COVID-19 is impacting society in a myriad of ways. Although restaurants, clinics, grocery stores and entertainment venues are experiencing the most obvious changes, the manufacturing industry is also being affected, including when it comes to functional safety. Let’s take a look at the ways in which the pandemic may create new challenges for manufacturing employees.
Radio-frequency identification (RFID) can be an excellent option for traceability, particularly when there’s a need to write information as well as read it. Common RFID applications include detecting passing pallets of product in a warehouse and tracking the location of vehicles in an automotive plant.
More frequent process changes. New technology. Larger datasets. Greater traceability and compliance requirements. Tighter budgets. Sound familiar? From oil refineries to food and beverage plants, process engineers are being asked to manage increasingly complex systems – and to do more with less. The good news is the latest distributed control system (DCS) platforms have kept pace with technological developments.
The CiA 402 application profile is used to standardize the control of VFDs and servo drives. A previous post provided an introduction to the profile. This post will go into more detail on how the profile functions and how it can be implemented.
For flexible packaging pioneer Liquibox, sustainability has always been a priotiry. The company has more than 50 years of experience supplying pouches and bag-in-box solutions to food and beverage companies, and its liquid packaging withstands hard shipping conditions, dispenses perfectly into any machine. and maintains a small environmental footprint.
Gartner predicts that by 2022, or perhaps sooner, more than two-thirds of companies that have implemented IoT projects will have launched at least one digital twin in production.
Founded by Warren Osak, Electromate specializes in Robotic and Mechatronic Solutions, distributing AC & DC Servo and Stepper Motors, Drives, Controls, Positioning Systems & Robots to the industrial automation market. They are also ISO9001:2015 Registered Company and LEAN Process accredited. You can find their full offering HERE.
Light curtains go a long way in making your operations much safer for machine operators and maintenance personnel. That said, simply purchasing and installing one doesn’t ensure that all safety needs are fully met. It’s important to make sure that the light curtain meets all the requirements for reducing the risks of your particular application.
Electrical enclosures need cooling units in order to enhance performance and prevent failure. The acceptable operating temperature for most electrical devices exceeds 40 °C (104 °F). Devices often placed in cooling enclosures include variable frequency drives (VFDs), servo drives, programmable logic controllers (PLCs), starter kits, power supplies, inverters, relays, terminal blocks, indicator lights, and transformers.
Given that many manufacturing processes involve high heat, powerful washdowns, dust, oil and other potentially harmful conditions, it’s essential to have a means of indicating the degree to which individual components can resist their operating environments. In fact, the standardization of these qualities has become a matter of international importance.
The world stands still as COVID-19 continues to turn it upside down. No more social contact. No more ‘business as usual.’ In fact, no more ‘normal’ for many. Now, we stay home to save lives. But there are some brave souls who cannot stop like doctors, nurses, and pharmacists. And, hidden in the background we find manufacturers, machine builders and their suppliers. These are the people responsible for producing food, life-saving medicines, masks and wipes.
In times of increasing uncertainty, it is becoming a key criterion for many companies to be able to quickly adapt their production. Flexibility is not only required of employees – the systems also need to be flexibly transformable to new production processes. New solutions have to facilitate easy and quick adaptation and just as fast commissioning.
Based out of Toronto, David Willick, VP & Regional Segment Leader for Mining, Metals and Minerals, Schneider Electric, is a mining industry veteran.
The ability to size servo motors correctly is imperative for motion-controlled applications, and it can be much more involved than sizing AC induction motors. Acceleration, deceleration, and running torque must still be taken into account, but the servo’s ability to dynamically control the load’s speed and position is also important.
Many organizations are at risk of continued interruption to operations due to coronavirus and possible future pandemics.
When selecting a motor, it is important to consider the required duty cycle to ensure the motor can meet the needs of the application. This blog post and the accompanying light board video will provide a basic introduction to motor duty cycles and a few of the most common types of duty cycles.
This project is funded [in part] by the Government of Canada.
Ce projet est financé [en partie] par le gouvernement du Canada.
