Industrial Automation Blog

By Wayne Labs

Many large food and beverage manufacturers have their own engineering staffs, which provide system integration and automation services to their various facilities. However, most medium- and small-sized processors often don’t have these capabilities—and may have just a single plant engineer.

Therefore, for any number of reasons, a food processor may need to look for a system integrator (SI) to help with its automation strategy, whether to update aging and existing automation systems or plan new automation strategies that could require complete revamps or new facilities. First, we look at the basics in choosing a system integrator, and second, we look at the ways a food processor can work with a SI to plan a successful automation strategy.

A Marriage Made in Heaven?

Well, maybe not so much, but unlike locating and calling a plumber who has Saturday hours solely to fix a leaking pipe, finding and choosing a system integrator should result in a long-term ...

By Steve J. Malyszko, P.E. and CEO, Malisko Engineering.

Different clients are at different points of their journey along the road of fully integrated digitization in their manufacturing operations. Some end-users are “getting it” about why digitization on the shop floor up to the carpeted space is vital now and into the future.

What we see being more of a challenge is grasping the how. How does a manufacturer get to a point where they feel confident that they’re heading in the right direction toward effective digitization? We advise clients that they should engage specialists who understand both the IT and the OT sides on manufacturing to help navigate.

The Art of the Possible
Most clients have heard the buzz phrases “digital transformation” or “digitization.” And a sector of those clients struggles to understand what sensible digitization will do for their company. A knowledgeable and experienced integrator in OT and IT will sit down ...

Welcome to the fourth installment in Plant Services’ quarterly feature, Ask An Integrator, developed together with the Control System Integrators Association and its member organizations. In this installment, the panel checks their crystal ball to find out what next year holds in two key industrial areas.

For this month, we asked the integrator community to predict how current issues of the day would play out next year. System integrators have been crucial to assisting plants in their ability to craft a streamlined supply chain as well as enable many employees to work from home during the COVID pandemic. What can we expect from these trends in 2022?

Dave King, Chief Operating Officer, CSIA Certified Member Martin CSI

On supply chain: Looking ahead into 2022, inventory demands and long lead times on common components are going to continue to be an issue. This has been our largest concern in managing projects and fulfilling our customer’s needs this year, and in ...

By Matteo D'Incecco

Fandis is one of the most important manufacturer of thermal management devices for control panels.
 
Would you like to know more about them? Fandis North America Corp. invites you to join the first Fandis digital event, organized  by FANDIS SPA in Italy.

On November 18, Fandis will virtually open its doors for a streaming event. You will be able  to visit different plants as production and R&D watching their machineries and technology. The event will be interactive with the audience, with open live chat and virtual surveys.
 
If you are interested, contact Fandis North America Sales Manager at matteo.dincecco@fandisna.com.

By Aaron Heinrich

For a host of reasons, many companies—including those making or modifying hydraulic components, controls and equipment—strongly resist asking for help when it comes to product development and implementation. Most of their reasons may revolve around ego and short-term cost considerations, but some companies just insist on doing everything in-house. From a business perspective, however, “doing everything” entails undertaking tasks outside a company’s core competencies, which is often a fraught decision.

Companies eyeing upgrades and installations of hydraulic controls would do well to consider bringing system integrators (SIs) into their projects to improve the project’s chances at success.

That said, SIs are like every group of engineering professional: Some are amazing, and some less so. Some seem to almost instantly establish a rapport with a client company’s design team and management; others always seem like ...

For this column, Plant Services asked integrators:

“What do you see for system integration looking ahead to 2021? Share some of the challenges in your particular industry this past year, and the solutions and services that are helping your team and end users manage during this time. What should end-users keep in mind if they are considering an upgrade or new solution in the year ahead? And how should they be adapting?

Karen Griffin, P.E., VP
Heath Stephens, P.E., engineering leader
Todd Majors, P.E., engineering leader
CSIA Certified Member Hargrove Controls + Automation

Between the parallel crises of the COVID-19 pandemic and the collapse of oil prices, no year in recent history can compare to 2020 for companies serving the industrial sector. Looking into 2021 it appears we will continue to face a difficult business environment due to pandemic limitations and political uncertainty. The hope is that this will ease as the year progresses, and society will adjust to the new ...

By Mark T. Hoske

A four-year financial and operational benchmark study of 26 control system integrators says “the system integration business can be a good investment,” according to the report analysis – “Leading Pack vs. the Rest – A Data Driven Story.” The 16-page white paper from the Control System Integrators Association (CSIA), underwritten by Rockwell Automation, discusses success factors that separates 16 system integrators leading the pack from the rest. The report identifies no system integrators.

“Benchmarking of key financial and operational indicators is key for continuous improvement of any business,” said Jose Rivera, CSIA chief executive officer. “CSIA has provided participating system integration members with valuable and realistic benchmarking data.”

The analysis includes third-quarter 2016 through second-quarter 2020 data. Among participants, 20 submitted five years of data. Report benchmarks include ...

This article originally appeared in Plant Services.

In this installment of Ask an Integrator, if you want to collect the right data, then involve integrators during the design and/or retrofit process.

Welcome to the next installment in our quarterly feature, Ask An Integrator, developed together with the Control System Integrators Association and its member organizations.

The idea behind Ask An Integrator is simple: increasing levels of plant automation and the growth of online / remote condition monitoring programs have made having a trusted integrator partner more important than ever for smooth plant operation and maintenance.

For this second installment, we asked the integrators:

“What types of projects are you working on where you have a lot of contact with maintenance and reliability teams?”

Sam Cafferata, controls team manager

CSIA Certified Member Concept Systems

Surgical control retrofits is one area Concept Systems really has developed a project ...

On December 10,2020, Talking Industrial Automation Host Lisa Richter talked with Tim Finerty, a shareholder with Clayton and McKervey to find out what pitfalls and opportunities business owners should know about to ensure maximum cash flow and minimum taxes before the end of the year.

Here is a transcript of the episode. You can listen to the episode here.

Lisa Richter: Welcome to Talking Industrial Automation, a podcast where you get to know the people who make modern industrial automation possible. In today’s episode, we’re doing something a little different by covering a topic that we wouldn’t normally get into --  taxes. I know, I know. It’s not everyone’s cup of tea. But with so much that happened in 2020 that impacted businesses like the CARES Act and Paycheck Protection Program, we felt it was worth spending a little time delving into the implications and obligations as we army crawl over the 2020 finish line.

With me today to help us ...

By Jim Ford

As a systems integrator we are seeing a significant shift in our customers’ understanding of machine safety and the need to provide safe systems. We get a lot of questions about safety. We see more customers adding functional safety into their control’s specifications.

In the past many customers would perceive functional safety and risk assessments as just added costs to a project (expensive!). There was a time when this was probably accurate. Risk assessments can be time consuming. The safety design process can be iterative and slow. Safety hardware can add cost. Validation and verification processes take time and may delay qualification.

These can all be true, but we are seeing a change being driven by a need to provide safe systems, but it’s also due to the availability of functional safety hardware and the tools for designing and integrating these systems. There are a lot of options and functions to address whatever is needed. 

The first step ...

By Wayne Labs

System integrators and machine builders are great sources when you want to learn how to protect control networks from viruses and ransomware. After all, they design and build machines that must operate continuously without incident, supplying operational data to those who need it—and keeping their equipment and the rest of the plant safe from cybersecurity intrusions—malware, viruses and ransomware.

One such machine builder that has been making cyber-secure, safe machines and IT/OT networks communicate without incident for six years is elliTek, Inc., a Control System Integrators Association member. I spoke with elliTek’s president, Brandon Ellis, who has probably seen it all—from the vantage point of where the rubber meets the road.

Located in Knoxville, Tennessee, elliTek builds custom machines for manufacturing systems and offers comprehensive turnkey and design/build services—in addition to tech training. The SI offers IIoT solutions ...

By Jim Montague

Because they're often shoulder-to-shoulder with plant-floor personnel, system integrators have some definite views and advice on how the COVID-19 pandemic is affecting process applications and how mobile technologies can help.

McEnery Automation

"Tablet PCs have been available for a number of years, and are very practical because users can easily take them into their process settings. Some examples of these applications include classified areas, if they're properly protected, or simply providing the convenience of making control room-type adjustments on the plant floor where conventional operator terminals wouldn’t be practical," says Kevin McEnery, CEO of McEnery Automation, a CSIA-certified system integrator in St. Louis. "Logically, if operators are usually in a main control room, but need to allow social distancing due to the pandemic precautions, they can deploy tablet PCs or other remote connectivity technologies. This will ...

The retail surge of March saw a rise of 8.5% in retail trade according to the ABS, the strongest rise since it began tracking retail trade. Whilst the panic buying saw empty shelves in supermarkets across Australia, what often goes unseen are the Australian manufacturers behind the scenes struggling to fill this unprecedented demand.

“Determining appropriate inventory levels is one of the most important and most challenging tasks faced by supply chain managers,” says Levi Martins, SAGE Group company Nukon’s senior consultant and support lead.

“If you carry too much inventory, you tie up money in working capital and risk writing off perishable goods; if you don’t carry enough inventory, you face stockouts.”

What Is Safety Stock?

In any supply chain planning, safety stock (sometimes known as buffer stock) is extra stock to cover demand or supply variability and avoid stockouts.

Stockouts stem from factors such as:

• fluctuating customer demand, ...

The following is a partial transcript for episode 44 of the Talking Industrial Automation podcast with Cullen Raichart, founder and CEO of GreenBroz Inc., a pioneer in automated marijuana harvesting solutions based in Las Vegas. It was recorded June 10, 2020, by show host Lisa Richter.

Lisa Richter: Talk about your background and your journey to where you are today.

Cullen Raichart: I’ve had about a million jobs throughout my life. But as an adult, I had a very successful career doing IT work for the United States Navy and a bunch of different companies.

But I really have always wanted to own my own company. Everybody in my family has their own business and I was like the last guy in, you know. At the time, I was doing a couple of different things. I was growing on the side because of finances in California, even though I had a decent income it’s tough in California, so that’s what got me into cannabis.

I just understood the market. Then people started asking me ...

Machine Design and the Control System Integrators Association (CSIA) have partnered to feature the association’s popular CSIA Exchange portal on Machine Design’s home web page.

The CSIA Exchange allows end-users to find potential system integrators and suppliers through a robust search engine. Manufacturers can search based on location, industries served, automation specialties, product lines, certifications, and other categories. More than 2,500 integrators -- including CSIA members and CSIA-Certified integrators -- are featured in the database.

“The importance of system integrators for automation projects has long been understood. The CSIA Exchange is a valuable resource for companies looking for skilled professionals to upgrade and develop automation solutions,” said Bob Vavra, Senior Content Director for Machine Design. “We are excited to be able to offer this free resource to our readers.”

The CSIA Exchange also provides information on more ...

By Doug Fagaly and Lee Schulte

“Safety isn’t that important to us,” said no company ever. We all know that safety is important, and the cost of a recordable incident is expensive in more ways than one. Yet we continue to see reports of the Occupational Health and Safety Administration (OSHA) fining companies for violations, some in the hundreds of thousands or even millions of dollars.

Fatal work injuries actually increased in 2018 by two percent from 2017, and incidents involving contact with objects and equipment increased 13 percent, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

If we all know that safety is important, why are we still here talking about safety best practices? The problem may be in the way manufacturers think about safety, or rather when they think about it. Often, companies will have a reactive approach, only making changes after an incident or near miss occurs.

Approaching safety as a bolted-on fix leads to a number of concerns in a ...

By Michelle Jacobson

Testing and validating medical devices are the final steps before delivery to a customer. Therefore, it’s critical to uphold the highest quality at this point in production. Companies that have automated some testing may still rely on manual processes because they don’t leverage all of automation’s benefits. To ensure a full understanding of the benefits of automation, ask the right questions and evaluate each type of system to determine which will be most suitable. The right system will let you test consistently, get feedback on possible failures, improve return on investment (ROI), and enhance device quality.

Determine a need
Deciding when to automate is driven by individual needs. Before implementing any type of automated test solution, determine the overall goal. Consider:

• What will the overall cost be?
• How much automation is necessary?
• How much benefit will there be?
• How much will it improve quality and production speed?

...

Casco Systems Donates Engineering Services to Create The X-VENT Ventilator

Casco Systems, a Maine based electrical engineering firm specializing in automation, integration and electrical systems, is announcing its collaboration with Enexor Health Systems, formerly Breathe Strong, LLC, to develop the X-VENT – an emergency, positive pressure ventilator designed to treat patients with respiratory insufficiency or failure.

Amidst the initial phases of the COVID-19 pandemic, Enexor BioEnergy Director of Engineering Scott Auerbach contacted Casco Systems about supporting the electrical, instrumentation, and automation controls design of a fast-tracked project. A long-time client and supporter of Casco Systems, Auerbach knew Casco had the breadth of knowledge and reputation for solving complex challenges on tight budgets and timelines.

Casco Systems embraced the opportunity to support this effort. Ultimately, Kevin Mahoney, President & Founder, decided to donate Casco ...

By Ivy Arkfeld

The purpose of the spiral freezer is to quickly decrease product temperature prior to transporting or placing in storage. Product travels through the spiral freezer on a belt, with the time spent in the freezing process controlled by the belt speed. The enclosed area of the spiral freezer, or box, is maintained at a target temperature, with evaporator fans operating at a defined speed to maintain air flow across product while the evaporator coils remove heat from the space.

There are three key operating parameters for the spiral freezer: belt speed, temperature, and air flow. Target product temperatures at the outlet of the spiral freezer typically vary due to differing product geometry, weight, and ingredients. If a spiral freezer is operated at the highest fan speed and lowest temperature, some products may become over frozen, which can result in breakage and poor performance in end use. End use impacts can vary depending on the type of product, for example a raw ...

By Dan Pan Demetrakakes, Senior Editor, Food Processing

Automation could, in theory, solve many of the food and beverage industry’s problems.

So why doesn’t that happen more often?

It’s clear that various forms of automation should be able to help with many of the challenges, both eternal and relatively recent, that the industry faces, such as staffing adequately, maintaining quality and safety, keeping product moving out the door, and satisfying demands for SKU variety. But food as an industrial sector has historically lagged in adopting automation, and that situation shows no sign of abating.

Experts consulted by Food Processing identified a variety of factors that may be slowing down adoption of automation, such as the nature of food and beverage production and the expense and uncertainty of both hardware and software. But they add that overcoming these concerns is both inevitable and vital.

“Automation is really the long-term investment ...