Food & Beverage

• Don’t Let Thermal Expansion Cause Excessive Piping Stress: Part 3, How to Inspect Your Piping to Prevent Problems

  Don’t Let Thermal Expansion Cause Excessive Piping Stress: Part 3, How to Inspect Your Piping to Prevent Problems This is the final installment in a three-part series on thermal expansion and piping stress.  The first article provides a primer on the basics of the thermal expansion and contraction found in industrial facilities. The second article focuses […]

  Read MoreBill Schuller, PE / Oil & Gas / Pipe Stress / Piping Engineer / Piping Stress / Process Engineer / Stress Analysis / Thermal Contraction / Thermal Expansion / Construction / Manufacturing / bschuller /

• Automotive Engineering: Replacing Obsolete Static-Style Andon Display Boards

  Automotive Engineering: Replacing Obsolete Static-Style Andon Display Boards In the automotive industry, the styling, functionality, and options on vehicles can change fast – and the build lines in the factory have to change just as rapidly. To accommodate a new vehicle build option, installation stations are changed or renumbered up and down the line. In […]

  Read MoreAaron Hilbers / Automotive Manufactures Engineers / Automovive Manufacturing Services / Industrial Automaiton Engineering / Manufacturing Operations Management / Improvement / Upgrades / ahilbers /

• Food Packaging – Part 1: Hidden Project Risks in Carton & Case Count Reductions

  Food Packaging – Part 1: Hidden Project Risks in Carton & Case Count Reductions As marketing teams in the food industry battle for the consumer’s attention on the shelf, they must also meet the needs of retailers with packaging that takes less shelf space and increases product turns. These retailer requirements often lead to packaging redesigns […]

  Read MoreDavid Travis, PE, PMP / Industrial automation engineering / Manufacturing Operations Management / Packaging Process Improvement / Pre-Engineering Consulting Services / Estimating / Planning / dtravis /

• How to Handle Harmonics in Electrical Power Systems

  How to Handle Harmonics in Electrical Power Systems While musical harmonics can be pleasing to the ear, electrical current harmonics are an increasing problem in power systems. Equipment and cables can overheat, motors can be damaged, and your electric bill could be a lot higher than it needs to be. Without going into Fourier equations […]

  Read MoreVince Trejchel, PE / Harmonics / IEEE / Manufacturing plant safety / Power Engineering / Power Factor Correction / Power System / vtrejchel /

• Mobile Technology: Is Your Plant Millennial-Friendly?

  Mobile Technology: Is Your Plant Millennial-Friendly? The Millennial generation – generally considered to be people who reached adulthood around the beginning of the 21st century – has grown up in a world filled with electronics and increasingly online and socially-networked. They are the first conscious participants in an era when everyone has access to everything, […]

  Read MoreDivya Prakash / Industrial automation engineering / Manufacturing Intelligence / Management / Planning / Data Management / dprakash /

• Choosing an Automation Platform: Compliance with IEC 61131

  Choosing an Automation Platform: Compliance with IEC 61131 IEC 61131 was published in 1993 after over 10 years of development by IEC (the International Electrotechnical Commission). The 10-part standard is an attempt to standardize programmable controllers. Each of the 10 parts addresses a different part of the programmable controller. Parts are identified by the number […]

  Read MoreJosh Peeno, PE / Industrial Automation / Industrial automation engineering / Manufacturing Operations Management / PLC Programming / system integrator company / Integrations / Rockwell Automation / Upgrades / jpeeno /

• Sterilizing Canned Foods and Beverages: Hydrostatic Cookers

  Sterilizing Canned Foods and Beverages: Hydrostatic Cookers If your company is in food and beverage manufacturing, you know the requirements of in-can sterilization. This is usually done in high volume operations with a continuous cooker process using either a hydrostatic (vertical) cooker or a rotary (horizontal) Cooker. Here is a profile of the Hydrostatic Cooker […]

  Read MoreBrad Walbolt / 3D Laser Scanning / Food & Beverage Engineering / Industrial automation engineering / Manufacturing Operations Management / Improvement / Management / bwalbolt /

• Food Manufacturing Case Study: Leveraging a Virtual Environment for an HMI Migration

  Food Manufacturing Case Study: Leveraging a Virtual Environment Many industrial manufacturers requiring plant management system upgrades due to outdated and unsupported platforms are migrating to virtualized environments. Here’s how Matrix Technologies executed a successful migration to a virtualized environment for a large food processing facility. The Advantages of Virtualization Manufacturing systems are increasingly using virtualized […]

  Read MoreMike Dunstan / Food and Beverage Manufacturing / Rockwell Solution Partner / ThinManager / Virtualization / Wonderware System Integrator / Improvement / Management / HMI's / Upgrades / bmcdaniel / mdunstan /

• HTML5 is Here: What Industrial Manufacturers Need to Know

  HTML5 is Here: What Industrial Manufacturers Need to Know One of the newest technology buzzwords to penetrate the industrial manufacturing space is HTML5. HMI platforms are beginning to be based on HTML5. Analysis tools for MES, configuration software, and other products are touting their HTML5 compliance. HTML5 is getting a lot of attention. But what […]

  Read MoreEric Lauber, PE / Automation Integration / HTML5 / Industrial Automatoin Solutions / Manufacturing Operations Management / Manufacturing Process Control / Process Design / Upgrade / Improvement / elauber /

• Thermal Expansion and Piping Stress: Part 2, Stress Analysis and Proper Engineering Prevent Problems

  Thermal Expansion and Piping Stress: Part 2, Stress Analysis and Proper Engineering Prevent Problems This is the second in a three-part series on thermal expansion and piping stress. The first article provided a primer on the basics of the thermal expansion and contraction found in industrial facilities. This article focuses on the importance of proper […]

  Read MoreBill Schuller, PE / Oil & Gas / Pipe Stress / Piping Engineering / Process Engineer / Stress Analysis / Thermal Contraction / Construction / Manufacturing / bschuller /