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24 September 2009

Web exclusive: September Industry Newz, 2nd edition

ABB won a contract to supply an integrated automation system for Sun Paper‘s Shandong Mill in China. ABB’s Industrial IT System 800xA will be installed to control and improve output from the mill’s new fine paper machine PM23, supplied by Metso.

The Abnormal Situation Management Consortium released the second in its series of best-practice publications based on 15 years of research in the prevention of abnormal situations. Effective Alarm Management Practices targets operations managers, operators, process engineers, system design engineers, and safety and reliability engineers tasked with developing alarm management systems or rationalizing existing systems.

Adept Technology, Inc., a provider of intelligent vision-guided robotics and global robotics services, demonstrated flexible part feeding with its new Adept AnyFeeder BX400 flexible part feeder at the MOTEK trade show in Stuttgart, Germany this month.

CiDRA Minerals Processing, Inc., installed and commissioned SONARtrac process monitoring systems at Minera Antamina to provide volumetric flow measurements on all three of the critical hydrocyclone feedlines within the concentrator plant.

Cree, Inc., an LED lighting provider, won the top prize in the 2009 Lighting for Tomorrow - Solid State Lighting Competition. The Cree LR6-DR1000 recessed downlight won the Grand Prize at the American Lighting Association Conference.

Emerson Process Management’s PlantWeb digital plant architecture enabled ZT Kruszwica, a subsidiary of Bunge, oilseed and bottled vegetable oils producer, to increase production by 10%, cut maintenance costs by 50%, and significantly reduce the use of utilities and raw materials at a new rapeseed oil processing plant in Kruszwica, Poland.
GE Fanuc Intelligent Platforms, a unit of GE Enterprise Solutions, won an order valued at $1 million from KSG Kraftwerks-Simulator-Gesellschaft MBH of Essen, Germany, for CPU blades, I/O controllers, and subsystems. GE Fanuc Intelligent Platforms will provide its process control system, Proficy Process Systems, to Shanghai Sansteel Group Corporation for the company’s furnace revamp project. The system, valued at nearly $300,000, will provide critical control for the metal furnace and plant utility system, featuring GE Fanuc’s PACSystems RX3i controller.

Green Hills Software, Inc., vendor of embedded software solutions, revealed its Networking Solutions Center, based in Ann Arbor, Mich., and staffed by a team of engineering veterans dedicated to advancing network protocol technology, industry protocol collaboration, and network security.

Invensys Operations Management signed an agreement with PAS, a supplier of operations and automation effectiveness software, to provide Invensys clients a comprehensive suite of system documentation and configuration management tools and services to map databases, programs, displays, and interconnections within and among plant automation systems. Invensys Operations Management will host an expanded series of international events focusing on implementation of sustainable best business practices in the manufacturing and industrial markets. OpsManage'09 / WonderWorld kicks off with a North American event, 3-5 November in Anaheim, Calif. The new format will combine traditional WonderWorld content with the latest solutions from Invensys Operations Management and its open partner ecosystem. Invensys Operations Management entered into several strategic partnerships with industry-leading human-machine interface (HMI) hardware manufacturers. The Powered By Wonderware program delivers Invensys Operations Management’s HMI software in a compact form for Windows CE devices.

Kroger is now a promoter level member of the ZigBee Alliance Board of Directors. Kroger will play a key role in leading efforts to expand ZigBee use in the retail industry.

Global biopharmaceutical manufacturer Lonza selected Emerson Process Management to provide manufacturing operations management software to further enhance the strong performance of plant operations at its Portsmouth, N.H., facility.

N-TRON Corporation entered a strategic marketing and sales agreement with California-based Opto 22, provider of control, remote monitoring, and data acquisition solutions for industrial automation. Opto 22 will resell N-TRON’s industrial Ethernet switches and wireless access points to their customers.

Seven leading vendors joined the Rockwell Automation Solution Provider program, part of the company’s PartnerNetwork framework of specialists in industries, applications, geographies, technologies, and services around the world. The program offers vendors extensive knowledge in the design, implementation, project management, and maintenance of industrial control systems.

Umicore Precious Metals Refining implemented Emerson Process Management pH sensors to monitor waste water at its Hoboken plant near Antwerp, Belgium.

Career moves

Adept Technology, Inc., a provider of intelligent vision-guided robotics and global robotics services, appointed Rush LaSelle as its new director of global sales & marketing.

Fuentek, LLC President Laura A. Schoppe was named a member of the Women Presidents’ Organization, a nonprofit membership organization for women presidents of multimillion dollar companies. Fuentek is a consulting firm providing intellectual property and technology management services.

Greg Garcia, former Assistant Secretary for Cyber Security and Communications with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, has joined the Wurldtech advisory board to offer guidance on strategic direction for new initiatives such as an end-user driven, energy security center of excellence and policy advocacy to improve the effectiveness of public-private partnerships to secure our critical infrastructures. Garcia will attend two major industry conferences to speak about the importance of public sector support of private sector solutions: ISA EXPO 2009 in Houston, 6-8 October, and the 2nd Annual Critical Infrastructure Conference, 28-29 September, in Calgary, Alberta, Canada.