It’s a new year, and a new decade (depending on whether you believe the decade begins with year zero or year 1), but manufacturing safety challenges keep expanding: digital transformation, fewer available workers, globalization, and how to manage safety and security risks among them.
Flexibility is the ultimate strategy for success in today’s challenging market for food and beverage packaging. Companies are striving to produce increasingly large varieties of products – including various sizes and combinations – while also being able to turn on a dime in response to any change in consumer demand.
The pumping facility at the Annacis Island plant is a critical part of the infrastructure, as collection and conveyance systems transport the FSA wastewater to the plant. The three 1,200-horsepower influent pumps and four 684-horsepower trickling filter pumps have been in service for about two decades and were at their end-of-life stage. These large pumps regulate the level of raw sewage in the wet well, conveying it into the treatment plant.
Last fall Drives & Control Solutions had the opportunity to tour Yaskawa America’s primary low voltage drive production facility. The facility is located in Buffalo Grove, IL, just outside of Chicago. Hosting both an assembly facility and roughly 100,000 sq/ft warehouse and distribution centre, the site is quite impressive, particularly considering the level of efficiency employed.
STOBER Drives has produced two short videos that highlight the benefits of their new SD6 drive controller with the SE6 advanced safety module. Created in partnership with safety experts Pilz, STOBER’s new, integrated system maximises the safety, efficiency and flexibility of your automated manufacturing plant.
For engineers looking for a more cost-effective and better performing replacement for an AC motor but who don’t require a high specification Servo Drive, STOBER’s LeanMotor is the ideal solution. The LeanMotor is a highly efficient and compact electric drive that is significantly lighter and smaller than an asynchronous drive. With the same output as a more expensive Servo drive, this makes the LeanMotor a robust and cost effective option for those looking for higher performance at a lower cost.
Unplanned outages due to mechanical failures can cost millions of dollars of lost production time to Oil and Gas companies. While it’s difficult to quantify the cost of unplanned downtime, an outage of a single day may exceed ~$6.5M, for the average U.S. refinery. The shift from Reactive Maintenance (RM) to data driven Proactive Maintenance (PAM) strategies can not only reduce lost revenue from unplanned outages but reduce the overall costs associated with operating and maintaining plant equipment by 60%.
There are two types of electric motors, alternating current (AC) and direct current (DC). AC motors can be synchronous or asynchronous. Synchronous motors are found in applications where speed and accuracy are essential, including synchronous clocks, timers in electronic appliances, and audio recorders. Able to operate at variable speeds, low-maintenance, and durable, asynchronous, or induction, motors see wide industrial use.
Schindler, a provider of elevators and escalators, has launched a pilot project that features an automated, independently operating robotic installation system for elevators. The company has selected an industrial robot made by ABB for this innovative world premiere. Elevator installations require anchor bolts in the elevator shaft to precisely and safely fasten guide rails and access doors – lots of anchor bolts. The taller the building, the greater the number.
It’s usually quite difficult to tell safety-rated components and standard components apart just by their physical appearance. Although they perform similar functions, there are important factors that distinguish them from one another, and these differences are the reason why only safety-rated components are a viable option for use in safety systems.
With more than one million square feet of exhibit and meeting space, the LEED Platinum-certified Enercare Centre at Exhibition Place in Toronto, Ontario, is the ninth-largest convention centre in North America. Located on the shores of Lake Ontario, the convection centre experiences the extreme weather that the Great Lakes region is known for – with temperatures ranging from -31°C (-24°F) to 40°C (105°F).
As an engineer, the responsibility to adopt not just the latest, but the safest technologies, never goes away. Protecting people and machinery has become, quite simply, industry’s number one priority. Safety first. Always.
On November 20 and 21st Rockwell Automation hosted its annual Automation Fair and Drives & Control Solutions was in attendance. The show was kicked off by President Blake Moret who welcomed attendees and Rockwell’s partners and announced the formation of its new Digital Partnership Program and expansions of existing partnerships and collaborations.
AGRANA, the Austrian-based food processing group, recently held the official opening of the second wheat starch production plant at its Pischelsdorf site. ABB supplied, installed and commissioned hundreds of drives and the complete low voltage (LV) power distribution system that ensure the safe, reliable control of every aspect of the plant’s operation, from receiving raw materials, through processing to storage.
Anyone working in the electrical industry knows the importance of labelling for both safety and organization. But at times it can also be an additional step that can take time and possibly different products, or labelers need for various jobs or applications. However, Brother’s PT-E300VP Industrial labeller is a versatile label printer that provides all the necessary labelling needs to anyone industrial electrician. Read a review of the product from fellow electricians here.
Equipment and machine builders are rethinking design, machine intelligence and OEM services to address customer workforce challenges. Many are creating new revenue streams as a result. Industry as we know it is changing rapidly – from a shortage of skilled workers and high turnover to advancements in connectivity and IoT. Innovation is driving us to augment in-house experience and institutional knowledge with intuitive technology and partner support.
This project is funded [in part] by the Government of Canada.
Ce projet est financé [en partie] par le gouvernement du Canada.
