With a steadily increasing output of nearly 15,000 machine tools in 2008, Haas Automation Inc. relies on automation to keep pace with production without making significant additions to its workforce. The largest machine tool maker in the U.S. has invested $20 million in robotics and other forms of automation over the past two years; and continues to increase its commitment to automation by adding one new automated production cell almost every month. The effort has boosted production by 50%, and has been so successful the company has implemented its own robot-ready interface that it makes available to its customers.

Machine condition monitoring can help your organization stop unscheduled outages, optimize machine performance, and reduce repair time and maintenance costs. Portable machine monitoring system, scalable from four to 32 channels. Download free resource kit and view pricing.

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A new breed of control system out-performs traditional hydraulic- and pneumatic-based machinery in motion applications. By integrating a variety of electronic control technologies, these smart newcomers help engineers easily specify multiple positions and speeds with improved repeatability and positional accuracy. This piece illustrates their use in joining and damping applications and predicts contributions to handling, drilling, and milling processes.

For more on this subject, subscribe to GlobalSpec's e-Newsletter, Motion Control Components.

Expect to see robots performing more packaging applications. Improved controls process signals faster, allowing the systems to react nimbly. Better vision recognition and filtering algorithms, as well as more powerful computation libraries, further enhance the bots' packaging skills. To sweeten the pot, providers have reduced the cost of vision systems and their controls.

If you find this subject interesting, subscribe to the GlobalSpec e-Newsletter, Packaging & Labeling.

Today's tablets are user-friendly but rugged. Some achieve military-grade durability with technologies like Gorilla Glass or IP65 water- and dust-proofing. Other designs stand up to explosive environments or temperature/vibration extremes. Industry Week examines "tough tablets."

The emergence of the WirelessHart and ISA 100.11a protocols is spurring wireless deployments in manufacturing environments. As these standards gain a foothold, plant engineers will migrate from proprietary and standalone point-to-point installations to standards-based systems. Competition between the two protocols, however, may slow adoption as it did during the fieldbus wars.

AR Infotek released a new product with new expansion concept — Fanless Industrial Embedded System, Pipal 2025, specially designed for various Automation Solutions. It is embedded with a low power consuming yet great performing AMD LX-800 processor, along side multi function CS5536 chipset, and supports DDR memory up to 1GB. Learn more...

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When striving for motor efficiency, it pays to remember: 98% of total ownership cost is the expense of powering the motor over its lifetime. This piece explores purchasing decisions, examines the use electronic drives, and explains the shift to permanent magnet motors.

You may not realize it, but today's variable frequency drives (VFDs) are considerably better than yesterday's models. As Plant Engineering explains, they "take up less space, are quicker to install, and require less equipment to buy and maintain." This report shows how manufacturers can realize significant cost/time savings by integrating medium-voltage VFDs in their motor control center lineups.

Because accuracy is relative, it is important to understand the roles of calibration, ambient conditions, and instrument specifications. Nuances in the language of measurement are also critical, as this report from Control Design explains.

As the rationale for wireless becomes ever more persuasive, plant managers are asking: What's the best method for deployment? In this piece, experts explain six things to consider when launching wireless projects — from goals and requirements to security and site assessments.

The TC series is a powerful six-digit, multi-function programmable preset Timer/Counter/Tachometer with a communication interface. It has RS-232, RS-485, RS-422 serial communications, and supports Modbus protocol. This series can easily be connected to a PC for programming and logging of data. All this in one unit at a great price!

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