Business

Industrial Automation Companies Financial Analysis

March 10, 2010 · Leave a Comment

The following data are just to give you a general idea where each one of the following companies stand in the automation and control industry. The data are mostly from MSN Money Central and are for the last year’s financials. Some of the following companies are involved in field other than automation as well. So the revenues and profits might not be all from the automation sales and services. Rockwell Automation Yearly Revenue: $4.2 Bil Yearly Profit: $179 Mil Net Profit Margin: 4.28% Money Central Company Report Parker Hannifin Yearly Revenue: $9.1 Bil Yearly Profit: $281 Mil Net Profit... [Read the full story]

Technical Articles

DeviceNet Thick Cable Communication Media

March 7, 2010 · Leave a Comment

DeviceNet network can use Thick Cable, Thin Cable, and Flat Cable types for communication. Some of the features and qualities of the thick cable type used in DeviceNet networks are: The Signal pair (#18) is the blue/white wire Power pair (#15) is the black/red wire PVC/nylon insulation on power pair Industrial temperature range Storage: -40o C to +85oC Operating: -20o C to +60o C @ 8A Flame resistant, UL Oil Res. II 0.480 inch diameter .0045 ohms/foot on Power Pair Read More →

Latest News

Field Service Engineer Job to be Done II

March 1, 2010 · Leave a Comment

Last week I wrote an article on the Jobs to be Done for Automation Field Service Engineering businesses. I was thinking about it today and came up with couple more ideas. They deal mostly with us (field service engineers) and shareholders. I will keep posting these ideas for a while and then start analyzing them. Saving the shareholders money Making the shareholders money Giving the shareholders an ease of mind. This could be done by providing more reporting and monitoring services Reducing the cost of production or packaging Reducing possibility of employee error when working with the machinery.... [Read the full story]

Safety

Lockout Tagout Safety Procedure

January 19, 2010 · Leave a Comment

Lockout / Tagout is a safety procedure to safeguard employees from energized machinery and systems. This is standard procedure for field engineers working at plants and factories. Lockout / tagout is done to make sure the system is safe to work on and also let others know that someone is working on that particular device. Lockout is the process of blocking the flow of energy from a power source to equipment, and keeping it blocked out while work is being done. This is done by placing a lock on the poewr source so that it can not be operated. Tagout is done by placing a tag on the lock as a warning... [Read the full story]

Products

GE Fanuc New PACSystems RX3i Controller

June 3, 2009 · Leave a Comment

GE Fanuc (whom I did an internship with while I was in school), introduced its scalable high availability solution for the PACSystems RX3i controller. The PACSystems RX3i controller is one of the most powerful, scalable, flexible, and efficient means to increasing productivity. GE Fanuc has always been strong in PLCs, especially in the hardware. The main problem with GE Fanuc PLCs (programmable logic controllers) is its software which is hard to code. Read More →

Technical Articles

DeviceNet Thick Cable Communication Media

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Some Good Automation & PLC Books

Here is a list of suggested books to read on automation, control, and PLCs: Fundamentals of Programmable Logic Controllers, Sensors, and Communication ~ $110.00 Author: Jon Stenerson Published: January 2004 Content: Safety/logout/tagout Major brands of PLCs Input/output modules and wiring IEC 61131-3 programming Communications,...

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Repeaters in ControlNet Network Topologies

Repeaters can be used in various topologies in ControlNet networks. Following are the four topologies with their features: Bus Topology Repeaters have to be in series. This is the most basic (and more common) layout Star Topology Repeaters are configured as hubs in this configuration Tree Topology Repeaters have...

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