James R. Koelsch

Automation World Contributing Writer

Going to grayscale is catching on as a best practice in alarm management. Reserving color for abnormalities draws the operator’s attention and prompts more immediate corrective action. Courtesy: Honeywell

How Serious Are You About Alarm Management?

An Automation World reader survey detects a rising interest in alarm management best practices. It finds that, though many users are investing in new software, many are also missing the boat by giving their alarm philosophy short shrift.

Battle for Cybersecurity Spreads to Sensors

Even the lowest level of the Purdue model has become a target for hackers who want to attack manufacturing facilities. Automation vendors are scrambling to help users defend sensors and other intelligent devices.

ERP Lands Starring Role in Intelligent Manufacturing

The cloud, the Internet of Things, machine learning, artificial intelligence—all are in the script making enterprise resource planning a rising star again.

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Energy Efficiency: A Little Knowledge Goes a Long Way

There has been a lot of talk in industry about energy efficiency in manufacturing facilities, but the realities of high cost and limited returns have stymied action. Some best practices, though, could tip cost calculations in favor of moving forward.

More from James R. Koelsch

The Great Graphics Debate: Is Going Gray Good for HMIs?

Just when you think industry has settled on a look for HMI graphics, things change. But HMIs are not video games, and colorful, action-packed screens are not necessarily the best way to support safety and enhance productivity.

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How to Keep Shutdowns From Becoming Disasters

Turnarounds are not an everyday occurrence for continuous processes. To compensate for the lack of practice operators get, more plants are deploying software that can reduce the risk associated with shutting down and restarting these processes.

Controlled Remote Access: The Key to Cybersecurity

A combination of active surveillance and separation helps users overcome their objections to remote process monitoring, maintenance and troubleshooting.

A Remote Road to Stellar Asset Management

A Remote Road to Stellar Asset Management

Many manufacturers have embarked upon a quest for better asset utilization by asking their equipment and automation vendors for help monitoring, maintaining and managing their assets.

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Help for Onsite Techs

Today’s asset management technology permits onsite technicians to capture thermal measurements and other data, like vibration signatures, and send them to remote specialists to diagnose problems and suggest corrective action from afar.

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Is Integrated Safety Acceptable Now?

Many in industry agree that it is. Fewer automation professionals seem to be holding onto the idea that processes will be safe only if the safety controls are kept separate from process controls.

The recent Paris climate-change summit notwithstanding, fewer manufacturers seem to be talking publicly about their sustainability programs these days. Has the sustainability movement fizzled in manufacturing, or is sustainability just becoming a standard part of doing business?

What Happened to Sustainability?

The recent Paris climate-change summit notwithstanding, fewer manufacturers seem to be talking publicly about their sustainability programs these days. Has the sustainability movement fizzled in manufacturing, or is sustainability just becoming a standard part of doing business?

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Supporting the Eyes on the Cube

Ethernet communications not only help within a robotic vision application itself, but also help enable remote support, as is the case with a robot solving a Rubik’s Cube for a traveling exhibit.

Machine vision is freeing robots to seek work beyond the kinds of highly repetitive jobs typically found in mass production. The gift of sight makes them cost-competitive even in moderate volume production applications.

Vision-Guided Robots Look at Growing Tasks

Machine vision is freeing robots to seek work beyond the kinds of highly repetitive jobs typically found in mass production. The gift of sight makes them cost-competitive even in moderate volume production applications.