PI North America members Beamex and HARTING are in the news this month along with Germany’s Indu-Sol. Beamex has scheduled two calibration-focused events for the process industry, one for technicians and engineers and one for managers and executives. HARTING’s new product MICA (Modular Industry Computing Architecture) won the HERMES AWARD at the opening ceremony of Hannover Fair. Indu-Sol presents an appraisal of the status of industrial networks across technologies and countries.
Beamex
The International Society of Automation (ISA) and its Strategic Partner for Calibration, Beamex, Inc., announce the opening of attendee registration for Calibration Best Practices: Interactive Workshop, which will be held Thursday, 18 August 2016 at the Space Center Houston in Houston, Texas, USA and the Strategic Automation Leadership Conference, which will be held Wednesday, 12 October 2016 at ISA headquarters in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, USA.
The jointly sponsored events will explore the latest insights, trends and best practices for process plants seeking to improve calibration quality, safety, accuracy and efficiency. Techniques for managing smart advanced technologies, like PROFIBUS PA, will be addressed. Instructors will discuss day-to-day challenges and how best to solve them through new and innovative strategies and advances in calibration technology—all designed to save time while achieving quality metrics and improving safety.
Best Calibration Practices: Interactive Workshop
Strategic Automation Leadership Conference
HARTING
The HARTING Technology Group has won the coveted HERMES AWARD for the second time, garnering the prize on Sunday evening in Hannover. The company beat four other competitors with its HARTING MICA (Modular Industry Computing Architecture), the company’s mini-industrial computer. The family-owned company had previously picked up the prestigious prize in 2006 for an RFID solution. The Hermes prize is awarded by the Deutsche Messe.
“The HERMES AWARD is the world’s most important innovation prize for industry. We are very excited about this important victory. It highlights the innovative capacity of our engineers and developers”, explained Philip Harting, CEO of the technology group. The presentation of the nominated innovations and the award took place as part of the festive opening ceremony of the exhibition on Sunday in the presence of German Chancellor Angela Merkel and US President Barack Obama. The prize was presented by Prof. Dr. Johanna Wanka, Minister of Education and Research.
Indu-Sol
Secure and stable networks form the basis of high performance industrial communication. The only chance for their longevity is that they remain in perfect working condition. Is this currently the case?
VORTEX 2016 (Image 1) for the first time delivers a comprehensive appraisal of the status of industrial networks across technologies and countries. This knowledge base is the result of a total of 677 measurements, for which Indu-Sol was commissioned in 2015.
On the basis of 400 fault diagnoses and 277 field tests for checking the proper installation and stability of communication (qualification tests, Image 2), a clear picture emerges: Factors in the production environment as well as the duration of operation of machines and systems, often extending into several years, which are equipped with proven technologies such as PROFIBUS are already resulting in symptoms of “old age” (Image 3). In order to continue to guarantee their operational availability, it is necessary to provide for the permanent monitoring of the network status for early identification of any degradation in quality of telegram traffic.
For more recent technologies such as PROFINET, the focus among other things is on the issue of an advantageous network structure as required by efficient data communication and also on the selection of the best update rate according to one’s own purposes. Moreover, there is strong demand for information across all technologies on guaranteeing the electromagnetic compatibility of industrial machines and systems.
The large number of field tests depicts one portion of the worldwide market for products and services offered for the maintenance of industrial networks, and this market is growing continuously – especially considering developments towards Industry 4.0. In light of this, the mission at present and for the future is: In order to guarantee global economic competition, comprehensive solutions must be available which are able to ensure the long-term stable functioning of the lifelines of our industrial communication. This process and its effects will also play an important role in future issues of VORTEX, which from now on will be released annually.
Download VORTEX or browse online at http://www.indu-sol.com/en/products/catalogue-request/#VORTEX