At the Chemnitz, Germany, engine plant of Volkswagen Sachsen, two production lines have been equipped with Balluff RFID identification systems (BIS C) to provide reliable, automated identification and a convenient solution to ongoing process data updating for the production part.

Many key tasks in the manufacture of products, including inspection, orientation, identification and assembly, require the use of visual techniques. Human vision and response, however, can be slow and tend to be error-prone either due to boredom or fatigue. Replacing human inspection with machine vision can go far in automating factory operation, but implementers need to carefully match machine vision options with application requirements.

The Osiswitch Compact line at Télémécanique, a Schneider Electric brand, makes circuit breakers. This production line allows the possibility of creating up to 2000 different product types from just 100 different components. Each circuit breaker is manually assembled meaning a 100% reliable inspection of the individual components is essential in order to verify each breaker before packaging.

Every plant has some sort of system in place for managing calibration operations and data, but the different methods for doing it vary greatly in terms of cost, quality, efficiency and accuracy of data.

Based in Auckland, New Zealand, Wiri Oil Services Ltd is the city’s only petroleum depot and distribution centre for petroleum fuel. It is connected by pipeline to Marsden Point Oil Refinery in New Zealand. The company receives four products from a refinery through a pipeline and jet fuel is sent to Auckland Airport via a second pipeline.

Fieldbus is a wonderful technology with many benefits, but fieldbus installation requires some additional considerations over and above normal 4–20 mA projects, not the least of which is how to prepare for fault conditions.

An apparently simple operation to polish a work piece is in fact highly complex. A skilled person with a long experience in this process can do it very well and most of the handling is based on ‘feeling’.

Conveyor uptime has increased dramatically at Corcoran Concrete’s quarry in County Mayo, following a switch to Dodge-brand gearboxes and bearings from Baldor.

Cooperation on International Standards to promote energy efficiency and reduce carbon emissions was given a major boost by a workshop in Paris, France, on 16–17 March 2009, which brought together 290 experts from the public and private sector. Presentations and discussion panels provided insights on the requirements and challenges related to energy efficiency and related standardisation work in a variety of fields, including industrial systems.

At ACHEMA 2009, which will take place from 11–15 May in Frankfurt am Main, manufacturers of pumps, compressors and fittings will be the largest contingent of exhibitors once more. 950 from 4000 exhibitors will be from this sector. For them and the 180,000 expected visitors, surely energy efficiency will be one of the main themes again this year. Solutions that improve availability will also have high priority.

Radiometric measurement, also known as nuclear- or gamma-based measurement, is an extremely reliable and safe, non-invasive solution that is suitable for level limit detection, continuous level measurement, and density and interface layer measurement.

The Scalable Mobile Control System from Hirschmann Automation and Control can be used for controlling and monitoring machine functions as well as for safe load indicator. The product family includes controls from the iFLEX series and the iSCOUT operating consoles. The modular concept also ensures that each solution can be adapted economically at any time to changed requirements.

The model 1312/1392 shear-web tension/compression load cells from BCM Sensor are alloy steel (1312) and stainless steel (1392) load cells with protection up to an IP66 standard. The 1312 is also nickel plated. They can measure in either tension or compression, and applications for these load cells include hopper scales and vehicles scales.

Fieldbus (the use of digital communications networks for distributed instrumentation and control) is a wonderful technology with many benefits, but fieldbus installation requires some additional considerations over and above normal 4–20 mA projects.

Compared to standard level measurements in liquids, the detection and measurement of interfaces has its own particular challenges, leaving many interface applications without reliable level measurement. Most popular today are the electronic or non-mechanical solutions with no moving mechanical parts which offer much higher long-term stability and low-maintenance operation.