Industrial control system cybersecurity July 2018, Nclose In the last three articles on cybersecurity in ICS environments, we have covered risk assessments, asset discovery and vulnerability management, and environment hardening. In this month’s article, we ...
Digital twins, science-fiction or reality? June 2018, Absolute Perspectives Industrie 4.0 introduces the somewhat abstract concept of a ‘digital twin’. But is this really new, does it actually exist anywhere in practice, and if so, what steps should be followed to build one?
A ...
An automation customer speaks June 2018 The engineering institutions, systems integrators, suppliers and seminar groups within the automation industry in South Africa are all concerned, and rightfully so, with the lack of active participation ...
Open Process Automation moves to the proof of concept stage June 2018 Open Process Automation was once again a hot topic at the 2018 ARC Industry Forum in Orlando, Florida, earlier this year. Among the highlights was the session focusing on the current status of several ...
Case History 160: More problems with control May 2018, Michael Brown Control Engineering, Motion Control & Drives In a recent assignment to sort out problems being experienced in a petrochemical refinery, I came across the following two examples: Drum pressure misbehaving
The first was with the control of an ...
If a machine can do it, why not learn something else? April 2018 By the end of 2017, The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) reported an estimated 60 000 imports of multipurpose industrial robots into Africa. From a South African perspective, ...
Case History 159: Bad valves again hampering control. March 2018, Michael Brown Control Engineering It still fascinates me that so many control problems are caused by poor operation of control valves. I have encountered and recorded hundreds of cases of such problems. What is amazing is that many plant ...
Nick Denbow’s European report: Process plants as weapons of war February 2018, News Malware over the Internet has replaced the large gunboat that was dispatched in previous times – say 200 years ago – to send a message to the heart of a rival nation, indicating that relationships were ...
Trends in process safety systems January 2018 Market is changing
The global process safety systems market is changing in a rapid and dramatic way. Less industrialised countries continue efforts to grow their economies and build mega plants. These ...
Case History 158: Report on temperature control of an autoclave January 2018, Michael Brown Control Engineering, Motion Control & Drives I was recently asked to help with a client who treats a product in an autoclave and was complaining that they always got overshoot on a step setpoint change to holding temperature. The following is taken ...
Innovating in the process industry with PLM December 2017, Absolute Perspectives, IT in Manufacturing There might be an opportunity for you to adopt a proven technique from another industry in a new way and thereby gain a competitive edge for your business in its own niche.
Will OPC UA TSN prevail over industrial Ethernet? December 2017, IT in Manufacturing OPC UA is a vendor-independent communication protocol designed for industrial use. TSN (time-sensitive networking) is a further development of the IEEE Ethernet standards. Together, they aim to offer ...
Nick Denbow’s European report: Modern trends in long distance power links November 2017 Many of the changes in the way the world works lead to new opportunities for different technologies. This has led to a new approach to electricity distribution using HVDC – High Voltage Direct Current ...
Compact drive technology from Beckhoff used in Synlight radiator November 2017, Beckhoff Automation The DLR Institute of Solar Research in Jülich, Germany, recently put the Synlight high-flux solar simulator into operation. This high-power radiator – the only one of its kind in the world so far – consists ...
Case History 157: Positive lead integrator tuning ‘party trick’. November 2017, Michael Brown Control Engineering Control loop optimisation has always fascinated me. In most cases when I am called into a plant to sort out a problem, it is something that they have been trying to fix for a long time without success. ...
The potential value of manufacturing analytics October 2017, Absolute Perspectives, IT in Manufacturing Mature analytics organisations understand the value of using digital technology to tap into data to achieve better business performance.
