bus you get a tremendous amount of information back from the drive.” ... Read more

How Asset Management Saves in a Down Economy

Plant Asset Management systems let you squeeze more out of your industrial equipment by reducing unplanned stoppages and unnecessary maintenance tasks. Estimated savings in the U.S. could exceed $60 billion.

Wouldn't it be nice to know something was going to break before it actually brought your production line to a grinding halt, killing productivity, throwing off schedules and possibly compromising delivery deadlines? Now think about how nice it would be to be able to put that precognition to use and apply a little predictive maintenance to not only keep things running smoothly, but to keep them that way for longer before having to replace expensive equipment.

This is the promise made by Plant Asset Management (PAM) systems. PAM systems provide timely information to help maintenance and operations improve asset availability, reducing the time required to maintain equipment and optimizing their efficiency.... Read more

Five Things to Think About Before Using Hardwired Controls

Regardless of the industry you are in, the universal workhorses for automating a piece of equipment or process are simple hardwired controls like cube relays, timers and counters.

You can find these devices in discrete and process industries, on the plant floor in the manufacturing environment and even in commercial and consumer applications such as gate controls, vending machines and amusement equipment.

They work just fine, doing their assigned tasks as required so what's the problem? At least, that's the question many OEMs are asking as they try to justify continuing to use these legacy control designs to meet evolving business objectives ... Read more

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