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20 August 2009

Web exclusive: August Industry Newz, 2nd edition

ABB Switzerland Ltd won an order from international building materials group CRH to deliver electrical and automation equipment for Podilsky Cement’s new production line no. 7. ABB won orders worth $60 million from Saudi Electricity Company, Saudi Arabia’s national power transmission and distribution utility, to improve the power efficiency of 28 distribution substations. ABB won an order for a network management system that will help monitor and control Malta’s electricity supply network and provide a foundation for the evolution of a smart grid. ABB advances in high power conversion technology increased the energy efficiency of aluminum smelters by a massive 18% at two record-breaking installations in the Middle East. The high power converters (also known as rectiformers) are the biggest and most powerful ever built and are part of extensive ABB power and automation solutions for the Sohar aluminum smelter in the Sultanate of Oman and the Qatalum smelter in Qatar. Both smelters are setting new records for size and production capacity.

Emerson Process Management completed a dual fuel-conversion initiative that enables the Termocandelaria power plant in Cartagena, along Colombia’s Caribbean Coast, to operate using either natural gas or oil, signifying the latest collaboration between Emerson and MPSA, which in 2008 formed an alliance for turbine retrofit projects.

exida, a global supplier of functional safety and security services, engineering tools, and certifications, certified the design and engineering processes for Emerson’s Ovation safety instrumented system (SIS) as suitable for SIS applications up to and including SIL 3.

GE and FANUC have agreed to dissolve the GE Fanuc Automation Corporation joint venture, allowing each company to refocus its investments to grow its existing businesses and pursue its respective core industry expertise.

Worldwide industrial services company Harsco Corporation received an order worth nearly $5 million from China’s Chengdu Metro, an all-new rapid transit system being built to ease congestion in China’s 10th largest city and projected to carry as many as 13 million passengers a day by 2020. Harsco will construct a 20-stone rail grinder that will remove rail surface defects and reshape rail profiles for smoother travel at higher speeds, thus extending rail life while reducing fuel consumption and operating costs.

Honeywell completed the acquisition of the RMG GROUP (RMG Regel + Messtechnik GmbH and all of its subsidiaries) for nearly $400 million. Based in Kassel, Germany, RMG is a natural gas measuring and control products, services, and integrated solutions provider.

National Instruments and Dassault Systèmes SolidWorks Corp. collaborated on a pioneer mechatronics tool that helps mechanical and control engineers work together to lower the cost and risk of motion system design—connecting NI LabVIEW graphical system design software and SolidWorks 3D CAD software, the new virtual prototyping solution to helps engineer and scientists design motion systems.

Solvay Solexis in Alessandria, Italy, specified Emerson’s Micro Motion Coriolis flowmeters throughout its Spinetta Marengo plant to measure mass flow. Solvay Solexis is part of the Solvay Group, a chemistry manufacturer of fluorinated products for specialty markets.

Rockwell Automation developed a new portfolio of smart, safe, and sustainable manufacturing solutions, which includes plant-wide energy optimization tools that create an integrated industrial energy management system based on the company’s industrial automation and information technology. The series could help companies save up to $6 billion a year, or about 10% of the total U.S. industrial electrical energy costs.

ZigBee Alliance certified 17 devices from 10 manufacturers using ZigBee Home Automation.

Career moves

Molex Incorporated, a global electronic components company, appointed as director Dr. Anirudh Dhebar, a professor of marketing at Babson College in Babson Park, Mass.

Northwire, Inc., Technical Cable, named Michael Conger the company’s new president, replacing Mark Kravik, who was president and owner since 1984 and is transitioning to Chairman of the Board.

WestWind Technologies, Inc. appointed U.S. Navy veteran Roger Tanner to the position of business development manager for hangar operations in conjunction with the opening of WestWind’s new hangar, the Huntsville Aircraft Modification and Integration Center, at the Huntsville International Airport.

Alabama Governor Bob Riley appointed W. Gerald Wilbanks, P.E., to a five-year term on the Alabama State Board of Licensure for Professional Engineers and Land Surveyors. Wilbanks is a licensed professional engineer registered in Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Ohio, a member of Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), the Alabama Society of Professional Engineers (ASPE), and a member and former international president (1995) of ISA. He serves as an instructor for continuing education classes for ISA in the areas of control systems engineering, documentation, and project management.