Greenfield

Factory Automation

Bassett

Batch Processing

Hand

Process Automation

Reynolds

Packaging Automation

Mintchell

Industry Coverage

David Greenfield

Director of Content

Factory Automation

» The BYOD Question

Renee Robbins Bassett

Deputy Editor

Batch Processing

» WirelessHART Products and Interoperability

Aaron Hand

Executive Editor

Process Automation

» Rethinking Manufacturing in America

Pat Reynolds

VP Editor, Packaging World

Packaging Automation

» Campbell Soup’s Data Acquisition Journey

Gary Mintchell

Founding Editor, Automation World

Industry Coverage

» Don’t Disparage Essential Components

MES

Quality Is a Competitive Advantage

I recently had a scare that drove home the importance of quality. I have a bad back and get steroid injections periodically. When the news of contaminated steroids came out, I had some anxious moments until I found out that my doctor does not use products from the suspect compounding facility. Companies spend a lot of time on financial and competitive...

Latest Operations News

May 17, 2013

Timex Speeds Up, Simplifies Quality Inspections

May 15, 2013

Why Do Automation System Integration Projects Fail?

May 15, 2013

Addressing the ‘Fatal Flaw’ in Engineering Education

May 15, 2013

Scholarship Supports Chicago Manufacturing Initiative

May 14, 2013

Get Your Head Into the Cloud

More Operations News

Keyence IM-6500 image dimension measurement system

News

| May 17, 2013

Timex Speeds Up, Simplifies Quality Inspections

An image dimension measurement system improves the quality inspection process by eliminating the need for X-Y stages, and allowing several parts to be measured simultaneously.

Column

| March 26, 2013

Quality Is a Competitive Advantage

Companies spend a lot of time on financial and competitive analysis, but many fail to realize that the most significant threat to their business can come from within.

E-Book Special Report

Wired & Wireless Cover

Networks: Wired & Wireless

Sign up to receive timely updates from our editors and download this FREE Special Report exploring the most widely adopted protocols for fieldbus, Ethernet and wireless networking in the process industries, as well as the latest trends in wireless applications.

Photo source: TUV Rheinland

Feature Article

| March 15, 2013

Vapor Clouds: Fires and Ongoing Learning

The U.S.

Typical products designed for hazardous areas

Feature Article

| March 15, 2013

Products and Processes: Explosion-Proof and Intrinsically Safe

While hazardous conditions are a fact of life in industrial plants, end users, safety organizations and automation suppliers are doing everything they can to ensure products are explosion-proof, proce

Feature Article

| March 12, 2013

Barcodes and RFID: On the Same Team

Years ago, when barcode technology and radio-frequency identification (RFID) were first finding a footing in industrial applications, observers would often see the process as a kind of horserace.

Feature Article

| March 12, 2013

Do You Know Where Your Inventories Are?

It’s 2013, and it’s more important than ever to keep track of where your materials came from and where your work-in-process is going.

Proficy Vision enables multiple types of informaiton to be viewed side by side.

Case Application

| February 22, 2013

Multimedia Dashboard Helps Water Plant Make Better, Faster Decisions

How much would it help you get your job done if you could see everything you needed to see side-by-side on the same screen, including structured data from ERP, EAM, MES and SCADA systems, as well as u

Manufacturing Intelligence for More Efficient Manufacturing

Feature Article

| February 20, 2013

Turn Data into Information with Manufacturing Intelligence

Manufacturing intelligence systems offer manufacturers access to key performance indicators for increased troubleshooting, product tracking and downtime management.

Four Emerson System Plast components were part of the retrofit package.

News

| February 1, 2013

Pepsi invests $35,000 to generate an added $300,000 annually

On a 2 liter PET bottling line at a Pepsi plant in Cheverly, MD, an optimized conveyor connection between case packer and palletizer is helping to generate about $300,000 more in revenue per year.

Perspective

| November 7, 2012

Pharma Industry Faces Urgent Need for Serialization Planning

The complexity of serialization in the pharmaceuticals industry and its impact on organizations was the focus of the Pharma Exchange, a free, two-day seminar put together by Mettler Toledo.

More Headines

Column

| October 31, 2012

Overall Equipment Effectiveness: Benchmark Data by Industry

Our goal is to benchmark over 1,000 companies by the end of the year so manufacturers will be able to compare their performance to their peers’ using metrics such as OEE, On Time and Complete Shipment

Product

| October 14, 2012

PLM Software Enables OEMs and Suppliers to Exchange CAD Design Data

Briefcase Browser aids information exchange for product design and validation by globally dispersed teams.

Bristol-Myers Squibb representatives Chris Stevens (left) and Dave Gleeson (far right) receive the award from Steven Sonnenberg

News

| October 11, 2012

Bristol-Myers Squibb Receives Innovative Application Award

Life sciences attendees to the 2012 Emerson Global Users Exchange enjoyed a group dinner and witnessed global biopharmaceutical company Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMS) receive the Recognition Award for Inn

Feature Article

| October 5, 2012

The Art and Science of Production Knowledge

For the most part, database issues are left the to IT department.

Primer

| October 4, 2012

OEE Facts

OEE is a measure of the utilization of an asset’s productive capacity in terms of three factors—availability, performance (throughput), and quality—expressed as percentages of their ideal values.

Feature Article

| October 4, 2012

OEE: A Controversial Figure

This performance metric takes center stage as a growing number of users turn to it both to boost the efficiency of their equipment and to compare the performance of machines and production lines.

Small size, big performance: the In-Sight Micro 1400 checks labels on up to 40,000 cartons per hour.

Case Application

| September 19, 2012

Optical Inspection of Pharmaceutical Labels

High-quality labels and stickers optimize logistics processes and protect against damage caused by counterfeit products.

News

| September 13, 2012

Industrial-Grade Automation Powers Mars Rover Curiosity

August 6, 2012 saw the successful landing of NASA’s rover, named Curiosity, on the planet Mars after a six-month journey through space.

Perspective

| September 11, 2012

Essential IT Standards for the Process Industries

Imagine a world without electrical standards, such as 110V at 60hz, or 220 at 50Hz, or a world where every phone had a different type of connection and required a different type of switchboard.

Product

| September 10, 2012

Software for Track and Trace/Anti-Counterfeiting

The new scalable Personalization Management Platform (PMP) Software Architecture from Atlantic Zeiser controls all levels of production and logistics processes in the pharmaceutical industry, addressi

Automation World is the leading publication for automation professionals working in the discrete, batch and process manufacturing industries. Each edition features intelligence for the entire buying team–from plant floor operators to management to IT.

OM Base Theme 2013 | V7.x-2.x | Daniel Honrade