If you're a subscriber to Control Design or registered visitor to ControlDesign.com, and you're a machine builder or system integrator, you should have received my email invitation to participate in our study about how you do automation product research these days.  read more »

Although I'm probably jinxing it just by mentioning it, winter in the Midwestern U.S. should be ending in April, and few green shoots and buds should be just about to emerge. For the past couple of years, one of these has been our "green/sustainable machine" cover article, which is set to appear in the April 2012 issue of Control Design. So, if you or anyone you know might have some expert commentary or end user examples, I would love to hear about them. The main questions I'm trying to cover are below.  read more »

In a recent OEM Insight, GeorgiaTech engineering professor Dirk Schaefer highlighted a few industry game changers that he hopes to explore in further detail this year. Among those game changers are complex social networks—not only the LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter networks that most of us are familiar with, but also other self-organizing communities that can change the way that organizations collaborate and innovate.

Crowd sourcing, mass collaboration, and the increasingly familiar cloud computing are a few of the terms that Schaefer discusses.  read more »

If you're a machine builder or system integrator who works with one, we want to learn about the methods you prefer to use when you do your automation and control products research. If you didn't receive the study link in your email, here it is.

We also want to talk directly with a few of you about the subject. Some of you prefer to use your local distributor. Some of you exclusively use vendor websites. Others want to talk directly to product experts at the automation supplier company.

Many of you tell us you change primary vendors quite a bit. We want to know why you need to do that. Let me know here or email me at JFeeley@putman.net and we'll set it up.  read more »

Probably the coolest thing I learned about machine building while researching and reporting this story was that evolution and innovation really don't stand still--ever. I mean, I thought that once a machine builder divided a long, rigidly dedicated machine or production line into servo-driven, Ethernet-enabled, Lego-like chunks that this would be enough of a success. Boy, was I wrong again.  read more »

Seems that everywhere you turn these days, there's talk about innovation. Maybe a lot of the discussion started with the death of Steve Jobs in October, when so many reports pointed to Jobs as a key technology innovator and innovative leader. When Jeremy Pollard wrote his Embedded Intelligence column for the October issue of Control Design (Jobs had just left Apple, but then died before we went to press), he called it "iInnovation," of course.  read more »

As any factory-floor engineer can tell you, finding solid solutions to the simplest manufacturing problems often can yield the greatest benefits.

This was the case at Silver City Aluminum (www.scaluminum.com), Taunton, Mass., a manufacturer of custom aluminum extrusions and finished parts.

The extrusion process is pretty straightforward. Large rolls of aluminum-called billets-are fed into the extrusion machine, pressed into a die using hydraulic power, and heated. It emerges as a slat, blind, or other shaped-aluminum product.

"Occasionally, after a billet has been cut, the excess fails to fall off," say Silver City's maintenance manager, Larry Johnson. "When this hanging piece hits the die, it can destroy it-to the tune of about $10,000 in replacement costs-or cause the machine to shut down, leading to expensive production losses." The challenge for Silver City was to find an inspection solution that could fit into a space-constrained area, be able to inspect a large area, and perform reliably in harsh environmental conditions while not breaking the bank.  read more »

There's little question that end users would like to spend less rather than more money to operate their production machines. But when improved total cost of ownership (TCO) comes with a higher initial price tag, it might be a difficult sell. In this month's cover story, Senior Technical Editor Dan Hebert helps machine builders navigate through the options and dazzle their customers. Also in the January issue: Learn how variations on basic linear motion technologies can bring precision and accuracy to non-traditional applications; find out how to protect your system from unwanted access, whether internal or external; and offer your thoughts on how columnist Jeremy Pollard might have better handled a recent network "Armageddon."  read more »

Servo motors are being used in more and more varied linear applications, such as shaping surfboards and building auto tires. So there's a growing pool of true believers in the capability of direct-drive linear motors compared with more traditional approaches of translating rotary motor motion to linear or using mechanical means. Others think that's baloney.  read more »

We have a mixed customer base with regard to preferences for permanent magnet motors or standard induction motors. Have induction motors reached the end of their efficiency improvement road? But we still periodically hear about the potential for magnet material shortages. We'd like to standardize where we can. Anyone else having thoughts about the direction to take?