Stone Shi

Time to replace a DCS with a universal control system?

Control Engineering China analysis: What is a universal control system (UCS), and should it replace distributed control systems for future process control applications? What are UCS advantages?

How to produce flexibly using mobile robots, machine vision

Applying mobile robots, machine vision and artificial intelligence can help build a flexible production system.

Users look for open industrial software to help in three ways

Advantages of industrial software are explained at the 2023 Aveva China User Conference, including more effective digital transformation, data management and analytics and use of artificial intelligence, among other future benefits.

Seen at CIIF: Industrial AI for automation, smarter robots

At the 2023 China International Industry Fair, Siemens demonstrated artificial intelligence (AI) integration with robotics and showed how that works. Siemens and Microsoft are expanding industrial AI-based analytics.

How AIoT leads innovation in the intelligent device industry

In an interview with Control Engineering China, Advantech's Chen Yongcheng discussed the emergence of AIoT, and how it will enhance intelligent manufacturing.

How to augment process industry sustainability with automation, digitalization

Advanced process automation helps traditional industries meet low-carbon goals and high-quality sustainable development during the energy transition process. Automation digitalization and decarbonization tools are helping green transformation.

How to integrate process, digital technologies to increase petrochemical factory output

Automation and controls company and Chinese petrochemical firm integrate technologies for smart factory benchmarking. One plant reduced manual operation more than 50% and increased propylene yield by more than 0.1%.

Industrial cloud platform insights

The industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) is being embraced by manufacturers as a natural extension of automation and controls development.

From wire and cable to digital transformation: Benefits for industrial customers

A wire and cable company transforms to signal transmission solutions, to create a foundation for digital transformation, finding new ways to serve customers using resources from three innovation centers with testing labs, engineering for design and validation with specific industry experience.

Next generation development tools help equipment intelligence

Manufacturing industries need to develop new concepts of automation core component products and software development tools for future digitization and intelligence.

Digitalization, localization help develop China’s process industries

China’s process industries could benefit from more digitalization and by unlocking the power of existing data with factory design software and artificial intelligence (AI).

Digitalization, open automation cuts commissioning time 30%, creates services

Using digitalization and open automation provides opportunities and challenges for original equipment manufacturers (OEM) offering faster technology iteration and redefining customer value.

Solve intelligent manufacturing challenges in three dimensions

Industrial robots become smarter when integrating peripheral control, drives and other industrial control products, combined with machine vision, force sensing and other sensing technologies. Software helps.

Industrial software utility, useability, future

How can providers and users of industrial software advance software usefulness and ease of use, so software and its benefits can be more widely adopted? Control Engineering China provides some thoughts.

Industrial 5G fieldbus in R15 enhanced mobile broadband

5G technologies are in three parts; even in the first, it’s possible to communicate with industrial communications protocols. A fieldbus protocol can be used for industrial 5G, over the 5G R15 enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB).

Demystify the newly-released open automation platform

How open is your automation? Openness for industrial automation varies. Review history of open in automation and how IEC 61499 standard for distributed control system can help.

Digital field instruments accelerate petrochemical, process industries

Digital innovation of field instruments opens a new chapter of digitalization in the petrochemical and other process manufacturing industries.

From DCS to OCS: A change in process control system

Compared to a traditional distributed control system (DCS), an industrial optical bus control system (OCS) has a lower investment cost of automation, shorter installation time and reduces control system maintenance costs.

How industrial 5G supports the metallurgical industry

Industrial wireless using 5G provides real-time communication between an airborne control system and a remote-control center, for automated operation of the stacker reclaimer, reducing the safety risk and the labor cost.

Embrace SaaS, reap benefits, says industrial software giant PTC

Software as a service (SaaS) brings faster-than-local software performance without installation or versioning hassles, for CAD, PLM, IIoT and augmented reality development, according to PTC at the LiveWorx 2021 conference.

Open automation with plug and play

Plug-and-play and non-proprietary open automation system designs have become the goal of users. Many interoperability efforts include the O-PAS standard for control system architecture, time-sensitive networking (TSN) for industrial Ethernet and IEC 61499 for programming.

How do you break the trap of IIoT development?

Streamlined tools and industry knowledge can help with faster, more effective Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) implementations.

Five trends of Industry 4.0 outline the future of flexible factories

Eight years after Industry 4.0 began, have you answered three flexible factory problems? Five Industry 4.0 trends help create flexible factories.

Essence of digital enterprise: Three types of digital twins

Use of factory digitalization is expected to result in nearly double the production capacity, 20% less product launch time, 20% increase in personnel utilization and 40% increase in space utilization.

Manufacturing digital transformation may start with consulting

Help needed for digital transformation? Most Chinese manufacturing enterprises have a strategic plan for digitalization; for those slow to start, consulting services may help digital transformation.

Edge computing, artificial intelligence power automation innovation

Edge computing allows engineers to use lower costs to develop newer applications such as shop-floor data analysis and quality prediction. Artificial intelligence (AI) improves the efficiency and accuracy of plant operations.

COVID-19 accelerates the digitalization of enterprises

Facing pressure and uncertainty from COVID-19, manufacturing companies need to improve innovation, agility and adaptability as it applies to products, services, operations, and employee developments. 

COVID-19’s impact on Chinese automation markets

Influence of COVID-19 on China’s automation market: Initial impact of COVID-19 on the domestic Chinese automation market less than expected; most first-quarter sales came from orders last year. Negative COVID-19 effects on Chinese automation in the second or third quarter may increase; opportunities for automation growth exist. 

Automation approaches to use when market growth slows

Fast-growing areas for automation, according to analysts include edge computing, cloud computing, data analysis, machine learning and industrial network security. Despite the slower growth in some other areas of automation, these emerging technologies are growing at double-digit rates.

Digital twins, engineering future of automation

Rapid growth of data collection make rapid expansion of digital twins more likely to add automation, supply chain efficiencies and optimization.

Is automation going too far?

International: Just because something can be automated doesn’t mean it should. Pay attention to the details. High-profile mission-critical automation applications and smaller-scale control systems should optimize reliability, safety and efficiency.

Low-cost field control network

International: CC-Link IE Field Basic is an option for smart factory network architectures where low-cost control networks are needed.

New software helps with industrial cloud, AI, microservices from IoT summit

Control Engineering China: Advantech announced its Internet of Things (IoT) platform architecture and solution ready packages (SRP) at the Advantech IoT summit in Suzhou, China.

Expansion in instrumentation with software, technology updates

Market update: Honeywell expands process automation and instrumentation products and channels to continue to augment growth in the next three years, according to Control Engineering China.

Digital developments, cloud platform help with IIoT, robotics, automation, electrical products, and power grid

New digital products based on an integrated cloud platform aim to help with opportunities from the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) and digitalization, according to ABB, which has formed new departments for robotics and motion control, industrial automation, electrical products, and power grids, according to Control Engineering China.

Embedded technologies assist machine vision power, flexibility

Control Engineering China: Using embedded technologies in machine vision systems makes the configuration of software and hardware more flexible, the development environment and programming more universal, and greatly improves production flexibility. Standards are helping.

Three layers of intelligent manufacturing

Control Engineering international: Use of the Internet with manufacturing has evolved for more than 10 years and continues with advancements in industrial cloud, Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT), and Big Data to support enterprise and production activities, as manufacturing upgrades progress, explained Mitsubishi director Nan HeHao to Control Engineering China.

Industrial big data: Core competiveness of manufacturing enterprises in the future

At the Big Data and Intelligent Manufacturing Salon held in Changsha, China, experts from various disciplines discussed how industrial big data will shape future manufacturing and bring new services that focus on customization and commercial needs.

Replacing humans with machines and saving jobs?

Control Engineering International: While automation and robotics will replace some jobs to keep manufacturing competitive, they will create other positions in computers, mathematics, architecture, and engineering, according to Control Engineering China, citing World Economic Forum information. Is manufacturing ready for the transition?