Heat treatment machinery OEM Mercer Technologies continues to innovate, adding energy cost per part. Using energy monitoring, the company is able to calculate in real time how much it costs to heat treat parts, and can accurately and effectively assign the cost of energy to the production of a particular…

PC-based control and EtherCAT have combined to automate a compact sporting goods test machine. The system delivers precise measurement results using standard components from the automation specialist, and hardware costs were cut by around 4,000 U.S. dollars per machine.

Wireless connectivity and positioning technologies address the growing need for high-performance positioning systems which reduce operational costs and maximize sustainability by optimizing inventory management along with material and people flows.

Integrating industrial-grade wireless connectivity enabled chocolate manufacturer, Ulmer Schokoladen, to increase productivity, enhance the agility of production lines and deliver a new level of flexibility. The end result is that they to continue offer customers the best quality products, even in higher-paced production.

Nucor factory saves initial and recurring costs, improves products with groov EPIC and Ignition solutions. The challenge was how, at a reasonable cost, to aggregate all process information from equipment and PLCs and then successfully exchange that information with corporate SCADA and ERP systems.

Monitoring a natural gas supply network with EtherCAT terminals is designed for explosion protection. In terms of economic efficiency, the use of EtherCAT Terminals has led to significant cost reductions, according to Gaznat. Retrofitted stations show savings of around 50% compared to conventional systems.

Analyzing peaks in power consumption allowed confectionery manufacturer to optimize energy use throughout the entire manufacturing process. Visualization, monitoring and management of plant utilities result in savings of nearly EUR 70,000 over five years.

As with a machine vision system on an assembly line, a vision-guided robot uses intelligent processing to give it instructions. A slight alteration to the code allows the same robot to perform entirely different tasks, i.e., switching between products and batch runs, with no mechanical adjustments.

Accurate and fast data are crucial for the essential synchronization in wind farms. Continuously monitoring the turbine, blades and foundation performance support decision-making on planned maintenance and design validations and can help to avoid unplanned shut down periods or costly repairs in the event of failure.

The possibility of access to relevant data and use of a virtually unlimited remote management system from any place with Internet access is becoming indispensable for modern production management. High flexibility appears to be one of the best characteristics for the entire system as well.