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• How Ground Penetrating Radar Saves Money, Time, and Reduces Risks during Construction

  How Ground Penetrating Radar Saves Money, Time, and Reduces Risks during Construction A challenge present in every project is managing risk and reducing or eliminating unknown elements prior to construction. Significant risk can be present when subsurface conditions are not documented or investigated prior to the start of work. Dealing with these unearthed items can […]

  Read MoreJoe Leech / GPR / Ground Penetrating Radar / iLOC / Induction Tracer Clamp / Radio Detection / Utility Locating / Construction / Upgrade /

• Design and Implementation is Product of Automation Life Cycle Planning

  Design and Implementation is Product of Automation Life Cycle Planning After creating the roadmap during the automation life cycle planning process, the next step in the journey is the design and implementation of the plan. For smaller systems the design and implementation stages of a system upgrade can take weeks or months and not all […]

  Read MoreTony Ferguson / Automation Planning / Engineering Consulting Services / Industrial Automation Upgrades / Life Cycle / Maintenance / Manufacturing Operations Management / Pre-Engineering / Process Automation Engineering / Retrofit / System Upgrade / Improvement / Planning / Upgrade / Improvement / Upgrades /

• A Retrospective on 35 Years in Automation

  A Retrospective on 35 Years in Automation Having recently celebrated my 60th birthday, as well as 30 years with Matrix Technologies, I thought the readers might just be willing to indulge me in a bit of reminiscing about the changes I’ve seen in the automation business. Depending on your perspective, you may say, “Hey, I […]

  Read MoreDave Blaida, PE / Industrial Automation Engineering / Legacy Upgrades / Manufacturing Operations Management / Manufacturing Process Control / PLC / Upgrade / GE / IBM / Microsoft / Modicon / Modvue /

• The benefits of calculating ROI to measure a facility’s performance objectives

  The benefits of calculating ROI to measure a facility’s performance objectives For automation, return on investment (ROI) is more important than total cost of ownership (TCO). When making a capital investment in automation, companies need to determine value based on the solution’s impact on facility performance and its workforce. Also consider cost of downtime and […]

  Read MoreDave Blaida, PE / Automation / Control Engineering / Distributed Control System / Emerson / Facility Performance / Facility Solution / Manufacturing Automation Solutions / Mitigating Downtime / ROI / TCO / Improvement / Upgrade /

• Oil Refinery Upgrades Control System Involving More than 3,000 Instruments

  Oil Refinery Upgrades Control System Involving More than 3,000 Instruments An oil refinery client needed a control system upgrade to correct performance and maintenance issues. As part of this, the move to an instrument fieldbus technology was made to take advantage of the monitoring and troubleshooting features it could provide. This resulted in the need to […]

  Read MoreScott Byrne, PE / Engineering Consulting Services / Fieldbus / Oil and Gas Engineering / Upgrade / Controls / INtools Smart Plant Instrumentation / iPad / SQL Database /

• How Automation Life Cycle Planning Reduces Costs, Improves Productivity and Reduces Risks

  How Automation Life Cycle Planning Reduces Costs, Improves Productivity and Reduces Risks Every manufacturer is under pressure to reduce manufacturing costs and maximize asset utilization. Automation life cycle planning is a continuous process involving several steps that can help reduce expenditures, downtime, and inventory, all while improving productivity. Automation life cycle planning also helps identify, […]

  Read MoreTony Ferguson / Automation Planning / Engineering Consulting Services / Industrial Automation Upgrades / Maintenance / Manufacturing Operations Management / Process Automation Engineering / Retrofit / Improvement / Planning / Upgrade /

• Business Results, not Technology, Drive Process Control System Migrations

  Business Results, not Technology, Drive Process Control System Migrations Process Control System (PCS)/Distributed Control System (DCS) platform migrations and production system improvements are aimed at satisfying business drivers and are justified by business case results. Most manufacturers cannot justify investment in process control automation by simply replicating obsolete systems with current technology and maintaining the […]

  Read MoreDave Blaida, PE / FEL / Front-End Loading / PCS/DCS Migration / Process Control Automation / Process Design / Production System Migrations / Upgrade / Upgrades /

• Simple Steps to Make Your Facility More Sustainable

  Simple Steps to Make Your Facility More Sustainable The word “sustainability” means different things to different people. In business, making a profit is vital to keeping a company sustainable and open for business. From an environmental viewpoint, sustainability means protecting the earth by reducing the use of natural resources and waste. These two perspectives come […]

  Read MoreDoug Medley, PE / ASHRAE / Energy Audit / Energy Efficiency / Energy Savings / Power Factor Correction / Variable Speed / Safety / Sustainability / Upgrade /

• 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 / Automation Solutions / HTML5 / Industrial Automatoin Solutions / Manufacturing Operations Management / Manufacturing Process Control / Process Design / Upgrade / Improvement /