All ControlDesign.com Blogs

The Ying and the Yang of Product Research

joe feeley — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 13:42:38 -0800

We'll be posting the results of this year's Product Research and Buying Habits Study shortly.

Here's a result that maybe captures the essence of the love/hate relationship most of us have when we use the web as a research tool:

88% of respondents agreed or strongly agreed with the statement, "I've gotten better at search strategies and techniques, and that has helped get better results."

Sounds OK, until the next result: read more »

Questions about Machine Safety

jmontague — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 09:42:32 -0800

"Though April safety rules and audits may come your way, they bring the risk assessments, safeguarding and new efficiencies that bloom in May."

Well, that's not really how the old song goes, but it's a fair approximation of the proactive trend going on in machine safety in the past few years. And as usual, this year's "machine safety" cover article is scheduled to run in the May 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. read more »

Check Out Our New Forum: STEM to the Core

ajhand — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 07:51:46 -0800

Given the great response we've gotten from you when we discuss issues related to science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education and workforce development, we decided it was time we devote a forum to the topic.

Head on over to "STEM to the Core" and join the discussion.

Insights From a Tech Educator

ajhand — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 07:18:03 -0800

In his February editorial in Control magazine, Editor-in-Chief Walt Boyes makes arguments in support of more money for STEM education. But he also lays responsibility back in the laps of industry professionals: "If we want a group of young automation professionals to follow us, who have knowledge, skills, ambition and drive, we're going to have to go find them ourselves and show them where the goal is. Nobody is going to do it for us. So let's get off our collective duffs and go find some kids and get them interested in what we do."

Read "STEM Education - We Get What We Deserve" and let Walt know what you think. That's what one reader did this week, and his observations really helped us understand the difficulties that teachers can face in our current educational system. read more »

How Do You Get STEM Students Past the 'Hard' Factor?

ajhand — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 08:34:12 -0800

All three of my kids struggle with math, and they will tell anyone who asks that it's their least favorite subject. Sometimes my wife and I have trouble helping them understand their homework because we both love math and don't understand what they're not getting about the concepts. Despite her past struggles, my sixth-grader tested into honors math this year, which means she's just struggling that much more with her homework and tests.

Meanwhile, they love science and all the discovery that goes along with it. My only hope is that their difficulties with math won't keep them from pursuing a career in another STEM-related field. In fact, a key reason that kids in grades 6-12 don't pursue STEM careers is that their math and science grades aren't good enough; although they feel certain STEM careers offer the most job opportunities, they're afraid they won't measure up. This is according to a survey conducted by ASQ recently in anticipation of National Engineers Week next week. read more »

STEM to the Core: This Means You

ajhand — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 20:29:12 -0800

Though Control Design is focused primarily on the controls and automation technology within the machines that you build, we of course look from time to time at the broader issues affecting how you do your job, including logistics, collaboration and society’s ability to educate and interest the innovative machine builders and control engineers who will follow in your footsteps.

On that last point, readers of both our print and online version have shown that they are passionate—concerned about science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education, and excited about building new opportunities for the next generation.

We share your concern and enthusiasm, and so have created this newest forum for ControlDesign.com devoted to discussion of STEM issues: "STEM to the Core." In this space, we will share what we hear from the industry about the latest initiatives in STEM education and workforce development, and we'll give our perspective on what they mean for the industry. read more »

Product Research Study: Early Returns

joe feeley — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 07:40:09 -0800

We're about to close the study, so if you had intentions to add your voice, tempus fugit, folks, and a carpe diem for good measure. But here's an interesting preliminary result for those of you who've participated. The rest of you, avert your eyes. read more »

Just a Little Reminder: New Machine Safety Standards

jmontague — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 04:46:16 -0800

Did you hear the one about the machine safety standard that was postponed for two years before finally going into full effect? That's right, the EN-954-1 machine safety standard was replaced by the ISO 13849-1 and IEC 62061 standards on Jan. 1. read more »

The State of Manufacturing

ajhand — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 13:35:36 -0800

In President Obama’s State of the Union address last month, he laid out a blueprint for the U.S. economy that is built on manufacturing. Within his pledge to improve incentives for manufacturers to stay in the country, he said, “American manufacturers are hiring again, creating jobs for the first time since the late 1990s.” read more »

Operators' approach to handheld HMIs

kbonfante — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 10:15:31 -0800

Answer our April's "Real Answers" question.
We integrate multiple machines into a complete manufacturing process line. The operator has to physically attend to all of the machines. Rather than have an HMI at each machine, we're thinking about handheld HMIs, maybe wireless, that the operators would carry with them. We would like to hear about experiences with this approach.

Help!