Control and Instrumentation articles from April 1996

Control and Instrumentation archives from April 1996

Display systems survey. (includes buyer's guide)(Buyers Guide)
April 1, 1996... Displays, whether chart recorders, DPMs, instrument units or full industrial monitors, are advancing The rapid growth of process instrumentation and increasing demands on monitoring and control equipment have necessitated considerable...

Customer service: battleground of the '90s?
April 1, 1996... In these days of increasingly cut-throat competition, how can manufacturers get an edge? If there is an insatiable demand for product that only you make and customers are not particularly bothered about quality or delivery times, then turn the...

Manufacturing execution systems: the key to integration. (includes related article on online scheduling system)
April 1, 1996... MES means different things to different people - but it does seem to be moving on from the old concepts of system integration/CIM So what exactly is an MES? Yes, we know it means Manufacturing Execution System, but what's that? The most common...

PISTEP: improving plant profitability. (Process Industries development for the Standard for the Exchange of Product model data)
April 1, 1996... A new design culture for data exchange and sharing is making rapid progress on major projects If we do not implement available technology to reduce costs, we are dead in the water' said Sandy Clark, director of AMEC Process and Energy, at the...

Object-linking and embedding: what is OPC about? (includes related articles on object linking and embedding for process control)
April 1, 1996... 'Ole' - an expression of glee, or what? OPC has emerged as the latest vogue acronym. But, it's much more than just that So, what exactly is OPC? It stands for OLE (Object Linking and Embedding) for Process Control, and is a communication...

Catalytic gas detectors - the warts and all!
April 1, 1996... If you're using gas detectors of any kind, particularly (but certainly not only) offshore, you need to be fully aware of the facts Although the gas detection industry has come a long way since the days of the miners' safety lamp, the...

Function block technology standard.
April 1, 1996... We are on the way towards totally open, distributed computer control systems Function Blocks (FBs) have been used in process control and manufacturing for over 20 years. They're mainly stored as libraries of proprietary controls. But recently,...

New technology for advanced control.
April 1, 1996... New technologies, including neural networks, fuzzy control and on-line modelling and optimisation, will enable more time and cost savings to be achieved The process industries have been investing in technologies to improve the control of their...

Hazardous areas and the EC - change or status quo? (European Community)
April 1, 1996... Over the next few years the impact of new EC Directives will affect most of those involved with hazardous areas Since 1976 there have been EC Directives dealing with requirements for electrical equipment in potentially flammable atmospheres....

Micro sensors: moving to new technologies.
April 1, 1996... New and very flexible sensors, with greatly improved price/performance ratios, will be the result of emerging micro technologies An automation system without sensor information to control the process would be like a torso: blind, deaf and...

It's all in condition monitoring. (process control)
April 1, 1996... Condition monitoring is part of a new and changing world, involving neural nets and DSP Condition Monitoring has been around for some time, and the benefits of adopting a condition-based approach to maintenance of industrial plant are well...