National Manufacturing 2002 awash in innovations

The National Industrial Automation Show at National Manufacturing Week 2002 on March 18-21 at Chicago’s McCormick Place featured numerous innovations, solutions and services. For more coverage, click on “NMW 2002” at www.controleng.com .

Baumer Electric (Southington, Conn.) introduced MagRes magnetic absolute encoder, which features up to 10-bit resolution in a single-turn configuration, and ProCoder multi-turn absolute optical rotary encoder, which employs a modular, exchangable bus cover that enables it to be integrated into one of several bus systems, including SSI, CANopen, DeviceNet and Profibus. www.controleng.com/freeinfo or visit www.baumerelectric.com .

Ci Technologies (Sydney, Australia; Charlotte, N.C.) exhibited its Citect V5.41 that now has features to help manufacturers meet requirements of U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) 21 CFR Part 11 regulation on electronic signatures and records. In addition, Ci Technologies announced a partner program for system integrators, solution vendors, and machine panel builders. www.controleng.com/freeinfo or visit www.citect.com .

Entivity (Ann Arbor, Mich.), a combination of the former Think&Do and Steeplechase companies with minority investment from Schneider Electric , announced that it expects to release updated versions of EntivityVLC 6.0 in April 2002 and EntivityStudio 7.0 in June 2002. Circle 349 at www.controleng.com/ freeinfo or visit www.entivity.com .

GE Fanuc (Charlottesville, Va.) offered its Six Sigma expertise via its new Global Solutions Business that assesses, designs, implements, and monitors e-manufacturing systems that align factory-floor operations with critical business needs. www.controleng.com/freeinfo or visit www.gefanuc.com .

IMG (Woodland Hills, Calif.) announced that it has signed an OEM license agreement with Intellution (Foxborough, Mass.) to offer its My-T-Soft programmable onscreen keyboard utilities with Intellution’s latest iFix and iBatch products. IMG is a supplier of onscreen utilities for pen and touch-based systems. www.controleng.com/freeinfo or visit www.imgpresents.com .

Integrated Control (Huntington, N.Y.) introduced InteMod Control System, a system designed specifically for applications requiring complex control to be used with a minimum of user training (i.e., fast food). Using a 128 x 64 or 240 x 128 LCD screen, an intuitive operator interface consisting of graphic icons and text information is developed in conjunction with specially designed interface overlays. www.controleng.com/freeinfo or visit www.goicc.com .

Emerson Process Management’s Intellution division (Foxborough, Mass.) introduced infoAgent, a web-based tool for accessing, analyzing, and reporting production data in a format designed by the user. Using an intuitive data presentation toolkit, users can configure customized views of production information including trend and event charts, XY-plots, and calculations. www.controleng.com/freeinfo or visit www.intellution.com .

Lumberg (Midlothian, Va.) introduced its new Fixcon industrial connector standard for sensors and actuators. Jointly developed by Lumberg Automation Components GmbH & Co. KG and Escha in Germany, Fixcon features a quick plug-and-lock mechanism that increase connection speed. www.controleng.com/freeinfo or visit www.lumbergusa.com .

OPC Foundation released its OPC XML specification based on XML and Microsoft .Net technologies. The specification can be downloaded in April 2002 from OPC’s web site at www.opcfoundation.org . OPC XML builds on the existing OPC Data Access specification, which defines an industry standard for exchanging manufacturing data using Component Object Model (COM) and Distributed COM (DCOM). OPC XML delivers multi-vendor interoperability and plug-and-play connectivity to plant-floor information via the Internet. www.controleng.com/freeinfo

Remke Industries Inc. (Wheeling, Ill.) exhibited its Micro-Link Shielded Connector, a new addition to its Tuff-Link line of molded connectors. Micro-Link features a 360° aluminum mylar foil shield that minimizes electrical interference, which can disrupt signals from connectors to control devices. www.controleng.com/freeinfo or visit www.remke.com .

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