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Insight 2013 | Advanced Control | Network Security | Plant Instrumentation | Renewable Solutions

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Production Networking A

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Through Automation

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pg 54

A Look Ahead:

Insight 2013 pg 24

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contents December 2012/January 2013

ISSUES & INSIGHTS

24

An Industry Look Ahead At 2013

2012 has been an eventful year for companies, small and large.

As we look ahead to 2013 we see an expanding and growing business portfolio for many large to medium sized enterprises.

Process CONTROL

30

Advanced Control Of Petrochemical Processes

32

Improved Manufacturing Through Characterisation

Due to the increasing cost of energy and new challenges in operational efficiency, APC is becoming increasingly important for all process industries — pulp and paper, minerals and energy production facilities in particular. By Paolo Belli, ABB

Process control is an evolving discipline that can be improved with more scientific methodology, enabling improvements in efficiency and impactfulness to the entire production process.

By Mike Bostrom, Doerfer Companies

SOFTWARE & NETWORKS

36

Security In The Cloud

40

Why SCADA Firewalls Need To Be Stateful

While cloud technology comes with advantages such as flexibility and reduced costs, all these rewards would come to nothing if it comes in an environment that is not secure. By Sherlyne Yong

An important aspect of effective firewall security is referred to as ‘stateful inspection’. The article looks at this topic in depth and discusses the relevance of stateful firewalls for today’s Industrial Control Systems. By Joel Langill, SCADAhacker; and Eric Byres, Belden Hirschmann

Instrumentation & Measurement

44

Cyber Security: Coming Into Focus

The computer virus, Stuxnet, was one of the biggest newsmakers for its time, thrusting the concept of cyber security into the industry spotlight. The effects of this news prompted many facilities to question themselves, and align renewed efforts to their cyber security. By Rick Kaun, Honeywell Process Solutions

2 industrial automation asia | Dec 2012/Jan 2013

AC DRIVES | SERVO DRIVES | CONTROLLERS | ROBOTS | SYSTEM ENGINEERING “Mechatronics (Servo/Controller & Inverter) Technologies Seminar – Focus on Green Technology and Target Applications” City : Penang Date : 29-Jan-2013 Venue : Hotel Equatorial Penang Time : 9am to 6pm

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Yaskawa Electric created the term mechatronics in the late 1960s. The term has received broad acceptance in the industry and is now used all over the world. This concept evolved when we combined our customer’s machinery with Yaskawa’s electronic products to create superior quality and function. Mechatronics enhances machinery performance by electronics and information technology to control machines. This innovative technology has been availed in introducing greater automation, efficiency and energy conservation in various industries.

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contents December 2012/January 2013

Case Study: Danish Robots Reach For The Sky

54

Robots reduce cost, and optimise production for precision engineering company, Sky Engineering. By Shermine Gotfredsen, Universal Robots

ENERGY

58

Fibre Networking Infrastructure In Wind Farm Operations

Maintenance-free plain bearing solutions prove their value in highly dynamic production systems. By Tobias Vogel, Igus

48

Environmental issues arising from ‘traditional’ energy sources, such as those powered by fossil fuels, have created a burgeoning market need for alternative power generation.

Wind energy has become a popular alternative to satisfy energy demand.

By Robert Reid, Panduit Networking Connectivity Group

Case Study: Brush Away Maintenance

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SECTOR SPOTLIGHT Making Automatic Welding Robust And Reliable

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There has always been a distinct advantage to employing humans as skilled welders, though as technology improves in this regard, and organisations become more safety conscious, companies are increasingly as likely to implement intelligent processes to accomplish tasks that previously only a skilled human welder could. By Paul Sagues, Moog

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Industry News

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CAN in Automation

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Calendar of Events

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Kenneth Tan editor

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Mark Johnston markjohnston@epl.com.sg

We are living in uncertain times, though as we look ahead to 2013, we see a blossoming of technological innovations with astute

Editorial Assistant

design considerations, whether this be for an organisation’s social

Audrey Ang audreyang@epl.com.sg

conscience or for reasons of efficiency or aesthetics. We often find,

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as technology is shaped in accordance with greater design goals, it

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drives success and revenue growth for companies and organisations

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You may not see the benefits of beautiful design, but you may feel it, you may experience it. This could manifest itself as

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beautifully designed software code that can execute faster, and spot intrusions with a greater success rate. It could also be in the form of the aerodynamics of wind turbines, or the mathematical algorithms embedded in software. Whatever, or wherever this design is, one

Contributors

Paolo Belli, Mike Bostrom, Sherlyne Yong, Joel Langill, Eric Byres, Rick Kaun, Robert Reid, Paul Sagues, Shermine Gotfredsen, Tobias Vogel Editorial Consultants

fact prevails, it matters.

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Achieving the sweet spot, of great design, with robust innovative

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engineering, is a huge factor for continued success of corporations

Alastair Ross Director, Codexx Associates Ltd

the world over. It cannot be overlooked, and ultimately such innovations and targeted design considerations will lead to an organisation's robustness, and ultimate success during troubled

supported by:

economic times.

In this issue of IAA we take a look ahead to 2013, with some of the regions important players in industrial automation. We also look at improving manufacturing processes in plants, and at network security, improving the robustness of networks, and protecting assets from network attacks. Wind farms are an important contributor to clean energy, but we must be sure wind turbines are connected to a robust network to enable effective communication.

We also include topics on machinery design and manufacture, which we see can greatly be improved by the application of robotics and automation tools.

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Telephone: +65 65330010

Industry News Singapore: By offsetting its carbon footprint for 2011, regional industrial enterprise, Jebsen & Jessen group of companies South East Asia (JJSEA), has become one of the first Asian industrial companies to become carbon neutral.

Partnering with carbon management company Climate Friendly, this milestone was achieved through a three-step approach which saw the group measure, reduce and offset its carbon footprint.

It developed gTool, an app that extracts data from SAP, to measure the aggregate carbon emissions of its activities. Information collected includes emissions from purchased fuels, electricity and travel related activities,

all of which were converted into carbon equivalents according to the United Nations Greenhouse Protocol.

Having quantified the group's net carbon emissions a combination of carbon reduction initiatives and offsetting were implemented to bring this figure down to zero.

In 2011, major offices across the region were fitted with energy-saving LED lighting, while in 2012, it undertook a US$400,000 project to install solar panels on its MHE-Demag facility in Tuas, Singapore. The solar panels supply 20 percent of the facility's energy needs.

As a final step, it signed a three year contract with Climate Friendly in July, 2012, purchasing 47,000 tonnes of carbon offset that would be invested

Robert Proksa, Jaworzno, Slaskie, Poland

Towards A Carbon Neutral Asia

in two projects; The Siam Cement Biomass Project in Thailand and the Chongli Qingsanying Wind Project in China. Both projects modify or install infrastructure that runs on renewable energy instead of fossil fuels.

Singapore Serangoon Data Centre Awarded LEED Gold Certification For New Construction Singapore: NTT Communications Corporation’s Singapore Serangoon Data Centre has been awarded the LEED Gold Certification for New Construction by the US Green Building Council (USGBC) for environmentally-friendly design, operations and management. LEED certification is a globally recognised benchmark for the design, construction and operation of green buildings, and a LEED certification to the gold level is given for buildings that are designed and constructed with sustainable concepts and practices that substantially reduce the building’s impact on the environment as compared to other, similar facilities.

Over 50,000 projects are currently participating in the commercial and institutional LEED rating systems, comprising over 8.9 billion sq ft (0.83 billion sq m) of construction space in more than 130 countries.

The data centre comes with environmentally-friendly features such as glass panels which allow natural light into the building and rooftop solar panels to reduce

8 industrial automation asia | Dec 2012/Jan 2013

energy expenditure. It also has earned a host of globally recognised accreditations and received ‘platinum’ recognition — the highest possible ranking — in the special buildings category under the Green Mark Scheme, an evaluation system for environmental consideration in building design. The scheme is administered by the Building & Construction Authority; a statutory board under the Ministry of National Development of Singapore.

Singapore Serangoon Data Centre is designed to serve the needs of the financial services industry and enterprises that require high power, low latency networks and a stable and secure infrastructure to build on their private cloud. The data centre is strategically located in close proximity of the local stock exchanges to provide low latency networks for high-frequency electronic trading, and also hosts high density racks of up to 12kVA and is fitted with IPv6 ready infrastructure.

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Industry News

Fujitsu Demonstrates Ultra-High-Speed Short-Reach Data Transmission Singapore: Fujitsu Semiconductor Asia has demonstrated the transmission of over 100Gbps of data over a single CEI-28G-VSR channel, effectively quadrupling the data rate throughput defined by the Optical Internetworking Forum (OIF) for this chip-to-chip electrical interface. This serves as a benchmark for what can be achieved over short-reach electrical channels using the same CMOS converter technology deployed in long-haul

optical transport systems today.

Key to the study is a comparison of the relative advantages and disadvantages of Pulse-Amplitude Modulation (PAM) encoding versus Discrete Multi-Tone (DMT) over this particular channel. The test and demonstration platform is based on the test chips and evaluation boards for the family of 40nm, 65GSps CMOS converters (‘LEIA’ DAC for transmit and ‘LUKE’ ADC for receive).

Autodesk Acquires HSMWorks Technology Singapore: Autodesk has acquired certain assets of HSMWorks Aps, a developer of Computer Aided Manufacturing (CAM) software. Through the acquisition of the HSMWorks technology, the company will add software to control machine tools and related machinery to its portfolio of software for manufacturing. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

The company intends to integrate the technology with its industry software and cloud services for manufacturing, and will make the a c q u i s i t i o n s ’ c u r re n t p ro d u c t s available for purchase and HSMXpress available as a free download. Existing customers using HSMWorks will continue to receive support and product updates.

Veolia Opens Doors In East Malaysia Singapore: Veolia Water Solutions and Technologies has opened the doors to its first set-up in East Malaysia, on the back of increasing success with local companies. Within the span of one year, the company has sealed agreements within core industries such as microelectronics and Palm Oil Mill Effluent (POME) in the region.

Its presence in Malaysia was established about 25 years ago, and it has since expanded to set-up four offices in Penang, Kuala Lumpur, Malacca and Johor Bahru, supported by 300 personnel. In response to growing demand for its water and wastewater treatment solutions in East 10 industrial automation asia | Dec 2012/Jan 2013

Malaysia, the company is now also present in Kuching.

The Industrial And Commercial Bank Of China Selects NXP For Secure And Fast Banking Card Transactions Singapore: The Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC), has selected NXP Semiconductor’s SmartMX2 high security microcontroller to increase the security and performance of its banking cards. The new cards will have dual interface capabilities that will enable both contact and contactless payments.

The performance of the microcontroller means that banking cards will deliver user convenience and speed of transactions allowing banks to offer multiple applications all on one card — for instance, additionally supporting public transport ticketing, providing physical access or government ID. They will also work with the contactless infrastructure being put in place in the country, which is mostly based on NXP technology.

ICBC plans to introduce its new cards in 2013 in a bid to improve security and reduce fraud rate.

In addition to banking or credit cards, the technology is used in eGovernment applications such as ePassports, citizen cards, electronic health cards and electronic ID cards, plus in public transport smart cards and in NFC-enabled mobile devices, representing one element of an end-to-end security system. The company has shipped more than one billion such chips, including 86 out of the 102 countries with ePassport projects.

Industry News

US Department Of Energy Deploys Virtual Reality Training Solution Singapore: Invensys Operations Management has implemented an operator training simulator for the US Department Of Energy (DOE) using Invensys Operations Management’s SimSci-Esscor EYESIM virtual reality training solution.

Designed for use within Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle (IGCC) power plants with carbon capture, and implemented at the National Energy Technology Laboratory’s (NETL) Advanced Virtual Energy Simulation Training and Research (AVESTAR) Center in Morgantown, West Virginia, the EYESIM solution uses 3-D virtual reality simulation to help train power plant control room and field operators. Wearing a stereoscopic headset, IGCC field operators are immersed in a virtual environment with the ability to move throughout the plant, coordinating their activities with control room operators and interacting as if they were in the actual facility.

The EYESIM solution is also fully integrated with plant operating models, built on the company’s Operations Management’s SimSci-Esscor DYNSIM dynamic simulation software, so actions taken by a field operator affect the plant’s process, and actions performed in the control room change the information visible to the field operator. Fully interactive animations respond and react to the actions of plant personnel, illustrating how various pieces of equipment will operate under almost any scenario and condition. As a result,

field and control room operators learn to collaborate and perform as a team.

The US Energy Information Administration estimates that the US has enough coal to last more than 200 years, but plants that continue to use conventional fossil fuel technologies will emit unacceptable levels of CO2 and other pollutants. IGCC with carbon capture offers an environmentally friendly alternative by capturing 90 percent of the CO2 produced by traditional fossil-fuel burning processes while at the same time reducing sulfur, mercury and other NOX emissions. The IGCC process is more environmentally friendly than other coal-burning processes, but it is also extremely complex and requires skillfully trained personnel to operate what is effectively both a chemical processing plant and a power plant.

A separate EYESIM virtual reality training system will be installed and commissioned at West Virginia University in Morgantown for student education and simulator training as part of assigned course work. In addition to training and plant design functions, the NETL and its research and development partners, including Invensys, will use the simulator to showcase the feasibility of clean-coal technology as a means to support future electrical generation demand without emitting environmental pollutants or greenhouse gases.

The formal site acceptance test was completed on July 16, 2012, after a complete plant start-up.

Singapore: Dassault Systèmes, has partnered with CADEM Technology Center. CADEM is a PLM Technology Solution Provider established in Singapore with a presence in the Southeast Asian markets of Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, Philippines and Vietnam.

The partnership, which is effective

Like

immediately, will see CADEM delivering Dassault Systèmes’ PLM solutions as part of its product offerings to its large customer base across a range of engineering and manufacturing industries. Under the partnership, CADEM will be primarily serving Industrial Equipment, Marine and Offshore industries.

Mike Johnson, Des Moines, US

Dassault Systèmes Reaches Deeper Into Singapore With CADEM Partnership

As Singapore’s manufacturing industries become more automated, such partnerships will positively impact businesses by allowing them to simplify processes, control costs and develop sustainable practices.

www.facebook.com/IAAsia Dec 2012/Jan 2013 | industrial automation asia 11

Industry News

Singapore: Schneider Electric has published details of the energy consumption of 160 production and logistics sites every year since 2005, in the context of the Schneider Energy Action program, with the aim of achieving reductions in its energy consumption.

Schneider Energy Action is an energy efficiency program which combines hardware and software solutions, expertise and methodology.

Its main objectives are to: • A c h i e v e c o n t i n u o u s o v e r a l l reduction of electricity, gas and oil consumption; • Implement the group's own solutions across all of its sites; • Raise employees' awareness of the new energy efficiency offers and help them understand how they can contribute to their development.

From the program launch, the objective of reducing energy consumption by 10 percent per person and per production site was met globally, and in some cases exceeded.

To achieve this, several million euros were allocated annually to equip these sites with almost 500 variable speed drives, 1,900 metres and hundreds of sensors, controllers and other building management systems. Similarly, it has also been decided to replace existing lighting with low consumption systems and to install more efficient heat engines.

An investment that paid for itself in less than three years.

The company has set itself a new challenge: to save a further 10 percent by 2014.

To achieve this, the 2012-2014 company program incorporates a series of measures, based on the implementation of its Struxureware software suite and associated services:

Ruben G S, Molina de Segura, Murcia, Spain

Schneider Electric Cuts Energy Consumption By 25 Percent

• Connection of all sites larger than 5,000 sq m to Struxureware Energy Operation, the company’s energy monitoring platform; • Implementation of Struxureware Resource Advisor which makes it possible to access energy bills, check their accuracy, optimise supply contracts and save on unregulated markets; • Deployment of ISO 50001 certification on 20 sites of the group; • Implementation of a global service contract in order to maintain the achieved savings.

Singapore: Zebra Technologies Corporation has issued survey results that show the Internet of Things (IoT) is no longer a concept, but a reality that is improving the operations of Asia enterprises. In fact, companies across multiple industries are already using IoT technologies to track and manage physical assets, improve the customer experience, enhance supply chain visibility and more.

The global, October 2012 commissioned study conducted by Forrester Consulting ‘Building Value from Visibility: 2012 Enterprise Internet of Things Adoption Outlook’ showed the following results: There is a positive perception of the term IoT in Asia, and 95 percent of respondents agree with a common definition provided of what IoT solutions are. Asia leads the world in implementing IoT solutions and organisations have more aggressive timelines for implementation. Twentyone percent of surveyed organisations in Asia already have an IoT solution in place as compared to 15 percent of organisations globally. Fifty percent plan to implement one within the next 12 months as compared to 30 percent

12 industrial automation asia | Dec 2012/Jan 2013

Ilker, Iizmir, Turkey

Zebra Technologies Study Shows Internet Of Things Solutions Are Ripe For Adoption In Asia

of organisations globally, and another 19 percent in the next one to two years.

In looking at global adoption by industry, 21 percent of transportation and logistics respondents noted they already have IoT solutions in place. Only three percent of healthcare organisations have them in place.

“The IDA Infocomm Technology Roadmap (ITR) 2012 identified Internet of Things as one of the technology themes for the year that brings about tangible business benefits from improved management and tracking of assets and products, new business models and cost savings,” said Rod Rodericks, VP and GM, Asia Pacific, Zebra Technologies.

Industry News

Honeywell Continues Growth In Unisim Process Simulation Business Singapore: Honeywell’s UniSim technology provides industrial operator training and process design solutions. It has signed 10 new simulation projects worth a combined US$20 million, driving growth for its process simulation business.

This family of simulation software and engineering services are designed to enhance plant design, operations and optimisation. It offers a series of unified simulation solutions to support improved performance throughout the lifecycle of a plant —

from off-line use in steady-state design simulation, control check-out, and operator training, to online use in control and optimisation, performance monitoring, and business planning.

“A wide range of industrial operations recognise simulation technology can help them achieve a significant competitive advantage in today’s demanding global market,” said Vimal Kapur, VP, Advanced Solutions, Honeywell Process Solutions.

K u a l a L u m p u r, M a l a y s i a : T h e economic downturn has prompted many Asian governments to invest or plan in sustainable economic activities.

Green technologies, particularly in the environmental and building sector, have been identified as long-term catalysts of economic growth.

Analysis from Frost & Sullivan, Green Excellence Country Benchmarking in Asia-Pacific, finds that in 2010, Singapore had the highest green excellence performance score of 0.813 and Indonesia came in last with 0.207.

The issue of sustainable development has gained currency not only throughout Asia Pacific but all over the world. Global trends such as population growth, industrialisation, climate change, water scarcity, increasing solid waste output, and other environmental concerns have escalated the demand for green technologies and services.

High-income countries in the region are the most enthusiastic adopters of green initiatives; however, some of them are also among the biggest carbon dioxide emitters in the world. Developed countries such as Singapore are drawing

international participants, while other developed countries such as Japan and South Korea are witnessing strong domestic competition.

“Singapore, Australia, and New Zealand are relatively stable and o p e n e c onomies,” said Melvin Leong, research manager, Frost & Sullivan. “These countries, with their substantial domestic expertise and need for niche applications and returnon-investments in the public sector, attract green technology suppliers with financial and technology strengths,” he added.

Although Japan and South Korea are considered developed markets with significant technology innovation and adoption, they are also among the markets with the most challenging entry barriers.

Most participants are hindered by language and cultural barriers in these two countries.

Meanwhile, middle-income countries are battling insufficient funding, transparency issues, focus on l o w - c o s t t e c h n o l o g i e s , a n d bureaucratic inefficiency in the development of environmental markets. Nonetheless, they provide ample scope for long-term growth.

Flavio Takemoto, Brazil

Green Initiatives Expected To Spearhead Economic Development And Revitalisation In Asia Pacific

Malaysia and Thailand are emerging markets and have not invested substantially in green technologies but they have considerable potential.

Finally, Vietnam, the Philippines, and Indonesia hold great promise as there is ample need for green market investments.

Dec 2012/Jan 2013 | industrial automation asia 13

Industry News

London, UK: The growing p re s e n c e o f m a i n s t re a m M2M solutions within critical information infrastructure such as utilities, healthcare, and finance is creating a headache for service providers and critical infrastructure operators who see the benefits of added connectivity and are just waking up to the potential security threats. This problem will become a critical issue in the coming months due to the evergrowing number of cyber-attacks directed against the banking and energy companies such as HSBC, Saudi Aramco, RasGas, and Telvent.

M2M networks are vulnerable to the same threats affecting all telecommunications networks: denial of service attacks, man in the middle hacks, illegal i n t e rc e p t i o n , a n d c o v e r t surveillance. More disturbingly, new cyber warfare tactics aimed at causing the failure of critical infrastructure are a very real danger which should not be underestimated.

Those M2M vendors building their core strengths around security will be the big winners in the long run, as the demand for encryption technologies and multi-layered security escalates. ABI Research has shown that the global market for M2M network security will be worth US$752 million by the end of 2017. This includes revenues for transmission security, physical security, and service level agreements.

14 industrial automation asia | Dec 2012/Jan 2013

Inmarsat And SkyWave Highlight Early M2M Success London, UK: Inmarsat and its partner SkyWave Mobile Communications has announced that SkyWave has secured sales of 12,000 IsatData Pro M2M terminals year-to-date.

This early sales success validates Inmarsat and SkyWave’s collaboration in the burgeoning M2M market and leads the two companies into new M2M segments such as transportation, oil and gas, utilities and mining.

IsatData Pro is a jointly developed service that teams SkyWave’s range of

terminals with Inmarsat’s global L-band satellite network to offer a high payload and low latency L-band satellite storeand-forward service. It is suited for a wide range of enhanced M2M applications including: Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) communications for systems that monitor gas pipelines and oil wells; and communications to/from telemetry and tracking devices for transport fleet management systems.

Imtech Marine And SRH Marine Electronics Conclude Strategic Partnership Rotterdam, The Netherlands: Imtech Marine concluded a strategic partnership with SRH Marine Electronics. SRH Marine Electronics is a maritime full service company based in Piraeus, the main port of Athens, Greece. A Memorandum of Understanding states that SRH Marine Electronics will promote the broad ranging portfolio of Imtech Marine’s solutions and services to Greek ship owners and their chosen shipyards.

In turn, SRH will use Imtech Marine’s service network, which currently

Kristja, US

M2M Network Security Market To Generate US$752 Million By 2017

consists of more than 90 offices based along the major shipping lanes and in shipbuilding centres.

Epicor Completes Acquisition Of Solarsoft Business Systems California, US: Epicor Software Corporation has completed its previously announced acquisition of Solarsoft Business Systems.

The company completed its acquisition of Solarsoft Business Systems for US$155 million. The acquisition of Solarsoft extends the

company’s position as a provider of complete end-to-end enterprise business solutions for discrete manufacturing and distribution and wholesale management solutions in key vertical industries including lumber and building materials, automotive, and print and packaging.

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Bundle A • TIA Portal V11 Basic • SIMATIC S7-1200 CPU 1214C

Bundle B • theTIA Portal V11 Basic In pharmaceutical and life science industries, the • is SIMATIC S7-1200 CPU 1214C goal to improve the patients‘ health and well-being.

• inherently, SIMATIC HMI KTP600 Basiccompanies Color So, pharmaceutical must seek to achieve the highest standards in terms of product quality SIMATIC STEP V11asisdemonstrate an integral component part respect of and safeety as 7 well their corporate thediverse centralized Totally Portal for cultures andIntegrated the global Automation environment.

But engineering getting there framework. is not easy. It has a uniform operator input concept across all automation tasks with shared services (e.g. configuration, communication, diagnostics), Achieving the goals of responsible care requires an as well as automatic data consistency.

any machine’s requirement. The digital and analog I/Os can easily be expanded without affecting the physical size of the controller by installing a signal board inside the front of the CPUs. The CPU 1214 C can accommodate innovative that focuses on information, up to eightapproach signal modules. transparency and knowledge. This is where the industry needs a committed, knowledgeable like Siemens.

The KTP600 Basic color offers a 5.7partner inch Touch Display We a deep understanding pharmaceutical andhave additionally 6 tactile keys.of The choice of Panel manufacturing and production processes and can offer for HMI tasks of limited complexity yet enhanced the right products and systems.for Siemens here to requirements in visualization the useisin PROFIBUS help the pharmaceutical and life science in or PROFINET networks according to the industries chosen variant; balancing and social interests especiallyeconomic, when usedecologic, alongside SIMATIC S7-1200and their responsibilities. controllers among other controllers.

siemens.com.sg/TIABundle siemens.com.sg/industry Email: industry.sg@siemens.com

Industry Updates

Time To Change From Profibus To Profinet Pr ofinet is advancing and is prompting many machine manufacturers, system integrators, and even users to ask: Should we make the switch or should we wait? A step-bystep transition from Profibus and the resulting hybrid operation is just as possible as an immediate, integrated changeover.

With more than 31 million i n s t a l l e d n o d e s a c ro s s a l l industries, Profibus has advanced over the last 20 years to great success as a fieldbus system. It was continuously further developed as a standardised platform by Profibus & Profinet International (PI) and moved along by the cooperation with automation manufacturers and their diverse products.

Starting with the office/IT world, Industrial Ethernet technology has developed more and more over the last few years into a platform with efficient system integration.

P ro f i n e t c a m e a b o u t a s the logical consequence of technological evolution and the development work of PI. It is the new standard, which combines the advantages of both worlds. Profinet has also long been established and accepted around the world, which now equates to more than three million installed nodes in a wide variety of industries and sectors.

New Communication Concepts Possible In addition, Profinet technology allows new, innovative, and flexible communication concepts 16  industrial automation asia | Dec 2012/Jan 2013

in industrial communication.

For example, redundant, highly available ring topologies without additional switches using the Media Redundancy Protocol (MRP) or wireless communication (also fail-safe using the known Profisafe profile) between plant units and/or HMI devices. The ‘Shared Device’ function allows a device or drive to be connected to several controllers, which makes later expansions easy and costeffective. The I-Device function turns a PN-capable controller into both an intelligent controller and device, and it can communicate like a controller with lower-level devices on the one hand and with higher-level or central controllers on the other hand.

Profinet is also an economical, energy-saving alternative because devices can be automatically switched off during unproductive breaks and switched back on in time using the Profienergy profile.

The number of Profinet-capable devices is rapidly growing and has long supported a wide variety of automation structures in a wide range of industries. From the food and beverage industry to steel production, from energy to water and waste water management, and from printing to logistics.

The Profinet portfolio also provides for integrated solutions.

It encompasses, amongst others, PLC and motion control systems in various performance classes, IO devices, drives, motor starters, measuring systems, HMI devices,

Profinet combines the best of two worlds.

identification and reading systems, coupling modules, and tailored network security technology.

Profibus Continues To Be Usable T h e e n t r y t o t h e P ro f i n e t world does not bring with it any insurmountable technical requirements and opens up a variety of options for cost optimisation in the overall consideration. For example, existing systems based on Profibus DP can easily be brought up to the new standard, either step-by-step in logical, meaningful parts or as a whole.

The key advantage of Profinet, is that process data, safety data, precision data, diagnostic data, and IT data such as normal TCP/IP message frames are transmitted via one and the same cable, which simplifies installation and management. Engineering is implemented using the same tools as for Profibus and it does not require any in-depth IT expertise.

The procedures are known, which means that no tedious training or familiarisation are necessary. It is not necessary to change the user program

when switching from Profibus to Profinet.

For connecting other fieldbus systems (eg: CAN bus, Interbus, and so on), there is a number of proxies, which map the fieldbus on Profinet. These are precisely defined in the Profinet specifications and are also standardised, ie: there are no specific special solutions.

Compare To Benefit If something that is tried and tested is replaced by something new, the question always arises as to when the new technology will be ready for use in practice.

When is the right time to join in or change over, and what should be used for what? Questions, both for modernisations and new projects, which can be answered by looking into the advantages and benefits already realised in practice.

These are as multifaceted as the applications and can be divided into three categories — flexibility, efficiency, and performance.

One decisive advantage of Profinet is its higher performance,

primarily with regard to the number of nodes, transmission rate, and diagnostics. The size of networks is nearly unlimited.

And Profinet’s speed of 100 Mbit/s in full duplex mode with parallel communication via switches is much faster than Profibus at a top speed of 12 Mbit/s.

Network Security Under Control The integrated vertical openness, from the field level to the control level, requires specific measures for protecting against unauthorised access to the automation level.

These measures, eg: encryption of WLAN communication in local networks, are generally already known and come automatically along due to the use of Ethernet.

Many of the components that are available for Industrial Ethernet can also be used in Profinet architectures.

Costs — Trending Downward The investment costs amortise during the lifespan of a Profinet installation faster than for other

Profinet’s three pillars of success: Innovations that bring about sustainable benefits lead to increased flexibility, efficiency, and/or performance in production automation.

Profinet provides much shorter bus cycle times, thereby allowing better performance than Profibus.

network systems thanks to the shorter commissioning time, increased availability, productivity, and/or quality of production. The energy savings that can be achieved using Profienergy during breaks in production also contribute to this.

With continuously increasing unit numbers of devices and (as with Profibus) the increasing expansion of additional functions, the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) will drop considerably over the entire lifecycle of Profinet systems.

Current analyses done by one of the PI-members are projecting a savings potential of up to 40 percent.

The Time For Profinet Is Now P ro f i n e t i s e a s y, e f f i c i e n t , powerful, and flexible. It is already established in many applications and the number of components is constantly growing — and thanks to this, the technology has long been used in practice. The earlier that users switch to Profinet, the sooner and more intensively they will benefit from the many advantages.

ENQUIRY NO. 8101

Dec 2012/Jan 2013 | industrial automation asia 17

Newsdesk

CANopen On Track It is a long time ago that CAN in Automation (CiA) members requested to s t a n d a rd i s e i n t e r n a t i o n a l l y CANopen for the use in rolling stock. The very first IEC meeting on this topic went back to February 2005 in Verona (Italy).

In the following years, CiA experts, especially Reiner Zitzmann, represented CiA in the Working Group 43 of the IEC Technical Committee 9. He was appointed as editor of the IEC 61375-3-3 document named ‘Electronic railway equipment — Train Communication System (TCN) — Part 3-3: CANopen Consist Network’. The standard was finally approved unanimously

by April 2012.

After seven years, CANopen became an internationally accepted network in rail vehicles.

Expanding CANopen But already in the mid of the 90’s Vossloh Kiepe (Germany) introduced CANopen technology in its trams followed by their colleagues developing diesel locomotives. There are other CiA members supporting CANopen in devices designed for usage in rail vehicles. Selectron offers c o n t ro l s y s t e m s b a s e d o n CANopen as well as MEN, Luetze Transportation, Sys Tec, and so on. Other CiA members provide CANopen compatible diesel control systems, eg: MTU and Voith. CANopen has been mainly 18 industrial automation asia | Dec May 2012/Jan 2009 2013

used in light train vehicles (trams, undergrounds, commuter trains, and so on) and diesel locomotives.

In some rail vehicles, CANopen is deeply embedded, for example in door control systems and in brake systems.

CANopen Applications The Flirt train by Stadler (Switzerland) is one of the first CANopen references for rail vehicle applications. Some 758 of these trains have been sold so far.

Windhoff was another early bird of CANopen users in rail vehicles.

The German company makes modular trains for construction and maintenance of rail nets and overhead catenary systems as well as freight forwarding, firefighting, and rescue services.

Alstom Transport (Germany) uses also CANopen networks in its Citadis and Coradia trains.

The company signed a contract with Deutsche Bahn (DB) for 38 additional Coradia regional train sets. CANopen is also used in some Chinese metros and commuter trains, for example in many of the rail vehicles produced

by CSR (China). Kangni (China) manufactures rail vehicle doors with CANopen interfaces.

Standardisation In Europe, the KnorrBremse IFE division developed the first CANopen connectable rail vehicle doors towards the later part of the 90’s. The company initiated

the first CANopen profile for rail vehicle equipment. This CiA 409 device profile was discontinued and substituted by the CiA 424 series. CiA has developed a huge range of device profiles for rail vehicle equipment. Many of them make references to International Union of Railways (UIC) leaflets.

The organisation developed the data format of process data for many units such as brakes, doors, and so on.

The CANopen Special Interest Group (SIG) ‘Rail vehicles’ mapped those data objects to the CANopen object dictionary and specified additional necessary data objects.

Unfortunately, the SIG is not more active. But that does not mean nobody is using these profiles.

Based on experience, the companies supplying to rail vehicle manufacturers as well as the train makers are quit closed. This means, some of them use ‘secretly’ the CiA profiles dedicated for rail vehicle applications. In some East European countries, these profiles have been partly implemented.

Of course, it would be better, when CiA submits its profiles for international standardisation.

But this is politically not that easy. Some parties wanted that IEC standardises the UIC leaflets.

But the UIC objected, because the both organisations could not agree on copyright and business model issues.

ENQUIRY NO. 8102

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Fieldbus Foundation EMEA Executive

Advisory Council Elects New Chairman

U l r i c h Tu rc k , M D , Tu rc k , has been elected as Fieldbus Foundation chairman to its Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) Executive Advisor y Council (EAC) for the next annual term of office. Mr Turck takes over the chairmanship from Jean-Marie Alliet of Honeywell Process Systems.

The Fieldbus Foundation EMEA EAC members include: G re g o r K i l i a n , A B B ; Tr a v i s H e s k e t h , E m e r s o n P ro c e s s Management; Dr Raimund Sommer, Endress+Hauser; JeanMarie Alliet, Honeywell; Hartmut Wa l l r a f , I n v e n s y s ; G ü n t e r Pinkowski, Krohne; Rob Stockham, Moore Industries; Peter Maxwell, MTL-Cooper Crouse Hinds; Dr Gunther Kegel, Pepperl+Fuchs; Paul Brooks, Rockwell Automation; Herbert Schober, R. 20 industrial automation asia | Dec 2012/Jan 2013

Stahl; Dr Wolfgang Trier, Softing (Treasurer); Ulrich Turck, Hans Turck (Chairman), and Henk van der Bent, Yokogawa.

Marc Van Pelt, VP, Fieldbus Foundation EMEA Operations, w e l c o m e d M r Tu rc k t o h i s new role: “Firstly, I would like to thank Jean-Marie Alliet for his dedication to the role of chairman over the last two years and I am looking forward to working closely with Ulrich over the forthcoming year as we progress further with several Foundation technology and marketing initiatives throughout the EMEA region.”

He continued: “The marketplace is currently experiencing challenging times but it is also an exciting time in terms of the many technological advancements of Foundation technology for automation infrastructures and how we meet the needs of global end users.”

The Committee The Fieldbus Foundation EMEA EAC, a committee of senior executives from EMEA’s leading control and instrumentation companies, was established in February 2005 in response to growing demand for Foundation fieldbus in the EMEA industrial market.

The advisory council i s d e d i c a t e d t o p ro m o t i n g the adoption of Foundation technology by automation

equipment suppliers and end users and it ensures the funding and availability of human resources to suppor t local fieldbus marketing activities across the EMEA region.

Implementation of the EAC’s directives and the development of regional marketing initiatives are undertaken by the Fieldbus Foundation EMEA Steering Committee together with local marketing groups.

New Chairman Mr Turck began his career studying at the University of Bochum. Specialising in electronic components, he graduated with a Diplom-Ingenieur (Master).

He worked as an aerospace project engineer on the German Space Lab, Mission D2, and also spent time at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, and participated with the ground crew at the Mission Control Center during flight.

For over 25 years he has been employed in the family company, Hans Turck, where he has held the position of MD with responsibilities to establish global subsidiaries, in particular in East Europe, Asia and Brazil. His current role focuses on the company’s process automation business unit.

In addition to holding the position of MD of both Hans Turck and Turck Holding, he is a shareholder of both companies.

ENQUIRY NO. 8103

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ENQUIRY NO. 426

EtherCAT

Roadshow

The EtherCAT roadshow came to Singapore for a half-day seminar on October 17, 2012, in Singapore at the Swissotel Merchant Court Hotel, having completed one-day seminars on October 15-16, 2012 in Selangor, Malaysia at the One World Hotel, and Penang, Malaysia at Hotel Equatorial respectively.

The seminars were designed to be educational and delivered by representatives from Beckhoff Automation, together with Martin Rostan, executive director, EtherCAT Technology Group, who was the principal presenter.

There were also hands-on demos available to demonstrate the technology in practice.

They were well attended by companies that work with Beckhoff Automation, and use EtherCAT, or companies with an interest in learning more about the technology.

The Participants The participants varied in their role and responsibility within various companies, ranging from 22 industrial automation asia | Dec 2012/Jan 2013

those in charge of control and automation systems with machine builders and OEMs, those working with system integrators or design firms for machine builders or end users. Also, those interested to know the latest trends in industrial automation and how fieldbus selection plays an important role, and those interested in application examples and possible migration strategies.

The Agenda The Singapore seminar took place on October 17, 2012, with a range of topics covered and time left over for a Q&A with attendees. Topics covered at the Singapore event included: ‘Ethernet on the fly: the EtherCAT Functional Principle’ that include information on the functional principle of EtherCAT plus issues on performance, together with network architecture and a discussion on topology, presented

by Mr Rostan; more topics presented were ‘Migration from Classical Fieldbus Systems’, which

included information on best practices, and cost advantages, again presented by Mr Rostan.

Representatives from Beckhoff Automation Singapore then give a presentation on the company and its activities in Southeast Asia, together with a presentation on the company’s eXtreme Fast Control Technology (XFC).

The presentations finished with Mr Rostan giving a presentation on ‘Competitive Advantages for Machine Builders through EtherCAT, concluding with Q&A time for the participants.

October 17, 2012 Swissotel Merchant Court Singapore ENQUIRY NO. 8104

EtherCAT:

The Asian Equation

At the Singapore edition of the EtherCAT roadshow, IAA had the opportunity to speak with Martin Rostan, executive director, EtherCAT Technology Group on the EtherCAT technology and its prospects and uptake in Asia. By Mark Johnston IAA: What were the initial reasons why Beckhoff Automation developed EtherCAT? Mar tin Rostan (MR): The driving force behind developing EtherCAT was the need for speed.

The company, back in 1989, had developed the Lightbus, a 2Mbit fibre optic bus system, because back at that stage there was no suitable fieldbus system that met those requirements.

Lightbus already had the functioning principle of processing on the fly, and then in the late 90s we started an internal project called Fast Lightbus where we examined the next generation Lightbus with higher performance. We were looking at fibre optics initially and then the Ethernet wave started, and we suddenly discovered if we could combine both principles,

taking advantage of the Ethernet frame and the Ethernet hardware, and combine this with our functioning principle of processing on the fly. This ultimately led to us developing EtherCAT. IAA: Are there any challenges you have encountered with EtherCAT? MR: Sometimes we do have a perception problem, as people always assign EtherCAT with superfast, which is correct, but superfast for many people means it must be expensive, or it must be difficult to use. If people think they do not need superfast, they are rather shy. In fact a Fieldbus can be anything, it can be too expensive, or not robust enough, but it cannot be too fast. This can never be a problem, but that is what people typically do not see.

IAA: What is EtherCAT adoption like in Asia?

MR: We started in Europe so of course our early adopters for the technology were in Europe. If we look at the member distribution now, Asia is not only catching up very fast but it is a very strong region in terms of membership. We have 650 members from Asia now.

Germany remains the largest membership country because we originated there, but meanwhile the US, Japan, and China, are fighting for the number two position, and all of them are pretty equal in terms of membership.

IAA: In Asia, what is the country with the biggest adoption?

MR: In terms of percentage of the local market, I would say South Korea, but of course the Korean market is not as big as the Japanese or Chinese market, but those are the three main countries we are successful so far.

IAA: What industries are you most involved in?

MR: We have a good involvement in machine control applications, but I would say we have particularly strong adoption in the semiconductor industry, but also robotics. Some of the very large robot manufacturers have chosen EtherCAT. Those that are not using their own proprietary technology.

We are also doing well in metal forming, plastic machinery, in packaging and in assembly as well as the shipbuilding industry, which is not as large as the semiconductor industry in terms of automation equipment but that is another Korean stronghold, for instance.

ENQUIRY NO. 8105 Dec 2012/Jan 2013 | industrial automation asia  23

issues & insights

An Industry Look Ahead At 2013 2012 has been an eventful year for companies, small and large.

As we look ahead to 2013 we see an expanding and growing business portfolio for many large to medium sized enterprises.

Haider Rashid, region manager (South Asia), ABB

Bob Ruff, president (Asia Pacific), Rockwell Automation

24  industrial automation asia | Dec 2012/Jan 2013

Mark Jones, MD, ifm electronic

Francis Cheng, GM, Industrial Automation Department, Mitsubishi Electric Asia

Rajiv Ghatikar, VP and GM (ASEAN/Australasia), Siemens PLM

Ashish Gaikwad, GM, Advanced Solutions (Asia Pacific), Honeywell Process Solutions

Q1 IAA: What challenges did you face in 2012 that will affect your strategy for 2013?

training centres in all major offices in the region. Including Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, and Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC). These facilities lend themselves to practical application training for customers in these countries.

Opening a new office in HCMC early in 2012 was a challenge due to bureaucratic hurdles, which are now well behind us. Vietnam really is a great opportunity for heavy industry automation suppliers.

ABB Haider Rashid (HR): Our business in Southeast Asia i s g r o w i n g r a p i d l y, a n d o u r c h a l l e n g e i s t o g ro w sustainably, by ensuring we continue to hire and keep the right people, improve our processes, and execute projects well and safely.

Of course, there is a degree of uncertainty in the markets, and this will likely continue into 2013. The good news is that customers have not cancelled investments, and we have seen that some customers will invest instead in the first half of 2013.

The company’s growth strategy and ambitions remain the same.

We continue to invest carefully, but we are careful not to expand ahead of demand.

Mitsubishi Electric Asia Francis Cheng (FC): The biggest challenge has to be making adjustment on both strategies and sales forecast due to the economic downturn experienced since the middle of 2012. It shows no sign of improvement during this period, in the industrial automation and services industries. Many companies are conservative and planned to cut back their expenses as factory outputs were dwindling.

It affected the entire supply chain as the majority of the OEMs have started to reduce their sales forecasts. As such, we need to diversify and focus more on the solutions business in 2013.

ifm electronic Mark Jones (MJ): In 2012, we have expanded our sales and support operations in Singapore, Malaysia, and Vietnam, while continuing to experience respectable growth in ever y Southeast Asian country this year.

After relocating our regional hub offices, ‘down the hall’ in Singapore’s German Centre. We proceeded to open technical

Rockwell Automation Bob Ruff (BR): The region’s macro-economic conditions created significant headwinds that will remain in 2013. These included weak US demand and a Eurozone crisis that stalled Asian exports.

GDP and industrial production were at their lowest levels in three years for China

and India, and a lack of liquidity and credit negatively impacted our customers, distributors and system integrators.

Siemens PLM Rajiv Ghatikar (RG): 2012 has been a good year for us, with the ASEAN region seeing strong growth. One of our key challenges was looking at the best possible ways to help our customers increase productivity and improve quality while reducing cost.

While market opportunities increase, the global economy continues to be unstable and there is uncertainty for businesses everywhere. Helping our customers stay competitive in this landscape continues to be a huge focus for us.

Honeywell Process Solutions Ashish Gaikwad (AG): For 2012, we saw that the key focus among our customers was on sustainability. Around the world, customers in the process automation industry were looking to maintain costs yet be flexible and adaptable to changing market conditions.

O u r p ro c e s s i n d u s t r y customers have responded well to technologies and solutions that bring improved operations, overall asset effectiveness, and business efficiency, therefore a higher return on capital employed.

D u r i n g t h e y e a r, w e worked on a number a good opportunities in developed and emerging economies as companies in the process automation industry push for growth and development. We Dec 2012/Jan 2013 | industrial automation asia 25

issues & insights

also delivered on a number of new innovations that will help our customers achieve their operational goals.

These new products include Intuition Executive, software designed for better decision-making; PlantCruise

by Experion, an extension of our process knowledge system for mid-sized applications in China and India; and Experion Orion, the next step for our Experion Process Knowledge System (PKS).

Q2 IAA: What do you see as the biggest trends for 2013?

ABB HR: On the industrial landscape. I see an accelerating convergence of power and automation, as customers are under increasing pressure to deliver productivity and energy efficiency. This will drive investments in automation and energy saving technology like the company’s motors, drives and control systems, as well as consultancy and other services to ensure that customers are getting the most out of their industrial plant.

From a market viewpoint, demand for energy, resources, 26  industrial automation asia | Dec 2012/Jan 2013

urban infrastructure and rapid digitisation of information, industry segments like offshore, mining, transpor t, power generation and data centres will continue to be important markets for us.

ifm electronic MJ: With on-going investment in R&D, in 2012 alone the company launched many new products. We extended our range of sensors, which work in adverse conditions.

I/O link continues to grow in popularity in Europe, but in Southeast Asia, cost remains the biggest concern for most users, so the technology has yet to take off.

Generally, the industr y continues to seek quality products that will last the course of time, with affordable price tags. Ever yone must reduce cost, while improving efficiency and production outputs. The challenge for a German manufacturer, like ourselves continues to be producing and exporting cost effective solutions into ultra low cost Asian markets.

Mitsubishi Electric Asia FC: The trends would depend very much on how the economy is going to perform in the early part of the year. If the global economy remains weak, we may see customers become more price conscious and so reducing costs would be a common sight.

On the other hand, if the economy rebounds, we expect more customers to look at value-added services

rather than cost alone. Also, suppliers that show flexibility in manufacturing and good supply chain management would reap the most benefits if such an upturn occurs.

Whichever side the coin may flip, outsourcing services would gain more importance due to the greater uncertainty in the world economy.

Rockwell Automation BR: As the middle class of developing countries emerges and consumer spending expands, energy consumption increases. It creates demand in energy-saving measures in factories and integrated power applications across many industries. Power control in OEM, process, and heavy industry markets in Asia are expected to provide significant growth potential.

Siemens PLM RG: Despite economic uncertainty, Asia continues to be a region of growth across various sectors such as manufacturing, shipbuilding, oil and gas and aerospace. To help our customers build the right product in the right way, we established our HD-PLM vision which is based on three core principles — intelligently integrated information, futureproof architecture and a highdefinition user experience.

We believe equipping our customers with the right information, at the right time, and in the right form, is crucial to their success.

Mobility in the workplace, cloud computing and big

data will continue to impact how companies do business and our product portfolio has evolved accordingly. We have been optimising the architecture of our products to ensure we meet our customers’ ever-changing needs. This is evident in the development of solutions such as Teamcenter Mobility, Teamcenter on the cloud and Active Workspace.

We will also be working closely with the new Advanced Remanufacturing & Technology (ARTC) Centre in Singapore to bridge technological gaps in remanufacturing for the aerospace, oil and gas, marine, energy, automotive and engineering industries.

Remanufacturing is a technology that manufacturers can look into as it translates e n d - o f - l i f e p ro d u c t s i n t o ‘good as new’ ones for the market through a sustainable process, leading to greater cost and materials savings a n d , p o t e n t i a l l y, h i g h e r profit margins.

Honeywell Process Solutions AG: Looking ahead, we believe that customers want to stay agile, dynamic and be able to respond to market changes.

Among the key technologies that they will look at include cyber security, virtualisation, remote collaboration, wireless a n d i n t e g r a t i o n . We w i l l continue to work with our customers to help them attain their business goals.

We are committed to the Southeast Asian marketplace and we will continue to make strategic investments in technology, products and our people.

Q3 IAA: What are your company’s top three goals for the Southeast Asia region for 2013, and what are the biggest challenges you foresee in accomplishing those goals?

ifm electronic MJ: Our top three goals are to remain a serious Southeast Asian market player in the sensor, connector and control markets. Continue to expand our customer base across the region, by providing well profiled local inventory, and high levels of technical support to our customers. Last but not least, we will continue to develop our specialist customer support staff capabilities, in all major Asian cities.

Mitsubishi Electric Asia ABB HR: The company is growing across the region, and 2012 saw some changes to our structure as we expanded. In 2013, we want to strengthen our foundations so that we can improve competitiveness and create closer relationships with our customers and grow the business. So this means orienting our resources around our customers, having the best people in place, improving our operational excellence and ensuring we do this all with a culture of safety and business integrity.

No one country or division is dominant in the region, so we have to collaborate more across our geographies.

To achieve self-sustaining growth we have implemented an ‘Asia for Asia’ concept, so that the region is more cohesive on the one hand, and less reliant on other parts of the organisation for people, technologies and products.

FC: Our biggest goal for the past few years has been expanding the market share year-on-year. We aim to do the same in 2013. Other goals are to exploit our product range and technology further to reach out to more customers and to better manage the supply chain.

These are all no easy tasks.

Competition is getting stronger day-by-day. There are more and more players joining the playing field. The more noticeable ones are from the emerging technological countries such as Taiwan, China, and South Korea.

Products from these countries would provide customers with lower costs that can be difficult to compete in the markets.

There exist many companies in the region that price low cost as their top priority for design and procurement considerations. The Americans and Europeans are also looking at ASEAN countries for growth and expansion.

For the past two years, the ASEAN economy has proven to be resilient despite the economy slow-down encountered in most Dec 2012/Jan 2013 | industrial automation asia 27

issues & insights

parts of the world. Demand for automation products would continue to expand in 2013.

We expect to achieve our goals despite all these challenges.

Rockwell Automation BR: Our goals are to grow in segments and industries that are expanding in this region. The oil and gas industry continues to grow as energy needs increase, and mining is active as demand for coal and iron ore remains high across Asia Pacific.

Consumer Industry growth will continue to play an important part of our strategy as a growing middle class will require investments across the region.

We will continue to diversify our industry focus to align with changing market dynamics and maintain a leadership position and grow in the automotive and tire industries.

We also want to continue our positive momentum with OEMs — last year we saw 51 percent growth here as OEMs discovered our strengths and

ability to help them reduce their total cost to design, develop and deliver equipment.

Of course, we must execute our plans, and that includes finding new ways to introduce current and potential customers to the breadth and depth of our solutions through local and regional events like Rockwell Automation on the Move.

As always, we will continue to build our talent pool. Our people make us who we are; this is one of our strongest differentiators.

To accomplish our goals, our market access model and our partners will be critical to our long term growth. We continue to recognise the challenges of recruiting and retaining an excellent workforce and we will invest resources in this area so we are capable of recruiting the absolute best people.

Siemens PLM R G : I n 2 0 1 3 , w e re m a i n committed to offering our customers the right solutions

that will enable them to make smarter decisions, improve workflow and deliver better quality products. Our company will continue to work towards upgrading our current portfolio and introducing new products that meet the needs of our customers.

Honeywell Process Solutions AG: Our top three goals for this region are to grow our market share, strengthen our value proposition to customers with our products and technologies, and continue to deliver services via a global delivery model.

Additionally we plan to sharpen our focus on our software products and enhance our after-market ser vice infrastructure for the same. We are also well positioned to meet the challenge on human capital — striking a good balance between global expertise and local capability.

ENQUIRY NO. 8201

Asia’s Economy Set To Pick-Up Steam In 2013 According to Dow Jones, a top official at the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has stated that growth will pick up in Asia going into 2013, giving optimistic remarks about the Asian economy for the coming year.

"Asia has stabilised. The last two quarters in China have picked up slightly. We project growth to pick up next year," stated Anoop Singh, chief of the IMF's Asia and Pacific Department.

It is now predicted, according to the IMF, that Asia’s economy will grow 5.4 percent in 2012, and 5.9 percent in 2013, with China’s economy specifically, to grow 7.8 percent in 2013, and 8.2 percent in 2013. The net result will be to protect the region from fluctuations in the US, and European economies.

These views echo a bullish outlook from the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development which said strong domestic demand will spur Southeast Asian economies to

28 industrial automation asia | Dec 2012/Jan 2013

grow as fast in the next five years as they did before the latest global financial crisis.

Manufacturing activity across Asia is showing renewed signs of life. A preliminary gauge of China's manufacturing activity in November showed the first expansion in 13 months, reinforcing evidence of a turnaround for the Chinese economy.

The preliminary HSBC China Manufacturing Purchasing Managers Index, a measure of nationwide manufacturing activity, rose to 50.4 in November 2012, compared with a final reading of 49.5 in October 2012, HSBC Holdings PLC stated.

Mr Singh said a resolution of the US ‘fiscal cliff’ debate, with a package of automatic tax hikes and spending cuts set to take effect soon, and European progress on stabilising the situation in Greece would give a vital confidence boost to the world economy.

ENQUIRY NO. 8202

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process control

Due to the increasing cost of energy and new challenges in operational efficiency, APC is becoming increasingly important for all process industries — pulp and paper, minerals and energy production facilities in particular. By Paolo Belli, global PSC manager, Advanced Process Control, ABB

Advanced Control Of Petrochemical Processes A

dvanced Process Control (APC) is a well-established technology, which is used in all petrochemical processes.

Refinery, ethylene, gasification and gas treatment, and LNG for gas liquefaction all gain large benefits from APC. Typically, the return-on-investment is less than six months.

Refinery Application: Delayed Coking The main economic targets of the unit are related to the capability of keeping the most valuable outputs (heavy gasoline and light gas oil) as close as possible to pre30  industrial automation asia | Dec 2012/Jan 2013

defined quality targets. Prior to the installation of APC, these qualities were measured only once a day in the plant laboratory, which meant that the control goals had to be turned empirically into maintaining reference tray temperatures.

The APC inferential model estimates the values of the product qualities, whose accuracy is increased by correcting the neural net predictions with a bias factor, calculated on the basis of the discrepancy between inferred and lab-measured values. The Model Predictive Control (MPC) controller, in turn, manages the loop setpoints that control feeding

flow rate, distillate extraction flow rate and pumparound flow rate, in order to control temperature and to apply the constraints imposed by the operating limits of the unit. The APC analysis confirmed the project expectations from both qualitative and quantitative perspectives, showing a number of cost-saving effects on plant operation: • The fractionator showed greater stability, due to a d r a m a t i c re d u c t i o n i n magnitude and time extension of the disturbance coming from drum switching and related procedures.

• Clear variance reduction in APC ON (around 75 percent for heavy gasoline and 60 percent for light gas oil), e n a b l i n g h i g h e r p ro d u c t quality closer to the best market specifications.

• Increase in the yield of more valuable light distillate: thirty-six percent reduction in the amount of light gas oil lost in heavier streams.

IGCC And Gas Treatment Integrated Gasification and Combined Cycle (IGCC) plants are among the most advanced and effective processes for power generation using bottom of the barrel refinery residuals.

H o w e v e r, t h e y p r e s e n t a significant challenge: the combination of complex reactions, highly integrated design, and variable feed composition requires coordinated control to simultaneously satisfy p ro d u c t i o n , c o n t ro l l a b i l i t y, operability and environmental objectives.

Implementation of ABB multivariable process control systems successfully helps in tackling these challenges.

• Gasification unit — the APC system maintains the CH 4 content stable even in the event of large feed density changes. Another benefit is the improvement in the five scrubbers’ interacting level control, which is not related to any economic target but greatly reduces the operators’ w o r k l o a d a n d t h e re f o re enhances safety.

• Acid gas removal and gas treatment area — the APC objective is to minimise energy consumption while maintaining residual H2S in syngas within the specifications: steam consumption is reduced by about 20 percent.

• Master control for overall plant coordination — this is a complex task due to the different dynamics between slow syngas production in the gasifier and fast consumption in combined cycle. On top of this, multiple additional constraints (such as post-firing max temperature, post-firing pressure, feed pump amperes, and so on) have to be met. APC keeps pressure stable at the gasifier exit even during a fast load transition,

APC is used extensively in the petrochemical industry, and is key to improving safety and efficiency within a plant.

and enables more power to be produced (>1 percent) in the combined cycle.

Process Cogeneration Optimisation All process facilities require energy in the form of electricity and steam, which can account for as much as 20 percent of overall production costs. This makes the site power plant an important element in the economic performance of the facility.

The site powerhouse is often a large plant with multiple boilers, turbines and steam headers.

Economical operation of the plant can be a major challenge, due to fluctuating energy prices, the complexity of the plant, and the high reliability requirements for steam and power supply. To improve operational stability and flexibility and reduce energy costs, the company’s predict & control can be used to coordinate control and optimisation.

The most immediate benefit with APC is a huge improvement in process stability. Improved pressure control is important, since optimisation requires the powerhouse equipment to make more frequent transitions between maximum power generation and minimum fuel operating modes.

Better control of the steam headers completely eliminates situations in which a single boiler trip causes other equipment to trip, thereby reducing plant outages and production losses.

Verified savings of two percent in powerhouse energy costs have been achieved, equating to a payback time of less than six months. Savings come from the maximisation of back pressure power by utilising the most efficient boilers and from the automatic efficient purchase of primary energy such as gas or an external power supply.

ENQUIRY NO. 8301 Dec 2012/Jan 2013 | industrial automation asia 31

process control

Process control is an evolving discipline that can be improved with more scientific methodology, enabling improvements in efficiency and impactfulness to the entire production process.

By Mike Bostrom, VP business development and CTO, Doerfer Companies

Manufacturing Through

Characterisation

T

raditional process control techniques have been around for many decades and have been evolving since the mid 1980’s. Routinely engineers and managers can graph variable product data or attribute data and predict product quality or machine performance. These techniques, although somewhat antiquated are an effective method for helping to improve or maintain manufacturing performance.

More recently, engineers have found that process control can be more impactful by coupling statistical techniques with process development rigour. This process control methodology includes developing a fundamental understanding of a manufacturing process and monitoring and adjusting input variables automatically based on statistical models. This advancement in 32 industrial automation asia | Dec 2012/Jan 2013

monitoring and controlling processes affords companies higher yields, consistent quality, and improved throughput.

used to make the product • Environment — the physical environment in which the product is manufactured

Process Characterisation One of the fundamental keys to developing a robust process control strategy is centred on developing a rudimentary understanding of a process that are also sources of variation.

Developing a basic understanding of the sources of variation is absolutely critical in creating and implementing a process control methodology that is successful. Through the product development, process engineers will create the foundational components of a product. This usually includes material selection, how will it be manufactured, basic process understanding, key quality attributes, and product costing.

Assuming that product development teams have created this fundamental understanding of what makes a good product, manufacturing/process engineers need to develop an understanding of a manufacturing process in a

Sources of variation include: • Material — raw components that make up the product • Methodology — way in which a product is manufactured • Metrology — way product is measured to determine if it is good • Workforce — the people that support the manufacturing of the product • Equipment — the machines

Allan Ferreira, Brazil

Improved

• FMEA’s — Failure Modes and Effects Analysis • QFD — Quality Functional Deployment • Gauge Repeatability and Reproducibility (R&R) • Screening Design Of Experiments (DOE) • Response surface DOE Engineering brainstorming sessions, FMEA’s, and QFD’s can help create a list of input and output variables including identifying each potential sub-source of variation and their potential effect on product quality.

Assuming that a ‘good’ product has been defined at the process level through the product development process, manufacturing engineers can deploy gauging studies to determine the efficacy o f a m e a s u re m e n t s y s t e m .

Traditional R&R studies can be deployed to understanding signal-to-noise ratios and how much variation is attributed to the measurement system.

To effectively pair down the list, DOE can be utilised. Initially, screening designs can help develop an understanding of the subsource variations and the impact on product quality. Once these input variables are understood, advanced DOE’s can generate response surfaces that illustrate the optimum settings that ensure the highest product quality. In addition, these statistical designs

can help determine the interactions between input variables.

Understanding critical input variables can allow for better quality through better control of each critical parameter and allows for proactive process management resulting in improved quality and manufacturing throughput

The Application M a n y m e d i c a l d e v i c e s a re developed by putting plastic parts together through ultrasonic welding processes. This process, when performed correctly, can prevent leaks or contamination in the product. For example, some insulin delivery devices require

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steady state environment and optimise accordingly through process control.

With a methodical approach, process engineers need to look at each process step and understand what a good product looks like at that step and what it takes to make that product. Developing this basic understanding requires that engineers employ a variety of tools that include:

Dec 2012/Jan 2013 | industrial automation asia 33

Lotus Head, JHB, GP, South Africa

process control

A company’s workforce is an important element in establishing a robust control infrastructure for the process industry.

putting two plastic components together — reservoir and a lid.

These plastic parts are moulded and put together through an ultrasonic welding process.

To determine the efficacy of the welded parts, testing is done by pulling a vacuum on the welded parts and measuring the change while under a vacuum for a period of time. These measurements can give engineers and quality personnel some confidence in whether the weld is of good integrity. In addition, quality engineers can evaluate if the weld looks acceptable by visually inspecting the weld.

Assuming that calibration s t a n d a rd s h a v e b e e n m e t , traditional gauge R&R’s can assess the repeatability and reproducibility of the leak rates and signal-to-noise ratios can assess the variability associated with go-no-go data. Measuring known leaks multiple times over a period of time can give confidence that a gauge is accurate. Having several manufacturing personnel evaluate the pass fail data over time can give confidence in the attribute data.

Determining the key process 34 industrial automation asia | Dec 2012/Jan 2013

variables would lead to screening and response surface designs that would highlight that leak rate and cosmetic results often are against each other. For example it is very conceivable to think that a very good weld might create so much flash or physical change in the dimension of the part that it becomes unacceptable. The key is to find the ideal settings that allow for an acceptable leak rate and visual quality.

This can be achieved by design experiments that test the impact of process/input variables on leak rate and visual quality.

Through brainstorming activities and FMEA’s, engineers might find that weld energy, amplitude, force, time, and material batch may all impact product quality.

Screening designs where specific combinations of material and process parameters compared to product quality can statistical identify the significant contributors of ensuring product quality. Furthermore response surface designs can identify the interactions between the key input variables (factors) and their impact on product quality (response).

This fundamental

understanding coupled with technology allows for machine control to ensure that every product that is welded goes through the critical process parameters acceptable limits.

Furthermore, input variable data can be tracked and married to product quality data allowing for analysis helping to establish control limits that adjust as the process dictates.

For example, through the process characterisation work, weld energy has been identified as a key contributor to leak rate.

Trending weld energy to leak rate, allows for automatic changes in weld energy as leak rates change. This proactive process management allows for closed loop adjustments prior to a poor product being made.

Another example is that the material can have a significant impact on ultrasonic welding and leak rates. Process characterisation work may determine that specific lots or manufacturing batches react differently during the welding process. Creating a control strategy where incoming material is tracked through the process and weld settings are adjusted accordingly ensuring acceptable leak rates are made would allow for higher throughput and improved quality.

In Conclusion Process control methodologies have been in existence for many decades. Advancements i n a u t o m a t i o n t e c h n o l o g y, computing power coupled with process characterisation work has enabled new process control methodologies that improve product quality, increase manufacturing throughput, and ensure product consistency through closed loop feedback systems.

ENQUIRY NO. 8302

Anywhere in the world you need electrical measurements, HIOKI is there.

Established in 1935, HIOKI E.E. Corporation has grown to become a leading manufacturer of electrical measuring instruments listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange. Power quality analysers, memory recorders, data loggers, power meters, battery testers, DMMs, current clamps, and safety testers are just some our products serving the global industry. From high-speed flying probe testers to rugged field clamp meters, we have won multiple prestigious design awards.

Visit www.hioki.com to see what we can do for you.

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Download our FREE Case Studies, “Guide Book for Power Quality Measurement”.

Visit www.hioki.com/applications ENQUIRY NO. 421

HIOKI Singapore Pte Ltd Tel: +65 6634 7677 ■ Fax: +65 6634 7477 Email: info@hioki.com.sg Website: www.hioki.com

software & Networks

Security In The

Cloud Fut Und Beidl

While cloud technology comes with advantages such as flexibility and reduced costs, all these rewards would come to nothing with an environment that is not secure. By Sherlyne Yong

T

example, the manufacturing industry. For instance, CAD/CAM users are taking advantage of the characteristics of cloud to enhance productivity in terms of sharing designs with fellow team members or customers. It can also be used for viewing machines live, or more typically, for data sharing.

Mark Phelan, Coventry, UK

he advent of mobility has fuelled the rise of cloud technology.

With benefits like enhanced collaboration, the optimisation of resources and increased flexibility, business owners are jumping onto the bandwagon to enjoy economic gains and heightened efficiency.

This spans across all industries, including, for the

The cloud platform requires many lines of code for correct and secure information processing and storage.

36 industrial automation asia | Dec 2012/Jan 2013

A Virtualised Cloud Due to its scalable nature, cloud computing presents itself as a cost efficient option as it shares hardware among different virtual machines, which allows users to opt for only what they need. In most models, this is achieved through virtualisation with the use of a hypervisor. It allows for the sharing of resources and the creation of multiple simulated environments by simulating hardware and allocating assets according to the users’ requirement.

“Depending on the cloud vendor, most cloud services are built on

top of virtualisation technologies to achieve the economy of scale which save costs for users,” said Yap Neng Giin, technical evangelist, Microsoft Singapore.

Cloud computing also facilitates reuse and standardisation, While such a highly virtualised environment comes with certain advantages, the cloud’s dynamism also creates additional security concerns. According to the ‘2012 InformationWeek State of the Data Center Survey’, half of its 256 respondents indicated that at least 50 percent of their production servers will be virtualised by end 2013.

Evidently, virtualisation and the adoption of cloud technology is picking up, which makes it even more imperative for developments in network security to follow suit as well.

New Threats Network security for virtualised

environments differs from that of traditional computing, simply because the relationship between hardware and Operating Systems (OS) are altered as well. Hardware is no longer exclusive to one machine or OS, but split across multiple users instead. While security needs are still essentially the same, the process of achieving it is another story altogether.

“The key differences in threats lie in the fact that the cloud environment is usually multitenanted, and the users have no access to the physical setup of the environment,” explained Mr Yap. “As such, users need to be mindful that hardware dependent countermeasures may not work, and there may be possible attacks from other tenants, but it is unlikely as the cloud vendors should have

done their best to mitigate that,” he continued.

The other difference between cloud and traditional computing is that the former, especially in the case of Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), rarely offer users the control over hardware that is needed for implementing perimeter security.

The cloud’s abstract nature and lack of visibility has also made it harder to integrate tools that are typically used in traditional computing, especially at the network level. This includes firewalls, intrusion detection systems, and network factors like IP addressing, or routing.

In addition, these traditional tools are also unable to detect traffic going through the Virtual Machines (VM), as mini-networks a re c re a t e d b e t w e e n t h e m

and on top of the hypervisor.

Consequently, data and even attacks remain undetected as they can travel through the VM without going out to the network.

Furthermore, when network traffic is segmented at the VM level, a server can only see its own traffic, which means that security measures have to be implemented at the wire level.

This in turn, makes for a highly inefficient framework due to the sheer amount of work involved.

Security Efforts As resources in the cloud are scalable and often reallocated, how do providers ensure that the data does not move along with changing storage requirements? Aimed at addressing this, security solutions available in the marketplace

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ENQUIRY NO. 514

• Management of DC and environmental variables • from VMU units; AC variables, alarms and error Management of DC and environmental variables • Management of DC and environmental variables Management of DC and environmental variables • • Management of DC and environmental variables • from VMU units; AC variables, alarms and error Management of DC and environmental variables from VMU units; AC variables, alarms and error messages from inverter and energy meters from VMU units; AC variables, alarms and error from VMU units; AC variables, alarms and error messages from inverter and energy meters from VMU units; AC variables, alarms and error messages from inverter and energy meters • String, BOS and Performance ratio or Yield messages from inverter and energy meters • messages from inverter and energy meters String, BOS and Performance Performance ratio ratio or or Yield Yield messages from inverter and energy meters • String, BOS and indices calculation String, BOS and Performance Performance ratio Yield • • String, BOS and ratio or or Yield indices calculation • • String, BOS and Performance ratio or Yield indices calculation Variables shown as graphs and and numbers in indices calculation indices calculation • Variables shown as graphs numbers in indices calculation • Variables shown as graphs and numbers in in • • Variables graphs and numbers in formatted tables Variables shown shown as as graphs and numbers formatted tables • formatted tables Variables shown as graphs and numbers in formatted tables formatted tables formatted tables

Dec 2012/Jan 2013 | industrial automation asia 37

Ronny Satzke, Plauen, Germany

software & Networks

Computing operations happen in remote locations, by servers with circuitry that securely store and process sometimes critical information for the world’s corporations and diverse populace.

mostly revolve around isolation efforts. The main intention is to prevent VMs from interfering with each other, especially since they share the same platform.

Even though there are three main types of cloud environments — Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS), and Software as a Service (SaaS) — it is generally established that security lies on the shoulders of users rather than vendors.

As revealed by Mr Yap: “The cloud vendor is responsible for the data-centre level, up to network access level security issues for each computing/storage unit, while the onus for the security measures to application and data design goes to the users.”

He added that users should have a firm understanding of the various cloud models, and encourages a careful evaluation of type of service model that the vendors provide. This includes the consideration of factors like overall architecture of the service, service–level agreement, pricing, security guidance, and certification among others. Understanding the various models is important as security needs differ and depend on how far along the stack the offered service is.

38 industrial automation asia | Dec 2012/Jan 2013

Data Security Data security is one of the top most concerns for cloud users, who inevitably use the cloud for storage of confidential information as well. Insufficient measures put in place may lead to the leakage of sensitive information, which has serious repercussions for enterprises.

Data security and governance control is mostly transferred to the cloud service provider when data enters the cloud. However, as cloud vendors are not required to assume responsibility, it is best that users first secure their data, so that it remains protected both in transit and when stored within the cloud.

This can be achieved with filelevel encryption, which according to the CSA Security Guidelines, “offers the benefits of minimum reliance on the cloud service provider and lack of dependence on detection of operational failure.” In order to enjoy benefits of the cloud such as flexibility and mobility, it is important that users adopt security solutions that are data-centric and portable across all computing platforms, OS, and the type of cloud, regardless of whether it is private, public or a hybrid.

Encryption also helps when sectors containing deleted file information are moved from one VM to another, in cases where partition sizes are reduced or increased for example, such that a key is required before the file can be opened. An alternative solution would be dedicating specific physical storage to a particular VM. While this incurs more cost and reduces overall flexibility, it ensures that the stored data cannot be inadvertently accessed.

Mitigating Threats To fully reap the advantages of cloud computing, it is pertinent for users to step-up on their

security and prepare against potential threats. Virtualisation increases the risk to a server, and it is therefore vital that users integrate additional measures such as hyper visor malware control, especially when sensitive information is involved.

Other avenues of enhancing security include limiting the code base so that there is less for intruders to exploit, as well as running VMs at a lower level of permissions than hypervisors, to inhibit VM escape attacks.

Users can further partake in a risk assessment analysis by identifying risk zones in the framework and the level of security required for each zone.

Grouping the servers according to risk level will lead to enhanced manageability and optimise security resources.

In order to be fully prepared, early planning takes precedence and users should consider their security needs right from the drawing board. “If the user is to be developing/engineering applications for the cloud environment, they should place strong emphasis on their security needs and keep their operating environment in view from the start,” Mr Yap elaborated.

When designing these applications, some key concepts to note include auditing and logging, authentication, authorisation, communication, cryptography, input and data validation, as well as sensitive data.

Ultimately, the security of the cloud is dependent on both users and service providers alike.

There is a need for the community to come up with security solutions that are catered to the dynamism of the cloud, of which, collaboration and trust are the two key points for developments in this area.

ENQUIRY NO. 8401

ENQUIRY NO. 517

software & Networks

Why SCADA Firewalls Need To Be Stateful

an industrial firewall that offers t h i s i s t h e To f i n o M o d b u s TCP Enforcer.

It is also possible for appliances to offer what is called ‘Shallow Packet Inspection’ or SPI, which looks at data lower in the protocol stack. This is where the concept of ‘state’ becomes important.

Kerem Yucel, Ankara, Turkey

An important aspect of effective firewall security is referred to as ‘stateful inspection’. The article looks at this topic in depth and discusses the relevance of stateful firewalls for today’s Industrial Control Systems. By Joel Langill, CSO, SCADAhacker; and Eric Byres, VP and CTO, Tofino Security Products, Belden Hirschmann

I

n order to understand exactly what is meant when we talk about ‘state’, we need to look at the specifics behind the Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) communication sessions that are most common in modern day Industrial Control Systems (ICS) and Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) applications.

Deep Packet Inspection (DPI) analyses makes decisions based

40 industrial automation asia | Dec 2012/Jan 2013

on the information contained in the upper layer of the model.

This layer is where you would typically see specific application operands such as a Modbus Read Coil (eg: function code 2) or a Modbus Write Single Register (eg: function code 6).

Clearly this DPI provides the highest level of granularity when it comes to managing communication between hosts on a network. An example of

State In Data Communications Just like communications between people, communications on a network rarely just involves a single message. There is a constant exchange of packets, where each is in some way dependent on previous packets. For example, if your computer receives a message containing a web page from a web server, it can only be interpreted with the knowledge of what request was sent earlier. If your computer never sent a message asking for the page, then the only reasonable thing to do with the message is to discard it.

This understanding of the previous traffic is what we call ‘state’. Basically the computers involved in the information exchange have to understand the ‘state’ of the exchange at all times. They need to know state information such as which device started the session, who last sent a message, was the last message rejected because of errors and so on. Without this, communications quickly break down.

The Hazards Of Stateless Security Compared to the devices actually communicating, a security device has a little more flexibility regarding understanding the state of the traffic it is securing. In theory, it can try to manage the traffic while ignoring the state of the sessions on the network. Unfortunately, ignoring state comes at a price — badly degraded security. Let us explore why this is so.

A ‘stateless’ or ‘packet filter’

Unfortunately, a packet filter firewall’s inability to understand the relationships between a series of packets is a serious weakness.

For example, the broad rule ‘Accept DNS response packets on UDP

port 53’ contains a serious flaw.

What if no Domain Name System (DNS) query was ever issued, but a spoofed DNS ‘response’ packet came in instead? This simplistic firewall would accept the packet and deliver it to the ‘requesting’ host, possibly causing it to become confused.

Setting Up The Stateless Firewall Let us consider a simple session where a client computer issues a request to a web server using the Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP). As defined in the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) specifications, this message will contain the IP addresses of both computers. It will also contain the number 80 in the destination port (‘dst.port’) field to indicate

that the TCP packet contains a message for a HTTP server.

The HTTP server will reply with a message that has the ‘src.ip’ and ‘dst.ip’ reversed (since the message is in the reverse direction). The number ‘80’ is moved to the source port field, indicating a reply from a HTTP server.

For completeness, this first illustration includes what is called the ‘TCP 3-way Handshake’.

This handshake is required to establish communication for all TCP communications and is also part of the ‘state’.

Now to manage these communications, let us insert a simple switch or firewall that is unaware of the ‘state’ of the communications. In other words, the device is unable to determine

ENQUIRY NO. 512

appliance only analyses each packet in isolation of other information relating to the communication session. It has a series of static rules and uses them to take action upon received packets on an individual basis. It bases decisions to allow or deny packets on simple filter criteria such as: • the source and destination IP addresses in the message (Layer 3) • the source and destination protocol number in the message (first part of Layer 4).

Dec 2012/Jan 2013 | industrial automation asia 41

software & Networks

LAYER 5 (Application)

Application User-Data (ADU) (1460 bytes max)

TCP Frame LAYER 4 (Transport)

TCP Header (Port Numbers)

TCP Data Array

(20 bytes) IP Frame

IP Header (IP Adrs)

LAYER 3 (Network)

IP Data Array

(20 bytes) IP Frame LAYER 2 (Data Link)

Ethernet Header (Ethernet Adrs)

Ethernet Data Array

FCS (Checksum)

(14 bytes)

(1500 bytes max - Maximum Transmission Unit)

(4 bytes)

Figure 1: The abstraction layers typically used in TCP/IP communications for ICS and SCADA systems.

Note: The model discussed in this article is a simplification of the OSI 7-Layer Model

anything about any previous communication that may have taken place between the two hosts (including the presence or absence of the TCP 3-way handshake). The only information that this appliance can inspect are the IP addresses (source and destination) and the protocol port number (source and destination).

Now in order to allow our simple HTTP session to pass through this appliance, we would need to configure a unique rule for each ‘direction’ of the session — one to allow the outbound HTTP ‘request’ and the other to allow the inbound ‘response’. These rules might look something like this: • Allow src.ip=10.1.1.100 dst.ip=10.1.1.200 dst.prt=80 (Outgoing rule) • Allow src.ip=10.1.1.200 dst.ip=10.1.1.100 src.prt=80 (Incoming rule) Spoofing Stateless Communication Is Easy While this looks simple, this type of paired access control rules immediately leads to security vulnerabilities. Since the appliance can only analyse 42 industrial automation asia | Dec 2012/Jan 2013

limited source and destination data, it is not possible for it to block ‘inbound’ communication that was not the direct result of an ‘outbound’ request.

To exploit this hole, an attacker could simply change their IP address to match the Application Server (this is known as ‘spoofing’) and send their malicious packets to the client marked with TCP port 80 as his source port. (Note: this attack allows the packets into the control system — if you want to get replies back from the client you would require a second technique called arp poisoning, but that is another discussion).

Not only is this simple to perform, but in this case, it is also difficult to detect since the traffic would appear as normal web browser traffic to monitoring tools. The stateless firewall or switch would only see the traffic as coming from the correct IP address and as being some sort of HTTP message, and happily let it through.

Now this is a moderately serious security problem if you have configured your stateless firewall to only allow web traffic to

a single server; at least that forces the hacker to pretend to be that one server. But what if you want your user to be able to browse the web?

The resulting stateless rule would allow the entire web to be able to send any packet they want to the poor client computer, provided they mark the packet with source port 80 to indicate HTTP traffic. It would not matter if it is really HTTP traffic — it would just have to be marked as such.

That is a very low bar to jump over. Plus the hacker can send as many of these packets as they want, a wonderful way to flood the control network.

Stateful Firewall Inspection Stateful Inspection occurs when a security appliance understands the relationship between the latest message received and previous messages in a given network connection.

At its most basic, the stateful security device knows if an inbound ‘reply’ packet is in response to an outbound request.

But stateful inspection can be more than just that.

At the same time, the security appliance also creates an internal record that tracks its understanding of the session state. Together the state information as received,

and the state information as previously recorded, can be used to analyse the reasonableness of each packet.

Inbound Traffic Must Match Outbound Requests Stateful Inspection means that inbound traffic to the client device will only be allowed if it is in response to an outbound request.

All other traffic, even if it contains the correct IP address and TCP port number would be dropped.

With ‘Stateful’ inspection, an attacker that attempts to spoof a valid host’s IP address and the TCP port number used would not be able to traverse the firewall appliance.

src.ip = 10.1.1.100 src.port = 4528 (*)

2

1

dst.ip = 10.1.1.200 dst.port = 80 tcp.flag = S src.ip = 10.1.1.200 src.port = 80

dst.ip = 10.1.1.100 dst.port = 4528 tcp.flag = SA src.ip = 10.1.1.100 src.port = 4528 (*)

3

Establish Connection (TCP 3-way Handshake)

Stateful filtering requires that the appliance look at additional parameters contained within the TCP/IP Headers. This additional information will indicate the state of the communication session as the device sending the message believes it to be.

Typically this includes: • Source and destination TCP port number • IP status flags • Sequence number • Acknowledgement number

dst.ip = 10.1.1.200 dst.port = 80 tcp.flag = A

src.ip = 10.1.1.100 src.port = 4528 (*) dst.ip = 10.1.1.200 dst.port = 80 5

src.ip = 10.1.1.200 src.port = 80

4

Transfer Data

Application (Server) 10.1.1.200

User (Client) 10.1.1.100

dst.ip = 10.1.1.100 dst.port = 4528

(*) Random (Ephemeral) Port Number assigned by Client application typically in the range of 1024 - 4999

Figure 2: The TCP 3-Way Handshake and subsequent communications.

ethernet0 ethernet1

src.ip = 10.1.1.100 src.port = 4528 (*) dst.ip = 10.1.1.200 dst.port = 80 src.ip = 10.1.1.200 src.port = 80

Application (Server) 10.1.1.200

dst.ip = 10.1.1.100 dst.port = 4528

The Relevance Of Stateful Firewalls In Today’s ICS Why does the modern controls engineer need to understand state and know when to demand it? First, it is important to understand the concepts of ‘stateless’ and ‘stateful’ and be able to assess the importance of stateful inspection given the risk mitigation desired.

Next, do not assume that a vendor’s firewall or security appliance is stateful. While many are, there are significant differences amongst suppliers.

Remember that we are talking about the firewalls that are used to protect the highest risk component in the ICS architecture — the control devices. These devices are physically connected to the process under control, and as such, have a different security profile than is required in other areas.

Our experience shows that industrial field firewalls (that are typically fanless, industrialised for harsh environments, operate on low-voltage CD and are ICS protocol friendly) vary greatly in how they handle state.

No ‘One Size Fits All’ There are always tradeoffs between performance, security, ease of use and ease of maintenance that must be considered when considering the appropriate security appliance.

However, what is most important is to understand the advantages of each type of firewall, and the specific risk mitigation they provide when designing a particular architecture.

In ICS/SCADA security, there is no ‘one size fits all’. Each solution should be based on a consistent risk-based approach to threat management.

User (Client) 10.1.1.100

Figure 3: Spoofing is possible when an attacker sends malicious packets using TCP port 80.

ENQUIRY NO. 8402 Dec 2012/Jan 2013 | industrial automation asia 43

instrumentation & Measurement

Cyber Security: Coming Into Focus

The computer virus, Stuxnet, was one of the biggest newsmakers for its time, thrusting the concept of cyber security into the industry spotlight. The effects of this news prompted many facilities to question themselves, and align renewed efforts to their cyber security.

By Rick Kaun, business manager, Industrial Cyber Security, Honeywell Process Solutions

I

f a company was not already scrambling to research, create and implement an effective cyber security program, the computer virus, Stuxnet, certainly provided the impetus, as it further proved that having a strong cyber security program in place is an unavoidable necessity for manufacturers today.

Cyber security plays a crucial role in the reliability and robustness of the networks that a plant’s critical applications run on. As such implementing a baseline security model across a facility — whatever the industry — is the right move as it increases the likelihood of safe, reliable operations and minimises potential security incidents. With this emphasis on safe, reliable operations (and the implications for environmental regulations), 44 industrial automation asia | Dec 2012/Jan 2013

it is clear that cyber security is destined to become as entrenched in process control industries as the ‘culture of safety’ has over the last few decades.

The prospect of doing anything — let alone running a cyber security program — ad infinitum may seem overwhelming. By breaking down the steps, we can make this seemingly impossible task achievable. The three steps are: Inventory, Integrate, and Implement.

Taking Inventory Of Cyber Assets The first step in developing any security program — physical, cyber, or both — is assessing a plant’s current security measures. In terms of cyber security, this means taking inventory of assets.

In industries where cyber security regulations

• IT inventory (operating systems, IP addresses, user permission levels, and so on.)

• Operational inventory (control systems and software, and so on.)

• Logical inventor y (the network locations of assets) • Physical inventory (the real locations of assets) • Security system inventor y (what security solutions are in place, where they sit) Performing a physical inventory is important as it provides insight into who has access to the asset; it also allows for a visual inspection of the asset, which can lead to important information that is not available through other means.

For example, are there assets on the plant floor that have been powered down or decommissioned?

What about assets that are not plugged in, or that have open ports, switches, and modems that are supposed to be turned off when not in use? Does an asset have multiple network cards for accessing different network segments? Lab Information Management Systems (LIMS) and centralised data historians are good examples of assets that often connect to multiple networks.

Without a visual inspection it would be easy to miss this information, which is an important consideration for incident response plans and backup and restoration programs.

It is also important to inventor y existing security applications, including where they sit and how they function. Most facilities have at least a dozen isolated lists of information that have been provided by various security applications or point solutions.

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ENQUIRY NO. 435

are already in place, organisations are required to provide a list of their critical cyber assets. Getting started on an inventory immediately can help organisations ensure they are not left scrambling.

Chemical Facility Anti-Terrorism Standards (CFATS) does not explicitly call for such a list today, but as the cyber component of CFATS evolves, organisations can be certain that a cyber inventory will be a requirement.

A cyber inventory provides plants with the information they need to make informed decisions with regards to cyber security priorities. It is also a key requirement of the regulatory bodies who judge whether a facility is in compliance or not, so it is a great place to start.

Most facilities do not know precisely what is plugged in on the plant floor, and it is not always easy to determine. Managing compliance requires a robust inventory, including:

Dec 2012/Jan 2013 | industrial automation asia 45

For example, user security settings in Windows Active Directory, an inventory of critical systems in the backup system, anti-virus and intrusion detection applications, patch management applications, network access rules and controls (acceptable paths, what machine can connect to which network), and various sets of documentation ranging from policies to procedures to checklists and technical standards.

A detailed cyber inventory underpins many of the subsequent steps in creating a best practices compliance program, including identifying and addressing vulnerabilities and creating mitigation and remediation plans. The more accurate and complete an inventory, the easier it will be to make thoughtful decisions about a security program, including understanding the impact a rollout of, say an anti-virus application, will have on operations.

Integrate Data Sources Once the inventory has been completed, the challenge is tying this information together for a holistic view of the plant’s cyber assets. There is no sense in pulling all of this data from the various areas and duplicating it in a separate database (and doing so would create an information management nightmare).

The alternative is to compile a ‘master list’ of all the information sources in a facility with links to the supporting data and underlying information.

This higher-order database is similar in function to a sitemap for a complex web site, and is really a logical model of a facility. Most plants are likely in a position to generate this kind of list from the inventories they have already completed. This master list enables plants to keep tabs on their critical information, provided processes are in place to ensure that it is kept up to date.

A key aspect of managing a security program is integrating all security data sources and making that information accessible and actionable.

Tools to automatically monitor and manage the security program as well as document changes are essential to a robust security management program.

A tool that interfaces with best-in-class security tools like anti-virus, patch management or backup/ virtualisation software can provide immense value in managing a plant’s data and security program. A recommended approach is to implement a database with front-end portal capabilities for viewing relationships and interdependencies and reporting on them.

Implement Workflows The third fundamental aspect of a successful security program is the ability to keep it up to date (and fully documented). Workflows can help accomplish this.

46 industrial automation asia | Dec 2012/Jan 2013

Jozsef Szasz-Fabian, Sf Gheorghe, Covasna, Romania

instrumentation & Measurement

Data should be stored securely and protected from security threats that threaten personal or classified information.

Done properly, workflows guide the operator through each stage and proof point, effectively enforcing an organisation’s policies.

Workflows allow plants to embed its procedural and policy objectives into employees’ day-to-day tasks and ensure that each workflow has some form of verification or documentation. In essence, specific workflows reflect the application of corporate or regulatory policies and procedures. One simple example of this involves ensuring new employees are granted access to critical systems based on relevant certifications such as CFATS or Transportation Worker Identification Credential (TWIC), and so on.

Let us take a closer look at the request for access example described above. By extending the framework to include training and personnel data, plants can add a workflow to manage and automate user access requests.

The application could submit the username to a process that grants the user access to specific workgroups or roles within the facility. If the role and role clearance required are already defined, the application can now manage — automatically and without error — whether or not access should be granted.

Further, the timestamps associated with various clearances, training and certifications can be monitored and automatically notify users when it is about to expire. Similarly, the ability to take a user who no longer requires access (due to employment termination or retirement, for example) and remove them from all information systems, either by providing a comprehensive report or by automatically disabling accounts, becomes a simple step. Automated workflows and management of information can also be applied to log review, patch evaluation and deployment, general change management, and so on.

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Changing The Way We Think The three-step process of creating/managing cyber inventories, integrating data sources and implementing workflows essentially forms a blueprint for creating and installing a cyber security program.

But there is one crucial element that will ultimately determine whether this program is maintained effectively: culture.

In light of the unavoidable move towards increased regulation, any argument against implementing cyber security really just becomes a discussion on how to postpone the inevitable. A delay can have serious repercussions for the success and cost of an effective security program.

In the chemical industry, it is fair to say that physical security has gained equal footing with worker safety

in terms of priorities. The very existence of CFATS is a good example of how the industry is taking a stronger stance on the need for effective physical security measures. Cyber security, though, is a different story.

Oftentimes, cyber security falls below other priorities such as alarm management, process improvement and environmental controls.

Chemical plants, and industrial facilities in general, cannot afford to repeat the same mistakes made in other industries where some companies have been able to bypass emerging regulations by exempting large sections of their facilities as ‘non-critical.’ This approach has caused some regulatory bodies to draft new versions of their regulations in an attempt to bring the interpretation and application of their standards back to their original intents. What is really needed, though, is a willingness to think beyond the bureaucracy of compliance to embrace the realisation that cybersecurity is really about ensuring safe, reliable and expected system behaviour.

In other words, manufacturing facilities across all industries must view cybersecurity exactly the way they do safety — a permanent program and not just technologies as part of a finite project.

Asif Akbar, India

As much as possible, all policies and behaviors should have a corresponding workflow with some form of verification or documentation. This can include everything from a simple key sign-in/sign-out sheet to a full-fledged change management regiment for patch evaluation or upgrades.

For workflows to properly reflect an organisation’s policies and procedures, they need to be dynamic.

If, for example, an application upgrade is high risk due to the systems involved, the workflow needs to manage additional levels of approval and consultation. A dynamic workflow needs to be able to accommodate reassessment, additional information, and reassignment of tasks or reporting.

Of course, it must also capture any and all additional actions taken.

An additional, and necessary, aspect of workflow is the ability to tie the changes and reports back to the systems to verify the data. If a user can mark a task or change, complete, without having made the changes and without verification, then the lack of change may go unnoticed. A loopback mechanism, whether electronic or manual, is an important element of any workflow tool.

When implemented using electronic tools, plants are essentially embedding specific reporting and tasks into a step-by-step workflow which then verifies the specifics against the end-system data, effectively enforcing the policy. In turn, this ensures consistency of reporting, content and workflow across different people, shifts and locations within the organisation. As an added bonus, the plant gains an effective change-management tool. If this system is hooked into existing corporate communication tools like instant messaging or Active Directory (for access review, revocation, control, and so on), the plant has the building blocks of a dynamic security management program.

Dec 2012/Jan 2013 | industrial automation asia 47

energy

Environmental issues arising from ‘traditional’ energy sources, such as those powered by fossil fuels, have created a burgeoning market need for alternative power generation. Wind energy has become a popular alternative to satisfy energy demand. By Robert Reid, senior product development manager, Panduit Network Connectivity Group.

Fibre Networking Wind Farm Operations

U

nlike fossil fuels (non-renewable and diminishing) wind as a resource is readily available and boundless. Many good sources are in remote and harsh environments and therefore there is a need for a robust communication network.

Conversion of wind energy into utility scale AC power requires a reliable communications infrastructure that has traditionally been based on a combination of Ethernet and proprietary networking/ control protocols (Fieldbuses) to facilitate wind farm data acquisition and control.

Fibre solutions feature intrinsic immunity to Electromagnetic Interference (EMI), and as such, such product solutions can operate in close proximity to power-carrying elements, which can act as sources of significant electrical interference.

Reference Wind Farm Architecture International standard IEC 61400-25 (Communications for monitoring and control of wind power plants) provides guidance information 48 industrial automation asia | Dec 2012/Jan 2013

Stephen O'Neill, Ratoath, Ireland

Infrastructure In

for monitoring and control of wind power plants.

This standard addresses the communication systems that may utilise a variety of protocols, enabling information exchange independent of turbine manufacturer. This standard is a subset of IEC 61400 (standards for the design of wind turbines).

The IEC 61400-25 standard defines the roles that the wind turbine and Supervisory Control And Data Acquisition (SCADA) systems play in the context of the reference wind farm architecture.

In this standard, wind turbine performance information, methods of information exchange and communication protocols are standardised. The content of this standard (-25) along with IEC 61400-1 (Wind turbines - Part 1: Design Requirements) and the ISO 7498-1 standard (Information Technology — Open Systems Interconnection) form a logical framework to which farm communications systems procurement specifications and a reference architecture can be built.

The SCADA Network/NOC The core of most wind farm communication networks is the SCADA system. This small Data/Network Operations Centre (NOC) is the ‘nexus’ for the farm. SCADA networks connect individual turbines, meteorological stations and the utility substation to this Data Centre/NOC. This NOC and its associated servers and software systems allow operators to monitor and control wind turbine performance and behavior of the wind farm in its entirety. This system records turbine activity on a continuous basis affording operators the ability to ef fectively issue incremental corrective measures, on an individual turbine basis.

This system also monitors and records net turbine energy output, down time and faults, which ser ves as a database to measure real performance against turbine manufacturer specifications and as a basis for claims and warranty issues.

The communications and control system helps in maintaining connection agreements through reactive control over the production of power, network voltage and/ or frequency.

SCADA servers communicate with the turbines through a communications network, which at the physical outside plant layer is optical fibre cable that is usually architected as an Ethernet ring. The reasons for the choice of a fibre ring physical plant are as follows:

EMI and hence have no susceptibility to noise generated by transformers, and so on. They are also impervious to Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP), offering protection by providing insulation from high-voltage spikes and spurious signals in high power electrical devices.

• Ethernet ring architecture provides physically network resiliency. If a connection between

• Armoured fibre cable design with corrugated steel provides much needed protection in such harsh applications.

• Fibre solutions by their nature are intrinsically immune to

ENQUIRY NO. 519

• Fibre cable solutions, in particular single mode solutions, can provide the greatest design flexibility in terms of reach (tens of kilometres if required).

Dec 2012/Jan 2013 | industrial automation asia 49

energy

turbines is accidentally cut, network connectivity is quickly restored through a spanning tree.

Network Ops

Application Server

• Convergence time of the network in the above instance is quickest with a fibre solution (as opposed to copper or wireless).

Specifically, the convergence time to recover and restore from a failed path condition depends on several factors. In restoration, switching occurs after backup paths are computed following the receipt of a failure notification. The convergence time to recover a single path is given by the sum of the following factors:

UTP NOC Switching

Tower Mini-Switch

Fiber SCADA Ring

• Signal delay: time to signal a network failure between nodes.

• New path processing delay: time taken to compute an alternate path.

Turbine Tower

FieldBus (Fiber)

Tower I/O Controls

UTP Tower Mini-Switch

Network Bridge/PLC

OSP Fiber Cable Tower Mini-Switch Reference wind farm architecture.

• New path reservation delay: time required to reserve on newly computed path.

• Switching delay: the time required to switch from affected path to new path.

Switching and signaling delays are affected by media length and transceiver chosen (Fibre vs UTP vs wireless), whereas processing and reservation time are independent of such.

Fibre cables used in such SCADA networks are typically a ‘water-blocked’ design implemented in the outside plant via direct burial. Fibre type, (Single mode or Multimode), fibre count (usually up to 144) and cable construction (unarmored/all-dielectric or corrugated steel armouring) are dependent of farm extent and cable deployment means (conduit/ non-conduit).

Such cable systems are by default gel-filled (for water blocking) or gel-free design with a water swellable tape that provides dry water blocking.

These cables must allow for ‘mid-span access’ for turbine connection via fusion splicing. In this area (splice vault), gel-free designs simplify cable preparation; eliminate messy gel cleanup, and reducing termination time for splicing connectorised tails.

Outside Service Plant (OSP) cables deployed in wind farm SCADA direct burial applications must meet the performance requirements of Telcordia GR20, Issue 2 and ICEA 640, and be tested in accordance with relevant TIA/EIA-455 series Fibre Optic Test Procedures for fibre optic cables to withstand the rigours of harsh outdoor environmental demands.

50 industrial automation asia | Dec 2012/Jan 2013

Often such outside plant fibre-optic cables are installed by the electrical contractor and then are connected (via mid span access and fusion splicing) to the fibre that penetrates the base of the turbine where it is terminated in a small protective enclosure that houses a fibre patch panel, Ethernet Switching (ring node) and copper patching. Fibre coming from outside the plant must be terminated, managed and protected inside of an enclosure prior to performing permanent link testing to required standards.

These ‘Telecom Enclosures’ become network consolidation points, allowing all cables to be managed and patched in a single enclosure.

Both uplink cabling (SCADA ring network) for the Ethernet mini switch and copper ‘horizontal’ cabling distributed out of the switch to control panels (containing Fieldbus electronics) are presented as logical and manageable cabling elements in close proximity to the switch.

Segmentation of the SCADA network via these patch panels allows for both initial outside plant cable link loss validation and troubleshooting/ fault isolation.

This enclosure functions as a logical demarcation point between the two network segments (Outside plant SCADA network and the Fieldbus network that provides local control intelligence to the turbine).

Turbine Fieldbus Cabling Most modern turbines have intelligent features to locally monitor and control the turbine and generator

• Crush resistance of cable media is important because in some tower designs, pathways are not closed. For this reason, some tower manufacturers have specified Hard Clad Silica (HCS) fibre cables as a most robust solution.

• Operating temperature of assemblies must be validated against thermal extremes present in real tower installations globally • Assembly breakout legs and connectivity systems

terminated on legs must be robust against variability in installation personnel capability There are several common fibre interfaces and fibre types standard of on Fieldbus equipment deployed in towers today. Several are disparate solutions from ‘conventional’ telecommunications connector components and fibre types used in building enterprise, data centre and carrier networks.

This is mainly driven by the low data rate (<10Mb/s), short reach of the application (<100m) and the need to reduce cost. For this reason many applications deploy ST, SMA and Avago Versatile Link connector systems pre-terminated onto Plastic Optic Fibre (POF) and HCS fibre (although some newer designs are using SC and LC connector systems with Graded Index Multimode fibre).

Although civil works, electrical grid connection and turbines constitute >95 percent of the build cost of a typical wind farm, the communications infrastructure is mission critical. Fibre solutions are best suited for applications like control and communication due to ease of deployment and proven performance that ensure network availability, reliability and farm scalability.

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functions in the face of varying environmental conditions. I/O present in the Nacelle performs switching/control of blade pitch, nacelle yaw, generator braking and monitoring of blade strain (through fibre optic macro-bend sensors) and wind direction/speed through anemometers.

Typically, a Fieldbus on the turbine is run from the control box at the base of the tower to the nacelle at the top where the remote I/O and controls for the tower (SCADA over Ethernet fibre optic links run between individual towers within the farm and also runs from some towers back to the Operations Centre/NOC).

This Fieldbus connects the data acquisition system for condition monitoring in the nacelle to the PLC/Controller at the base of the turbine. Also the control I/O from the nacelle is run over similar the same type of fibre media to the PLC/Controller at base of the turbine (although sometimes fibre is run from switch ports on the Ethernet Switch at the base ‘home run’ to controllers in the top).

Data collected from such condition monitoring systems and commands issued to I/O are usually run over fibre optic cables extending from the nacelle to the base of the tower.

These fibre cables are usually specified as preterminated assemblies by the turbine manufacturer (with pulling grips pre-installed). Several different solutions based on a variety of fibre types, cables and connectors have been developed. This is driven by the optoelectronics present in the electronics on either end (Media Device Interface on optical transceivers).

It is rare that these assemblies will be field terminated, although they should be readily repairable in place by field standard termination means.

Fibre cables for vertical cabling in wind turbine towers must be robust, harsh environment ready, and lightweight.

The design and selection of fibre pre-terminated cable assemblies for tower applications is important to insure reliable performance over varying environmental conditions:

Dec 2012/Jan 2013 | industrial automation asia 51

sector spotlight

Making

There has always been a distinct advantage to employing humans as skilled welders, though as technology improves in this regard, and organisations become more safety conscious, companies are increasingly as likely to implement intelligent processes to accomplish tasks that previously only a skilled human welder could. By Paul Sagues, design engineer, Moog

T

here is a shortage of skilled human welders and a need to accommodate hazardous environmental conditions as well as ergonomic concerns for workers. Economic advantages for using automation are powerful when implemented correctly as this delivers high quality parts via a repeatable, safe, error free process.

Machines can weld faster and for longer periods of time than humans. If, however, the machine introduces defects to the weld or is not robust in the long run, then the gains are illusory. However, fully automated welding systems have demonstrated the ability to weld faster and do so with fewer defects on real parts offering results that previously could only be emulated by humans and bringing these solutions closer to adaptive welding.

Welding At The Core Even in this time of ever expanding automation, manual welding continues to play a significant role in welding applications for several reasons.

Humans tend to be more adaptable to variations 52â&#x20AC;&#x192; industrial automation asia | Dec 2012/Jan 2013

Daniel Vazquez, San Diego, US

Automatic Welding Robust And Reliable

in the welding process. Skilled human welders can learn what parameters to adjust and by how much in order to keep the welding process under control.

Human welders can therefore handle more variation in weld parameters, preparation and fixturing, as such providing a quicker path to production, albeit with higher per-piece cost.

Fully automatic welding today is employed in a limited number of mostly high volume applications because these systems cannot adapt as humans can.

Commercially available automated welding systems use simple control techniques that focus on linear system models with a small subset of the larger set of process parameters, thereby limiting the number of applications that can be automated.

An automated welding system that can adapt to multiple variables would help solve most of the problems discussed above. Adaptive welding systems have therefore been called the â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Holy Grailâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; of the industry. Approaches to adaptive welding today have primarily focused on dynamic seam tracking.

Decision Making The automated welding system has to prioritise the effects of the various process variables. The prioritisation is itself a multi-step process involving decision making. The decision recipe is created by the welding process engineer for a given type of weld. A score is given to the measured statistics.

The recipe then looks at the variation in weld seam gap, in the case of the same plate weld. What is the variation from nominal along the length of the weld? A score is given to this set of statistics.

Other parameters that might have been derived from the scan information are gone through stepby-step in the decision recipe, each receiving a score that represents its importance. At Moog, the scoring system enables the company’s automated welding system to emulate the expert human

welder by providing a mechanism to focus on the most important parameter and then subsequently go down the list of priorities.

System Integration The power supply, torch motion and wire feeder need to be coupled to the welding control system.

The automated welding system must precisely control the heat by independently controlling these three parameters, especially when the piece to be welded has asymmetrical or non-uniform heat capacity. With such a joint configuration, it is often preferred to make the oscillation motion itself nonuniform, dwelling on the high-heat capacity side of the groove while perhaps increasing power supply power. Power is often lowered during the transit across the groove to the other side where power is then increased to a lower level than on the high-heat capacity side.

Synchronising wire feed rate with torch motion produces a better weld. Sometimes decreasing wire feed rate during the longer dwell on the high-head capacity side of the groove results in a better weld than not changing wire feed rate at all.

ENQUIRY NO. 8701

ENQUIRY NO. 524

Getting Closer To Adaptive Welding Advances have been made in adaptive welding by integration of a larger set of the process variables (such as weld power, wire feed, torch position and torch motion) into the machine control system. In addition, some solutions offer measurements of the actual seam to produce a high quality weld, while allowing for a greater degree of variability in joint configuration and other process parameters.

For a solution to be closer to the ‘Holy Grail’ of welding, it has come very close to emulating the skilled and experienced welder. Such fully automated welding systems that have sufficient robustness to operate in real world environments, run by machine operators, not welders or engineers is often referred to as adaptive welding.

The automated welding system starts with a careful observation of the entire part to be welded before the arc is struck. The system will notice deviations (just as the human welder would have) such as the bowing of the part asymmetry in the grove walls or one side of the grove higher than the other. The welder then places the torch at the precise tie-in position and strikes the arc, starting to move or oscillate when the pool is sufficiently developed. This is a key differentiator as the most commonly available automated welding systems employ vision systems that use through-the-arc techniques.

The Moog welding system per forms an inventory of the joint to be welded. Observations include measurements such as the uniformity of the groove and comparing the mean value to a specified process value. The system also keeps an inventory of previous welding passes and draws from the previous experience using it as a knowledge base.

Dec 2012/Jan 2013 | industrial automation asia 53

sector spotlight

Case Study:

Danish Robots Reach For The Sky

Robots reduce cost, and optimise production for precision engineering company, Sky Engineering.

By Shermine Gotfredsen, business development manager, Universal Robots

R

ising wages and the intricate management of the labour force have created a challenging work environment for a Singapore-based company, Sky Engineering. For a long time, this precision engineering company tried to reduce their production costs. They finally succeeded with the implementation of Universal Robots (UR) in one of their CNC machines. The UR robot was easy to integrate and the company now has the luxury of having one man tending to two CNC machines at any one time — something previously impossible to achieve when all tasks relied heavily on manual labour.

The company is a precision

54 industrial automation asia | Dec 2012/Jan 2013

engineering company established in 1972 specialising in aerospace components, batch production, jigs and fixtures and semiconductor tooling.

Even though the company has CNC machines, manual labour is still necessary to do a lot of the repetitive tasks in their production facility — the commissioning of UR is one of their very first steps towards automating the repetitive tasks carried out in production.

“The precision and repeatability in our applications are some very important factors as they contribute to better quality products,” explained George Kyaw, senior operations

engineer, Sky Engineering, who did the installation, integration and programming of the robot with the CNC machine all by himself without any prior knowledge or experience in commissioning industrial robots.

Why Employ A Robot?

When faced with rising wages and the intricate management of their workforce, William Kuek, operations manager, Sky Engineering was on the lookout for industrial robots to help alleviate these challenges. Mr Kuek came across UR and received a demonstration by an official distributor in Singapore, Zacobria, to learn about the technologies

Safe And Easy To Program In testing the robot, the company had several demands of their new ‘colleague’, “Apart from the robot’s ability to perform and repeat precision tasks, it is imperative that it is safe for our employees to work in close proximity with the robot and the CNC machines. Space constraint is a factor of consideration as real estate is expensive in Singapore.

Safety is also an important factor as workers may be in close proximity of the robot during the process cycle. Implementation and programming should pretty much be plug and play,” says Mr Kuek.

He explains that the company has ver y limited workspace in the production facility and the force sensor with load detection of the robot ensures that the employees’ safety is not compromised when they are working in close proximity to it. Employees also do not have prior knowledge or experience in commissioning industrial robots with CNC machines.

“Having our own employees being able to implement and program the robot will bring about significant cost savings,” says Mr Kyaw while also highlighting the return-on-investment, adding: “Obviously, the robot pricing and the payback period are some of the greatest considerations in

the decision making process of automating some of the manual tasks in our production. Universal Robots give a good payback period of about 15 months, are user friendly and flexible in the overall sense.”

CNC Jobs Carried Out

By The Robot The UR5 model at Sky Engineering is currently programmed to perform CNC tending, comprising of cleaning the parts and jaw in between the process cycle.

The main task is to automatically remove finished work pieces from the CNC chuck and onto the holding tray in sequence after the CNC machine has completed the turning process.

Having done this, the robot also prepares the CNC machine

for the next cycle by performing various cleaning tasks such as blowing leftover scraps of metal chips away from the clamping jaw and the CNC tool. In addition, the UR5 opens and closes the CNC door automatically via the in- and outputs found on the controller box of the robot.

About The Robots The six-axis robot arms by UR can be implemented in many industries; from a small CNC l a t h e p ro d u c t i o n t o l a rg e automobile assembly lines. The available products currently includes the UR5 and UR10 models that handle payloads of up to 5 and 10 kg and weighs 18 and 28 kg respectively.

Due to their weight, size, safety and ease of programming, the

ENQUIRY NO. 520

and features of the robots.

“Our facility operates 24/7.

Finding the right skilled labour is becoming more and more challenging in Singapore and the cost of labour has also been steadily rising. As such it is imperative that the company automates mundane repetitive tasks in order to keep cost low,” explains Mr Kuek, who decided to try it out by integrating and testing a UR robot with one of the company’s CNC machines.

Dec 2012/Jan 2013 | industrial automation asia 55 IAA_Dez_Jan_di-soric.indd 2

19.11.12 15:10

sector spotlight

A Flexible Companion For The Workplace

Robotic arm interacting with CNC machine at Sky Engineering.

robots can be moved around and installed in different parts of the production facility. A benefit is the robot’s capability to operate with no safety shielding — as soon as an employee comes into contact with the robot arm and a force of at least 150 N is exerted, the robot arm will automatically stop operating.

The company’s Graphical User Interface (GUI), allows the user to set up and program the UR robot in a short span of time.

The user does not need to be a skilled programmer to do this, programming can be done by dragging and dropping standard routines into an on-screen ‘script’ for the robot, or by simply grabbing the robot arm, and showing it the desired movements.

The company developed its own GUI, called Polyscope, which runs on top of a Linux OS platform enabling easy customisation for specific tasks and tools. The GUI programming developer facility needed for this customisation is supplied with the robot.

The robot is also equipped with digital and analogue inputs and outputs I/O ports and Ethernet 56 industrial automation asia | Dec 2012/Jan 2013

A robot can now be controlled for improved interaction with CNC machines. Improving efficiency, accuracy, and safety for the company.

interfaces for communication with external equipment and other control systems such as PLC and SCADA systems through the I/O or Ethernet socket. The robot and controller can control a small cell as well as sensors, vision systems, activation of conveyors and other external equipment.

The robots also have low energy consumption and make less noise in comparison with bigger and more expensive robots.

ENQUIRY NO. 8702

Feeding a CNC machine with items is a task that requires constant manning, but the flexible light weight robots from Universal Robots are designed to optimise and automate this task.

Employees can now focus on only filling the depository at the CNC lathe, with the robot taking care of the rest of the process. It can be quite a tedious task for employees to operate such a machine, so they are happy that robots can free them for other and more interesting tasks in the production facility. Besides this, the integration of robots with CNC machines also increase production cycles.

Instead of expensive sensor technology, the robotic arms utilise a patented technology to measure electrical current in their joints to determine force and movement. This innovation enables the robot to undercut the price of other automated solutions, hence enabling even small and medium-sized enterprises to automate their productions. This is something that was previously unthinkable.

A new market has been created for automation where completely different tasks can now be automated. Previously, there was not a profitable flexible robot solution to feed lathes with various materials. Previously, the robots required to perform such tasks were expensive, and such an investment would originally b e p o s s i b l e f o r o n l y l a rg e companies but not for small and middle-sized companies.

ENQUIRY NO. 8703

INDUSTRIAL ROBOTS C4 6-AXIS / RC700 CONTROLLER

DELIVERING THE PINNACLE OF SPEED AND FLEXIBILITY DIRECT TO YOU. RC700 Built-in PC based controller C4 6-Axis robot

Now with Epson directly supporting South East Asia and India, this is another good reason you can count on us.

Epson has been a leader in industrial robot technology for over 30 years.

Our robotic systems reflect decades of experience in high-precision micro-component assembly, and are globally recognised for their speed, accuracy, and ease of use. Epson Robots are also compliant with ISO Class 3 and 4 Cleanroom standards.

A lineup engineered for absolute precision.

The new RC700 Controller. Flexibility at your command.

The RC700 is a powerful work cell controller that synergise the highest standards of robot technology by controlling multiple Epson robots with unsurpassed performance. Reduce programming overheads with easy-to-use Epson RC+ programming software that runs on Microsoft® Windows®. Further boost productivity with a range of innovative capabilities such as Advanced Vision System and High-speed Conveyor Tracking.

The new C4 6-Axis. Faster than ever.

The new generation C4 6-axis robot pushes the extremes of speed and flexibility to the next level. Achieve unparalleled cycle times with the latest productivity boosting features such as enhanced vision sensors that accurately adjust the alignment of picked up loads in full motion.

C4 High speed high flexibility 6-Axis robot

Astonishing low vibration using Epson’s advanced Smart Motion Control Technology gives you even greater confidence with precise control of speed, path, and effector position.

Compact and flexible Reach every point even in small spaces.

Regional Headquarters: Epson Singapore Pte Ltd 1 HarbourFront Place, #03-02 HarbourFront Tower One, Singapore 098633.

Total precision Trust proven performance.

Ultra-fast cycle times Maximum throughput. Maximum productivity.

To find out more, visit www.epson.com.sg Email FArobotsales@esp.epson.com.sg, or call +65 6586 5500 ENQUIRY NO. 521

sector spotlight

Case Study:

Brush Away Maintenance Maintenance-free plain bearing solutions prove their value in highly dynamic production systems. By Tobias Vogel, head of sales and marketing, bearing technology, Igus

W

öhler Brush Tech, a machine builder for technical brush making, uses plain bearings from the Igus product range in many bearing locations.

The use of these brushes range from professional dental care, painting and polishing and even street sweeping. These not only differ in size and origin of the bristle material (including extrusions, synthetic fibres but also natural horse or pig bristles), but also in their design. In addition to flat brushes, there are segmented, round, strip and knot wheel brushes — and each brush type has its special uses.

process sequence — starting from injection moulding (for bodies and fastening elements) and extrusion (for the bristles).

B e c a u s e t h e m a c h i n e s a re completely modular in their design, they can be customised to specific requirements. This ensures responsive engineering processes.

Based on customer need, fast production speeds can also be realised: With a system that produces 60 flat brushes per minute, the company holds the unofficial ‘world record’ for brush production performance capabilities.

A Special Machine Builder Wöhler has been active in the brush industry for more than 75 years. It provides a system for manual or automated brush production that covers the entire

Highly Dynamic And Accompanied By High Volumes Of Fine Dust One notices two things when obser ving such a machine in operation. Firstly: Brush

58 industrial automation asia | Dec 2012/Jan 2013

production requires a host of coordinated motions, many of which are highly dynamic and have short strokes. Secondly: Fines and dust from the cut bristles require a well conceived selection of the bearing locations.

This is where the company’s design engineers made a fundamental decision. They u s e d p l a i n b e a r i n g s f ro m high-performance polymers in many rotating and linear bearing locations.

Martin Dören, project manager and design engineer, Wöhler Brush Tech, commented: “In spite of the cutting dust, the bearings are maintenance-free, and no preventive maintenance is required. Our customers are therefore able to use these without trouble.”

As particularly advantageous, Mr Dören points to the fact that

ENQUIRY NO. 522

sector spotlight

bearing wear does not result in immediate failure, but instead becomes apparent gradually in the form of increased clearance. This protects the user from sudden production downtime and allows him to plan the bearing exchange as needed.

The decision in favour of the long service life highperformance polymer bearings with incorporated lubricant even goes so far that other bearing types from procured drive axes are replaced with iglidur bushings or drylin linear bearings.

Mr Dören stated: “Because there is no coating that could be damaged, the single-material bearings from Igus are also much easier to install than for instance plain bearings from multi-layer material.”

In addition, the dry running f e a t u re o f t h e b e a r i n g s i s advantageous in this application, because one process step consists of cutting and straightening the bristles. But in the presence of lubricants, the bristles have a tendency to bond. Since the bearings are lubricant-free, the dust can be simply vacuumed off.

In-House Production The range of the bearings in use can be best described based on a machine type FP 900 B, which is currently in production. Forty handles for flat brushes are held in place on a central indexing table.

Mr Dören designed the gripper from iglidur bar stock, adding: “We use bar stock that we machine inhouse. The gripper design is very simple, requiring neither roller bearings nor cam rollers.”

Iglidur J, the fast and slow motion specialist among the bearing materials, is in use for this application. The company uses iglidur G more frequently. This material is deemed an all rounder that is in use for medium to high loads, medium gliding speeds and medium temperatures. Generally, 60 industrial automation asia | Dec 2012/Jan 2013

the company tends to use iglidur J for linear bearings and iglidur G for rotating and swivel motions.

Rotational And Linear Bearings On several bearing locations of the FP 900 B flat brush machine, the company uses linear plain bearing bushings from the type series RJM/ RJMP as cylinder guides. Linear plain bearings from the drylin T series have proven their value in format adjustments on several axes.

Relatively large forces and clearance-free format adjustments are needed in one case — involving flattening of the brush after applying adhesive. In this case, the company’s design engineers are using a drylin lead screw module from the series SLWE-PL, which provides high stability with a shaft diameter of 16 mm. Last but not least, the brush machines use the the drylin W-1660 double rail guide.

Service Matters Producing the right products is only part of the solution, customers also look for the overall service provided. “All bearing type series can be calculated on-

Drylin plain bearings are insensitive to dust.

‘In-house production’ from iglidur bar stock: The gripper from the rotary indexing machine FP 900 B.

Wöhler frequently uses linear plain bearing bushings from the RJM/RJMP series to guide cylinders.

Linear plain bearings of the drylin T series used in combination with linear modules of the SLW installation size. Clearly visible: the bristles.

line, and the price list can also be downloaded on-line. And because I can download the corresponding CAD data, I do not lose time during the design process,” commented Mr Dören.

Another helpful feature is that the company’s homepage permits comparisons between various products and materials — a function that is frequently used: “We can quickly check whether a technically superior or more cost effective solution exists.” Mr Doren added. This is why the igus homepage is among those that the Wöhler Brush Tech design-engineering department downloads all the time: “We always check whether we can use igus components in bearing locations.”

ENQUIRY NO. 8704

ENQUIRY NO. 515

EVENT PREVIEW

SIAF 2013 decision-making authorities from these various sectors as well as enrich their knowledge on current and future trends.

The fair maintains strong support from industry associations For the fourth consecutive year, while receiving strong support from Asian and European trade associations which will organise pavilions and seminars at the fair.

Supporting associations include: • Taiwan Electric and Electronic Manufacturers’ Association • AMA Association for Sensor Technology from Germany • Taiwan Automation Intelligence and Robotics Association

SPS – Industrial Automation Fair Guangzhou will be returning once again at the China Import and Export Fair Complex in Guangzhou, China from March 4-6, 2013. The show is an annual event for regional professionals to acquire solutions for their automation systems.

In 2012, over 60 brands from Germany alone as well as 50 from Japan, South Korea, US and other European countries participated in the event. Exhibitor numbers in total were 438, and for 2013, SIAF expects to welcome over 500 exhibitors and over 26,000 visitors.

Strong Demand In China Based on a report from IMS Research, the market for machinery products in China 62 industrial automation asia | Dec 2012/Jan 2013

reached US$335 billion in 2011, with an expected steady growth rate of 13 percent through 2016.

According to his research, in spite of weakening demand from Europe and tighter domestic monetary policies, domestic demand for machinery continues to stay on a steady growth pattern. Motion control products, motors and drives as well as mechanics for electrical drives dominate domestic demand by accounting for 60 percent of all automation products sold in China.

A Platform Into China The event provides a platform for manufacturers into China’s booming automation market. The show allows exhibitors to meet

A Look Ahead The show will be repeating the visitor delegation programme.

For the 2012 show, this service attracted over 1,000 visitors, decision makers and engineers.

It is sponsored by the China F o re i g n Tr a d e C e n t re a n d Messe Frankfurt Exhibition. It is organised by the China Foreign Trade Guangzhou Exhibition General Corporation, Guangzhou Guangya Messe Frankfurt, Guangzhou Overseas Trade Fairs and Mesago Messe Frankfurt.

The honorar y sponsors are the Guangdong Automation Association and Guangzhou Automation Association.

March 4-6, 2013 China Import and Export Fair Complex Guangzhou, China ENQUIRY NO. 8801

ENQUIRY NO. 510

products & Services Baumer: Process

Epson: Six-Axis Robots

Baumer’s CombiSeries improves on functionality, safety, and flexibility in process instrumentation. The first two models in this series, namely the CombiPress pressure transmitter and the CombiTemp temperature gauge are already available for the market. Both products can be combined with the CombiView display generation and as such provide benefit to the customer.

Together with the stainless steel hygienic housing, the measuring instruments can be set up and utilised according to the individual needs of the user, for example, in the food industry.

Seiko Epson Corporation will release a series of vertical six-axis industrial robots.

There are two models in the series, the C4 and the C4L. The C4 can handle payloads up to 4 kg and boasts a 20 percent shorter cycle time (with a 3 kg payload) than its predecessor, the C3, which the company released in July 2009.

The C4L is a slim, long-arm (900 mm) model that maximises space efficiency. It will simultaneously launch a pair of new options, the RC700 industrial robot controller and the Vision Guide 7.0 machine vision system.

Instrumentation

Enquiry no. 8901

Enquiry no. 8903

Endress+Hauser: Flowmeter

Fujitsu Semiconductor: Memory

The Proline Promass 83O/84O Coriolis flowmeter,

by Endress+Hauser, is for use in corrosive, high pressure and high temperature environments in the oil and gas industry. All materials that can come in contact with gasses and fluids are manufactured from super duplex stainless steel with 25 percent Cr (25 Cr duplex), which offers high protection against saline seawater, hydrogen sulfide, chloride, carbon dioxide and other corrosive materials found in crude oil and natural gas. The T316L stainless steel external design also resists corrosion from salt and sea water exposure.

The V series, by Fujitsu Semiconductor Asia, has added the MB85RC256V to its lineup. So far, the company has released Ferroelectric Random Access Memory (FRAM) products in its V series covering capacities of 4Kbit, 16Kbit, 64Kbit and 256Kbit.

This product is the company’s first FRAM product that operates in voltages ranging from 2.7V to 5.5V, which benefits design in areas that require components of wide voltage range.

The FRAM product combines the non-volatile data memory characteristic of ROM with the advantages of RAM, featuring infinite read/write times, fast read/write cycles and low-power consumption as well.

Enquiry no. 8902 64 industrial automation asia | Dec 2012/Jan 2013

Enquiry no. 8904

ENQUIRY NO. 518

products & Services

Hioki: Insulation Tester

ifm electronic: Temperature

Hioki E E Corporation has launched two models of Insulation Testers IR4056-20 and IR4057-20. These models come with multiple test voltages which are suited for many troubleshooting, commissioning, and preventative maintenance applications.

Both models have a visible Pass/Fail display which improves the efficiency of the comparator function.

The basic model IR4056-20 has a response time of 0.8 seconds and the high speed model IR4057-20 has a 0.3 seconds response time. The IR4057-20 also comes with a digital bar graph for better visual judgments.

These temperature transmitters from ifm electronic have integrated drift monitoring as well as diagnostic and backup function monitor temperatures with an accuracy of 0.2 K. By monitoring each other the two integrated sensor elements ensure increased process safety. So, occurring drift between the calibration intervals is immediately detected, diagnosed and signalled. If a sensor element fails, the process can be continued with a second measuring element (backup function).

Besides the already established probe lengths of 33 mm and 87.5 mm the temperature sensors TAD091 and TAD081 complement the product range by the ‘intermediate length’ of 50 mm. This allows the two sensors to meet the requirements of the process industry. The sensors are equipped with IO-Link 1.1 technology.

Enquiry no. 8905

Transmitters

Enquiry no. 8907

Hitachi: Inverter

Igus: Energy Chain System

The NE-S1 series by Hitachi is designed to be economical and simple to operate. This series of Inverters comes in a small form factor, 43 percent smaller than the equivent x200 (0.2 kW) series, with side-by-side installation to save panel space. The run/stop/ reset is integrated in one button for simple operation, with a full-function attachable operator available as an option.

The series also conforms to global standards, CE/UL/c-UL/cTick, with compatibility to both sink and source logic as standard.

Customisation for specific applications is also available. Possible applications for this series include fan and air conditioners, pumps, and food processing machines.

The E-Spool, by Igus, is the first retractable energy chain system by the company. The system is designed to be compact and durable, and combines the advantages of two different energy chains: a standard ‘E-Chain’ from the E2/000 series is routed via a spool and, thanks to an integrated return spring, always ensures the correct length and tension of the energy chain.

There is a choice of three different length versions (0-4 m, 4-7 m and 7-14 m). This product is designed to be a complete modular replacement for classic cable drums. It is used in lifting platforms, sorting lines, mobile cranes, platform applications or assembly or process cranes with grippers.

Enquiry no. 8906 66 industrial automation asia | Dec 2012/Jan 2013

Enquiry no. 8908

ENQUIRY NO. 499

products & Services

Turck: FGEN AIM Stations

Westermo: Gigabit

The FGEN Advanced I/O Module (AIM) station for Industrial Ethernet, from Turck, is designed to provide dependable communication capabilities, the FGEN AIM station elevates digital inputs and outputs to Industrial Ethernet networks. The FGEN is suited for use in on-machine, fixed I/O applications in environments where conditions may not be conducive to traditional I/O. The FGEN features the company’s Multiprotocol technology, which was developed to simplify Industrial Ethernet for Distributed I/O. The FGEN combines multiple Ethernet protocols — EtherNet/IP, Modbus TCP and Profinet in a single device, yet only allows one Ethernet master to control the outputs while the input and diagnostic data is available to the other protocols.

Westermo has enhanced its Viper range of compact, managed Ethernet switches with the introduction of four 12-port devices designed to manage Gigabit networks. The new devices are part of the company’s IP Train concept that delivers a complete Ethernet switch and routing solution to provide a robust network infrastructure for the creation of intelligent trains.

The four models provide a range of standard Ethernet, Gigabit Ethernet, and PoE port options as well as additional routing functionality. The Viper-112-T3G has three Gigabit Ethernet ports and nine standard Ethernet ports. The Viper 212T3G provides the same port configuration, but with additional routing capability to enable the connection of subnets and improved overall network performance.

Ethernet Switches

Enquiry no. 8909

Vishay Precision Group: Embedded

Load Cell Transmitter

The BLH and Nobel Weighing Systems brands of Vishay Precision Group (VPG) have announced the release of LCAMP, an embedded load cell transmitter for offshore applications.

The ATEX Ex ia IIC rated LCAMP transmitter is embedded in BLH and Nobel load cells. It can be serviced and replaced in the field and allows the transmitter and load cell to be replaced independently of each other without affecting system calibration.

The unit output is two-wire 4 mA to 20 mA and supports HART protocol for calibration and system diagnostics of both the load cell and transmitter.

Enquiry no. 8910 68 industrial automation asia | Dec 2012/Jan 2013

Enquiry no. 8911

Yaskawa Motoman:

Path Accuracy For Laser Cutting Applications

The Motoman MC2000 ‘Master Cut’ robot is designed with rigid and precision drives to provide path accuracy for laser cutting small holes and sharp corners. Path accuracy can be within 0.1 mm, depending on the application.

Cutting of shapes or profiles is easy using Formcut software which automatically generates the ideal path based on user-specified geometry. Circle, rectangle, ellipse, pentagon and hexagon shapes are supported with easy definition of shape and size rotation from a single programmed point. The robot features a 50 kg payload, making it suitable for a remote laser welding head.

Enquiry no. 8912

Track and manage everything with RFID 24 – 25 April 2013, Marina Bay Sands, Singapore Asia’s leading RFID industry event – RFID World Asia will be back for its 10th edition in 2013! The exhibition will congregate key stakeholders from industries such as Retail, Oil & Gas, Logistics, Manufacturing, Pharmaceutical, Healthcare, Transport and many more looking for the latest RFID technologies and solutions to drive business growth.

The event is a showcase of the latest RFID innovations and a valuable platform where stakeholders from the entire RFID ecosystem will share their winning strategies, best practices and explore how to assess business opportunities in this industry.

Hear & learn from RFID veterans:

TP Chan CEO Laundry Network

80% of our exhibition booths are taken up!

For sponsorship & exhibition opportunities, download our event prospectus for more information.

You can also contact Nisha at +65 6322 2722 or nisha.jhangiani@terrapinn.com

Mark Rance ICT Manager ANZco Foods Ltd

10th annual

2013

www.terrapinn.com/IAAspex Media partner

Organised by

ENQUIRY NO. 523

Johnny Ang Assistant Director GS1 Singapore

ENQUIRY NO. 516

Calendar Of Events 2013 January

30 – 1 Feb Semicon Korea 2013

Coex Center Seoul, South Korea Email: semiconkorea@semi.org Web: http://www.semiconkorea.org

February 1 – 3 India Automation Technology Fair Bombay Exhibition Center Mumbai, India Email: tarun.marwah@mmi-india.in Web: www.iatf.in

28 – 2 Mar IIC China Conference & Exhibition 2013 Shenzhen Convention & Exhibition Center Shenzhen, China Email: dgu@globalsources.com Web: www.english.iic-china.com/

March 4 – 6 SIAF Guangzhou 2013

China Import and Export Fair Complex Guangzhou, China Guangzhou Guangya Messe Frankfurt Co Ltd. Email: sps@china.messefrankfurt.com Web: http://www.siaf-china.com/english/

13 – 16 Automation World 2013

Coex Center Seoul, South Korea Coex Co Ltd Email: mintkiss@coex.co.kr Web: http://automationworld.biz/

20 – 23 Industrial Automation 2013

Kuala Lumpur Covention Centre Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Malaysian Exhibition Services Sdn Bhd Email: enquiry@mesallworld.com Web: http://www.asean-ia.com/

20 – 23 Propak Vietnam 2013

Saigon Exhibition Center Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam Bangkok Exhibition Services Ltd Email: arayabhorn@besallworld.com Web: www.propakvietnam.com

26 – 29 Inatronics Jakarta 2013

Jakarta International Expo Jakarta, Indonesia PT Global Expo Management (GEM Indonesia) Email: info@gem-indonesia.com Web: http://www.inatronics-exhibition.net/

12-15 Propak Asia 2013

BITEC Bangkok, Thailand Bangkok Exhibition Services Ltd. Email: piyaporn@besallworld.com Web: http://www.propakasia.com/

18-21 CommunicAsia 2013

april 8-12 Hannover Messe 2013

Hannover Fairground Hannover, Germany Deutsche Messe AG Web: http://www.hannovermesse.de

9-12 MTA Asia 2013

Singapore Expo Singapore Singapore Exhibition Services Pte Ltd Email: gillian@sesallworld.com Web: http://www.mta-asia.com

24-25 RFID World Asia 2013

Marina Bay Sands Singapore Terrapinn Pte Ltd Email: enquiry.sg@terrapinn.com Web: http://www.terrapinn.com/exhibition/rfidworld-asia/index.stm

Marina Bay Sands Singapore Singapore Exhibition Services Email: pin@sesallworld.com Web: http://www.communicasia.com/

july 2-5 MTA Vietnam 2013

Saigon Exhibition and Convention Center (SECC) Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam Singapore Exhibition Services Pte Ltd Email: mta@sesallworld.com Web: http://www.mtavietnam.com

3-5 Clean Energy Expo China 2013

China National Convention Center Beijing, China Koelnmesse Co Ltd Email: j.chiah@koelnmesse.com.sg Web: http://www.cleanenergyexpochina.com/

august

may 21-25 Metaltech Malaysia 2013

Putra World Trade Centre (PWTC) Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Trade-Link Exhibition Services Sdn Bhd Email: info@tradelink.com.my Web: http://tradelink.com.my/metaltech/

28-30 Electronics Assembly and Packaging Technology Expo 2013

Shenzhen International Convention & Exhibition Center Shenzhen, China Reed Exhibitions Email: vera.ng@reedexpo.com.hk Web: http://www.atexpochina.com/en/

june 5-8 Renewable Energy Asia 2013

BITEC Bangkok, Thailand UBM Asia (Thailand) Email: info@cmpthailand.com Web: http://www.renewableenergy-asia.com/

To be considered for inclusion in the Calendar of Events, send details of event (name, date, venue, organiser contact) to: The Editor IAA Eastern Trade Media Pte Ltd. 1100 Lower Delta Road, EPL Building, #02-05, Singapore 169206 Tel: (65) 6379 2888 • Fax: (65) 6379 2805 • Email: iaa@epl.com.sg

Advertising Index

64

|

IndustrialAutomationAsia

ADVERTISING I N D E X

ADVERTISER

PAGE NO ENQ NO

ABB PTE LTD

IFC

440

BANGKOK EXHIBITION SERVICES LTD – PROPAK ASIA 2013

70

516

BANGKOK EXHIBITION SERVICES LTD – PROPAK VIETNAM 2013

61

515

BELDEN SINGAPORE PTE LTD

45

435

CARLO GAVAZZI AUTOMATION SINGAPORE PTE LTD

37

514

CONTROL TECHNIQUES SINGAPORE PTE LTD

19

509

DI-SORIC PTE LTD

55

520

EPSON SINGAPORE PTE LTD

57

521

EXXON MOBIL

39

517

FIRST WAVE ENGINEERING PTE LTD

33

513

FLIR SYSTEMS CO., LTD

9

442

FLUKE SOITH EAST ASIA PTE LTD

49

519

FUJI ELECTRIC ASIA PACIFIC PTE LTD

7

484

HIOKI SINGAPORE PTE LTD

35

421

IGUS SINGAPORE PTE LTD

ADVERTISING SALES OFFICES HEAD OFFICE SINGAPORE Eastern TRADE MEDIA PTE LTD 1100 Lower Delta Road #02-05 EPL Building Singapore 169206 Tel: 65-6379 2888 Fax: 65-6379 2805/6379 2806 SINGAPORE: salesIAA@epl.com.sg

MEDIA REPRESENTATIVES JAPAN:

47/51

389/461

INGERSOLL-RAND SOUTH EAST ASIA (PTE) LTD

21

426

JJ LAPP CABLE (S) PTE LTD

53

524

MALAYSIAN EXHIBITION SERVICES SDN BHD – IA 2013

63

510

MESSE FRANKFURT (HK) LTD – SIAF GUANGZHOU 2013

59

522

MITSUBISHI ELECTRIC ASIA PTE LTD

OBC

334

PANDUIT

IBC

465

PT GLOBAL EXPO MANAGEMENT – INATRONICS 2013

65

518

ROCKWELL AUTOMATION SOUTH EAST ASIA PTE LTD

1

511

SCHAEFFLER (SINGAPORE) PTE LTD

5

430

SIEMENS PTE LTD

15

483

SINGAPORE EXHIBITION SERVICES PTE LTD – MTA 2013

67

499

SPECTRIS PTE LTD – RED LION CONTROLS

41

512

TERRAPINN PTE LTD – RFID 2013

69

523

YASKAWA ELECTRIC (SINGAPORE) PTE LTD

3

525

Ted Asoshina Echo Japan Corporation Tel: 81-3-32635065 Fax: 81-3-32342064 aso@echo-japan.co.jp

KOREA:

Young-Seoh Chinn Jes Media International Tel: 82-2-481 3411/3 Fax: 82-2-481 3414 jesmedia@unitel.co.kr

TAIWAN:

Robert Yu Worldwide Services Co Ltd Tel: 886-4-23251784 Fax: 886-4-23252967 sales@wwstaiwan.com The closing date for placing advertisements is not less than FOUR WEEKS before the date of publication.

Please contact our nearest advertising office for more details.

This index is provided as an additional service. The publisher does not assume any liability for errors or omissions.

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50 52 54 56 58 60

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62 64 66 68 70 72

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❑ 002 11 – 30

❑ 003 31 – 50

❑ 004 51 – 100

❑ 005 101 – 499

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