Articles about HMI system design, define and integrate MES controls, PLC basics for enterprise controls, the 2015 Control Engineering salary and career survey, and railroad axle manufacturing retrofits were Control Engineering’s five most clicked articles from last week, June 22-28. Miss something? You can catch up here.
Control Engineering Top 5 most read articles online, for Jun. 22-28, covered HMI system design, define and integrate MES controls, PLC basics for enterprise controls, the 2015 Control Engineering salary and career survey, and railroad axle manufacturing retrofits. Link to each article below.
1. How to best design an HMI system
A proper interface between a machine and its human operator greatly impacts efficiency and ease of use and should promote a harmonized connection between the two. This tutorial provides guidance on how to best build that connection though a human-machine interface (HMI).
2. Define, integrate, implement MES with controls, ERP
Modern manufacturing execution systems (MES) can deliver the flexibility to enable manufacturers to define the solutions that meet their strategic needs. MES is what you make it: Define the MES functions needed, use standards, consider modularity, and integrate controls with MES and MES with enterprise resource planning (ERP), as needed.
3. Support-focused enterprise controls: PLC Basics
PLC programs do not behave like scripted language programs used by most computer applications. A basic understanding of control application fundamentals is crucial for designing an effective support-focused system.
4. Control Engineering salary and career survey, 2015
Control Engineering research: While slightly less is expected for salary and significantly more for bonuses in 2015 compared to 2014, concerns about shortages of skilled workers remained highest on the list of challenges.
5. Railroad axle manufacturing retrofit
Remanufacturing and updating a three-stage lathe was more beneficial than purchasing a new modern machine. Everything was already in place; it just needed updated drives, and hydraulic systems.
The list was developed using CFE Media’s web analytics for stories viewed on controleng.com, June 22-28, for articles published within the last two months.
– Chris Vavra, production editor, CFE Media, [email protected].
