Market developments form the foundation of the premier ISA Wireless Factory Automation Workshop, with a focus of “The Last Meter – Leveraging economies of scale of mass market technologies to meet factory automation wireless communication needs at the edge of the architecture.” The ISA Communications Division will host this workshop on 16-17 April at the [...]
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ISA’s new awards program
In case you haven’t heard, the Society has a new honors and awards program—“Celebrating Excellence.” Thanks to a special task force formed by the ISA Honors and Awards Committee and headed by Dr. Peggie Koon, this new program will re-invigorate ISA’s long standing practice of recognizing individuals and companies that have made significant technical contributions [...]
Uninterruptible power supplies, cybersecurity
… Once a hacker has gained access to a moderately secured network, they can easily determine the IP addresses of every device on the network. Using port scans, they then can determine if the device communicates through HTTP, SNMP, Telnet, MODBUS, etc. Once the communications protocol has been established, the hacker will first attempt to [...]
Virtual Boxes
Virtual Boxes In preparing for our updated suite of cyber-security classes one idea that has come to the forefront is to set up virtual computers aka: appliance or machines. This would enable us to let our students experiment and not cause damage to the physical computer. I have spent many hours in the last 3 [...]
Making Sense of MEMS
Micro Electro Mechanical Systems (MEMS) describe a type of device or sensor as well as a manufacturing process. MEMS sensors incorporate tiny devices with miniaturized mechanical structures, typically ranging from 1-100 μm (about the thickness of a human hair), while MEMS manufacturing processes provide an alternative to conventional macro-scale machining and assembly techniques. … MEMS [...]
How much is downtime costing you?
Take a look at the important components of total downtime cost. As you read the list, assess whether your downtime number fully includes these issues. Equipment related costs Annually calculated as a constant unit price Labor cost: Account for the full cost of direct and indirect labor with benefits, and include a share of all [...]
Using Social Media to Your Advantage
Presented by Jon DiPietro at ISA Automation Week 2011 Your resume can be hundreds of pages long but weigh nothing. You can speak to several thousand people every day without ever opening your mouth. You can read hundreds of important news stories every day without searching for them. Dozens of people can make your [...]
Liptak to reveal automation irony in technical world
The automation profession’s big irony, according to consultant Bela Liptak, is this: While universities, scholars, and even technical industries themselves don’t really recognize automation as a profession, “our contribution is potentially the highest compared to any other,” Liptak said. On Thursday at Automation Week in Mobile, Alabama, Liptak will unveil the challenges this unsung industry [...]
Automation Founders Circle: Klein earns Arnold O. Beckman Award
ISA will honor Martin Klein by presenting him with its Arnold O. Beckman Founder Award on 17 October, the opening day of ISA Automation Week. Given in honor of Dr. Arnold O. Beckman, founder of Beckman Instruments, the award “recognizes a significant technological contribution to the conception and implementation of a new principle of instrument [...]
Automation Week Keynoter talks real-time optimization
If real-time optimization has been around for the past 30 years, why aren’t more oil and chemical companies reaping its rewards? Charlie Cutler, president of Cutler Technology in San Antonio, Tex., examines this phenomenon during his keynote speech at next week’s ISA Automation Week and comes to a surprising conclusion: This isn’t a technology problem [...]