Control and Instrumentation articles from December 1999

Control and Instrumentation archives from December 1999

The mood is changing.(Brief Article)
December 1, 1999... Users of process automation equipment are showing genuine interest in future investment Slowly but surely, mood in the manufacturing industries is becoming more optimistic. Technologies, which have been promised for months, are starting to...

Saab established in UK.(Brief Article)
December 1, 1999... Saab Tank Control has established a new UK company to support TankRadar level gauges and associated products. The company will address increased demand for tank inventory systems in the oil and process industries.

Intertec move in.(Brief Article)
December 1, 1999... Intertec-Hess GmbH have founded a British subsidiary, Intertec Instrumentation Ltd. In addition to Intertec enclosures, housings, cabinets and heaters the company will also represent German companies in level,

Vacon enters UK.(Brief Article)
December 1, 1999... Vacon Drives UK Ltd. has been established in the UK as a wholly owned subsidiary of the Vaasa Control Group of Finland. The Group was founded in 1993 and has grown to a [pounds]25m company. The office is its 8th European sales office to be...

F&G geared for expansion.(Brief Article)
December 1, 1999... Moeller Electric's takeover of switchgear specialists Felten & Guilleaume (F&G) will lead to a doubling of its sales force and better customer service in the UK.

ABB support in Scotland.(Brief Article)
December 1, 1999... ABB is strengthening support for its customers in Scotland through a Glasgow based engineering agency: J.W. Fairburn Ltd. The new office establishes a central focus in Scotland for technical sales, support and service covering ABB and previous...

Foundation gets thumbs up for Rashid gas platform.(Brief Article)
December 1, 1999... THE MULTI-MILLION DOLLAR contract to supply Rashid Petroleum with an integrated process automation system for an unmanned, offshore platform has been won by Fisher-Rosemount. Known as the Rosetta Project, this ambitious scheme consists of...

IEE control medal.
December 1, 1999... DR GEORGE TURNBULL (pictured), technical director of ICS has been awarded the IEE's Control Division Achievement Medal for 1999. The accolade is awarded to honour an individual who has made a significant contribution to a particular field over...

Single standard still supported.(fieldbus)(Statistical Data Included)(Brief Article)
December 1, 1999... THE FIELDBUS DEBATE continues as the IEC appears to have taken a step backwards according to WorldFIP. To reach a consensus, the IEC had to placate vendors opposing a single standard, so additional incompatible buses have been proposed. The...

TLA's part 3: Chris Haines continues explaining three (and more) letter acronyms.(three letter acronyms)(Brief Article)
December 1, 1999... VBA - Microsoft's Visual Basic for Applications is a member of Microsoft's Visual Basic technology family. Visual Basic is a stand-alone software tool for developing full software applications from scratch and is becoming a de facto standard...

Baan plans an Internet future.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
December 1, 1999... BAAN HAS UNVEILED a business plan which will evolve the company from an ERP supplier to a provider of integrated enterprise business process solutions e-commerce and the Internet. According to Forrester Research, the market for business to...

Modicon wins the day at Jaguar.(Brief Article)
December 1, 1999... JAGUAR'S NEW ASSEMBLY lines which will manufacture the X400 baby-Jag at Halewood will be equipped with Schneider Electric's Modicon programmable controllers. The agreement, which goes against [parent company] Ford's preference for Allen-Bradley...

Micrologic Solutions.(acquired by Advanced RISC Machines)(Brief Article)
December 1, 1999... * Arm, a software and associated services company, has purchased Micrologic Solutions. The acquisition aims to bring additional software expertise to enhance the ability to offer a complete system-on-chip solution. The company is seeing an...

Honeywell.(Brief Article)
December 1, 1999... * Honeywell has reported a net income of $167 million in the third quarter of 1999, up 15% from $145 million in the same period last year. Earnings per share were $1.28 for the quarter, an increase of 12% from the third quarter, 1998....

Federal Products Co.(merges with Carl Mahr Holding)(Brief Article)
December 1, 1999... * Carl Mahr Holding GmbH, a German dimensional metrology instrument manufacturer, has merged with the US based Federal Products Co. The new company will be known as Mahr Federal Inc. The merger follows the purchase of coordinate measuring...

Matsushita Automation Controls.(now known as Matsushita Electric Works UK Ltd.)(Brief Article)
December 1, 1999... * Milton Keynes based Matsushita Automation Controls division of Matsushita Electric Works Ltd will now be known as Matsushita Electric Works UK Ltd. The change is due to a company wide strategy to capitalise on increasing sales in key areas.

National Instruments.(financial information)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
December 1, 1999... * National Instruments has recorded revenues of $82.7 million for the third quarter of 1999, representing 22 percent growth compared to the same period in 1998. Geographically, Europe has the largest growth with a 25 percent increase in...

Pantek.(contract with Panasonic UK)(Brief Article)
December 1, 1999... * Pantek has recently supplied Panasonic's UK distribution centre with InTouch visualisation and control software from Wonderware for their new Scada system at the Northampton warehouse site.

Total Control Products.(contract with Computer and Controller Systems Ltd.)(Brief Article)
December 1, 1999... * Total Control Products, a division of GE Fanuc Automation Europe SA, has appointed Computer & Controller Systems Ltd of Bo'ness, near Edinburgh, to distribute Its Quickpanel and Datapanel HMI and associated software across Scotland.

Dennis Kozlowski.(Tyco International management)(Brief Article)
December 1, 1999... * Tyco has not had an easy month with shares fluctuating and a number of critical articles regarding Tyco's accounting practices. Takeovers have played a crucial role in enabling Tyco's chief executive officer, Dennis Kozlowski to build the...

Benefits seen from cleanup.(Y2K rollover cleanup)
December 1, 1999... Industry sources are suggesting that funds diverted into the Y2K rollover cleanup would have been spent anyway and have merely accelerated investment programme in global customer support systems, which can only improve operations. Paul Gay...

Clear water is bluewater life.(Intensive Aquaculture Technology develops advanced water purification system for aquariums)(Brief Article)
December 1, 1999... AN ADVANCED WATER purification system has been developed by Intensive Aquaculture Technology which is in use in aquariums across Europe. The Bluewater Life Support System eliminates problems of cloudy water in both sea and fresh water and as...

Smarty, party car has its own parking glass tower.(Brief Article)
December 1, 1999... ELECTRONIC BUS TERMINALS are being used in the latest car parking scheme for the little 'Smart' car that has attracted so much attention. The car has been ridiculed for its upbeat and party coloured image but even though the car may be ahead of...

Drives mine and return the fertiliser to the land.(Brief Article)
December 1, 1999... AGRICULTURAL AL PRACTICES have required the alkalie potassium compound, potash for many centuries. Cleveland Potash has operated the only potash mine in the UK for the last 30 years which has recently been ret retrofitted with a medium voltage...

Software optimised GOLD RUSH.(Brief Article)
December 1, 1999... Dealing with commodies like gold, the intrinsic value of the end product should be guaranteed. The mining and processing of gold ore are complex operations requiring stringent cost controls for profit in a fluctuating world market. South...

SERVICE means more than a smile.
December 1, 1999... Competition has forced food manufacturers to look for new ways to increase productivity while reducing costs, Tania Coates reports The concept of a global market for food production has lent itself to placing increasing demands upon food...

Partners ships: raising the steaks to save the bacon?(Brief Article)
December 1, 1999... As competition in the high street gets fiercer, supermarkets and food manufacturers are forced to increase production. Food equipment manufacturers often enter into partnerships with control companies to provide engineering solutions. ...

Steam control makes plant EFFICIENT.(Brief Article)
December 1, 1999... Automatic process steam control and boiler control systems are capable of reducing costs, improving efficiency and reducing environmental impact. Colin Carter looks at how. Effective steam control in boilers can improve the bottom line to a...

INTERKAMA moves with the times.(Brief Article)
December 1, 1999... Paul Gay visited the Interkama exhibition and found the atmosphere typically business. It appears, however, that the control engineering sector is changing to meet the technical challenges of the new millennium Last month's Interkama '99...

New line in CO analysis?(Statistical Data Included)
December 1, 1999... C&I summarises Servomex's Stephen Firth's presentation at the 1999 ISA Show on the use of thick film sensors to measure carbon monoxide produced during combustion. Recent advances in the design and manufacture of carbon monoxide (GO)...

Siemens allows PC interfacing.(Brief Article)
December 1, 1999... COMMUNICATION PROCESSORS from Siemens enable AT compatible PCs and Simatic programming devices to be interfaced to Profibus networks. The short PCI format modules operate under Windows NT 4.0 as master processors on Profibus DP networks. Direct...

Wire less with new system.(Brief Article)
December 1, 1999... SUBSTANTIAL AMOUNTS of money and time can be saved on input/output wiring by programmable logic controller users with Telemecanique's new Telefast 2 multi-channel interface system. The system includes passive and active inter face units and...

Inverter interfaces in UK.(Brief Article)
December 1, 1999... THE VF-C RANGE of single and 3-phase compact inverters have just been launched in the UK to complement the range three communication interfaces have been developed, addressing 0.25kw to 4kw manufacturing automation and process control...

Module programmable for multiple buses.(Brief Article)
December 1, 1999... TELLIMA has launched an interface module which uses a Field-Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) to store the desired protocol. The Field Marshal fieldbus interface module claims to allow OEMs to add fieldbus capability to any product. The module...

Deadlines loom closer for mature applicants.(Brief Article)
December 1, 1999... PROFESSOR PHILIP THOMAS discusses deadlines looming forThe Institute of Measurement and Control's (InstMC) mature applicants. SARTOR 3, the Engineering Council's new registration rules, came into force this October for all engineering...

People on the move...(Brief Article)
December 1, 1999... Eltime Controls has appointed Daniel Hurst as its new Managing Director. Daniel succeeds his father, David, who will continue to be involved as a Director of Eltime. Richard Virgoe, founder and former Managing Director of Veccer, has been...

ABB INSTRUMENTATION.(Brief Article)
December 1, 1999... WHAT DOES ABB DO? ABB Instrumentation design, develop and manufacture instrumentation and equipment for industrial process and control, flow measurement and gas and liquid analysis. COMPANY HISTORY Based on over 200 years of...