Winning Technologies, Engineers' Choice 2008
The Control Engineering Engineers' Choice Awards highlight the most notable new products from the previous year. This year's competition names winners and honorable mentions in 25 product categories, from a field of 85 nominees. Who did you nominate and choose as winners?
Renee Robbins, Control Engineering -- Control Engineering, 2/1/2009
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Sidebars:
Winners by Category, 2008 |
Much is changing within the industrial automation space and around it. At Control Engineering, our job is to keep you informed of the latest trends and technologies so you can either ride the waves of change or—better yet—use them to your advantage.
It is in this spirit that the Engineers' Choice award program was created. New products are the lifeblood of a thriving industry, and the best can inspire the innovation needed to facilitate change.
Here you will find some of the best new control, instrumentation, and automation products introduced in 2008. Eligible products were those introduced in North America and available for purchase between Jan. 1, and Nov. 1, 2008.
An open call for entries netted 85 change-inspiring solutions that were divided into seven major and 25 sub categories.
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Ballots, including a brief description of each product, were sent to Control Engineering's opt-in e-mail list of readers who are responsible for or influence technology purchases. Response was excellent, generating about 750 completed ballots.
Respondents were asked to choose products they felt were the most exceptional, based on the following criteria: technological advancement, service to the industry, and market impact.
With so much change afoot in industry and economics, this is a great time for engineers to take their processes to a new level using new technologies and ideas.
As Michael Phelps, the U.S. swimmer who won 14 career Olympic gold medals, the most by any Olympian, said, “I have the opportunity to be part of swimming history ... to take the sport to a new level. There's no better time to try this than now.”
Winners by Category
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The Control Engineering Engineers' Choice Awards highlight the most notable new products from the previous year. This year's competition names winners and honorable mentions in 25 product categories, from a field of 85 nominees. On page E14, you will find a list of all nominees and their products, and their Website URLs for more information.
To review even more award-winning technology you may have missed, go www.controleng.com/awards for links past Engineers' Choice Award results. Below, each category links to the winning products, descriptions, and images.
| Application and Programming Software | |
| • Applications | |
| • Data acquisition | |
| • Design/simulation | |
| HMIs and Industrial PCs | |
| • HMI hardware | |
| • HMI software | |
| • Industrial PCs | |
| Motors, Drives and Motion Control | |
| • Drives | |
| • Motion controllers | |
| • Motors, motion systems | |
| Networks and Communication Products | |
| • Enclosures | |
| • Ethernet hardware, general | |
| • Ethernet switches | |
| • I/O Systems | |
| • Network hardware, general | |
| • Signal conditioners or diagnostics | |
| • Wireless products, general | |
| • Wireless products, IEEE 802.11 | |
| Machine and Embedded Control | |
| • Discrete sensors | |
| • Machine vision | |
| • PLCs/PACs | |
| • Power products | |
| • Safety products | |
| Process Instrumentation & Control Components | |
| • Flowmeters | |
| • Process sensors | |
| Process and Advanced Control | |
| • Control systems | |
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