International news
Beckhoff Automation has reported strong growth of 26% over the past financial year. During 2006, worldwide turnover of the German company, based in Verl, was 190 million euros. Beckhoff attributes this success in part to its consistent expansion of the international distribution network. In 2006 the company established five new subsidiaries in Spain, Belgium, Brazil, South Africa and Australia.
Emerson Process Management has been selected as the recipient of the 2006 Frost & Sullivan Award for Customer Value Enhancement within automation and software solutions for the pharmaceutical industry.
Emerson Process Management has been voted the best supplier of process management technologies in Control Magazine's 2007 Readers' Choice Awards. It marks the 14th consecutive year that the company has captured this user-voted recognition.
Ivensys Process Systems has been awarded a contract to provide a SimSci-Esscor operating training simulator (OTS) for the BASF FINA Petrochemicals LP Olefins Plant in Port Arthur, Texas. The Invensys OTS solution will include simulation software for high fidelity process modelling, simulation of the Foxboro I/A Series distributed control system, and simulation of the Triconex safety integrated system. The solution is integrated by SimSci-Esscor's common user environment.
The OTS will allow the customer to train operators on all aspects of plant operations, including normal operation, start-up, shutdown and possible upset situations in the manufacturing process.
Invensys customer, Gilead Alberta, received a 2007 Plant Services Best Practices award in the 'Equipment' category for improving pharmaceutical batch processing efficiency while substantially reducing costs. Gilead Alberta won the award for working with Invensys' Foxboro Measurements & Instruments Division to develop an advanced pH sensor to assure consistent product quality and maximise batch yields in the company's harsh process environment. The resulting 871PH series sensor enabled Gilead to complete a pH adjustment in just three hours, rather than the 18 hours to 24 hours previously required.
Rockwell Automation has announced that it has reached an agreement by which it will acquire Industrial Control Services Group ('ICS') for GBP 110 million (British pounds) in cash. ICS trades and does business as ICS Triplex, a leading global supplier of critical control and safety solutions to process industries. With 40 years of experience, ICS Triplex provides engineering services, products, and solutions for industries that demand high-integrity critical control. These industries primarily include oil and gas exploration, production, transportation, and refining as well as chemicals and power generation.
USA: Tristan Williams, formerly of BRCS Instrumentation in South Africa, died 3 June in Oceanside, from complications after a long illness.
Tristan worked in sales and engineering in the South African process control industry for 23 years and in 2001 moved to the San Diego area where he worked for Fluid Components International as regional sales manager responsible for the Western US and Canada.
Vega was recently presented with the 'Application of the Year' award from HazardEx magazine, a special publication for the safety sector. The winning level sensor application story was 'Dirty Business for Solids radar' which featured the Vegapuls 68 solids radar and how its performance with heavy build up benefited the client in a safety related capacity by enabling personnel to avoid regular cleaning of coalbunker level sensors in a hazardous area of a coal processing plant.
Yokogawa Corporation of America's Dave Emerson has been awarded the Thomas G. Fisher Award presented by the World Batch Forum (WBF). This award was given on 1 May at the WBF's annual meeting in Baltimore, MD. The WBF's Thomas G. Fisher Award recognises outstanding leadership in the field of manufacturing process operation and control. The award is presented to individuals who have demonstrated notable leadership in the development, teaching, and popularisation of technologies, services, and techniques in the process manufacturing field.
Local News
Adroit Technologies has announced that it has been accepted as a corporate member of the OPC Foundation. Globally the OPC Foundation has over 300 members including Microsoft and most of the world's major providers of instrumentation and control systems.
Citect has been selected by TWP Matomo Process Plant on behalf of Ruashi Holdings to provide its scada software and to perform design, engineering and commissioning services for the process control system for Ruashi Mining SPRL in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). This project involves the automation of a new copper/cobalt refinery currently under construction near Lubumbashi in the southern DRC. Citect's scope of supply includes all PLC and remote I/O panels, PLC equipment, UPS equipment, control system hardware, network equipment, scada software and associated engineering services.
Comtest has been awarded the sole southern African distributorship for the All-Test Pro range of test instruments for field testing of electrical motors, generators and transformers.
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