Plant Engineering articles from January 2008

Plant Engineering archives from January 2008

Remote monitoring closes the gap between meters and breakers.
January 15, 2008... By Jack Smith, Managing Editor Power management solutions - hardware metering devices, protective relays, communications components and software - enable end users to monitor, analyze, diagnose and control their power distribution systems...

It's a numbers game, but you ought to play to win.
January 15, 2008... Bob Vavra, Editor We've been awfully nosy the last few months. We've been poking and prodding you for a lot of information. We've asked about how you do your job, how you do it well, what you earn and what you think about the state of...

Upward mobility.
January 15, 2008... By Bob Vavra, Editor Productivity, salary gains support manufacturing growth By every measure, manufacturing leaders continue to deliver high productivity even as total jobs in manufacturing continue to decline. Delivering that...

Global manufacturing salaries on the rise; job market tightens.
January 15, 2008... Bob Vavra, Editor The world is catching up. It's not just in manufacturing output, either. The world's manufacturing salaries are also on the rise. There is no question the complicated, evolving global manufacturing economy has...

Security, sustainability a main topic at ASHRAE meeting.
January 15, 2008... Staff Guidance on building security and emergency planning and response, and doing so while practicing good sustainability measures, will be presented in ASHRAE's free public session held at the 2008 Winter Meeting. The session, HVAC...

ASQ event links sustainable growth and Lean.(Conference notes)
January 15, 2008... Staff Lean Six Sigma experts from around the world will gather at the 8th Annual American Society for Quality (ASQ) Lean Six Sigma Conference February 11-12, 2008, at the Pointe Hilton Tapatio Cliffs Resort in Phoenix. On tap at the 2008...

Manufacturing Summit turns its focus on sustainability.
January 15, 2008... Staff Sustainability has been identified as a major issue for manufacturers in 2008, and the topic will get a major focus at the 2008 Plant Engineering Manufacturing Summit. The first day of the two-day conference on March 31 and April...

Newer, flexible MES systems make plant floor adoption easier.
January 15, 2008... By Gregory M. DeLaere, VIA Information Tools The age old proverb 'There's more than one way to skin a cat' certainly applies to manufacturing. New techniques and methods of various processes continuously emerge, often labeled as...

Fuel cell refueling time reduced, Raymond study finds.
January 15, 2008... Staff The Raymond Corporation announced yesterday that its research into hydrogen fuel cell-powered lift truck performance has led to some interesting findings. The research commenced in January, at its Greene, NY, manufacturing facility,...

Ingersoll-Rand to acquire Trane in $10.1B deal.
January 15, 2008... Staff Ingersoll-Rand Company has acquire Trane Inc. in a transaction valued at approximately $10.1 billion, including transaction fees and the assumption of approximately $150 million of Trane net debt. Trane is a global leader in indoor...

China developing strategic strength in PLC market: ARC.
January 15, 2008... Staff Buoyant foreign direct investment flowing into China, accompanied by rising consumer demand, is propelling the country's manufacturing sector, which in turn is driving the Programmable Logic Controller (PLC) market in China. The...

Germany's Hannover Fair to showcase subcontracting.
January 15, 2008... Staff In an age of global competition, subcontractors assume an important role as competent supply chain partners. Hannover Fair 2008 (April 21-25 in Hannover, Germany) will showcase subcontractors in a number of industrial sectors,...

Bosch Rexroth helps opens new lab at Texas A&M.
January 15, 2008... Staff Bosch Rexroth was part of a ribbon-cutting ceremony at the opening of Bosch Rexroth-R.C. Womack Fluid Power Laboratory at Texas A&M University in College Station. The lab, created in conjunction with Womack Machine Supply, is a...

Database on mature workforce issues established.
January 15, 2008... Staff The Conference Board has launched its new Employer-Practices Locator, a Web database that enables employers, reporters, and researchers to locate examples of specific actions companies have taken to address the challenges presented...

ARC sees global growth in automation market.(Industry overview)
January 15, 2008... Staff Discrete industry automation continues to experience solid worldwide growth as manufacturing plants and OEM machine builders continue to invest in automation to improve agility and flexibility of operations to meet market demands....

Syclo expands marketing program with IBM.
January 15, 2008... Staff Building on its long relationship with MRO Software, Hoffman Estates, IL-based Syclo has updated and expanded its marketing alliance with IBM, which purchased MRO Software. Syclo's relationship with MRO Software has been built around...

Idea engineering leads to 'Eureka!' moments.
January 15, 2008... By Roy Peters, Oklahoma Manufacturing Alliance Lean manufacturing, Six Sigma, and many other process improvement programs do more than reduce costs and eliminate waste. They create opportunities for growth by increasing capacity. This...

Salary survey.
January 15, 2008... Bob Vavra, Editor In challenging times, plant managers earn more compensation and respect The 2007 Plant Engineering Salary Survey is all about value. It's about the value management places on the skills and abilities of the plant...

Are maintenance workers really different than other shiftworkers?
January 15, 2008... By Bruce Oliver and Dan Capshaw, Shiftwork Solutions LLC Many maintenance managers will tell you their workforce is different than other shiftworkers - that their attitudes and behaviors are not the same. Recognizing, understanding and...

Air filtration systems contribute more than clean air.
January 15, 2008... By Kevin Campbell, Senior Editor While productivity, quality and the bottom line will never go away as the primary drivers of manufacturing processes, new focuses on safety and sustainability will have a growing impact on how those...

Face up to the challenges, get involved in the solutions.
January 15, 2008... By Darrin Wikoff, Life Cycle Engineering What's the matter with U.S. manufacturing? There's a perception that U.S. manufacturers are fleeing to set up shop in countries where labor is cheaper, and this perception has created extensive...

Welcome to the era of the industrial athlete.
January 15, 2008... By Patrick Lynch, Staff Intern Style, comfort almost as important as safety to a new generation of PPE users Like his counterparts on the gridiron or the diamond, the Industrial Athlete looks for every edge to stay competitive on the...

IR thermometers.
January 15, 2008... Staff The HD200 is a differential thermometer datalogger and IR thermometer that allows users to take differential temperature readings with dual Type-K thermocouple probes. The HD300 CFM/CMM thermo-anemometer with IR thermometer provides...

Split-system heat pump.
January 15, 2008... Staff The York Affinity YZH series 18 SEER split-system heat pump is designed for simple installation and maintenance. Featuring complete system control, all models are equipped with an exclusive microprocessor that includes a demand...

Humidification system.
January 15, 2008... Staff Comprising a bank of evenly spaced tubes that provide instantaneous steam, the nozzle-free, multiple-tube steam dispersion humidification system is very compact, facilitating its installation inside either existing duct systems or...

AHR Expo Innovation Awards honor top new products.
January 15, 2008... Staff Innovative products in the HVAC&R marketplace will be honored as winners of the 2008 AHR Expo Innovation Awards competition this month in New York. The honorees represent the best submissions from the thousands of products on...

IR thermometers.
January 15, 2008... Staff Models 566 and 568 thermometers feature broad infrared temperature measurement functionality, an on-screen menu system and a dot-matrix display enabling users to take complex measurements quickly, easily and from great distances....

Parallel three-phase UPS.
January 15, 2008... Staff The RP36000/3 three-phase UPS enables attached servers to save all work in progress and initiate a shutdown in the event of power loss, and restores it with Thermal Logic power policies to ensure business picks up where it left off....

Sunlightreadable TFT.
January 15, 2008... Staff The model PDI-T320240SR-5.7 is part of a line of sunlight-readable 5.7-inch TFTs with QVGA (320 x 240) resolution. The TFT module offers improved contrast, color saturation and response time. It is offered as a standard transmissive...

ElectronicHID ballasts.
January 15, 2008... Staff e-Vision[R] electronic HID ballasts include circuitry for self-heating thermal protectors for 70- and 100-W metal halide downlight applications. The ballasts feature an auto shut-off mechanism for lamps operating in a questionable...

Shock recorder.
January 15, 2008... Staff The OM-CP-ULTRASHOCK101-50 -EB is a battery powered, three-axis shock recorder that measures and records temperature, pressure and humidity at the selected reading rates, while shock is recorded at the peak acceleration levels. The...

Metric bearings.
January 15, 2008... Staff Super Ball Bushing bearings are now available in metric sizes 16, 20, 25, 30, 40 and 50 millimeters. The precision bearings have a coefficient of friction as low as 0.001, which allows users to employ smaller and less expensive...

EtherNet/IP safety I/O module.
January 15, 2008... Staff The Allen-Bradley CompactBlock Guard I/O on EtherNet/IP detects failures at the I/O and field-device level while enhancing operator protection in many applications including robotic, point-of-operation, guard-monitoring and remote...

Photoelectric sensors.
January 15, 2008... Staff GLV18 Econo-Vue photoelectric sensors are available in straight and right-angled housings, cabled and quick disconnect versions, and come standard with a flush-mount bracket to create a custom look on panel mounts. Sixty-four sensor...

Linear displacement transducer.
January 15, 2008... Staff The GEMCO 953S Series VMAX linear displacement transducer provides absolute continuous position feedback under extreme conditions such as shock, vibration, extreme temperatures or exposure to contaminants. The transducer is shock...

Embedded PC.
January 15, 2008... Staff The CX1010 mid-range embedded PC features Windows XP Embedded or Windows CE and a 500 MHz Pentium MMX-compatible processor. It offers CPU performance suitable for a range of automation and control applications. Bundled with TwinCAT...

Ultrasonic level sensors.
January 15, 2008... Staff LPU-2428 loop-powered ultrasonic level sensors are microprocessor-controlled to internally perform volume, flow and totalization calculations. The IP65-rated sensors have a 1 to 25-foot detection range and are specifically designed...

Cable-tie installation tool.
January 15, 2008... Staff The BT11000 QuickTie cable tie installation tool offers an option for cable restraining and bundling. The portable, five-pound tool delivers 550 pounds of torque, which provides uniform tension on ties, allowing for consistent...

Relay with arc suppression.
January 15, 2008... Staff NO-ARC technology provides arc suppression to mechanical relays through the use of smart electronics. The technology reduces the amount of arcing across the relay contacts to extend the life of the relay. It energizes a circuit that...

What in the world are engineers reading? Depends on where you are.
January 15, 2008... Staff The influence of PlantEngineering.com on American manufacturing is well-documented. In parts of the world where Plant Engineering magazine isn't available, PlantEngineering.com is still known as a trusted source of information, and...

Isolation, signal conversion covered in exclusive series.(Brief article)
January 15, 2008... Staff Whether dealing with instrumentation ground loops or passing HART signals to a DCS or cleaning up VFD signals, isolators and signal converters can be used for many applications in process control. A two-part series on the subject is...

2008 Engineers Week resources are online.
January 15, 2008... Staff The focus on Engineers Week 2008 is to call attention to the importance of engineering as a career and its impact on everyday life. As part of the programs scheduled for February 17-23, sponsors have created a number of online tools...

The many roads to real sustainability.
January 15, 2008... By Marc Hoffman, Consortium for Energy Efficiency A number of factors are moving energy and climate change from the sidelines to center stage in the business world. Everyone remembers how Hurricane Katrina disrupted oil refining on the Gulf...