Control and Instrumentation articles from February 1999

Control and Instrumentation archives from February 1999

Green tax `vital' -- EIC.
February 1, 1999... A new report calls for a `green tax' to bring Britain up to speed with its overseas competitors in adopting environmental technologies. The report by the Environmental Industry Commission (EIC) says the UK is falling behind its foreign...

HSE backs input devices safety study.
February 1, 1999... A study examining the possible health risks of various computer input devices, such as the mouse, touchscreen and joystick, is being funded by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE). The two year study at the University of Surrey and...

Combustion technology.
February 1, 1999... Ionic Fuel Technology Ltd (IFT) and BP Energy have created a formal business alliance whereby BP Energy's clients will be able to utilise the environmental benefits provided by IFT's combustion technology system. The IFT system is a...

2m [pounds sterling] Brazil contract.
February 1, 1999... SF, suppliers of water and wastewater equipment and systems, is to supply dewatering equipment to the SABESP-owned and operated Parque Novo Mundo wastewater treatment plant in Brazil. The total value to USF exceeds 2 million [pounds sterling]....

NEWS IN BRIEF.
February 1, 1999... Safe distribution deal for Surrey Terwisga UK, based in South Godstone, Surrey, has been appointed distributor for the Stahl range of explosion-protected electrical control equipment, fluorescent luminaires and intrinsically safe products....

Czeching out 5.5m [pounds sterling] SCADA.(Transmitton contract gets contract from MERO)
February 1, 1999... Transmitton, the Ashby de la Zouch, Leicestershire-based company, has been awarded a 5.5 million [pounds sterling] SCADA contract by MERO, the state-owned operators of a crude oil pipeline and storage facility in the Czech Republic. The...

Xycom now `weds' ASAP.(merged company now known as Xycom Automation)(Brief Article)
February 1, 1999... Industrial PC and HMI producer Xycom, which merged with software supplier ASAP (Automation Systems and Products) in 1998, has now decided both companies will trade as Xycom Automation. The new company will become an automation supplier...

Yokogawa acquires Martron Instruments.(Brief Article)
February 1, 1999... Yokogawa Europe has acquired Martron Instruments, the company which has acted as the UK representative of Yokogawa's test and measurement division since the 1970s. The acquisition covers both the sales and calibration operation of Martron. ...

Marketing environment research.(Imperial College, King's College and the University of London sign commercialization pact)(Brief Article)
February 1, 1999... Imperial College, King's College and the University of London have joined forces to commercialise environmental technologies generated from university research. Their programme, called EnVision, was started under a DTI biotechnology grant....

SHE chooses MAP for more financial control.(Specialist Heat Exchangers; Manufacturing Products and Services system)(Brief Article)
February 1, 1999... Fourman, a manufacturing and financial control system from Manufacturing Products and Services (MAP), is being installed at Lincoln-based Specialist Heat Exchangers (SHE) in a deal worth 265,000 [pounds sterling]. Fourman is being...

CIM predicts growth in IT.
February 1, 1999... Last year's Computers in Manufacturing (CIM) show reported good business from its 300 exhibitors and 150 seminars. The show closed with almost 90% of stand space already booked for CIM '99. A major focus at this year's show was ERP, and the...

Is Mobifinder bugging you?(Rohde adn Schwarz signal detection technology)
February 1, 1999... If you really must use your mobile phone where you shouldn't -- make sure you're using old technology. Rohde & Schwarz's Mobifinder is able to detect active GSM mobiles -- but not analogue types -- in a selectable range up to 50m radius. ...

Pump demand to hit $38 billion.
February 1, 1999... World demand for fluid handling pumps is projected to increase 7.3% annually, including inflation, and approach US$38 billion in the year 2002. On balance, improved conditions in Western Europe will be offset by some slowing in the US market as...

Heading for the unknown.(UK engineering industry outlook grim)
February 1, 1999... Further interest rate cuts will come too late to prevent engineering plunging into a `very deep' recession. That's the warning in the latest business trends survey for the fourth quarter of 1998, published as part of the EEF/Robson Rhodes...

PDM to post a 16% growth.(worldwide product data management software and services market)(Brief Article)
February 1, 1999... Mid-year results, including Asian economies, indicate the world-wide product data management (PDM) market for software and services is on track for a gain of more than 16% and exceed US$1.2 billion in 1998, CIMdata president Ed Miller claims....

Final hurdle for 9bn [pounds sterling] BTR Siebe.(High Court approval)(Brief Article)
February 1, 1999... Siebe and BTR shareholders, who have approved the merger of the two firms, were waiting to learn on 1 February if the High Court will clear the way for the estimated 9bn [pounds sterling] deal. Officially described as a merger, Siebe is...

PLCs propel Rockwell.(industrial control equipment; Rockwell Automation)(Brief Article)
February 1, 1999... Despite difficult trading conditions during 1998, Rockwell Automation again increased its market share in the UK for PLCs for industrial control. `This area continues to show double figure growth -- a trend we have maintained for the last three...

I-M buys Abalon.(Industri-Matematik)
February 1, 1999... Industri-Matematik, the global provider of supply chain management software, has bought the Abalon Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software operation, formerly Abalon AB, from Astea International, for the sum of US$9.5m (5.8m [pounds...

Software shares soften.
February 1, 1999... UK software firms greeted the New Year with a whimper as a profits warning from SAP, the German business solutions provider, set off alarms across Europe. SAP's own shares tumbled with the announcement that sales problems in Japan would cause a...

Drives help get people airborne.
February 1, 1999... Brook Hansen has supplied drives for a passenger transfer system at Roissy Charles de Gaulle Airport, Paris, including more than 100 gear units and geared motors, brake discs, V-belts, couplings and brake motors. The transport system is...

Pump problems inverted.
February 1, 1999... ICI Chemicals and Polymers has installed two Alstom Drives & Controls inverters to control pumps at its Lostock Brine Purification plant. As a result, the plant has achieve improved reliability and reduced maintenance costs, says ICI. Two...

Sharper stars in their eyes.
February 1, 1999... Astronomers will be observing celestial bodies with the help of Heidenhain linear encoders next year, when two 8m Gemini telescopes in Hawaii and Chile go fully operational. The LIDA 105C tape encoder devices, more commonly seen in CNC...

Trackwatch points the way.
February 1, 1999... Solartron has sprung to the aid of National Railway Supplies (NRS), helping it combat that winter scourge -- frozen points. The company's Trackwatch remote terminal unit (RTU) is to be used as the monitoring platform in NRS's points heater...

SYS.BUILD/NEWS.
February 1, 1999... Joint deal on auto software SOFTWARE Wonderware, a division of Siebe Intelligent Automation, and Contec, of Osaka, Japan, have announced a joint programme to market automation software on WindowsCE industrial platforms. As an...

IR checks for [CO.sub.2] incinerators.
February 1, 1999... Land Infrared's CD1 infrared radiation thermometer is designed to indicate combustion temperature in large waste incinerators. It sights through a flanged tube penetrating the wall above the incinerator bed and detects the temperature of...

DRIVES & CONTROLS: All revved up and ready to go.
February 1, 1999... Seminars cover EMC, fuzzy logic and communications The Drives and Controls exhibition returns to Telford Exhibition Centre between 16th-18th March. Around 200 companies are expected to exhibit, covering the whole spectrum of drives and...

New directions for the future of FLOW.
February 1, 1999... Instrumentation has changed over the past few years. Flow measurement and control have arguably seen the greatest improvements Technology developments in the primary sensors have been allied to the huge advances in signal, processing --...

processing cement & MINERALS.
February 1, 1999... Cement's grey image is turning green as plants go on the environmental offensive Elsag Bailey last month scooped one of the biggest prizes in the cement industry of recent years: that of developing the process control and instrumentation...

SENSING a gas in the market.(manufacturers of gas detectors)
February 1, 1999... Occupational health and safety and environmental emissions are burning issues for a burgeoning gas detection market Since the 1950s when Joshua Sieger developed one of the first commercially available catalytic elements, the gas sensor...