May 2013 IndustrialAutomationAsia
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May 2013
MICA (P) 010/07/2012 | ISSN 0219/5615 | PPS 1561/06/2013 (022960)
Factory Automation | Distributed Control Systems | Network Cabling & Implementation | Pharmaceutical
! W E NeBOOK
IVE S U L EXC
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A New Infrastructure Model CL
ER ICK H
E TO
RE A
D
Cabling: Automation
Essentials pg 34
PLM:
Growth Enabler pg 53
pg 40
Pharmaceutical:
All Wired Up pg 56
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Renewable Energy Asia, from June 5 - 8, 2013, at BITEC, Bangkok, Thailand
ISSUES & INSIGHTS
23
Sensible Metalworking
26
Vision Systems: Staying In Tune
Sensors are used in the metalworking world to simplify operations and increase productivity. By Chris Chan, Sick
Asia’s economy continues to move along, albeit at a slower pace. Manufacturers need to go with the flow and use this period of lower activity to revamp and automate their production assets. By Didier Lacroix, Cognex
Process CONTROL 26
30
Automating Solutions For Asia
34
The Essentials Of Automation
IAA interviewed Leong Hon Mun, sales director, SEA, Honeywell Process Solutions on the company’s recently opened Automation Solutions Centre (ASC) at their Singapore office. By Mark Johnston
IAA spoke with ABB’s Alfred Lee, VP, Global Strategic and Essential Automation Marketing, and Samir Manglani, senior marketing engineer for Essential Automation Marketing, Control Technologies, on the company’s extended and essential automation strategies, and how it plans to move forward by targeting specific customer categories. By Mark Johnston
SOFTWARE & NETWORKS
37
How To Design Networks For Plantwide Communication
40
Consolidation Point Architectures
Learn how an integrated zone cabling plan can slash network deployment time up to 75 percent, cut down on material and labour costs, and allow for future expansion. By Paul Herbst, Panduit
34
As client configurable design in commercial buildings evolved to allow for flexible accommodation of individual workers and collaborative groups by means of modular furniture and partitions, so too the infrastructure has evolved to accommodate the communications needs of the workforce. Contributed by Sally Cops, Molex
Instrumentation & Measurement
44
The Wireless Antidote
48
Instrumentation For Produced Water Applications
Process measurement is vital for high-risk sectors like the pharmaceutical industry, and can be successfully implemented with the use of wireless sensor networks. By Sherlyne Yong
44 2 industrial automation asia | May 2013
Fracking has given rise to the need to clean up water produced from oil and gas wells, and proper measurement is vital for this effort. By Steven Smith, Endress+Hauser
ENQUIRY NO. 569
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energy
53
Asia’s Automotive Industry Achieving Growth With PLM
The Asia Pacific region has established itself as a key manufacturing hub for the global automotive industry. The reason for the interest in Asia is due to the fact that the region offers the ideal combination of pro-business environments, sound infrastructure and abundant labour. By Rajiv Ghatikar, Siemens PLM Software
53
SECTOR SPOTLIGHT
56
Pharmaceutical: Connecting An Industry
IAA Interviewed Rod Rodericks, VP and GM, Asia Pacific, Zebra Technologies, on the Internet of Things (IoT), and its potential use in the Pharmaceutical industry. By Mark Johnston
56
FEATURES
60
Wave Of Insight: Managing Complexity
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IAA spoke with Paul English, marine vertical leader, GE Power Conversion on the company’s involvement in the marine sector. By Mark Johnston
EVENTS
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61
Manufacturing Expo 2013
62
SPS Industrial Automation Fair 2013
64
Industrial Automation 2013
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ATS Knowledge Day 2013
Regulars
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Industry News
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Fieldbus Foundation
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Products & Services
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CAN in Automation
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Calendar of Events
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EtherCAT Technology
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4 industrial automation asia | May 2013
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EDITOR’s PAGE
ThePOWER OfTouch
Published By:
EASTERN TRADE MEDIA PTE LTD (A fully owned subsidiary of Eastern Holdings Ltd)
MANAGING DIRECTOR
Kenneth Tan editor
Joson Ng josonng@epl.com.sg
Assistant editor
Engineering used to require a direct connection with what is being
Mark Johnston markjohnston@epl.com.sg
built. There would be planning, of course, but those in charge could see, touch, and even smell what it was they were designing.
Editorial Assistant
In more recent times, with the advent of computer technology and
tarinetan@epl.com.sg
Tarine Tan
globalisation, such direct experience is becoming rarer.
Graphic Designer
Peh Loon Chin
Many systems are designed to cater for remote monitoring.
pehloonchin@epl.com.sg
The Distributed Control System, would be one example. PLM
Senior Sales Manager
technology is also employed to design and monitor engineering
Derick Chia derickchia@epl.com.sg
projects. Though like any new development, we are seeing maturity in the market, and some companies are realising the importance of
senior CIRCULATION EXECUTIVE
touch, and interaction, especially from the customers’ perspective.
brenda@epl.com.sg
Whilst the engineer will still monitor and design remotely, those with the purchasing power, the customer, will prefer interaction
Brenda Tan
Contrtibutors
Didier Lacroix, Chris Chan, Paul Herbst, Sally Cops, Sherlyne Yong, Steven Smith, Rajiv Ghatikar
and demonstration, over a lecture or dry documentation with a
Editorial Consultants
Jim Pinto
list of specifations.
Industry Analyst
As an example, Honeywell’s Automation Solutions Centre, based Alastair Ross
in Singapore, gives customers in the region not only the opportunity
Director, Codexx Associates Ltd
to speak with consultants on issues of concern for them, but to also see and interact with the company’s technology before deciding
supported by:
what best suits their needs. As we move forward, and markets mature, we should see a balancing out of remote design, and customer interaction, which may appear unrelated to some, but are actually two sides of the same page.
EASTERN HOLDINGS LTD executive Board
In this issue of IAA, we address several areas of importance
Chairman
Stephen Tay
for the automation industry; these are: Factory Automation, Distributed Control Systems, Network Cabling & Implementation,
GROUP EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
Kenneth Tan
Process Measurement, Propulsion Systems, and Pharmaceutical. If you subscribe to our eNewsletter, or visit us online, we also have a special ‘Software As A Service’ section in our eBook. As always, we look forward to hearing from you and listening to your feedback.
etm
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Trade Media Pte Ltd an Eastern Holdings Ltd company
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Mark Johnston Assistant Editor
MICA (P) 010/07/2012 ISSN 0219/5615 PPS 1561/06/2013 (022960) Co Reg No. 199908196C Printer: Fabulous Printers Pte Ltd
6 industrial automation asia | May 2013
Smile to the Environment
Can Variable Speed Drive (VSD) contribute even more to cost reduction?
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FUJI ELECTRIC ASIA PACIFIC PTE LTD Tel: +65 6533 0014 I Fax: +65 6533 0021 I www.fujielectric.com/asia I sales@fap.fujielectric.com
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Industry News
Renewable Energy Asia, from June 5 - 8, 2013, at BITEC, Bangkok, Thailand
ABB To Fund Research At National University Of Singapore Singapore: ABB is to fund and partner with a team at the National University of Singapore (NUS) Faculty of Engineering to better understand the cost and benefits of integrating control and schedule in today's complex manufacturing environment. The project is one of 40 research projects selected for funding by the company globally, after academic and research institutes around the world were invited to submit proposals for grants that will shape the future of power and automation. Associate professor Srinivasan and
professor Karimi of the Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering Department will receive US$80,000 worth of funding to look beyond models, algorithms and academic exercises. They will develop a test-bed to capture the dynamics of a multi-product specialty chemical enterprise over a long time horizon. "In today's fast changing business environment, manufacturers face challenges to sustain their profitability," said Mr Srinivasan, who will take the project lead. "This research will show the real, long-term strategic impacts,
implications and possibilities of integrating scheduling and production control, as such enabling manufacturers to develop processes that are even more efficient, productive and flexible." The ABB Research Grant program is intended to support promising graduate students and senior researchers who are researching projects with industrial applications in the power and automation area. In total, 40 projects were chosen from more than 500 proposals submitted by more than 250 universities in 46 countries.
Singapore: The semiconductor industry started out quite strong in 2012 but declined rapidly in the second half of the year, resulting in a slight year-over-year decline of 2.7 percent in worldwide semiconductor sales. On the other hand, worldwide capital equipment market recorded a decline of 15 percent from US$43.5 billion in 2011 to US$36.9 billion in 2012 according to the Semi WWSEMS report. While industry forecasts for semiconductor revenue trend from mid-to-high single digit growth in 2013, overall capital investment in 2013 may remain conservative. A flat to single-digit decline trend in 2013 and a strong recovery in 2014 is expected. In the Southeast Asia region, capital equipment investment is expected to bottom out in the first half of 2013 with mild pickup in the second half followed by a strong recovery in 2014. Overall front-end fab equipment spending is expected to double from US$810 million in 2013 to US$1.62 billion in 2014. Foundry and Memory are the two major sectors that invest most in the region. For foundries, GlobalFoundries’ expansion plan at Fab 7 will be completed by mid-2014 while UMC continues to upgrade their Fab 12i capacity to 40nm process. The Memory sector represents an even bigger chunk of investment in the region. The latest Semi World Fab Forecast data shows that memory is the only sector in the
8  industrial automation asia | May 2013
Paolo Ferla, Catania, Italy
Southeast Asia Sees Improving Semiconductor Investment Into 2014
region to see investment growth this year. Other sectors, such as Power Semiconductor and MEMS are expected to see meaningful recovery in 2014 contributing to the overall growth. Capacity growth at front-end fab shows 1.7 percent increase in 2013 and an expectation of higher growth, 8.2 percent, in 2014, exceeding overall global capacity growth of 5.2 percent according to the Semi World Fab Forecast. The growth will mainly be driven by the Memory sector, specifically from NAND flash capacity as Micron gears up for further expansion at its Singapore NAND flash facility next year plus ongoing capacity conversion from DRAM to NAND flash at Fab 7 (Tech). Singapore is emerging to become the third-largest NAND flash manufacturing country in the world, following South Korea and Japan, by the end of 2014. The conversion and the expansion projects will drive related semiconductor investment in the region in 2013 and 2014.
Industry News
Gordana Mirkovic, Serbia
Moscow Selects NXP’s Mifare Plus For Urban Transportation Ticketing System
Singapore: NXP Semiconductors has announced that the Moscow Department of Transport has selected MiFare Plus for the new ‘Troika’ smart card project in order to provide a smooth system migration to higher security. The new multi-modal card aims to improve the quality of passenger service and make public transport more attractive to use. The Moscow transport network serves
an urban area with a population of over 20 million people, and enables over 350 million trips per month. The new smart card will help passengers to have better, more convenient trips by decreasing one of the biggest problems during Moscow’s rush hour: waiting times at cash desks. Travellers can store any type of ticket on the card without fear of expiry, while frequent travellers can benefit from lower costs when using multiple modes of transport. The contactless card functions with a flexible tariff system, and allows for the future integration of services such as parking, road-tolling, bike rental and in the longer term, mobile ticketing. Customer service will be improved, with 25,000 new topping-up points being introduced across the city to reduce cash desk queues. To ensure improved end-toend system security, the new readers will contain NXP’s reader ICs and MiFare SAM AV2 for secure key storage and back-end connection to the central server. For passengers, the new distribution channels offer a more flexible way of buying tickets.
Singapore: The world today faces a rapid growth in urban population — the United Nations estimates that nearly 75 percent of the world's population will reside in urban areas by 2050. Cities, as we know it, will become even denser than they are now. Innovation is needed to create an environment that can cope with the growth of urbanisation in a sustainable way and increases liveability. The Future Cities Laboratory (FCL), set up by Singapore's National Research Foundation and the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) Zurich has embarked on the research of digital fabrication to investigate the implications of robotic fabrication processes on the design and construction of high rises. Speakers on the panel include professor Ralph Eichler, president of ETH Zurich, professor Gerhard Schmitt, director of the Singapore-ETH Centre, professor Fabio Gramazio, principal Investigator of the Architecture and Digital Fabrication research module, as well as Dr
Michael Pang, Hong Kong
From Vision To Reality: The Vertical City
Hee Limin, associate director of the Centre for Liveable Cities in Singapore. The panel discussed the pace of urbanisation in Asian countries, agreeing that high rise buildings will continue to play a critical role in high-density cities, especially in cities like Singapore, where land area is limited. "High rises are here to stay, and while we have gotten used to their presence in our cities, it is now pertinent for us to start investing in innovative, sustainable and more importantly, integrated ways of
constructing these high rises," said professor Gramazio, who leads the robotics team at FCL. Robotic and automatic productions have taken over large parts of many industrial sectors. However, the potentials of robotic fabrication are not fully exploited if only used for the execution of purely repetitive mass fabrication processes. Robots can be controlled individually and as such, offer the potential for variety, differentiated assembly and mass customisation — at a large scale. May 2013 | industrial automation asia 9
Industry News
Honeywell Strengthens Commitment To Asia Pacific Region
The Automation Solutions Centre in Singapore.
Singapore: Honeywell has inaugurated a new Automation Solution Centre (ASC) in Singapore as a part of its global deployment of demonstration centres. Designed to showcase Honeywell Process Solutions’ (HPS) technologies to customers and partners in the Asia Pacific region, the centre will help customers appreciate how these technologies can improve their operational safety, reliability and efficiency. The Experion Process Knowledge
System and the next generation Experion Orion will be amongst the Honeywell control and safety systems showcased in this facility. “Our customers face an intensely competitive global environment and the establishment of this centre will help our customers understand and deploy key technologies that enhance their competitiveness,” said Leong Hon Mun, sales director, South East Asia, HPS. The ASC is equipped to showcase advanced Honeywell technologies such as Virtualisation and Universal I/O. These technologies allow customers to build control strategies in a Honeywellequipped project centre and check it all prior to putting equipment on the ground. Virtualisation reduces equipment lifecycle costs for customers. For example, a 30-node system of operator
stations, engineering stations and servers can be consolidated down to just five virtual machine servers in a secured cabinet. “This is an 80 percent reduction in maintenance, space, energy use – and better security is achieved as well,” said Mr Leong. The ASC also showcases other technologies from the company, such as Open Field Networks, Operator Training Simulators, Advanced Process Control, Optimisation, Supply Chain Management and Manufacturing Execution Systems, providing a mix of virtual and physical experiences for customers at the centre. This Singapore-based centre also supports the Field Demo Units (FDU) which are deployed in each of the Asia Pacific countries. These units provide virtual demonstrations at customer sites by leveraging the servers in the ASC through cloud technologies.
Singapore: Total worldwide semiconductor revenue reached US$299.9 billion in 2012, down 2.6 percent from 2011, according to Gartner. With the overall semiconductor market decline, the number of vendors that declined among the top 25 outnumbered those that grew. Gartner said the top 25 semiconductor vendors' revenue declined slightly faster, at 2.8 percent, than the industry as a whole and accounted for almost the same portion of the industry's total revenue — 68.9 percent in 2012, compared with 69.0 percent in 2011. "The normal drivers of semiconductor industry growth — the computing, wireless, consumer electronics and automotive electronics sectors — all suffered serious disruption in 2012," said Steve Ohr, research director at Gartner. "Even the industrial/medical, wired communications and military/aerospace sectors — ordinarily less affected by changes in consumer sentiment — suffered severe declines in semiconductor consumption," he said. Intel recorded a 3.1 percent revenue decline, due to falls in PC shipments. However, it retained the number one market share position for the 21st year in a row. The company’s share was 16.4 percent in 2012, down from 16.5 percent in 2011. Samsung, the number two vendor, was held back by weak DRAM bit growth in 2012, as well as a dilution
10 industrial automation asia | May 2013
Piotr D, Warszawa, Mazowieckie, Poland
Semiconductor Market Faces Headwind
of the NAND flash market, although its overall revenue increased from smartphone Application-Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs) and Application-Specific Standard Products (ASSPs). Qualcomm's semiconductor revenue increased 31.8 percent in 2012 to US$13.2 billion. The company climbed from number six in 2011 to number three and now trails only Intel and Samsung. Qualcomm was the fastest-growing semiconductor company in the top 25 and continues to benefit from its leading position in wireless semiconductors. Texas Instruments retained its fourth-place ranking, although Toshiba slipped to fifth place in semiconductor shipments.
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Industry News
Fuji Electric Receives Green Technology Awards Tokyo, Japan: Fuji Electric has announced that it has received fiscal 2012 superior energy conserving machinery award at the 33rd Awards Ceremony held by the Japan Machinery Federation. Agency of Natural Resources and Energy Director’s Award is awarded for the HX Series of Uninterruptible Power Supplies (UPS) equipped with a 3-level IGBT module, and for the PVI Series of power conditioners for use in
mega-solar applications. By employing the company’s 3-level IGBT module, the HX Series of UPS achieves an efficiency of 97 percent with 40 percent less power loss than conventional models. Meanwhile, the PVI series of power conditioners realises equipment efficiency of 98.5 percent and reduces power loss by 76 percent compared to conventional models. The JMF’s President Award was awarded for a can and bottle vending
machine model equipped with a hybrid heat pump. By equipping this vending machine with cooling circuitry that uses an inverter compressor and a new electronic expansion valve, the company developed a hybrid system that makes it possible to operate the heat pump internally and externally as well as in the internal compartment using a single compressor. This enables the vending machine to reduce CO2 emissions over the product lifecycle.
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia: Evolving technologies in wireless and data communication networks and infrastructure, such as long term evolution and 4G, have spurred the need for general purpose test equipment in Asia-Pacific, as testing these networks is imperative to support the product development cycle, cover a wide range of radio frequency and digital measurements, and ensure their performance, safety and security. Analysis from Frost & Sullivan, ‘Asia-Pacific General Purpose Test Equipment Market’, finds that the market earned revenues of more than US$888.1 million in 2012 and estimates this to reach US$1.2 billion in 2016. Testing devices with better throughput and functionalities, quicker measurement speeds, higher resolution and accuracy, and faster data analysis of signals are becoming popular with end users looking to reduce testing costs, adding to market revenues. The shifting of manufacturing as well as Research and Development (R&D) sites to Asia-Pacific owing to lower labour costs also drives the general purpose test equipment market. With the economic growth in emerging countries, including Vietnam, Indonesia and Cambodia, attracting foreign direct investments for manufacturing and industrial activities, demand for test equipment will continue. However, several companies in Asia-Pacific that export to Europe, especially consumer electronic device dealers, are cautious with their expenditure on test equipment due to the European downturn, as such reducing market investments. The entry of low-cost Chinese devices has intensified competition, further straining test equipment manufacturers’ profit margins.
12 industrial automation asia | May 2013
Aljabak, Serbia
New Technologies In Communications Spur The Need For General Purpose Test Equipment In Asia-Pacific
Industry News
Gigaphoton Establishes Branch In Singapore Oyama, Japan: Gigaphoton, a lithography light source manufacturer, has announced that as of April 2013, it has started business operations at the Gigaphoton Singapore Branch (GPSB), its newly established branch in the country. Through this Singapore branch, the company will promote new business opportunities to find potential customers in Singapore by teaming up with lithography system manufacturers as well as to further reinforce its local technical support system for existing Singaporean customers of the company’s excimer lasers for semiconductor lithography systems. Until now, the manufacturer has developed its excimer laser business in Singapore with Komatsu Asia & Pacific (KAP), an overseas subsidiary of Komatsu, as its sales representative. It has established GPSB in order to directly engage in its Singapore-based business operations in the future. Through commencing business operations at its new branch, which has a close affiliation with the Japanese headquarters, the company will be able to offer speedy, toplevel service support that will elicit even greater satisfaction from its clients in Singapore, which has been positioned as a vital site of operations in the semiconductor manufacturing industry.
Mitsubishi Electric To Build New Engineering Facility In Kobe, Japan Tokyo, Japan: Mitsubishi Electric Corporation has announced that it will build an engineering facility in Kobe, Hyogo Prefecture, Japan to strengthen its engineering framework as part of expanding the company’s infrastructuresystem business in fields including public projects, power generation and rolling stock. The four billion yen (US$40.5 million) facility is expected to start operating in April 2014.
The company expects to expand its infrastructure-system businesses over the medium to long term, especially in view of increasing demand for energy infrastructure. The new facility will help to increase operational efficiency by consolidating engineer workforces engaged in design and development. It will also provide increased space for manufacturing and test-control equipment.
Artistic rendering of new the engineering facility to be built in Kobe, Japan.
Yokogawa Receives Control System Order For Plant In Saudi Arabia Tokyo, Japan: Yokogawa Electric Corporation has announced that its subsidiary, Yokogawa Middle East, has received an order to supply control systems and operator training simulators for the Shoaiba II combined cycle power plant, which is being built in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for the Saudi Electricity Company. Located south of Jedda on the Red Sea coast, the Shoaiba II combined cycle power plant will have 10 gas turbines and two steam turbines with a combined output of 1,200 MW (two block of 600 MW each) and is scheduled to start operation in June 2013. This order was
received from Daelim Industrial. The order is for a comprehensive solution comprising a Centum VP control system and a simulator which will be used to train operators under complex simulated plant operating conditions. The control system will be for the integrated control of Heat Recovery Steam Generators (HRSG) and gas turbines. For the systems and products that make up these solutions, the company and its subsidiary Yokogawa Saudi Arabia will be responsible for project execution, including engineering, testing, installation and commissioning. May 2013 | industrial automation asia  13
Industry News
Lanxess Expands Ion Exchange Resin Facilities At Leverkusen Site
Svilen Milev, Bulgaria
Leverkusen, Germany: Specialty chemicals company Lanxess is expanding its business in Leverkusen, Germany, with solutions for water treatment. At its largest site worldwide, the company is investing around E10 million (US$13.01 million) in a production line for weakly acidic cation exchange resins of the Lewatit premium brand, plus a facility for food-gradestandard filling and packaging. One key area of application for these ion exchange resins is cartridges for domestic water filter systems. They remove unwanted calcium and magnesium salts and lead and copper ions from mains water and release other harmless substances in their place. This improves the quality and taste of drinking water. As part of the capacity expansion, a building for filling products for foodstuff applications will also be constructed on an area of 300 sq m.
Construction work to provide the additional volumes needed to fulfill the requirements of the global market has already begun and is due to be completed by mid-2014. As of April 1, 2013, the company's Ion Exchange Resins business unit has been renamed Liquid Purification Technologies (LPT). The reason for this change is due the expansion of the product portfolio with the addition of membrane filtration technology for reverse osmosis. “Our production facility in Bitterfeld for Lewabrane membrane elements commenced operations in 2011,” recalls Jean-Marc Vesselle, who is responsible for Global Ion Exchange Resins business at the company. “This makes us one of the few companies that offer both ion exchange resins and reverse osmosis membrane elements — two different yet complementary water treatment technologies — from a single source,” he explains.
New Technologies Will Expand The Biophotonics Market To US$36 Billion By 2017 Lyon, France: Yole Développement, Tematys and EPIC have announced their collaboration and released a technology and market analysis: ‘Biophotonics Market, Focus on Life Sciences & Health Applications’. Emerging technologies and applications will make biophotonics a US$36 billion market by 2017. The biophotonics market is estimated to grow from US$23 billion in 2012 to US$36 billion by 2017, with strong CAGR increases for emerging opportunities in imaging and sensing modalities. Once limited to hundreds or thousands of units/year in high-end desktop devices for life science and healthcare applications, biophotonics today has the potential to be a part of cost-effective devices, targeting million-unit markets and opening doors for new entrants. The report provides market data at different levels: from the total biophotonics-related market and the biophotonics system market to the biophotonics components and modules market.
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Over the last 20 years, Europe has faced increased growth of the pensioner population, recurrent epidemics, and economic issues linked to unsustainable, unbalanced healthcare systems. Today, healthcare is moving from a treatment-oriented system to a diagnostic oriented one, the end-goal being companioned diagnostic, which is promising but still far away. The food sector faces growing demand for safer and healthier food, increased risk of epizootic diseases and food-related disorders, and threats to sustainable agricultural and fish production. All of these issues have in common, a strong need to study real-time evolution of complete living organisms, or part of them (tissues, organs, cells, proteins, DNA, and so on). “Therefore, it is essential to develop technologies for quality and process control, as well as rapid microbiological methods suited to the entire production system,” says Jacques Cochard, founder of Tematys.
ENQUIRY NO. 564
Industry News
Herzogenaurach, Germany: Schaeffler continued its growth strategy in 2012. Revenue increased by four percent to approximately € 11.1 billion (US$14.49 billion), exceeding the encouraging level reached in 2011. Earnings Before Interest and Taxes (EBIT) was approximately €1.4 billion (prior year: €1.7 billion). At approximately 13 percent, the EBIT margin remained high. The group’s global structure and its position in the growth markets, particularly in the North America and Asia/Pacific regions, have contributed to this development. Revenue increased by 18 percent in the North American market region while the Asian market reported an increase in revenue of 10 percent from the already high level in the prior year. In a weak economic environment, revenue in Europe still increased by 0.3 percent from the previous year. The automotive division reported record revenue levels in 2012 and enjoyed high growth rates. Revenue increased by approximately seven percent to €7.7 billion, growing faster than global automobile production. The Industrial division’s strong growth rates in the aerospace sector and in heavy industries only partially offset the weaker or declining growth trends seen in other sectors. Market forces held back the division's revenue to
€3.4 billion, approximately two percent below the prior year level. Driven by the group’s solid EBIT, net income for the period excluding non-controlling interests amounted to €872 million (prior year: €889 million), including the group’s share of net income of Continental of €554 million (prior year: €324 million). Cash flows from operating activities increased by €129 million to €1.2 billion in 2012. The resulting free cash flow amounted to €381 million (prior year: €319 million), including a €80 million net dividend received from Continental. Expenditures for property, plant and equipment and intangible assets amounted to €860 million, which was within the target range of six to eight percent of revenue. Net financial debt was reduced to approximately €6.8 billion at year-end (prior year: €7.1 billion). The debt to EBITDA ratio, calculated as the ratio of net financial debt (excluding shareholder loans) to EBITDA for the past twelve months, amounted to 3.2 (prior year: 3.0). Its headcount rose by 2,068 across all significant regions and functional areas in 2012. The largest increases in headcount in absolute terms took place in the Asian and North American entities. The number of employees in Germany increased by 335 to 29,778. At the end of the year, the Schaeffler
Sheela 2010, India
Schaeffler Continues Along Its Growth Path
Group had approximately 76,000 employees worldwide. The company is optimistic about the 2013 revenue trend. The Schaeffler G ro u p e x p e c t s t h e w o r l d w i d e production of passenger vehicles and light commercial vehicles to increase by approximately two percent. It is not expecting the European automotive markets to recover quickly and anticipates that automobile production in this region will decline by approximately two percent compared to the previous year. For the various industrial markets, it estimates that demand will recover slightly starting in the latter half of the year. Here, too, regional trends will likely vary widely.
Cowin Helps Sensaris Certify The Zao Biomedical Sensor Lyon, France: Sensaris has announced that it has developed a novel, multi-sensor device for monitoring vital signs. Called the Zao, it is currently going through the certification process and will be available mid 2013. Roughly the same size as a thick paperback book, it is designed to provide professional level diagnostic data so that it can be used by medical professionals and yet its low target volume price point of around €550 (US$715.77) means that it can also be used by the home health market.
16 industrial automation asia | May 2013
This compact, battery-powered device measures glucose level, body temperature, oximetry (saturation level of a patient's haemoglobin) and blood pressure and uses WiFi to deliver the information to Android or iOS devices such as smartphone, tablets and computers. Data can also be sent to a remote server for centralised processing and monitoring. The Zao weighs 310 g and measures 129 x 44 x 135 mm with a built in, rechargeable 3.7V lithium battery and a Microchip processor.
Industry News
NFC Installed Base To Exceed 500 Million Devices Within 12 Months London, UK: The number of NFCenabled devices in use will exceed 500 million in 2014, according to a new report. ABI Research’s ‘NFC Devices, Strategies, and Form Factors’ calculated that a minimum of 285 million mobile and consumer electronics devices will ship in 2013 as OEMs continue to drive the market for NFC as mobile operators struggle to gain control and bring their services to market. Mobile manufacturers moved ahead with NFC in 2012 whilst Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) were still largely focused on payments, where they have struggled to deliver tangible services.
Silver Spring Networks Selected By SP PowerAssets For Advanced Metering Infrastructure
This has allowed predominantly Android OEMs to seize the initiative as they have delivered new services and features for connecting devices, sharing data and content, picking up information, and utilising tags. Companies such as Blackberry and Samsung have developed and implemented clear strategies around NFC. They are differentiating themselves as they look to generate new servicebased revenue streams utilising NFC. Other brands, such as LG and Sony, are taking a different path as they horizontally integrate NFC across their broad product portfolios.
Tampere, Finland: Confidex, a supplier of contactless smart tickets, has announced that its tickets are now fully implemented on the RET (Rotterdamse Elektrische Tram) public transportation system in Rotterdam, The Netherlands. The company supplies RET with five million contactless smart tickets with NXP MiFare Ultralight IC per year. RET’s public transportation system in Rotterdam moves over 600,000 passengers each day. Fully customised contactless paper tickets from the company are playing a key role in its smooth and cost-effective operation. The extended memory of contactless tickets enables RET to set pricing policies which adapt to passenger needs and extend the number of possible fare combinations. The company supplies RET with contactless smart tickets in customised, ready-to-use format, which seamlessly integrate into RET’s operations and payment schemes. The company delivers tickets in booklet and fanfold formats to support RET’s ticket issuing processes. Booklet tickets are particularly easy to
Roger Waleson, Rotterdam, Netherlands
Smart Ticketing Are Up To Speed On RET Public Transportation System In Rotterdam
distribute, for example on buses. They are also easy to count, since the tickets are stapled per group of defined numbers, and the ticket counterfoil can be used as proof of distribution. Additionally, contactless smart tickets are provided with customisation: fanfold tickets are delivered as blanks, while booklet tickets are delivered ready-to-use and preloaded in nine different fare types and artworks. The company provides RET with four million booklet tickets and one million fanfold tickets per year.
California, US: Silver Spring Networks, a networking platform and solutions provider for smart energy networks, has announced it has been appointed by SP PowerAssets (SPPA) to deliver the network and control platform for the initial phase of its Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) project. Under this contract, SPPA, which is a member of the Singapore Power Group and owns the electricity transmission and distribution assets in Singapore, will deploy Silver Spring’s IPv6-based wireless networking platform across its service territory. The company has also partnered with STEE-Infocomm, a division of Singapore Technologies, for this project. STEE-Infocomm will provide a variety of implementation and logistics support. The company's Smart Energy Platform includes hardware, software and services and is based on an open IPv6 network, enabling continuous secure communication between utilities and their consumers. With the industry’s largest partner ecosystem, it is compatible with a wide array of smart energy network devices. The networking platform can be rapidly scaled, allowing utilities of all sizes and across all geographies to quickly and economically expand their smart grid services offerings.
May 2013 | industrial automation asia 17
Industry Updates
Indonesian Seminar
2013
The Profibus/Profinet Association South East Asia has conducted its first Profibus/Profinet seminar of 2013. The seminar was conducted in Cikarang, Indonesia with a total of 110 people in attendance. The seminar was supported by Siemens, Pepperl + Fuchs, Procentec, VEGA, Leoni Cable and Turck. These companies provided live demonstrations of their products and solutions at a microfair, giving seminar participants the chance to discuss these face-to-face with experts. The Profinet multivendor demo High interest at the Indonesia seminar was introduced. This showed the wireless integration of Profibus-DP/ means the total installed base is now in excess of PA into Profinet, and also the integration of different 40 million nodes. products and protocols. The live engineering of an IOProfinet also grew, from three million nodes in System was demonstrated along with Profinet’s web 2011 to 4.2 million nodes in 2012. He also introduced diagnostic functions and remote services. the Profienergy profile, which is the first networking Three Part Seminar standard for energy management and energy savings, The seminar had three parts; news and market which runs on Profinet. updates on Profibus/Profinet; a Profibus Block, The day ended with presentations on Profinet with presentations on installations and best from Mr Lieberth (Siemens) and Gunther Ehlert practices; and a Profinet Block with presentations (Procentec). With Profinet, PI has developed an on Industrial Ethernet solutions as well as the new Industrial Ethernet networking standard from the features available. experience gained from Profibus, which is open and Bernd Lieberth, president of the regional Profibus/ manufacturer-neutral. Profinet Association, presented the latest news, including the world sales figures. Profibus increased Ethernet At All Levels its installed base by five million nodes in 2012, which Profinet meets all of the requirements for using Ethernet at all levels, and in all automation applications. It is designed to be flexible, reliable and robust in many industrial environments. The technology offers new possibilities too, such as redundancy, shared device, intelligent devices, wireless connectivity and much more. The seminar in Cikarang is part of a continuing seminar series in ASEAN countries. Mr Lieberth said: “We achieved a high participation rate thanks to the support of our members. We will continue our seminar series in 2013, with Malaysia and Vietnam on the schedule.” Multivendor demo with Profinet and Profibus
18 industrial automation asia | May 2013
ENQUIRY NO. 3101
Newsdesk First Device Passed CANopen Interoperability Test At CiA CAN in Automation (CiA), has tested the interoperability of CANopen devices. Faulhaber’s MCBL300 motion controller is the first CANopen device, which has passed this test. In opposite to the CANopen conformance test, the interoperability test is a system approach. The Device-Under-Test (DUT) is proofed in the ‘golden’ CANopen network installed in the association’s laboratory. The test procedure assures that CANopen devices are capable of interacting with a variety of other products from different manufacturers, all integrated into the same test stand. It also includes some stress tests in order to proof that the DUT runs even at high busloads or with long buslines, for example. CiA also organises so-called plug-fests, during which manufacturers connect ad-hoc their CANopen devices to test interoperability between different products. The next CANopen plug-fest will be dedicated for CANopen Safety products. The interoperability of CANopen Safety devices is not in the scope of the functional safety testing and certification by national authorities.
CANopen devices interacting with other products from different manufacturers, all integrated into the same test stand.
ENQUIRY NO. 3102
CANopen Markets: Decade Of Partnership
(L-R) Holger Zeltwanger, MD, CiA; and Stefan Schönegger, MD, EPSG.
For 10 years, there has been a strong partnership between CAN in Automation (CiA) and the Ethernet Powerlink Standardisation Group (EPSG). Since 2003, the two non-profit user organisations have jointly been making CANopen a popular choice and a factor to reckon within many market segments on CAN-based as well as Ethernet-based lower-layer protocols. CAN (Controller Area Network) is a serial bus system originally developed for automotive applications and internationally standardised in the ISO 11898 series. In total, some 800 million CAN interfaces will be sold this year. CANopen is a higher-layer protocol used on CAN and Powerlink as well as other communication technologies for embedded control applications. It includes the application layer and the communication profile as well as application, device, and interface profiles. This internationally standardised interface (EN 50325-4) combines flexible configuration capabilities with a degree of interoperability using standardised CiA profiles. Consequently, CANopen networks are used in a broad range of application fields such as machine control, medical devices, mobile machines, rail vehicles, maritime electronics, building automation and power generation as well as countless embedded control systems. When the specifications for the Powerlink Industrial Ethernet protocol were drafted, its makers decided to use the CANopen application layer and profiles for guaranteed interoperability with the standard. For applications requiring a higher communication bandwidth, this provides a smooth migration path and saves software investments compared to Industrial Ethernet solutions not adapting CANopen. ENQUIRY NO. 3103
May 2013 | industrial automation asia 19
EtherCAT
Technology Group
Reaches 100 Members In South Korea JUST over one year after EtherCAT became a national standard in South Korea, the EtherCAT Technology Group has added its 100th Korean member company. After completing the standardisation process of EtherCAT in 2012, the groundwork for the further development of EtherCAT in South Korea has already been prepared. Key Yoo, manager of the South Korean ETG office and driving force behind the standardisation of EtherCAT in South Korea, noticed the shift toward current developments long ago: “With EtherCAT becoming a national standard it is much easier for South Korean manufacturers and users to implement EtherCAT technology.” Time has shown that he was right as the ETG welcomes its 100th South Korean member. Martin Rostan, executive d i re c t o r o f t h e E t h e r C AT Technology Group, is pleased with this development and summarises the meaning of the South Korean market for EtherCAT as follows: “South Korea is home to very important companies economically-speaking. For example, the world’s four largest shipyards are located here — and all of them are ETG members.” 20 industrial automation asia | May 2013
Key Yoo, manager of the South Korean ETG office, supports, promotes and advances EtherCAT technology in South Korea.
In addition, the three largest companies in South Korea themselves are members of the EtherCAT Technology Group. Those three enterprises alone stand for almost one third of the South Korean GDP — clear evidence that EtherCAT has reached a commanding level of acceptance in the South Korean market. Tüv Certifies Safety Over EtherCAT Conformance Test Tool To round off the all-inclusive
Dr Guido Beckmann, Safety Expert at the EtherCAT Technology Group.
package for Safety over EtherCAT ( S o E ) t e c h n o l o g y, a n e w component is now available: The SoE Conformance Test Tool, certified and qualified by Tüv, enables automatic verification of implementations for the safe transmission protocol, SoE. Companies from Europe, the US and Asia implement SoE in the fields of control and drive technology, robotics and sensor systems. To support the individual cer tification process of SoE devices, Beckhoff
Safety over EtherCAT enables simpler and more flexible safety architectures when compared to traditional safety relay logic.
Automation now offers a special conformance test tool. With this tool one can automatically test the SoE functionality completely and as such prove conformance of implementations to the specification. The test cases which are implemented in the tool have been defined by the EtherCAT Technology Group (ETG) and were reviewed by Tüv regarding their integrity in advance. Tüv has confirmed the qualification of the tool for validation and compliance to test SoE slave devices in accordance with the SoE specification. For this, t h e d e v e l o p m e n t p ro c e s s , the implementation and the implementation of the test environment of the tool were
accompanied by Tüv, who also reviewed the results. The tool is available for all users of SoE technology and will also be used for the official SoE conformance tests in the future. Dr Guido Beckmann, safety expert at the ETG, emphasises the practical benefits of the tool: “The SoE Conformance Test Tool helps manufacturers identify implementation errors during device development at an early stage. For the official certification of safety devices the evidence of conformity of the implementation is re q u i re d t o o . Wi t h o u t t h e SoE Conformance Test Tool device manufacturers would be compelled to implement this proof by themselves.”
A lean protocol specification, pre-certified software stacks, various support options from different service providers, and not least the Tüv-certified SoE Conformance Test Tool simplify the integration of SoE considerably. SoE is designed for the transmission of safety-relevant data. It is an international standard (IEC 61784-3 Ed. 2) and is used to transfer input information from different safety sensors, eg: light curtains or emergency stop buttons, to safety logic. This logic combines the information from the input commands for the safe outputs, such as power protectors or safety drives, and as such controls the safety functionality of the machine. ENQUIRY NO. 3104 Dec 2012/Jan May 2013 | industrial automation asia 21
Fieldbus Foundation Announces
2013 Educational Scholarship Recipients The Fieldbus Foundation has announced the 2013 recipients of the James (Jim) O GrayFieldbus Foundation Scholarship Fund. The program honours the memory of James O Gray, a long-time leader in the Fieldbus Foundation who passed away in 2002. It establishes a perpetual US$250,000 endowment fund providing scholarships to students seeking a career in the industrial automation profession. Since 2003, the Scholarship program has funded 29 educational scholarships for students around the world. According to Fieldbus Foundation president Rich Timoney: “We are pleased to announce this year’s recipients of the Jim Gray scholarship. These are outstanding students that have really distinguished themselves in their pursuit of fieldbus knowledge. The Fieldbus Foundation realises that the right training is the key to the future of process automation.” 2013 Scholarship Recipients The 2013 scholarship recipients include: Váradi Gergely, University of Miskolc, Miskolc, Hungary: Váradi Gergely is a first-year Masters of Science student in electrical engineering at the University of Miskolc, and his Bachelor of Science degree has a specialisation in electrical design and manufacturing. His studies included the design of electrical circuits and Printed Circuit Boards (PCBs), 22 industrial automation asia | May 2013
Since 2003, the Scholarship program has funded 29 educational scholarships for students around the world. manufacturing technology of the electronics industry and industrial testing methods. Gergely also acquired highlevel knowledge of computercontrolled measurement systems programmed with National Instruments LabView development environment, and industrial process control systems. During the final year of his undergraduate studies, Mr Gergely’s senior project successfully modelled a Foundation fieldbus-based control system for a chemical batch reactor, for which it was graded a five (on a five-grade scale). In his masters-level studies, he plans to improve his theoretical and practical knowledge and experiences with a specialisation in automation and industrial process control. John Lima, Fieldbus Centre at Lee College, Baytown, Texas, USA: Mr Lima is working towards a degree in Instrumentation at
Lee College. He is also a student assistant in the college’s Fieldbus Technology Lab. A native of Brazil, Lima worked for Bradesco Bank after completing his high school education, saving enough money to eventually fulfill his dream of ‘coming to America.’ To sustain his dream, he was employed in a number of industries, including restaurants, nursing homes, c o ns t r u c t i o n an d b u s i n es s offices. Setting high expectations for himself, he works to excel in his studies and is a firm believer in a good education. Pattarapon Taosrichai, King Mongkut’s Institute of Technology Ladkrabang (KMITL), Bangkok, Thailand: Pattarapon Taosrichai is a junior at KMITL, majoring in automation engineering. He plans to further his knowledge of Foundation technology, and to communicate its importance through the Internet and social media. Background Of Jim Gray Jim Gray was employed by Invensys/Foxboro for 25 years as a sales and marketing manager. In addition to being very active within the Fieldbus Foundation from its inception, he held the positions of: secretary of the board of directors, member of the executive committee, and member of the US marketing committee. ENQUIRY NO. 3105
issues & insights
Sensible Metalworking Sensors are used in the metalworking world to simplify operations and increase productivity. By Chris Chan, product manager, Business Unit Sensors & Connectivity, Sick
I
n metalworking industries, one of the most automated equipment families are the machine tools and metal forming machineries. Machine tools fabricate parts by grinding and cutting, while metal forming machines form parts by forging, pressing, punching, bending and shearing. Many types of sensors, such as ultrasonic sensors, vibration s e n s o r s , ro t a r y e n c o d e r s , photoelectric sensors, are
deployed to manage, position, and control the automated tasks. One of the most widely used are the contactless inductive proximity and the magnetic cylinder sensors, whose key roles are to check motion limits, detect positions and feedback angular movements.
Analogue Proximity Sensors Simplify Machine Control Machine tools and metal forming machineries have rotary tasks in their automation processes. Most
of the time, rotary encoders are used to decode information on the angular displacement. Sometimes, several proximity sensors can be utilised in binary technique, eg: 00, 01, 10, 11, to decode rotary shaft information if the application is not too concerned about precision. One other optimum way is to use an analogue inductive sensor to capture higher precision angular position sensing and measurement. The major advantage of using analogue inductive sensor is its inherent abilities to provide a variable analogue output voltage or current proportional to the distance of the target from sensor face. As this sensor is contactless, no actual mechanical coupling between the sensor and the rotary shaft is needed. This is very useful to engineers who design machine tools that demand precision position sensing, without the worries of mechanical coupling, or any long term degradation issues. Ty p i c a l a p p l i c a t i o n s o f sensors are detecting angular position of a machine tool shaft in a metalworking CNC machine. Traditionally, designers use the expensive, bulkier rotary encoder. Alternatively, engineers can machine an eccentric shaped cam, eg: elliptical shape, to provide a variable distance between sensor face and the cam faces at different angular position. Another advantage is that this compact analogue inductive sensor is housed in diameter as small as Ă˜12, which is a few times smaller than the rotary encoder. Moreover, no mechanical coupling between rotary shaft and the physical sensor is required. As such, the sensor’s compactness and mechanical independence mean straightforward implementation a n d e a s y re p l a c e m e n t . A l l these benefits will groom the analogue proximity sensor as an attractive candidate for rotary position feedback. May 2013 | industrial automation asia  23
issues & insights
Dealing With Error As with any data conversion, designers must also compensate for non-linearity of the output. Linearity error can cause a higher reading as expected in quadrant 2 (see graph), and compromise the automation task accuracies. Consequently, designers should compensate the nonlinearity error in their controller, by coding a simple lookup table to linearise the output across the whole dynamic output range. If lookup table is not desirable due to system resources constraint, then designers have to consider using only the most linear response curve of the entire dynamic range, such as those in quadrant 1 of the response curve. Other applications for analogue proximity sensors are the measurement of the rate of product flow in any metalworking automation process. In picture 1, the analogue sensor is used to output analogue data according to the ‘curvature’ of the metal bodies in real-time, and the rate of changes on the output can be computed into accurate rate of product flow.
Magnetic Positioning Sensor Increases Productivity In some metal forming automation task, piston cylinders equipped with Magnetic Position Sensors
Graph
24  industrial automation asia | May 2013
Picture 1
Analogue proximity sensor for angular position measurement
(MPS) are gaining popularity. Unlike cylinders using standard magnetic sensors that detects only on-off status positions, the magnetic position sensor can provide information on the exact piston position along the complete cylinder stroke. As manufacturing processes get more demanding, on-off status is no longer adequate. The system needs continuous feedback of the pneumatic piston position for this sophisticated tasks realisation. Tr a d i t i o n a l l y, d e s i g n e r s use various types of linear measurement sensors. These
sensors are mechanical parts that follow, and measure directly the piston stroke. During the usage of such displacement sensors, Ingress Protection (IP) can become an issue. In addition, as linear measurement sensors are often designed for a vast number of applications, they need special mounting brackets. Most importantly, linear sensors have mechanical moving parts which are subjected to operating wear and tear. As a result, using magnetic position sensors in measuring piston linear displacement is
In Conclusion With increasing numbers of tasks in the metalworking industry demanding more rapid and precise
inputs, both the analogue proximity sensors and the magnetic position sensor are set to simplify and enable more sophisticated tasks at reduced cost. With analogue proximity sensors, precise angular information can be extracted without the need for encoder
based design, simplifying machine tools design in the process. Likewise, using the m a g n e t i c p o s i t i o n s e n s o r, metalworking automation tasks like drilling and punching can reduce cost benefits. ENQUIRY NO. 3201
ENQUIRY NO. 561
gaining popularity due to the accuracy, simplicity, robustness and cost effectiveness. Robustness-wise, the MPS involves no moving par ts, and therefore not subjected to mechanical wear and tear. Simplicity-wise, the MPS is designed to be mounted on T-slots cylinders. Other notable features are that the MPS are rated IP67, which means that it can be used in harsher environment within the electronic industries. Technology-wise, the MPS discussed here is an advanced microprocessor based sensors for pneumatic cylinders, electrical cylinders, grippers and slides. The sensor houses a row of Halleffect sensors which ‘monitors’ the cylinder’s piston. The output is both analogue voltage output of 0…10 V, and analogue current output of 4…20 mA. Application-wise, the MPS is able to measure the cylinder stroke ranging from 32 mm to 256 mm. It can be mounted on the popular T-slot cylinders, and no additional adaptors are required. For other slots, mounting accessories are available. Site commissioning is straightforward as indicative LEDs are guiding during installation. The optional teaching functions are available to designers to calibrate the required operating range. Applications for MPS are increasing. Some common task of magnetic position sensor system includes orientation and positioning, assembly, inspection. More and more automation task, like precision depthcontrolled drilling machineries, metal punch in metalworking, are starting to switch to magnetic position sensors.
May 2013 | industrial automation asia 25
issues & insights
Asia’s economy continues to move along, albeit at a slower pace. Manufacturers need to go with the flow and use this period of lower activity to revamp and automate their production assets. By Didier Lacroix, senior VP, International Sales & Services, Cognex
Vision Systems:
Staying In Tune E
conomic growth in Asia continues at a modest rate. In the case of China, manufacturing activity in February expanded at the slowest pace in four months, according to Business Times. The good news however, is that the region’s manufacturing giant is still on track for a gradual recovery, after an earlier period last year that saw 12 months of contraction. In preparation for growing demand in the near future, Asian manufacturers can take the current opportunity of lower manufacturing activity to reevaluate and upgrade existing capacity. Especially for facilities 26  industrial automation asia | May 2013
that are still depending on labourintensive processes, this would be a good time to explore ways of implementing automation technology.
Investment Decisions According to a report by Forbes on March 6, 2013, companies in the US are showing an inclination for investing in technology rather than in people. They believe that technology and automation must be leveraged on to attain production efficiency and repeatable quality. Competitiveness needs to be achieved by employing less people while operating on more advanced technology.
These examples can be found at the electronics, automotives and aerospace industries where the need to automate is vital in ensuring precision in respective production and quality control processes. The manufacture of Photovoltaic (PV) modules for example, relies heavily on automation. With consistent product quality and shorter cycle times, costs can be reduced. Perfectly soldered joints are necessar y for the efficient operation of PV modules. To achieve this, a fully automated soldering system is required to solder the cross-links between the
PV modules. A perfectly soldered joint is created by ensuring: 1
The largest possible contact area; 2 The strength of the compound; 3 Low contact resistance Achieving these three criteria will determine the conductivity and current flow, and ensures operating efficiency in the completed solar module.
Production Steps The cross-links made from galvanised copper and measuring approximately five millimetres in width, are inserted into the system. A stretching station prevents wave- and crescentshaped deformations. Using a pneumatic string cutter, the cross-links are cut to size to match product specifications. A vacuum pad gripper then successively places the cross-link strips individually on a clipboard, until they form the completed circuit connections. The laid out cross-links are then transferred to the PV module, with the help of pneumatic grippers. Soldering and positioning are carried out simultaneously on the front and back of the solar module. On each side, two induction soldering heads equipped with the In-Sight 5100 vision system, move over the work areas. Illumination is provided by red dome lighting, which allows the vision system to recognise the predefined soldered joints. The vision cameras simultaneously inspect the individual target positions. These target positions are compared with predefined positions that have been stored in type-specific recipes within the system. Any deviations at this point are highlighted and transmitted to the control system while rejected
items are manually reworked. If the target positions are within the predefined tolerance requirements, flux material is sprayed on and soldering takes place. Quality inspections of the soldered joints are also performed by the automated soldering machine. Vision technology has enabled manufacturing cycle times of just 80 seconds, for cells with three busbars and modules with six strings. With the easyto-use interface, even operators who do not have detailed knowledge of programming can still configure the system easily. Using the spreadsheet interface, the implementation of simpler applications can be performed especially quickly. Since the vision system is part of a standalone solution, it can be implemented easily without a centralised control system. A central server is unnecessary in this setup, making it possible to carry out repair and maintenance work without the need for specialist IT personnel.
Perfect Control Tabbing machines are employed in the production of solar cell panels. Many machines use a mechanical alignment and centralising system that can be difficult to calibrate. Furthermore, the direct mechanical contact of this procedure carries the risk of damaging the cells in the process. This could result in the solar panels being badly aligned, with the potential of having tiny surface defects at the end of the manufacturing line. T h e s e p ro b l e m s c a n b e overcome with machines that adopt vision technology to control quality and eliminate potential defects during production. Such a tabbing stringing machine solders the solar cells into strings to produce solar cell panels. Being highly automated, the machine is capable of memorising and working according to different product cycles, producing up to 600 cells an hour. It also has a highspeed pick-and-place capability and an infrared soldering system. An automatic centring
Quality control is a critical part of any production process.
May 2013 | industrial automation asia  27
issues & insights
mechanism station riding on machine vision technology keeps mechanical contact to a minimum, thereby preserving the integrity and the quality of the cells. Precision in the centring process is enhanced with PatMax, a vision tool that locates objects under difficult conditions — such as changes in dimension, orientation or lighting; or deformation, occlusion or reflection. Other variables could also be harsh environmental conditions or backgrounds that are confusing. Since the surfaces of cells have reflective surfaces making them similar to mirrors, they can be challenging for inspections. PatMax however, is not adversely affected by reflective surfaces, enabling it to ensure precision and reliability in performance. After the production process, the cells are automatically picked up from two loading baskets and the final string is deposited on a lighting table for quality checking. Using a vision tool librar y, superficial defects such as small marks or dents in the form or on the edges of the cell can be examined. The continuity and correctness of assembly of the string can also be verified.
A Quality Mark Moving on to consumer products, laser engravers are used to engrave logos on watch components that have extremely small dimensions — for example, watch crowns that measure five to eight millimetres in diameter — while maintaining positioning tolerances of under 50 microns. The engraver needs to be able to complete work on a batch of 1,200 workpieces, over a period of 20 hours. The positioning of workpieces under the laser head was previously performed manually one-at-a-time, before the logos were engraved. After this, the quality of engraving on each 28 industrial automation asia | May 2013
Keeping track and the monitoring of goods is an important element of a production process.
piece had to be visually verified by an operator. In order to raise productivity, the engraving process had to be automated. A machine equipped with vision technology had to be built to fulfil a number of requirements: • The automatic vision-based positioning system had to achieve the same positioning tolerances from the manual system, ie: under 50 microns; • Workpiece positioning had to be easy, with no pre-positioning required; • The system needed to run without operator intervention for a minimum of 20 hours; • The need for additional quality checks had to be minimised; • The vision-based system had to have the same cycle time as the old system, being able to process a workpiece every 60 seconds; • Users had to be able to easily and single-handedly modify the job configuration according to the type of workpiece. Feasibility tests were carried out using the vision system and
finished workpiece engraving quality was measured statistically. The results surpassed the tolerance specifications and yielded positioning with a standard deviation of barely 20 microns, for an angular tolerance of under 0.5 degrees. The logo engraver comes equipped with motor-driven axes. Controlled by the vision system, these axes can accurately position each of the 1,200 workpieces, loading up to 12 at a time in any sequence. T h e Vi s i o n P ro s o f t w a re quickly determines the location of each workpiece, regardless of the latter’s position on the worktable. Information pertaining to the exact coordinates of the workpiece is then communicated to the axis control system. Based on this data, the workpiece is positioned under the laser engraving head at a precision that cannot normally be accomplished by a human operator. With the automated system, only a few quality checks need to be carried out. One workpiece is inspected at the start of a batch and another at the end; sometimes this is supplemented with random
sampling. With automation place, production can even continue during weekends.
Powering Production For the manufacture of batteries, automation is needed by the facility to meet its customers’ demands for product quality. Strict tolerance limits have to be adhered to, especially pertaining to the interfaces (ie: the positive and negative poles) for energy transfer. If mechanical faults or performance defects are detected, the faulty units cannot be accepted. At the same time, production efficiency needs to be maintained and costs kept low. These criteria mean that the number of rejects needs to be minimised. Previously, human operators
were deployed on the production line to inspect the batteries for possible mechanical defects. With automation, 2-D vision systems were utilised to detect quality defects that resulted from contamination and mechanical distortion. The problem however, was that these systems made pseudo-rejects at a rate of 8 to 10 percent, which was unacceptable. Even the smallest par ticles of contamination that do not negatively affect a batter y’s performance or appearance, caused the 2-D vision system to incorrectly identify the product as defective. This problem was eventually resolved with the implementation of a 3D vision system. VisionPro 3D software
was used to compile a reference sample catalogue. The system is able to differentiate between contamination and mechanical distortion via the software’s histogram and blob analysis tools. This capability has allowed the production line to reduce the pseudo-reject rate to an acceptable level. With increasing demands for shorter production cycles and higher quality products, manufacturers would do well by taking the time to consider visionbased automation options. Such upgrading initiatives can serve to lower costs while providing the customer satisfaction that is needed for long-term business relationships and growth. ENQUIRY NO. 3202
The cost-effective solution for miniature sensors in Industrial Automation
These photoelectric sensors are mainly designed for applications where high accuracy detection, as well as space-saving, is required, allowing the users to obtain an excellent performance-size ratio. • N.O. and N.C. outputs, NPN or PNP versions • 10 – 30 VDC power-supply • NPN or PNP transistor output • IP67 ratings • Connection cable or built-in M8 connector
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ENQUIRY NO. 566
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May 2013 | industrial automation asia 29
process control
IAA interviewed Leong Hon Mun, sales director, SEA, Honeywell Process Solutions on the company’s recently opened Automation Solutions Centre (ASC) at their Singapore office. By Mark Johnston
Automating Solutions For Asia IAA: Can you tell me about the company’s new automation solutions centre? LHM: We are very excited about the launch of the Automation Solutions Centre (ASC). Actually, we already had a demo room, but we wanted to incorporate some of the company’s vision into the ASC. We incorporated some of the latest technology, which were inline with its key pillars and vision. In all we have four key pillars, which include safety, reliability, efficiency, and sustainability. Safety for protecting people, assets, and processes. Reliability for improved availability, reduced downtime, and to protect asset investment. Efficiency for improved productivity and reduced cost. Lastly, sustainability to maximise return-on-investment. 30 industrial automation asia | May 2013
IAA: What technology does the ASC incorporate? LHM: We have a strong emphasis on safety and human factors, and we hold the opinion that operators do not have enough information to make the right decision. We co-founded the Abnormal Situation Management (ASM) consortium. When an abnormal situation occurs, what we found is that 50 percent of the time it occurs because of the operator. Therefore giving the operators the right information is important, along with incorporating safety and human factors into our systems. A technology that we have incorporated into our ASC is virtualisation, which allows customers to reduce floor space by reducing servers. As such, virtualisation allows customers to make a lot of
decisions on cost of ownership, and on what to renew and when to upgrade. The Universal IO, which is in line with being more efficient, is another technology we have included in this new centre. When we start a plant, what we find is that there are a lot of wires. To start a plant up efficiently it would therefore be beneficial to reduce the number of parts. As the name suggests, Universal IO means any type of physical IO, which can go into a junction box. Software configuration is used to distinguish between IO points coming into the junction box. This way you can save a lot of space, not just in terms of IO points, but also in terms of cabinets to house them. IAA: How will this centre benefit the region? LHM: Losing operators is a problem for many companies, so it is important to retain staff once an investment is made to train them. It is important to train operators who can react and troubleshoot very quickly. Experienced operators will know immediately the source of a problem, and they will
Integration is important, as many Engineering, Procurement and Construction contractors do not want to be involved in only automation. be in a position to remedy the problem. However, less experienced operators may not know how to fix the problem. The problem is therefore how do you keep the more experienced operators within the organisation. If a company trains an operator, and he is to leave the company after five years, the knowledge he has gained will go with him. So it is therefore very important to retain these operators after they have been trained by us. We can help to retain this knowledge by holding it in a depository, either by virtue of a training system or by some
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02.04.2013 14:06:58
May 2013 | industrial automation asia  31
process control
type of historian, which keeps all this data as the plant ages. IAA: How do you approach integration? LHM: Integration is important, as many Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPCs) contractors do not want to be involved in only automation. The Main Automation Contractor (MAC) has become very popular, which means the EPC contractor focuses on their core skills of building the plant. As such, what happens is they only look at one single vendor for all the automation components. Integration is therefore key, from the field instrument, to industrial security, and cameras. Also, we have an integrated system that is sustainable, not just from a system perspective, but from the perspective of its people too. From the perspective of the system, the company first installed its Distributed Control System (DCS) in 1972 in a town in Mexico, and since then, there has been migration parts for all our systems, which has been very sustainable. In addition, the footprint you use is the same, which means that as technology progresses, you are still able to retain a large part of your hardware. From the perspective of the people, we have set up support offices next to customers’ plants throughout ASEAN. In today’s world, everyone demands instant service. Customers call us and expect us to be on site, and to come and look at the problem. This is good as the customer has transferred that responsibility to us. This makes it more sustainable, as their job is to make more gas and aviation fuel, and our job is to help them maintain their system. IAA: What was the original motivation for creating the ASC? LHM: It is not possible for us to bring all our hardware to all the ASEAN countries. For example, if a customer in Vietnam wants to have a demo, it is not that easy to bring our hardware there. So we realised we needed a place where we can put our integrated hardware, and have our customers look at it in an integrated way. It is easy to give a powerpoint presentation, but everyone wants to kick the tyres and feel if it is for real. So I think having it in this region and close to the customers is important. We have two other regional centres, one in Brussels, Belgium, and the other is in Houston, US. Customers in this part of the world would probably not want to travel so far to see a demo. In addition, we want to make sure there is some consistency in our message, as it is important to 32 industrial automation asia | May 2013
Universal IO on display at the company’s ASC.
Wireless Instruments were one of the features of the new centre.
A control station to train operators at the company’s ASC.
articulate it well, since we have global customers. So, when they come here and the consultants speak with them, they will be speaking the same language. IAA: Why set this centre up now in Asia? LHM: There is big growth now. The company has identified high growth regions in the Asia Pacific region. It is no secret that Indonesia has huge domestic potential with 200 million people, along with Vietnam’s 84 to 85 million people. Also, the customers are becoming more sophisticated. The younger people want to see new technology, and virtualisation. They want to see us be supportive in this part of the world. Our message is that we have the technology and that we can support it from the ASC. We want to show that we have engineers here who can do the same thing as anywhere else. When the major oil companies come here they expect the same type of standardisation, they expect the same sort of engineering practice. When they talk to an engineer, you can tell very quickly that the person understands, so having a centre here allows us to understand. IAA: What challenges do DCS solutions have today in terms of technology? LHM: I think in the market today, there is no one size fits all. The company has been strong in oil and gas. But as the market develops, I think there is a greater need in areas like pharmaceuticals. We also have been focusing on the hydrocarbons, and in areas like sugar, cement, and glass. They seem small, fertilisers for example, but those are areas that the company would also like to move into with a control system. IAA: What are the current and future trends you see for DCS? LHM: There will be a lot more emphasis on applications, and on development in software. I think miniaturisation of hardware can only go so far. Therefore, there will be a realisation that software can do a lot more than just the hardware itself.
Customers realise that just using a DCS may not be enough, they have to make the plant respond faster and quicker based on the technology available. The future is going to be a lot more software based, and we are ready for it. IAA: How does the market differentiate itself according to geographical location? LHM: Language would be one. Being able to articulate the value proposition is not as easy as it sounds, as it might get lost in translation for countries where a translator is needed. That is why having a consultant in different regions and coming here for presentations is one key aspect of having our ASC. Also, in today’s world, distance is not such an issue. We have been able to do conferences with customers via VPN. This is something that has helped us to be more efficient. We have been able to call more people with specialist ability when needed. In most cases in Southeast Asia, English command is very good, so I think the cultural boundaries have really come down. ENQUIRY NO. 3301
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ENQUIRY NO. 573
There will be a lot more emphasis on applications, and on development in software. I think miniaturisation of hardware can only go so far.
process control
Oil & Gas
IAA spoke with ABB’s Alfred Lee, VP, Global Strategic and Essential Automation Marketing, and Samir Manglani, senior marketing engineer for Essential Automation Marketing, Control Technologies, on the company’s extended and essential automation strategies, and how it plans to move forward by targeting specific customer categories. By Mark Johnston
The
Essentials Of Automation T
he sophistication of control tasks is increasing across all industry sectors, and as such, the mechanisms needed to manage such tasks have to be enhanced to match that level of sophistication. This aspect was apparent when IAA spoke with Mr Lee and Mr Manglani at the company’s Singapore office. From the company’s point of view, the industry inherently prefers choice rather than a one size fits all mentality. This is evident from the company’s two main offerings for plant control, ie: Extended Automation (System 800xA), and its Essential Automation line including the Freelance Distributed Control System (DCS) and ala-carte Compact Product Suite. In the case of the company’s System 800xA, it is designed as a complete automation solution for large plants, encompassing not just ‘essential automation’, but extended automation that includes process control, electrical control, safety systems, information management, asset management, video and telecommunication integration, as well as enterprise integration. The system was first developed in 2004, and since then, 10,000 such systems from the company have been installed in over 100 countries. The system’s offerings can be summarised as operator effectiveness, automation and power integration, integrated safety, and enterprise asset management.
34 industrial automation asia | May 2013
Water/wastewater
In the case of Freelance, its main value propositions are ease of use, reliability, scalability, and value for money. It is designed to be a complete system that takes care of the user’s essential needs for a DCS. In the case of the Compact Product Suite, the user can pick and choose what automation products they want to use without needing to upgrade an entire system. The devices are also compatible with those from another company, and as such, the suite is designed to be modular and expandable: It is in essence an ala carte menu for customers to pick and choose items in accordance with their needs. The product offerings in the suite include process and safety controllers, field interfaces, HMIs, process recorders, and RTUs. “The main highlight of Freelance is that it is easy to use, easy to install, easy to learn, easy to commission,
Sugar Production
easy to backup, easy to maintain and easy to expand. Installation takes less than 10 minutes, while other DCS systems can take up to half a day. Customers can also learn how to use it from our quick start DVD, without the need to attend a separate class. Ease of use is its strength,” commented Mr Lee. He added: “Engineering is easy as there are lots of pre-defined templates, so customers can just select one from the library, back-ups can be done on a USB, and the space they use is very compact: Ultimately it has good value for money as there is no need for a high-end PC.” He also revealed that the company was launching the Freelance 2013 that will come with a new controller, the AC900F, which is designed to be faster, have more memory, and better functionality. In terms of compatibility between the company’s devices in its Compact Product Suite and another organisation’s products, Mr Manglani had this to say: “The whole philosophy is to maintain as open an architecture as possible, since we are giving the customer a choice, it should be able to work with anyone else’s system, and the protocols we use are open standard protocols.”
Of Control & Values
Cement Industry
The company separates customers into two types, namely the ‘value’ centric customer and the ‘control’ centric customer. The ‘value’ customer is defined as a so called visionary customer, and is someone who values and favours a comprehensive solution. They are also willing to pay a premium for a system that gives total enterprise optimised automation strategies. The decision maker behind purchasing such a system is also likely to be senior management, as the investment would be considered more substantial.
Customer Profile “Value” centric
Factory Automation “Control” centric
Essential Automation Freelance DCS & PLC/SCADA
PLC AC500
Extended Automation 800xA DCS
Essential Automation Compact Product Suite Complexity
Discrete
Discrete Process
Continuous
Relation between value and control centric customers and level of complexity.
May 2013 | industrial automation asia 35
process control
platforms basically cover both these customers, ie: value centric and control centric, which looks at the continuous process and the discrete process as well. We are looking at the DCS and the PLC SCADA marketplace. That is where Essential Automation’s Freelance DCS and Compact Product Suite come in,” he explained. “On the upper end, towards the more value centric customers is where Extended Automation rests, here you can integrate everything together on one platform,” he added.
Beyond Territories: Market Expansion
(L-R) Alfred Lee, VP, Global Strategic & Essential Automation Marketing; and Samir Manglani, senior marketing engineer, Essential Automation Marketing, ABB
In the case of the ‘control’ centric customer, the decision maker is likely to be someone located in the engineering or plant operations department of an end user, or in the engineering department of a system integrator or OEM. The customer might not have a large maintenance team, and desires the system or product to be simple to use, and easy to maintain. In this case, the sales channel to the end user is likely to be via a system integrator or OEM. “The control centric customer is more hands-on, and they are 36 industrial automation asia | May 2013
usually the SME type of companies, possibly one with a smaller engineering team, where they want a simple, easy to use and reliable DCS that runs the plant well. They are basically more price sensitive, and would like a system that is easy to engineer due to limited engineering expertise. That is where we feel Essential Automation comes in, to help the control centric customers, while the Extended Automation is more for the value-centric customers. This is how we segment the customers,” said Mr Lee. “The company’s automation
Freelance was originally targeted towards the chemical industry and channel partners. Mr Lee explains how the market has grown since those early days: “In terms of design, we have made it easy to use, principally because the target markets are the system integrators, and also the chemical industry in general. However, we are now involved in a lot of other industries, such as cement, oil and gas, sugar, water, air separation, boiler, and glass industries.” The company’s strongest markets are now Germany and China, though when asked about the organisation’s growth markets, Mr Manglani said Russia, Latin America, India, Southeast Asia, Middle East, Africa, and the Mediterranean. In terms of sales channels, he stated that the company is looking at distributing Freelance mainly through channel partners and some OEMs as well: “For channel partners, they tend to prefer an easy to use, easy to engineer system, and value for money. The control centric end user customers are also more likely to use channel partners,” he explained.
ENQUIRY NO. 3302
software & Networks
How To Design Networks For
Plantwide
Communication
Enzo Forciniti, Leipzig, Sachsen, Germany
Learn how an integrated zone cabling plan can slash network deployment time by up to 75 percent, cut down on material and labour costs, and allow for future expansion. By Paul Herbst, solutions marketing manager, Panduit
A
s rapid advancements in networking, computing, data storage and software capabilities increase the value of automation systems, engineers are under pressure to refresh machine and plantwide system designs with solutions that merge information and control data. To address this challenge, validated architectures and tested physical solutions that integrate information and control systems are growing in importance. To get connected globally into industrial operations, users need validated logical diagrams of the functions in the network and the interface with enterprise systems. This logical networking architecture, developed by Rockwell Automation and its Strategic Alliance Partner Cisco, is commonly known as the Converged Plantwide Ethernet (CPwE) Design and Implementation Guide. This reference architecture describes the connectivity between the enterprise and industrial zones at a logical level. Key within the logical architecture is the identification of communications pathways from
the Level 3 Site Operations to Levels 0 - 2 associated within Cell/Area zones on the plant floor (see Figure 1). The physical layer architecture is the infrastructure required to achieve connectivity that addresses data throughput, environment, wiring distances and availability. A structured, engineered approach is essential for the physical layer to ensure that investments in network distribution deliver optimum output.
Making The Right Connections For physical architecture network support, Layer 3 switching is typically deployed in the Level 3 Site Operations (industrial data centre). Layer 2, or direct physical connections, are made into zone enclosures or control panels, or are connected directly to equipment located within the Cell/Area Zone plant floor. The physical environment of plant-floor equipment and the distance away from the control room, which acts as an interface to the Level 3 Site Operations, determine the characteristics of the cabling solution May 2013 | industrial automation asia  37
software & Networks
needed. Assess environmental risks by leveraging TIA 568-C.0 ‘Generic Telecommunications Cabling for Customer Premises, Annex F: Environmental Classifications’. When determining the cable solution, consider the Mechanical, Ingress, Climatic and Electromagnetic (MICE) conditions. This ensures the entire cable protection scheme — cabinets, pathways, grounding/ bonding and cable selection — is appropriate for the environmental hazards present. Traditional structured cabling deployed in CPwE automation networks involves multiple horizontal copper runs all the way from the Level 3 control room to each automation control panel within the Cell/Area Zone. This type of cabling is also called a ‘home run’. For very small deployments, this approach works fine. But in many environments, traditional structured cabling can mean hundreds of lengthy copper cables
that are difficult to manage, present Electromagnetic Interference (EMI) susceptibility challenges, become virtually impossible to change, and are arduous to remove when complying with building codes that require the removal of abandoned cable. On the plant floor, traditional structured cabling is routed from the Micro Data Centre (MDC) to a control panel or zone box containing active equipment. Alternatively, a zone cabling approach involves a logically placed connection point in the horizontal cable, routing it from the MDC to active zone boxes. Shorter cable runs then extend from the zone box to each device in that zone (see Figure 2). A number of factors must be addressed when connecting the Cell/Area Zone to the Level 3 Site Operations control room. Users must decide on architectures, physical media and connectivity to distribute networking that is cost-effective while
Figure 1: The CPwE logical framework illustrates the connectivity between the enterprise and industrial zones at a logical level.
38 industrial automation asia | May 2013
Zone Architecture Benefits
cabling topology. This reduces material costs up to 30 percent, cuts down on labour and maintenance, and enables easy MACs in the future.
Long-Term Benefits
Zone Architecture • Flexibility for MAC’s • Reduced installation time • Simplified diagnostics
Figure 2: A ‘home run’ architecture involves multiple cable runs to each control panel, while zone architecture involves a logically placed connection point in the horizontal cable, routing it from the micro data centre to active zone boxes.
ensuring enough flexibility, environmental ruggedness and performance headroom to hold up to current and future manufacturing needs.
Integrated Network Zone Systems In applications where switching equipment is used on the plant floor, it is necessary to place the switch in a protective zone enclosure. The zone enclosure also houses other ancillary equipment required for the switch, such as an Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS), copper and fibre connectivity. Following a zone topology allows a highly scalable and flexible physical deployment of the CPwE architecture. Managed cabling reduces abandoned cable and the number of home runs throughout a facility, helping make the workplace run more efficiently and safely. An integrated network zone system is used to deploy plant-wide EtherNet/IP networks and helps ensure that management and network control will not hinder the most effective use of data available. An integrated system incorporates all active and passive equipment required for deployment. Features and benefits of using an integrated solution system include: • Reduced deployment time by up to 75 percent with a pre-engineered, tested and validated solution. • Touch-safe and UL508A-rated integrated industrial and IT networks. • Reduced downtime with a robust, future-ready, reliable network system that provides simple and easy Moves, Adds and Changes (MACs). A properly executed active zone cabling plan results in a more manageable, accessible, and flexible
ENQUIRY NO. 3401
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May 2013 | industrial automation asia 39
ENQUIRY NO. 574
Traditional Cable Deployment • Node to network room “home runs”
Validated logical to physical network systems can help remote users manage productivity and profitability. With such a system, users can access real-time data on machine operations and take necessary action if pre-assigned metrics are not met. Plantwide communications become more efficient and future ready as users migrate proprietary plantfloor networks to a single network technology using the EtherNet/IP open protocol. Whether users are updating existing systems to meet growing information demand needs or planning plant expansions, the amount of development and implementation rework time can be costly. Implementing validated solutions in the physical design of a network system can reduce your deployment time by up to 75 percent, ensuring that optimum performance and reliability of your network’s physical design are obtained. This helps maximise uptime and reduces costs associated with problem solving and network downtime.
Cécile Graat, Helmond, NB, Netherlands
software & Networks
Consolidation
Point
Architectures As client configurable design in commercial buildings evolved to allow for flexible accommodation of individual workers and collaborative groups by means of modular furniture and partitions, so too the infrastructure has evolved to accommodate the communications needs of the workforce. Contributed by Sally Cops, global marketing manager, Molex
H
istorically the fixed portion of the cabling system that directly suppor ts the users (the cabling subsystem known as the ‘horizontal cable’) consisted of a floor distributor system in the form of a patch panel in the distribution closet, up to 90 m of solid conductor cable and a telecommunications outlet in the work area. This basic configuration is referred to as the ‘Permanent Link’. See Figure 1. The addition of patch cords at the switching equipment end and work area cords to connect the Telecommunication Outlet (TO) to the user’s terminal equipment forms a ‘channel’. An additional connection at the patch panel 40 industrial automation asia | May 2013
side to accommodate another patch panel, which in turn connects to the active equipment, may form part of this channel. By standard definition the total length of this channel is not to exceed 100 m. This particular configuration, as illustrated in Figure 2, is commonly referred to as a 3 connection model. The modern day open plan office requires more flexibility in design than what the two models above can offer. There is a requirement to have the ability to easily add to, or reconfigure the existing infrastructure. With the traditional design the user’s location is limited by access to the nearest telecommunications
outlet. What is required is a design that offers the ability to reconfigure the link with the minimum effort and disruption to the existing infrastructure. The solution is to add a consolidation point to the design.
So What Is A Consolidation Point? A Consolidation Point (CP) is a piece of connecting hardware allowing interconnection between the permanently installed horizontal cables extending f ro m t h e f l o o r d i s t r i b u t o r (patch panel) and the movable horizontal cables extending to the Telecommunications Outlets (TOs). A CP should not be used
Figure 1: Permanent Link and Channel Configuration.
as an active equipment- or userinterface. A CP usually takes the form of an enclosure with either an IDC-to-RJ45 connection for each communications channel, or incoming and outgoing IDC connections. Functionally, a CP provides a convenient means of rearranging horizontal cabling in open office environments, to connect between fixed cabling and movable furniture system layouts, for example. It is important to note that a CP is not a point of administration, so reassignment of services must still take place at the patch panel.
Why Would I Use A CP Based Infrastructure? The essential feature that explains the rise in popularity of CP based architectures is the ability to deliver enhanced configuration flexibility at an equal or even reduced cost of ownership. CP based architectures offer a number of advantages. T h e y p ro v i d e a n e a s i l y replaceable work area cable, which lessens the on-going cost of replacement due to damage. They can decrease work area cabling installation time. They also include a portion of the cabling infrastructure which is permanent and reusable, and which can be reconfigured quickly with minimum of disruption.
The potential downside is that the original installation time can be increased, leading to a higher initial installation cost. The labelling and documentation requirements are more complex also, and there can be problems during acceptance testing if the design and planning phase is not carefully controlled.
Design Issues The first issue to address when designing a CP model is to determine the best location for the CP hardware. The floor area is typically divided into ‘zone areas’ that can accommodate up to 12 work areas each. The TIA standards limit the capacity of a CP to 12 work areas, but considering that a work area is defined as having a minimum of two TOs, this means that up to 24 permanent link cables may be installed between the patch panel and the CP. As a general rule, an area of 10 sqm is allowed for each work area resulting in a serviceable zone area of about 120 sqm for each CP. It is good practice to allow for some resilience, therefore a zone area of 100 sqm is advised as this would give the CP an over designed capacity of two more users. CPs are linked to the floor distributor (patch panel) by solid conductor cables. To service the work areas, another solid
conductor link to a TO is installed as required. The permanent link is now extended from the patch panel to the TO. Where service is not immediately required, the CP to TO link need not be installed yet and in this case the permanent link extends from the patch panel to the CP only. In the fully extended configuration of a channel with Cross-connect Panel, Horizontal Patch Panel, Consolidation Point, TO and WA Cable, the channel forms a 4 connection model as illustrated in Figure 3. There are other design rules to be taken into account. To avoid the summation effects of crosstalk in adjacent connectors (analogous to short link resonance problems sometimes encountered in the mid-nineties) the CP is required to be sited at least 15 m from the horizontal patch panel. In practice this should pose few problems because CP architectures are unlikely to be cost effective with such short cable runs. It is important to note that the standards require the CP to TO link to be of the solid conductor type. Using stranded cable in the permanent link part of a channel can be problematic, because of the lower performance characteristics of stranded cable. CPs may consist of IDC (Insulation Displacement Connector or ‘punchdown’ May 2013 | industrial automation asia 41
software & Networks
Figure 2: 3 Connection Channel Configuration.
connection) to IDC type connectors or IDC to RJ45. The first type offers a simple interconnection of the patch panel to CP and CP to TO cables, with IDC terminations throughout the permanent link. This configuration has the added advantage that the user is unlikely to attempt his own reconfiguration of the CP as special termination tools are required. The disadvantage of using IDC to RJ45 type CPs is that an RJ45 connector needs to be fitted onto the solid conductor cables. These types of assemblies are notoriously unreliable and it is advised that factory terminated solid conductor RJ45 to RJ45 assemblies be procured and cut to length. The cut end is then terminated onto the IDC portion of the TO. At the CP the patch panel to CP cable is punched down on the IDC part of the CP jack and the CP to TO part, which has a RJ45 which is plugged into the socket side of the jack. It is very important to note that the CP may not be of a crossconnect configuration, but must be an interconnect configuration. The last rule for CPs are that they should be installed in a convenient, but out of sight location onto a permanent structural part of the building. Against pillars, in ceiling spaces 42  industrial automation asia | May 2013
and under modular floors are popular locations. It must be stressed that no more than one CP is allowed in a single link.
Another Option There are cases where a CP may not be the best solution, but the same level of flexibility is required. Enter the Multi User Telecommunications Outlet Assembly (MUTOA). Also designed for open office environments, the MUTOA comes into its own especially in cases where many users share a small space, such as call centres, help desks and training centres. Essentially, a MUTOA is nothing more than a TO with as many as 24 outlets (12 X WA capacity) in one enclosure, with extra provision made for longer than usual Work Area cords. Whereas a typical channel comprising a permanent link of up to 90 m may have a combined total of no more than 10 m of stranded cable cords, the MUTOA is designed to have up to maximum of 22 m of WA cable and a combined total of up to 27 m of WA cables, patch cords and equipment cables. Because the MUTOA is a WA outlet, the permanent link may include a CP, but there may not be more than one MUTOA in a channel.
Administration Issues The implications of CP- and MUTOA-based architectures on documentation are significant. The CP connection is an additional item, which must be covered by the documentation system, as are the extended lengths of the MUTOA’s WA cables. It seems almost trite to explain that careful attention to documentation at the handover stage is vital. Certainly any time spent ensuring the documentation system is maintained accurately will be repaid many-fold in preventing problems during the operational life of the cabling system. Labelling will also play an important part in this process and the essence is to keep to a simple numbering scheme for panel ports, CPs and work area outlets. It is advisable to ensure that each connection in the channel bears the same, unique identifier as this negates the requirement for complicated (and often unnecessary) cross-referencing. To avoid potential problems with over-length conditions and the resultant Insertion Loss failures it is important that the CP and MUTOA are marked with the maximum length of cable which can be attached in the work area. The other option for avoiding this
Figure 3: 4 Connection Channel Configuration.
Figure 3: 4 Connection Channel Configuration.
problem is to decide at the design stage that only one chosen length of CP-TO link will be used. This length would then be the only one allowed on site.
Conclusion Whilst not suitable for all customers, a cabling infrastructure utilising a consolidation point in the horizontal cable run can
represent a major cost saving, whilst adding significantly to the flexibility and user friendliness of the cabling. ENQUIRY NO. 3402
PRO-H
The powerful new line of PRO-H power supplies – with ATEX and Class I Div. 2 approvals – is designed for use in Ex zones and the high-performance sector. High power reserves, a wide operating temperature range of -25 °C to +70 °C and high MTBF values of up to 1.8 million hours: these features ensure that the power supplies are suitable for all applications that require superior reliability Solutions are available to fit control voltages from 12V/24V to 48V. The product can be wired in parallel in order to increase the power capacity. A two-channel set-up with 100% load sharing can also be implemented with an optional redundancy module. This serves to increase your operational reliability. The devices are equipped with pluggable connection terminals which allow them to be easily tested.
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May 2013 | industrial automation asia 43
instrumentation & Measurement
Wireless Antidote
Process measurement is vital for high-risk sectors like the pharmaceutical industry, and can be successfully implemented with the use of wireless sensor networks. By Sherlyne Yong
W
ith technological advancements and increased innovation, there are demands placed on products to meet stricter regulations and tighter tolerances even as the production process or product itself becomes more complex. Quality, consistency, and timeliness are the key expectations placed on any production process. As part of continuous efforts to meet and even go beyond these demands, some organisations have adopted the practice of process measurement — where the process is measured so that it can be analysed and better
44 industrial automation asia | May 2013
understood. This facilitates improvements and streamlines the process as problem areas are identified and targeted. Dr Er Meng Joo, professor at the School of Electrical & Electronic Engineering at the Nanyang Technological University, explained that “process analytics can be used to experiment with assembly process models and configure an efficient production environment, eg: add workers or set task times to improve yield. While experimenting, you can monitor throughput, cycle times, production capacity, and utilisation rates.”
Monitor & Control Process measurement can be utilised two ways, either for monitoring or for control purposes. In the former, information is often collated for analytic purposes, kept for future references, or for identifying process trends. For instance, data can be used for validation purposes and to ensure that regulation requirements have been met. Operators can also identify areas of inefficiency within the entire process that need rectification. Remote monitoring does the job by providing alerts in real time to maintenance staff, which
Abendary, Egypt
The
enhances responsiveness while minimising downtime. Alarms such as these will also improve safety through risk reductions, while lowering liability insurance costs at the same time. In fact, downtime and accidents can be prevented altogether when timely notifications allows maintenance staff to nip the problem in the bud even before it manifests. Process control on the other hand, deals with the regulation of processes through feedback. Typically, this involves sensors for measuring important process variables, valves for implementing decisions, and digital computation for mapping the data and making sense of it. The feedback systems are used to analyse and control t h e re l a t i o n s h i p s b e t w e e n environment, machine and system for greater optimisation. It is a continuous cycle where new information is constantly compounded and used for making adjustments to improve the entire process. T h i s d y n a m i c a p p ro a c h is somewhat akin to trial and error, through which better techniques will be realised and applied. Consequently, users can look forward to rewards such as higher throughput, cost savings, increased safety and better quality due to process optimisation.
The products have to meet stringent requirements or they will be scrapped, which severely undermines the company’s bottom line. Meanwhile, process control allows for continual processing, streamlines the operations and optimises the use of resources, t h e re b y re d u c i n g w a s t a g e . Process monitoring on the other hand, allows for operators to be alerted immediately when things start to go amiss, as opposed to them finding out only at the end when it is too late. One example is measuring for moisture levels in powdered products as they leave the spray dryer, as it affects not just the formation of the tablet, but also the drug’s efficacy. Excess moisture will affect features such as microbial levels and shelf life.
Due to the sensitivity of the compounds, sensors used for temperature and humidity monitoring are also common in pharmaceutical facilities, clean rooms and warehouses. This data is also used for validation for regulations purposes.
Going Wireless Wireless technology may have been actively used in industries on the commercial/consumer level, but it is not as heavily utilised in industrial processes. Nonetheless, as globalisation breaks down barriers that were once in the way, the same can be said for the effects of technological developments on instrumentation. C o n s e q u e n t l y, the pharmaceutical industry has star ted employing wireless sensors for monitoring and control
Process measurement is often used in high value industries where small mistakes are big and could lead to huge costs. This holds particularly true for the pharmaceutical industry, where base materials are expensive and the processes, complex and highly controlled. Due to its intended use, tolerances for pharmaceutical products are extremely small and defects are taken seriously.
Griszka Niewiadomski, Lodz, Poland
Pharmaceutical Industry
The Pharmaceutical industry relies heavily on precision and fine grain control of equipment. Greater communication between labs and equipment can only help in aiding the industry move ahead to greater heights.
May 2013 | industrial automation asia  45
purposes as well. According to Dr Er, a Wireless Sensor Network (WSN) comprises of autonomous s e n s o r s t h a t a re s p a t i a l l y distributed and used to measure environmental conditions. The collected data is then sent to a main location through a network, some of which are bi-directional and enables the control of sensor activity. One application of wireless sensors was to track mobile containers for real-time measurements. In the case of Kuehne + Nagel, the company used active wireless sensors in their airfreight cold chains for pharmaceutical products so that temperature could be constantly measured and repor ted in real-time. Temperature visibility was also enabled along the entire process, from pick-up and delivery to storage, by equipping other stakeholders along the supply chain with transmitters. Researchers at the NASA Langley Research Center in Hampton, US have also developed
a wireless, open-circuit sensor that can do without physical contact. It can be used for monitoring containers and attributes such as temperature, liquid or powder levels, changes caused by spoilage, and even tampering. This particular sensor is further able to take all these measurements even if it is on the external side of the container, as it acquires data through magnetic field response measurement.
Making The Connection WSNs are typically used for higher end equipment that are monitored more frequently. As opposed to conventional sensor networks that are wired, WSNs come with lower investment costs, labour costs, greater accuracy and a rapid problem response time. “The main advantage is that there are no physical wires to connect the sensors together and the implementation is less messy,” said Dr Er. This reduces costs as cables are expensive; installation is also made much simpler and faster as there is no longer a need
Reena Young, California, US
instrumentation & Measurement
The Pharmaceutical industry accounts for billions of dollars in revenue every year.
to plan and map out wiring for the facility. In addition, these networks can be installed in places where it is not feasible to use wiring. However, no system is without its challenges. “The challenges are that the battery life is limited and sustainable power source sensor nodes are still an unsolved research problem. The other problem is computational delay from sensor to another sensor. The third challenge is optimal number of sensor nodes for process monitoring,” Dr Er explained. Wireless sensors run on batteries, the lifespan of which is dependent on the amount power is required for sensing, the frequency of data transmission, and the amount of power required for the signal to reach its destination.
Rotorhead, Norway
Meshing It Up
Greater connections in labs and products can only increase an organisation’s control and delivery of its services and solutions.
46 industrial automation asia | May 2013
Unlike wireless standards such as the 802.11 (used widely at the consumer level) that are characterised by high speeds and large bandwidths, the systems used for industrial processes should exhibit reliability, scalability and adaptability instead. There is no need for speed and large bandwidths as the size of data packets transferred in industrial processes are mostly small. Contrarily, it is vital for networks to be robust when used for process monitoring and control, as interruptions will negate the optimisation process.
Scalability and adaptability is also favoured as the optimal amount and type of sensors required varies along with process, application, and even location. It also allows for the retrofitting of equipment, rather than having to purchase new ones. Among the types of wireless technology, mesh networking is the best fit for industrial processes. Not only does it fulfil the demands required, it mitigates some of the challenges found in WSNs as well. Mesh networking is unlike direct (point-to-point) connections and star systems, where there are multiple connections to one single control point. Instead, it has multiple data paths, is capable of multi-hop, highly flexible, self-configuring and self-healing.
Each sensor device powers up for a few milliseconds when transmitting information, which is transferred to the nearest sensor node instead of a base station. The data is continuously relayed from point-to-point until it reaches one of the central monitoring locations where it is recorded and analysed. As the mesh system supports bi-directionality, it is also able to detect transmission failures and triggers the system to retry when this happens. Unnecessary retries have a direct impact on battery life, but the mesh system mitigates this somewhat due to the multiplicity of its paths. With each mesh network comprising a multitude of sensor nodes, there are many potential pathways of communication.
Nodes with built-in logic are also able to correct for transmission failures by passing the job on to neighbouring sensors, through which alternate paths to the central location are created. Ultimately, the developments in wireless technology have made it a promising candidate for use in industrial processes. While there are still unresolved challenges with WSNs, they hold much potential in terms of process monitoring and control, which prize robustness, scalability and reliability. More importantly, these networks provide a flexibility that has become a prerequisite in this fast changing world. ENQUIRY NO. 3501
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ENQUIRY NO. 575
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May 2013 | industrial automation asia  47
instrumentation & Measurement
Fracking has given rise to the need to clean up water produced from oil and gas wells, and proper measurement is vital for this effort. By Steven Smith, Endress+Hauser
Instrumentation For Produced Water Applications P
roduced water refers to any water brought up to the surface during oil and gas production, typically as the result of drilling, exploration and hydraulic fracturing. Before disposing or reusing the water, it must be treated to extract h y d ro c a r b o n s a n d s a t i s f y environmental code regulations. The sheer volume alone of produced water shows its importance to the hydrocarbon recovery process. Already an US$18 billion process in the US alone, the significance of being precise and efficient in water treatment is becoming
48  industrial automation asia | May 2013
more and more prominent in these applications. Achieving the required levels of control and monitoring requires instrumentation and analysers to measure composition, flow, level, pressure and temperature. Cleaning produced water costs 300 times more than cleaning municipal waste water and 3,000 times more than cleaning irrigation water. A new well will produce a relatively small percentage of water; however, as the well ages the ratios change. At the end of a well’s life, as much as 98 percent of the recovered liquids could be water. To help maintain targets,
hydrocarbon extraction needs to be as efficient as possible. In order to stay within regulatory compliance with produced water, it is necessary to trust the analytical equipment and instrumentation used to process the water.
Produced Water Treatment Produced water is a general term, and since each system can vary based on the water quality and the environmental regulations for its reuse, there is no universal treatment process. Nevertheless, basic requirements must be met when dealing with produced water. It is important for companies to
understand these factors so that oil and gas production can be maximised while containing costs and complying with regulations. A typical water treatment process (Figure 1) performs these functions: • Removes petroleum hydrocarbons, oil, grease and solids • Removes friction reducers and other polymer additives • Removes inorganic scale forming compounds • Kills bacteria • Removes iron (Fe) • Removes Total Dissolved Solids (TDS) In a drilling or fracking operation, most of the oil or gas produced by the well is passed through a separator to remove water, and then pumped directly into a pipeline or tanker trucks. Separator efficiency can be optimised by incorporating an E+H Levelflex FMP 55 dual technology (guided radar and capacitance on the same probe) level sensor. Due to the high rate at which the product moves through the separator an emulsion (Figure 2) can occur at the oil/water interface thereby rendering traditional guided radar useless, as it will lose the signal once the emulsion gets larger than two inches thick. The FMP 55 is able to guarantee an interface level measurement in the presence of an emulsion. When trying to make an interface measurement, capacitance has advantages over guided wave radar. Capacitance measures the electrical differences between the water and oil. Even with the presence of an emulsion layer, there will still be a distinct electrical interface between the two materials, which is why the capacitance transmitter can still define the interface in an emulsion.
The reason many people like to use guided wave radar for the interface is because it can make both the interface measurement (oil/water) and the total level measurement (oil cap) with one sensor. The capacitance transmitter cannot measure the total level. The combination of the two technologies in the FMP55 Multiparameter transmitter addresses both of these circumstances. The well can produce a large amount of water, which is contaminated by oil and other materials, and must be treated. The oil/water solution is collected at the well site, stored in tanks or basins as shown in Figure 2, and then sent to a water treatment facility. Typically, tanker trucks transport this water to a treatment facility. Environmental issues may arise from the inconsistency at which the tanks at the well site fill up. Just like oil, water does not consistently pump up through the ground; as a result, tanks fill up at different rates. It is important to monitor the water and oil cap levels — as there will always be
oil in a water tank — with a guided radar level instrument (Figure 3) to ensure that well site tanks do not overfill, causing environmental problems, and that tank trucks are properly scheduled to empty the tanks when needed. Over filling tanks and spilling product on the ground results in large fines for a company and could result in the lease owner refusing to extend and/or revoke the lease. Additionally, the owner can accurately determine the amount of oil present at a particular site instead of having a pumper provide that information by making a manual water cut determination. Using a probe, the pumper technician manually determines when all the water has been removed, so pumping can stop. Having a reliable level instrument increases personnel safety as it eliminates the need of sending a pumper to the top of the tank, thereby minimising the risk of a fall or, even worse, exposure to H2S that may be present at the top of the tanks. When the water arrives at the treatment plant, it is pumped through filters and then stored in
Figure 1: Basic flow diagram of a produced water treatment process.
May 2013 | industrial automation asia 49
instrumentation & Measurement
OIL EMULSION WATER Figure 2: A thick emulsion makes it difficult for a conventional radar level sensor to detect the water level under the oil. A combination radar/capacitance sensor can detect the water level.
holding tanks while waiting to be processed. In the storage tanks, gravity and natural tendencies separate the oil, water and other contaminants. Again, here a guided radar instrument provides the ability to accurately determine the amount of oil cap present in the vessel. After settling, most of the oil is skimmed off the top and the water mixture is pumped from the bottom to an oil/water separator, where oil is extracted and shipped to refineries. Regulations require specific water quality before disposal or reuse, so biocides such as chlorine can be added to kill bacteria and other organics. Biocides are toxic and can form strong emulsions, making further hydrocarbon separation less efficient. The most commonly used additive is sodium hypochlorite which helps clean the water and remove inorganic scale forming compounds. Iron and other hardness compounds are often contained in the water brought up to the surface during the drilling process. To meet acceptable levels, the iron must be removed 50 industrial automation asia | May 2013
from the water. Coagulation can be used to help precipitate the iron and other compounds for ease of removal. One method for iron coagulation is by applying an electrostatic charge to the water. An electrostatic coagulator system uses an aluminum anode that reacts with water to form aluminum hydroxide to break down soluble hydrocarbons, reduce hardness, and coagulate iron and suspended solids. After iron coagulates and solid particles form, the solution is sent to a settling tank. The solids will settle out in the tank and can be separated for subsequent physical removal. Finally, a sand filter unit is used to separate the final 95 to 99 percent of materials. Attempts have been made to use reverse osmosis for final treatment, but these filtering systems are typically designed for high purity water and are not well suited for produced water final filtration. This is the final stage of treatment, so there are several measurements that may need to be taken to ensure the final quality
of the water is acceptable. Multiple parameters may need to be monitored in the final water: • • • • • • •
Iron pH Free Chlorine Turbidity ORP Conductivity Temperature
After treatment, the water can be injected into a surface well, pumped into the sea, aquifer or a river, used for agriculture or industrial process water, or reused for hydraulic fracturing. Treated produced water is rarely used for drinking water.
Instrumentation Requirements Flow, level, pressure, temperature and analytical measurements are made at various stages of the treatment process. In the holding tanks for incoming water, instrumentation measures tank levels, flow into and out of the tanks, and the Differential
water. One such focused step is electrostatic coagulation. Electrostatic coagulation involves applying a charge to aluminum plates in the presence of water to create aluminum hydroxide, which breaks down soluble hydrocarbons and causes the iron and other solids to
coagulate. This allows the solids to take on a form where they can precipitate out in the settling tank along with other oxidised materials. As for the settling tank, the only measurement is overfill protection using a point level sensor that will alarm if the level in the settling
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Pressure (DP) across the debris filter to detect clogging. Because oil and water separate in the tank by gravity, radar level sensors are used to detect the level and the interface between water and oil. Conductivity instruments are able to see the difference between the low conductivity of oil and the high conductivity of water, and send conductivity levels to the automation system controlling the oil/water separator so it can adjust the separation process accordingly. Capacitive level sensors, mounted above the water dump valve on holding tanks and separation vessels, can detect the change from water to oil. Signals from the capacitive sensors tell the control system that it can safely pump oil-free water from the bottom of the tank (called ‘water dumping’). When the sensor detects oil, meaning that the water has been evacuated, it sends a signal to stop pumping, as such preventing oil from being sent to the water treatment process. Before and in the oil/water s e p a r a t o r, i n s t r u m e n t a t i o n measures the DP across the filter, conductivity, and level. Level measurements here are typically done with a radar level sensor. Analytical instrumentation plays a bigger role in the chlorine static mixer and the oxidation reaction tank. In this section, analysers measure pH, Oxidation Reduction Potential (ORP), free chlorine and conductivity. No analytical instrumentation is used in the coagulation and settling process. Produced water is chlorinated to reduce the biological activity, but this step also serves as an oxidation step that causes the iron to begin to settle out of the water. Because the iron content is so high, the process needs a more focused step to bring the iron out of solution and separate it from the
May 2013 | industrial automation asia 51
instrumentation & Measurement
Figure 3: Guided wave radar level instruments are typically used to measure level in holding tanks.
tank gets too high and there is a risk of overfill. All of the instruments and analysers communicate with some type of automation system that controls and monitors each area of the process. In most cases, highspeed two-way digital fieldbus communications are used to connect instruments and analysers to the automation system. If the instrument or analyser does not offer a fieldbus communications option, then a simple 4-20mA current loop output is used to send the process variable to the automation system.
Instrumentation Considerations Shifts in the chemical equilibrium occur due to changes in temperature and pressure — and this can cause reactions that produce scale, solid hydrocarbons and changes in pH. A common industry concern is seen with O2 deficient water, which causes elemental sulfur and iron to form when the water comes into contact with air, resulting in: 52 industrial automation asia | May 2013
• Plugging of disposal wells by suspended solids and oil droplets • Plugging of lines, valves, and orifices from inorganic scale • Corrosion from acid gases • ORP reactions with vessel and pipe walls • Exceeding discharged oil permits • Growth of bacteria that plug lines and valves or result in the formation of harmful products. Analytical equipment can continuously measure these changes to prevent such inconsistencies from damaging equipment.
Summary Produced water processing involves a number of mechanical and chemical processing steps. A range of measurement technologies including level, flow, pressure, temperature, conductivity, pH, ORP, chlorine and iron analysis are required. These measurement devices
are connected to an automation system, usually via a fieldbus interface, allowing the automation system to perform the required control, monitoring and operator interface. Having one supplier who can provide all the required sensor technology reduces the time, effort and cost of equipping a produced water processing facility. Cost reductions are also realised by leveraging digital technology and common transmitter platforms. Service and support can be enhanced by turning to one supplier for virtually all instrumentation. Most produced water applications will pose significant challenges in terms of measurement of various parameters, and these challenges will often require expert advice. The selected instrument and analyser suppliers should be able to provide the necessary expertise, assuring the end u s e r o f re l i a b l e l o n g - t e r m operation. ENQUIRY NO. 3502
energy
A
ccording to a 2011 report by the International Organisation of Motor Vehicle Manufacturers, China tops the world in vehicle production, and Japan is not far behind in third place after the US. Elsewhere, Thailand has passed the two million mark in vehicle production, and many Japanese and German brands have made key investments in manufacturing facilities in the country. Automotive players are also looking at other countries in India and Southeast Asia to set up manufacturing plants. Today, manufacturers are finding that they need to improve the top line by increasing revenue and reducing expenses in order
to improve already razor-thin margins. OEMs are looking for ways to exploit the new demand profitably; and their suppliers must follow them. OEMs are establishing not only manufacturing centres but also design and engineering centres in this region. Local presence in a growth region like Asia has additional benefits in reduced logistics costs and compliance and often helps with brand and market penetration. From a technology perspective, cars are becoming increasingly complex. Today’s vehicles are like ‘computers on wheels,’ replete with onboard diagnostics, braking and steering controls, navigation
Asia’s Automotive
Industry Achieving Growth With
aids, telematics and telephony communication systems, and an ever-growing array of infotainment options. Software and electronics content must work in concert with mechanical components to deliver more vehicle innovations such as driver assistance systems. There is a much higher density of software and electronics delivering the functionality previously handled by purely mechanical systems. The volume of software code and distributed functionality it controls in the vehicle today creates a new set of challenges for OEMs. Another area that drives c o m p l e x i t y f ro m a d e s i g n perspective is the increased
PLM
The Asia Pacific region has established itself as a key manufacturing hub for the global automotive industry. The reason for the interest in Asia is due to the fact that the region offers the ideal combination of pro-business environments, sound infrastructure and abundant labour. By Rajiv Ghatikar, VP & GM for Australia/ASEAN, Siemens PLM Software
energy
Aiding The Decision Making Process With A Consistent View Of Information The changing nature of technologies and operations has a tremendous impact on the complexity of decision making. Decisions require a broader set of communities, both inside and outside the enterprise, to work collaboratively and cohesively. However, those communities have much less ability to collaborate efficiently and to make better decisions due to added complexity. Product-related decisions are multi-disciplinary and must represent the needs and business drivers of multiple stakeholders, such as engineering, supply chain, manufacturing and compliance. The goal is, build the right product and build the product right. OEMs and suppliers must ensure that they have the necessary information to make the right decision with high levels of precision and certainty. What is needed is a way to synthesise various views and different perspectives, inside and outside the enterprise as well as among supply chain and dealer channels, which, in turn, facilitates effective collaboration and improves the accuracy and timeliness of decision making. However, such a comprehensive view is not always easy to realise. As the network of design partners, suppliers, and manufacturing facilities grows, the number of different tools, file formats, and IT standards also grows. This environment prevents the 54 industrial automation asia | May 2013
where they are in the organisation or located in the world. By understanding and breaking down customer requirements, companies can assign them to the functional groups that develop a product feature, while maintaining visibility of the product as a whole. A consistent process framework based on systems engineering will allow OEMs to capture, manage and organise information and knowledge, beginning with the voice of the customer, and continuing through to service, support and end-of-life. By modelling requirements and allocating them through functional and logical decompositions to physical implementation, OEMs can achieve a significant level of traceability throughout the vehicle. I n t h i s w a y, O E M s c a n engage with the specific users who are impacted by a change, instead of updating everyone every time a change is made. In addition, because a product design is connected with the methods by which the product is manufactured, both engineering and manufacturing teams speak a common language. A well-integrated system that captures the intelligence from both product design and manufacturing can provide a thorough understanding of the
various stakeholders in different functions and locations from having a consistent and reliable view of information, which, in turn, prevents them from having a complete, accurate, and timely context for making decisions. As a result, stakeholders are unable to understand the impact that individual decisions have on the design, supply chain, or manufacturing. For example, a decision made in design may introduce an unexpected impact to the manufacturing system for the subsystem in a remote location or affecting the ability of a service technician to access a part for repair.
PLM At Work: Managing Complexity In An OEM World A high definition user experience is key to making decisions effectively. By providing intelligent information at exactly the right time, in the correct context, and at the precise level of detail that each person needs, companies can achieve a new level of productivity and quality, which ultimately, provide them the ability to make smarter decisions that result in better products. Another consideration is how intelligently integrated information is the key to delivering the right information to the right people. The need for automotive OEMs to manage product complexity in a global industry mandates a systemsdriven product development process, which combines systems engineering methodology across all development domains with an integrated definition of the product. PLM enables systems-driven automotive product development by bringing together all crossdomain knowledge into a single, logical location that is accessible to authorised users — no matter
Ivan Ivanov, Athens, GA, US
regulatory pressure to reduce pollution and to improve safety standards. And, of course, new technologies — hybrid cars, plugin electric cars, and so on — are affecting traditional OEMs and introducing new players into the automotive market.
Achieving efficiency in vehicle design and manufacture saves cost and improves efficiency in material use and performance.
energy
PLM At Work: Enabling The Juggling Act For Automotive Suppliers To be successful in today’s
marketplace, automotive suppliers must be able to interact with and manage multiple customers, partners and programs while making certain that each program launches flawlessly. Failure to meet quality, performance, cost and timing requirements is not an option. Automotive suppliers must collaborate effectively in all stages of a program to avoid absorbing costs associated with fixing last-minute launch or warranty problems. Change is a way of life in the automotive industry. The supplier’s challenge is to manage change in such a way that every change is quoted quickly and accurately — and with a level of traceability that mitigates risk without crippling innovation. To ensure program profitability, the automotive supplier’s own supply chain can be crucial to delivering accurate Request For Quote (RFQ) responses to customers. Workplace attrition can place any company’s intellectual assets in jeopardy. Automotive suppliers are challenged to capture and p ro t e c t t h e i r c o m p a n y ’s collective knowledge gleaned from experience and practice. This knowledge must be made available to the rest of the organisation so it can be re-used on new products, new programs and new customers. PLM offers a collaborative decision support platform for systems-driven product development to provide crossfunctional knowledge sharing and more collaborative decisions, while understanding how the decisions made impact other stakeholders throughout the value chain as well as your bottom line. The results are smarter decisions that help build the right product and build the product right.
ENQUIRY NO. 562
dependencies within the model, and helps to drive alignment and enables traceability between engineering domains such as materials, body, chassis, exterior, interior, powertrain, electrical/ electronics and software integration. It is critical to the success of an automotive OEM to unite the different Product Bills of Material (BOMs) and Bills Of Process (BOPs), and even more importantly, to align the semantics of these different views, such as usage versus product structure. Once those alignments have been built, this information backbone makes it possible to drive integrated processes, such as configuration and change management from end-to-end. S o l u t i o n s f ro m S i e m e n s PLM Software are built on open standards to allow for integration between its applications, as well as with legacy data and systems and other third party applications. This offers an OEM the flexibility to implement the business process required, even as it takes advantage of the best applications, and aggregate work from diverse authoring environments and authors. Throughout the entire process, everyone will be working with a single source of information. It is also important for OEMs to consider a future-proof architecture that lets them deploy based on their particular needs, whether it is a single desktop or a globally distributed supply chain. Future-proof architecture also allows each company to use the devices, tools and data that its stakeholders already have, while keeping options open for what to do next.
ENQUIRY NO. 3601 May 2013 | industrial automation asia 55
sector spotlight
Pharmaceutical:
Connecting An Industry
IAA Interviewed Rod Rodericks, VP and GM, Asia Pacific, Zebra Technologies, on the Internet of Things (IoT), and its potential use in the Pharmaceutical industry. By Mark Johnston
Rod Rodericks, VP and GM, Asia Pacific, Zebra Technologies
IAA: What is your definition of IoT and how does it relate to the Pharmaceutical industry? Rod Rodericks (RR): In 2012, Zebra commissioned a survey ‘Building Value from Visibility: 2012 Enterprise Internet of Things Adoption Outlook’. In the survey, 95 percent of IT decision makers in Asia agreed with the definition that the Internet of Things (IoT) comprises, ‘smart interconnected devices (eg: RFID, sensors, and so on) that businesses use to get more visibility into identification, location, and condition of products, assets, transactions, or people to drive more effective, timely business decisions or to improve customer interactions.’ IoT’s relevance in the pharmaceutical industry is greater than ever, especially since many international health experts are warning of a rising health crisis in various parts of the world, as a result of a great influx of counterfeit medicines. In 2012, several studies found as many as onethird of malaria drugs in countries like Uganda and Tanzania are fake or substandard. This rapid growth of counterfeit medicine across the world, particularly in developing countries like China, India, and Brazil pose a serious threat to the livelihood of people. This 56 industrial automation asia | May 2013
is where IoT has the potential to play an immense role, in terms of tracking prescription drugs, from the time of its manufacturing to its dispensation over the counters to patients. IoT solutions like barcodes, and sensors can streamline the process of drug delivery by helping pharmacies keep track of their inventory, identify and track where each shipment of the medicinal drugs came from, and as such, saving lives in the process. Moreover, with sensors, pharmacists can also track the condition of medicinal drugs, like vaccines, using real-time temperature monitoring to minimise wastage of the drugs due to poor refrigeration or mishandling. IAA: What are the biggest bottlenecks currently impeding progress in IoTs, and in your opinion, what are the solutions to these bottlenecks? RR: As with every new piece of technology in the market, business and IT decision makers face a number of challenges that can be construed as bottlenecks. From the IT decision makers’ point of view, in order to successfully implement IoT, organisations must upgrade their technology infrastructure to match the
requirements of IoT solutions. This includes smooth system integration and data analytics capabilities to take full advantage of the IoT solutions. To tackle these bottlenecks, decision makers have to prioritise their implementations in order to show quicker ROIs to stakeholders and assure them of the future benefits of implementing IoT solutions. They need to start out small and identify the right solutions and solution providers according to their unique business needs. Working with the right partner also ensures that IoT solutions are quickly and appropriately implemented. For example, a 2012 survey on ‘Building Value from Visibility’, showed us that more than seven in ten IT decision makers in Asia identify device manufacturers as the partners to help them realise the benefits of implementing IoT solutions. The survey also indicated that organisations are already planning to implement IoT solutions within the next 24 months. This is particularly evident in Asia where seven in 10 organisations are planning to implement IoT solutions within the next two years as compared to five in 10 organisations globally. Fifty percent of organisations in Asia are planning to do so within the next year as compared to 30 percent of organisations globally.
ENQUIRY NO. 384
Pawel Kryj, Nowy Sacz, Malopolskie, Poland
The Pharmaceutical industry is a highly lucrative market, and with new innovative ways to improve efficiency and security, the market is set to increase its value and create more opportunity to benefit other organisations.
by leveraging on the benefits of IoT. For example, the company’s Electronic Product Code (EPC) and other RFID printing solutions, like the R110XI4 passive RFID printers, streamline operations, enable the printing and encoding of a variety of UHF radio frequency identification smart labels help pharmaceutical companies dispatch batches of medicinal drugs to pharmacies and hospitals and keep track of them efficiently. The RZ series passive RFID printers further help to meet item-level tracking needs, which are vital in ensuring continuous and proper tracking of medicinal drugs and other forms of medicines. For example, Sisters of Mercy Health System (Mercy) in the US believed that most medication errors could be avoided by centralising supply chain operations and implementing technology-based solutions such as bar coding. The organisation deployed the company’s Z4M and TLP 3844-Z printers in its main distribution facility to generate shelf, unit-dose medication and tote labels, and in all of its receiving docks to produce shipment tracking labels. When medications arrive at the service centre, staff repackages the tablets or capsules into unit doses and then applies bar coded labels to the unit dose
IAA: How does your own implementations take advantage of IoT in the Pharmaceutical industry? RR: Zebra’s solutions are designed to address the various challenges businesses face on a daily basis, May 2013 | industrial automation asia 57
sector spotlight
Healthcare providers can make well-informed decisions quickly and safely with IoT solutions. This includes Electronic Health Records (EHR), which can contain important data such as personal statistics, medical history, lab reports and drug prescriptions.
packages. If someone in the local hospital pharmacy scans the barcode label on a shelf that is low on inventory for a specific medication, a replenishment order for that medication is triggered. The automated medication cabinets on the nursing floor also generate a replenishment request when inventory reaches a pre-determined minimum. Whereas Mercy’s pharmacists once spent a great deal of time verifying medications, they now devote more time to patient care. Since implementation, Mercy have improved shipping accuracy by 50 percent and increased labour productivity by 20 percent. Mercy also estimates having averted more than 17,000 potential medication errors annually — equivalent to a savings of approximately US$14 million per year on litigation and treatment costs. IAA: What are the biggest advantages and possible shortcomings of using an IoT strategy in the Pharmaceutical industry? RR: The biggest and most important benefit of 58 industrial automation asia | May 2013
implementing IoT solutions in the Pharmaceutical industry will be streamlining of healthcare to avoid mistreatment of individuals. Apart from being able to track medicinal drugs, from the time of their manufacturing to their delivery to pharmacies and patients directly, IoT solutions like Electronic Health Records (EHR) can be particularly useful for healthcare providers to make well-informed treatment decisions quickly and safely, improving patients’ well-being. For example, personal statistics, medical history, laboratory reports, and drug prescriptions are just a few of the important data which can be stored in the EHR. As this data can be electronically available to authorised healthcare providers anywhere, anytime, and across healthcare delivery organisations, EHR can make it easier for doctors to make splitsecond decisions. Keeping track of all the necessary information in one place ensures more efficient and safe healthcare practices and results in significant cost savings. The main challenge I foresee in this situation is that although individual hospitals and clinics may implement the EHR, the full benefit is accrued to the customer only when the programme is nationwide. For example, with the National Electronic Healthcare Record (NEHR) that the Singapore government is implementing, patient health records can be shared across the nation’s healthcare ecosystem helping to integrate primary healthcare, secondary and tertiary care, as well as intermediate and long term care. IAA: Other than the IoTs, what key trends do you see in the Pharmaceutical industry over the next 5 to 10 years, in terms of automation strategies and technology? RR: Closely related to IoT, I foresee a bigger use and value of Big Data in the Pharmaceutical industry, particularly pertaining to the consolidation and analysis of the different kinds of data — patient data, medicine data, genetic data, financial data and so on — to provide specific insights on new treatments, therapies, and diagnosis which will provide greater value to patients at a more affordable price. This will be closely tied to the digitisation of all medicine and drug records, all of which will be stored in the cloud. Over the new few years, more Pharmaceutical companies will be shifting key components of their business to the cloud, including applications, research and development, and important data, taking advantage of the reliability and affordability provided by the cloud. ENQUIRY NO. 3701
ENQUIRY NO. 560
eBOOK EXCLUSIVE
The Cloud:
At Your Service
As technology is improving across related platforms, be they digital storage, wireless transmission, increases in bandwidth, and processing power, we are seeing a convergence of technology that will aid the development and rollout of software via the ‘cloud’. By Andrew Leong
Svilen Milev, Bulgaria
S
oftware as a Service (SaaS) is a model of software delivery that leverages the ‘cloud’ to supply software applications when they are needed. When they are not needed they simply reside in a remote server, perhaps being used by other organisations. In other words, you pay for what you use, and when you do not use the application it takes up no extra space or resources from your company. Cloud Computing is not new, it has been around for decades. The underlying concept was initially developed in the 1950s. Since then it has developed along with improvements in server design, data storage, increases in bandwidth, and the removal of other bottlenecks. More recently, cloud services have moved more heavily into the consumer space with several companies offering a variety of services via remote servers. However, despite the inroads cloud services have made recently, several concerns still persist.
SaaS Concerns There are some concerns that reappear from organisations considering employing Cloud services, some of these concerns i n c l u d e s e c u r i t y, p r i v a c y and liabilities. In order to get around some of these concerns, organisations are weighing up the industrial automation asia | Feb/Mar 2013
advantages and disadvantages of deploying a private cloud for use within an organisation or to export the service to a public cloud. To export the service to a public cloud would mean that the organisation trust an external
organisation and its staff and resources with the company’s data. Most organisations may have security concerns with this prospect, especially those in the financial sector. An alternative would be to build a private cloud within the organisation, which would come under complete control of the company’s IT department. Whilst this strategy will give added control and security, it will also be more resource intense, and ultimately more costly.
Closing The Loop It is obvious that the more traditional methods of software development are changing, with collaboration being a key focus. Companies, such as Dropbox for example, are building platforms for both consumers, and now for businesses that make it easier to collaborate. There has been a need for many years to get business executives, developers and operations departments to work more closely together. This problem is now being tackled more aggressively by organisations looking to essentially close the loop, and build a more comprehensive platform. What seems to be happening is there is a shift to a more distributed workforce. S o m e p ro b l e m s t h a t I T departments are having revolve a ro u n d t h e i r m o re s o c i a l strategies. This is especially true for a company that demands control over its operations and resources. The use of Facebook within an organisation is a topic being discussed within CIO circles, and the emergence of the ‘Internet of Things’ (IoT). The IoT is designed to track and monitor goods and services that would have once been encased within an analogue world, isolated from any cloud infrastructure.
In Conclusion Cloud applications are here to stay and in reality we have only just touched the service of what is possible. As technology, especially wireless and storage technology improve, so will convenience and access to much richer content. There are, of course, business models that need to be worked through, and issues centred around security, but if history tells us anything, it never a matter of if, but when, these outstanding issues will be resolved.
Vendor-Neutral Cloud Assessment Tool The Asia Cloud Computing Association (ACCA) recently launched an online version of its Cloud Assessment Tool, a tool designed to help businesses choose the most suitable cloud provider. The Cloud Assessment Tool (CAT) provides a standard framework that allows IT users to measure their requirements against vendor offerings. The vendor-neutral framework will help enterprises make informed decisions as they consider migrating their data and applications to the cloud. ACCA is currently benchmarking services and platforms provided by its members, including PLDT/Smart, Microsoft, Verizon Terremark, Telenor, Equinix and Hiring Solutions. ACCA is also working with partners in the financial services and insurance industries. Bruce McKernan, CIO of Sun Life Asia, said: “I see that the Cloud Assessment Tool could significantly reduce the time and effort (and therefore money) required when moving to the cloud. It provides a standard and vendorneutral framework for evaluating cloud services, which is something that is missing today.” Per Dahlberg, CEO, ACCA said the organisation was developing enduser guidelines and use cases to help create clarity around the assessed platforms. “This will also provide users with information on how the tool applies in some industries and to different services and platforms.” The CAT framework is organised into eight performance categories spread over four service tiers, mapping operational parameter values against key criteria. “This helps end-users to define and prioritise their own requirements and assess service providers’ offers quickly and objectively,” said Mr Dahlberg. He added that It would also eliminate subjectivity and interpretation from the evaluation process for both service providers and application developers.
Feb/Mar 2013 | industrial automation asia
features
P
aul English is responsible for the marine business of GE Power Conversion, which essentially covers three markets, including offshore, oil and gas, and merchant. IAA: What is the technology GE is using within the marine industry? Paul English (PE): We are focused on electrical propulsion, which includes everything from the engine to the propeller. Efficiency is key here, as we can optimise our solution for any operating mode. In terms of the type of vessels that would make use of our solution, we describe them as being more sophisticated in terms of technology usage, and employed for multiple mission types. Being able to run on one or multiple generators is also important, giving a level of redundancy and high levels of availability, which is in high demand for the offshore market.
an autopilot. For instance, we can hold position of the vessel to within one metre, anywhere in the world. We do this by making use of the GPS, as well as algorithms, which allocate thrust for maneuvering. We can also estimate weather conditions and feed this information back into our thrusters, which then pushes back against a wave or current. There are other companies that do one or two of those things, but we have a complete solution. It should also be noted that the complexity of vessels in general are increasing, and as such, it becomes a huge challenge to coordinate and to know exactly what is going on from the bridge of the vessel. IAA: How do you solve this complexity problem? PE: What we have done is come up with a system called the ‘insight system’. This system sits
Wave Of Insight:
Managing Complexity
IAA spoke with Paul English, marine vertical leader, GE Power Conversion on the company’s involvement in the marine sector. By Mark Johnston Within the vessel, we employ the vessel’s automation system, but located at the top of the vessel we have the dynamic positioning control system. This system can take control of the vessel and maneuver it. IAA: By ‘take control of the vessel’, you mean like an autopilot? PE: It is actually more than just 60 industrial automation asia | May 2013
on the bridge of the vessel and gives an oversight to all other systems on the vessel. We do not consider it a control system, at least in the pure sense of automation. It actually sits above the automation, power, and dynamic positioning
systems, and it is able to give an informative dashboard on the current health of the vessel. This dashboard consists of a screen with a picture of the vessel, and you are able to clutter or declutter the vessel as you wish. It gives you a quick ability to see the vessel the way you want, such as seeing all the electrical cable, how and where it joins up, or you could say: ‘Oh, take away all the cabling, so I can just see the floor plans’. ENQUIRY NO. 3801
EVENT PREVIEW
and multi-task turning will be showcased, among others. Then there are four featured pavilions: Chemical & Raw Material Zone, organised for the first time, where global suppliers of chemical and raw materials in plastics production such as Mitsubishi Chemical (Thailand), Pacific Color and others will present materials for manufacturers to choose; Material Handling, on material handling technologies, equipment and accessories; Factory Automation, on factory automation, electrical
Manufacturing Expo 2013 The Manufacturing Expo 2013 will take place from June 20 - 23, 2013, at the Bangkok International Trade & Exhibition Centre (BITEC), Thailand. Manufacturing technologies will be on display from 1,500 brands from 22 countries. This event will cater towards manufacturers, subcontractors and parts suppliers, helping them prepare for the challenges ahead. Thailand has concentrated its energies into developing the automotive industry and the country is fast approaching the goal of becoming the world’s eighth largest automaker when annual vehicle production reaches 2.5 million vehicles. Automotive production in 2013 is already predicted to reach 2.4 million vehicles, and major brands are expanding production, to meet growing domestic and export demands.
Participating Events Manufacturing Expo 2013 includes four UFI approved
& power transmission technology; Industry Energy Efficiency, on energy efficiency management technologies for the manufacturing industry.
For Visitors events: InterPlas 2013, InterMold 2013, Automotive Manufacturing 2013 and Assembly Technology 2013. In addition, there will be four co-located shows: Industrial Components & Subcontracting, a sourcing hub for industrial parts; Nepcon Thailand 2013, a show on assembly, measurement, and testing technologies for electronic manufacturing; Surface & Coatings 2013, an exhibition on surface treatment, paints, and coatings; and Furnitech 2013. For the first time in ASEAN the latest technologies in high-speed milling, grinding, wire cutting,
Complimentary activities such as the business matchmaking program, manufacturing gallery, automotive summit are designed to offer business visitors effective tools to expand their networks, and develop new businesses. Visitors from outside Thailand can make use of the ‘Business Delegation Service’ with VIP privileges prepared to make sure the visit goes as smoothly as possible. June 20-23, 2013 Bangkok International Trade & Exhibition Centre (BITEC) Bangkok, Thailand ENQUIRY NO. 3901 May 2013 | industrial automation asia 61
EVENT REVIEW
SPS – Industrial Automation The 2013 edition of SPS – Industrial Automation Fair Guangzhou was held from March 4 - 6, 2013 at the China Import and Export Fair Complex in Guangzhou, China. The three-day event welcomed 448 exhibitors from 15 countries and regions. Visitor attendance totalled 28,161, a 27 percent increase compared to 2012. Prominent exhibitors at the 2013 show included Beckhoff, Block, Cisco, Cognex, Comau, CP System, Har ting, Leuze, Misumi, Mitsubishi, Pepperl + Fuchs, PLCopen, Sanyo Denki and Siemens. They featured products and technologies such as sensors, cables and wires, industrial automation software, robotics, networking products and much more across three halls totalling 35,000 sqm.
China Expansion For international brands, South China has become a central focus for their expansion goals within the country. Guangdong province in particular contains thousands of manufacturing firms who have faced economic difficulties as the cost of production continues to rise. Industrial automation is 62 industrial automation asia | May 2013
There were many automation products on display at this year’s show.
looked as key to combat these difficulties while producing better quality products. Commenting on the show’s success, Louis Leung, deputy GM of Guangzhou Guangya Messe Frankfurt, one of the organisers of the fair said: “The Guangzhou show has continually proven itself as the prime platform for brands to showcase their solutions and meet decision-making buyers in need of their products and services. The show’s attendance backs up this fact, with professionals attending from industry, government and
academia. I believe SPS – Industrial Automation Fair Guangzhou will continue to lead the way as South China embraces industrial automation technology.”
Gaining Access To New Markets Siemens came to the 2013 fair to highlight both their latest fullservice solutions and their growing commitment to the China market. Bernd Mangler, GM, Siemens China’s Industrial division noted: “We came to showcase our SIRIUS line of switchgears, industrial PCs and communication products for
Fair Guangzhou OEMs and machine builders. Our goal at the show was to highlight that for China, we are not only making the products here, but we are focused on defining, d e v e l o p i n g a n d p ro d u c i n g products in China for the local market. What is great about the show is that it allows us to target customers in the southern region. With so many manufacturers here, the Guangzhou show was the perfect place to display our latest innovations for the fourth time to South China.” First time exhibitor, Block Transformatoren-Electronik came to the show due to China’s rising demand for better quality components. The 70-year old G e r m a n m a n u f a c t u re r h a d recently set up its first local office in Shanghai, China, but believed strong business opportunities existed in the South China market. Commenting on their success, Andreas Kirchner, export sales manager said: “We came here to showcase our range of transformers, power supplies and EMI filters to manufacturers of a range of industrial automation systems in China. Visitor quality was superb and we generated
2013
some excellent leads during the show. I am sure we will come back for next year.”
On-Site Seminars O n - s i t e s e m i n a r s p ro v i d e d informative sessions that tackled the industry’s latest challenges. With over 14 sessions covering more than 100 topics held this year, the 2013 show’s fringe programme line up offered attendees learning oppor tunities on industrial automations most relevant issues. This year, discussion topics were focused on three main areas: • Sensors and measurement technology • Green factory development • The PLCopen standard software for industrial automation systems Through the guidance of the AMA Association for Sensor Technology and the cooperation of Mesago Messe Frankfurt, the fringe programmes were able to not only address the biggest challenges facing China and the world’s industrial automation community but also provide advice to professionals on how to tackle their issues.
Reinhold Roesemann, chairman, AMA Association, who helped organise the seminar on Innovative Sensors and Measurement Technology shared: “We have been offering seminars here since the first edition of the show, in order to allow European and Chinese firms to showcase their latest offerings and provide crucial information on what they have available to industry professionals. Suppliers of sensor technology are usually small to mid-size firms. Our association’s goal is to help these companies who do not have the resources to expand overseas. By organising seminars at the Guangzhou show, I believe we provide a great stepping stone for overseas brands to enter the Chinese market.” Xu Bin, Engineer, Equipment & Engineering Depar tment, H a n g z h o u Wa h a h a G ro u p , attended several seminar sessions to learn about the integration of green technology in his firm’s production line. He remarked: “I am responsible for automation design at my firm, and I had attended three sessions of the seminar on Green Factory. The seminar was useful as it provided relevant insight to automation technology. The speaker from Siemens was an expert on Ethernet and I learned a lot from his talk on the solution for Profinet security. Ethernet develops quickly and covers more and more sectors. It is an area my firm is also very concerned with.” The next edition of SPS – Industrial Automation Fair Guangzhou will take place from March 3 - 5, 2014 at the China Import and Export Fair Complex, Guangzhou, China. March 4 - 6, 2013 China Import and Export Fair Complex Guangzhou, China ENQUIRY NO. 3902 May 2013 | industrial automation asia 63
EVENT REVIEW
ASEAN Elenex & Industrial Automation 2013
Seminars were given throughout the course of the event on topics related to visitors interests.
ASEAN Elenex 2013 (AE 2013) & Industrial Automation 2013 (IA 2013) were held between March 20 - 23, 2013, at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre (KLCC). The shows attracted 450 companies from the power, electrical, and industrial automation sectors, 64  industrial automation asia | May 2013
who participated in the event originating from 35 nations. In terms of visitor numbers, both shows welcomed 5,098 visitors from 42 nations.
The Exhibitors Some of the exhibitors included
Tenaga Nasional Berhad (TNB), ABB Malaysia, Alpha Automation, Axis Electrical Components, DPI Industries, Econix Hi-Tech Comp, Encompass, Onesto, Mikro, Sun Power Automation, Toshiba Transmission and Distribution, Total Metering Solution, United U-Li Corporation, Universal Cable, VSD Automation and many more. The shows also saw International Group Pavilions from China, Germany, Singapore, Taiwan & UK. There were also three Industry Group Pavilions from TNB BVDP, Malaysia Automation Technology Association (MATA) and The Electrical and Electronics Association of Malaysia (TEEAM).
Other Events Held alongside both shows was a conference by CIRED on
Attendees were keen to learn more.
asset management for electric utilities themed ‘Building Asset Management Capabilities Towards Business Excellence & Smart Grid’ that featured presentations by notable figures in the electrical engineering industry. Some 100 conference delegates attended the presentations over a three day period and also visited the exhibitions. The shows brought more than just an exhibition. The event also hosted a B2B programme, where face-to-face business meetings were set-up during the exhibition. A total of 626 business matches were generated for the show whereby a total of 195 meetings took place including one-on-one meetings between exhibitors and TNB. The shows also welcomed institutional visits from students of Universiti Tenaga Nasional (UNITEN), Institut Latihan Sultan Ahmad Shah (ILSAS) and University Putra Malaysia. Power talks by TNB were also held on a daily basis as well as technical seminars by selected exhibitors covering topics on medium to low voltage products and technical applications.
Exhibitors from all sectors of the industrial automation field attended the show.
Demonstrations were a common theme at this year’s event.
Hosted by TNB, AE 2013 was supported by the ministry of energy, green technology and water Malaysia, Energy Commission, Congress International des Reseaux Electtriques de Distribution (CIRED), and The Electrical and Electronics Association of Malaysia (TEEAM) and endorsed by Malaysian Cables M a n u f a c t u re r s A s s o c i a t i o n (MCMA) and by MATRADE. IA 2013 received support from the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation
Malaysia and SIRIM. The show was endorsed by MATRADE and the Malaysia Automation Technology Association (MATA). Building on the shows success, the organisers plan to hold both events again from the March 25 - 27, 2015. March 20 - 23, 2013 Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre (KLCC) Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia ENQUIRY NO. 3903 May 2013 | industrial automation asia 65
EVENT REVIEW
ATS Knowledge Day
The Singapore edition of ATS Knowledge Day 2013 was held on March 7, 2013 at the Biopolis Shared Facilities, Singapore. The event was organised by ATS Applied Tech Systems, and attended by many in the industry, including ma nu fac tu rers who sha re d best practices and spoke of the challenges faced. It is part of a world tour, that start in Singapore before continuing into Australia, and then on to Europe, and finishing in the US towards the end of 2013. The events are primarily designed as a knowledge sharing platform for the industry to share best practices. Participants included directors and senior managers from companies such as Omron, Bosch Rexroth, Rolls-Royce, Merck Sharp & Dohme, Shimano, West Pharmaceutical Services, Institute for Infocomm Research A*STAR, InTed, and the Singapore Industrial Automation Association.
Worldwide Success The event has also been organised in 12 locations worldwide, with the stated intention to make attendees familiar with the best practices from leading manufacturing and 66 industrial automation asia | May 2013
processing companies. “The ATS Knowledge Days have proved to be an excellent platform for information sharing among leading industry specialists. Selected topics received fantastic interest and some of our attendees continue with us to actively consult and research how presented hitech solutions can bring significant advantages into their projects or processes,” commented Mark Boulton, country manager, ATS Singapore.
Partners & Presenters The list of presentation topics were centred around quality control and reducing or managing complexity, such as ‘Laser your way to quality’, a presentation on non-contact imaging systems and their benefits and pitfalls through automation for dimensional measurement and error proofing. A workshop was also implemented during the day focusing on ‘Can we eradicate quality defects’, which aimed to draw lessons and give advice on how to eliminate quality defect occurrences. Both the presentation and workshop were hosted by Martyn Gill of
2013
ATS International. Other presentations included ‘The benefits of using noncontact scanning technology in the manufacturing industry’, by Robin Tan from Faro, which discussed the Portable Coordinate Measurement Machine (PCMM) and how it can help to improve shop floor efficiency. ‘Virtual Design to Physical Product – Dynamic Quality Measurement’ was presented Ed Morris from ATS focusing on the advantages and disadvantages of Product Lifecycle Management (PLM). Meanwhile, in ‘Managing the growing complexity of MES in Life Sciences’ presentation, Desmond Savage from ATS d i s c u s s e d h i s c o m p a n y ’s experience with continuous improvement and optimisation of deployed MES solutions.
Rounding It Up The event was well attended and considered a success, with Mr Boulton remarking: “With the success of the Knowledge Day I am looking forward to further events as we grow within the region and as we continue to work on new beneficial partnerships in Singapore and around the globe.” March 7, 2013 Biopolis Shared Facilities Singapore ENQUIRY NO. 3904
products & Services Adlink: Processor Blade
B&R: I/O Modules
Adlink Technology has announced its VPX product line, the VPX3000 Series rugged 3U VPX processor blade. This product line is suited for system integrators who have a need for an advanced VPX board with VPX REDI and OpenVPX compliance in order to deploy high performance military and aerospace applications requiring quick time-to-market. The series features the third generation Intel Core i7 processor with Mobile Intel QM77 Express Chipset. The series also provides up to 8GB DDR3-1333/1600 dual channel ECC memory soldered onboard, one PCI Express x8 XMC.3 site with VITA 46.9 rear IO, and onboard soldered 16GB SLC SATA solid state drive. The software coverage includes support for Windows 7, Windows Embedded Standard 7, Linux, and VxWorks operating systems.
B&R has increased the temperature range of their X20 and X67 control and I/O systems. This is made possible by the industrial temperature electronic components installed in the modules. Both the X20 modules with IP20 protection and the X67 modules with IP67 protection function reliably at temperatures from -25 to +60 deg C, and these modules can be stored at even more extreme temperatures ranging from -40 to +85 deg C. In order to ensure reliable operation of the X20 and X67 CPUs, the company uses CompactFlash cards in the PLCs that can withstand these extreme temperatures.
Enquiry no. 3905
Allied Vision Technologies:
Scientific Imaging Cameras
The Bigeye camera family, by Allied Vision Technologies, is distinguished by its active Peltier cooling, enabling low-noise images with long exposure times, which makes it suited for low-light applications, such as microscopy or astronomy. This product is available with sensors from 1.3 to 11 megapixels and is equipped with a GigE Vision interface. The newest member of the family is the Bigeye G-283 Cool. It comes equipped with a 2.8 megapixel SonyICX674 sensor with EXView HAD II CCD technology and 4.54 Âľm pixel pitch. Enquiry no. 3906
Enquiry no. 3907
Contrinex: Inductive Sensor The C44 from Contrinex offers enhanced performance, reliability and flexibility. The active face is mountable in five directions, giving users the freedom to adapt the sensor to the required applications and not the other way round. Some of the features of this sensor include quick and tool-free installation, active face mountable in five directions, four indication LEDs, long operating distance, resistant to environmental influences IP 69K, and a temperature range from -25 deg C to +85 deg C.
Enquiry no. 3908 May 2013 | industrial automation asia  67
products & Services
Dassault Systèmes: CAD Software
Fluke: Current Loop Calibrator
Dassault Systèmes has launched My.SolidWorks, a free community that provides one single access to any SolidWorks content. Today’s designers are under constant pressure to create better designs in less time and SolidWorks is a key tool for achieving those productivity gains. This service allows users to tap into the knowledge and experience of two million users and more than 400 value-added resellers in the community. Several improvements are offered, including: providing a consolidated view of the latest updates from around the community. It lets users search the entire community at once, making it much easier for users to find the tips and insights they need to get the most out of the software. It makes it easier for new and existing users to engage with the community.
Fluke 709H Precision Current Loop Calibrator with HART Communications, is designed to be an easy-to-use tool with a user-friendly interface and HART capabilities that reduces the time it takes to measure or source, voltage or current, and power up a loop. With its accuracy at 0.01 percent reading, this product is suited for process technicians who need a precise loop calibrator and HART communicator in one compact, rugged, reliable tool.
Enquiry no. 3909
Enquiry no. 3911
Epson: SCARA Robots
ifm electronic:
Seiko Epson Corporation has launched its H8 robots, the first models in its H series of horizontally articulated SCARA robots. These robots are designed to automate tasks such as assembly and transport, are capable of handling payloads up to 8 kg, and are available in models with arm lengths of 450 mm, 550 mm, and 650 mm. In addition to the company’s Smart Motion Control technology, the robots in the H series have integrated QMEMS sensors. These technologies enable the robots to handle heavier payloads despite a compact, lightweight design. They also make it possible to provide the robots with a high-speed mode and a low-vibration mode.
ifm electronic has released a fully electronic colour sensor that detects the colour of packaging, label or the imprint of objects at a high resolution. With the touch of a programming button, it is possible to perfectly differentiate even the finest shades of colour, from the background, or other objects. High switching frequency of 2,000 Hz provides reliable detection of different objects in most industrial processes. The O5 Series of photoelectric sensors have a range of mounting accessories for all applications.
Enquiry no. 3910 68 industrial automation asia | May 2013
Photoelectric Sensor
Enquiry no. 3912
products & Services
Igus: ESD Plug-Type
Red Lion Controls:
Igus has expanded its range of pre-assembled cables by a special variant: in cooperation with the connector experts at Intercontec Produkt, Niederwinkling. An extrusion-coated variant of the quick-closure system ‘SpeedTec’ has been developed for ESD applications. This plug & go solution fits in with the range of custom-made ‘Readycables’ and is available from stock now. Extrusion-coated connectors are increasingly in demand, eg: by customers from the automotive industry. They should be quick and easy to install, durable and safe from manipulation.
The modular NTron NT24k managed Gigabit Ethernet industrial switch series, from Red Lion Controls, has up to 24 Gigabit Ethernet ports and a flexible modular format for different configuration options. The NT24k switches are designed to handle the most challenging industrial environments whilst maintaining reliability and wire-speed performance. Available in rackmount and DIN rail models, the switches provide versatility to customers through Gigabit and 100Base connectivity options in both copper and fibre. With all Gigabit capability and a versatile array of connectivity options, the switches deliver configuration flexibility that meets industrial networking requirements across industries such as factory automation, utilities, video surveillance, security, transportation and alternative energy.
Connectors
Enquiry no. 3913
Gigabit Ethernet Switch
Enquiry no. 3915
LCM Systems: Trip Amplifier
Zebra Technologies: Card Printer
The LCTA series of Load Cell Trip/Relay Amplifiers, by LCM Systems, was developed to provide dual volt free relay outputs from a load cell signal. Aimed primarily at OEMs, this product is suitable for applications such as hoist overload protection, crane safe lifting control and personnel lifting platform protection. The amplifier module has the ability to power a single load cell or load pin or up to four 350 load cells connected in parallel. The volt-free relay outputs have a trip switching current of 10A at 230vac and can be adjusted independently by simply using a reference voltage to determine the adjustment value.
Zebra Technologies Corporation has announced the addition of the ZXP Series 7 to its portfolio of card printers. The printer offers increased productivity, adaptability and cost efficiency. It is suited for customers that require high quality and secure card printing, such as government and enterprise, and high-volume applications including education and service bureaus. The card printer supports numerous encoding and connectivity options, along with single or dual-sided lamination for extra security or durability. Pairing the product with Zebra’s Virtual PrintWare Suite optimises large-scale deployments of multiple ZXP printers and remote printer management.
Enquiry no. 3914
Enquiry no. 3916 May 2013 | industrial automation asia 69
ENQUIRY NO. 546
Calendar Of Events 2013 MAY 16 – 19 Intermach 2013 BITEC Bangkok, Thailand UBM Asia (Thailand) Co. Ltd E-mail: Sukanya.A@ubm.com Web: www.intermachshow.com
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