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Smart Grids | Linear Drives & Encoders | Alarm Management | 3D Printing

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Visit us on our website at www.iaasiaonline.com ISSUES & INSIGHTS

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Industry 4.0: Towards A Smart Factory

26

Infrastructure For A Smart City

Bosch was co-chair of the Working Group on Industry 4.0, and is now involved in a process that aims to revolutionise Germany’s manufacturing sector.

IAA interviewed Thomas Jakob, MD (Asia Pacific), Bosch Software Innovations on this and more. By Mark Johnston

Singapore continues to be seen as an ideal test bed for the implementation of Smart City technologies. In this regard, IAA interviewed Anthony Elvey, MD, Service Providers, VCE (Asia Pacific & Japan) on smart cities and the advantages of Singapore as a test bed. By Mark Johnston

PROCESS CONTROL 28

28

Optimising Encoder Performance With Advanced Filtering Optics

Effective optical filtering is essential for ensuring dirt immunity, signal stability and low cyclic error. Evidence shows that well-designed optical schemes lead to increased up-time, greater reliability and reduced cost-of-ownership for the end-user. By Sebastian Broady, Renishaw

SOFTWARE & NETWORKS

30

Transforming An Industry

IAA interviewed Chang Thai Nam, VP, Discrete Automation & Motion business, ABB on the opening of the company’s regional robotics packaging application hub in Singapore, and on the changing nature of the manufacturing sector. By Mark Johnston

INSTRUMENTATION & MEASUREMENT 34

34

Alarm Management: Practicality Of A Phased Approach

40

Current State Of Alarm Management And Future Trends

An alarm management improvement program not only supports the industry’s best practices, but also delivers it in a practical and cost-effective manner. By Kevin Brown, Honeywell Process Solution

Alarm management is crucial in today’s power plants. The current state of alarm management solutions and future trends will be discussed.

By R.A Padmanabhan and Chai Kah-Ming, Yokogawa Electric International

ENERGY

46

Case Study: Advanced Optimisation And Visualisation

Refinery upgrade helps drive better decision making through enhanced performance, visualisation, and evaluation. By Allison McNulty, AspenTech

SECTOR SPOTLIGHT

48

46

Perfecting Dental: 3D Models & Dies

3D printing holds great promise, and has many applications across multiple industries, including the medical and dental fields. By Avi Cohen, Stratasys

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Batteries are a Pain in the UPS Back-up your industrial managed Ethernet switches with ultracapacitor technology.

Panduit Industrial Network UPS • Ultracapacitor technology significantly decreases the risk of downtime by eliminating unpredictable battery failures • Maintenance-free operation results in 50-70% lower cost of ownership than a battery UPS • Remote device management reduces operational expenses • Wide operating temperature range delivers consistent performance from -40°C to +60°C

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FEATURES

51

Defects: A Vanishing Occurrence?

54

An Open Future For 3D Printing

The manufacturing industry in Singapore has grown over the years to become one of the largest sectors in the country, contributing 21 percent of Singapore’s GDP in 2013, an estimated US$60 billion. In this time, the manufacturing process has become more automated, paving the way for greater efficiency. By Ulrich Kreutzer, Siemens Cover: bibiphoto / Shutterstock.com

IAA interviewed Chris Lee, senior sales leader at Autodesk (ASEAN), on manufacturing, 3D printing and his company’s open source platform to help accelerate the field. By Mark Johnston

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Reshaping Instrumentation

58

Resourcing Asia

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Developing 3D NAND Architecture

62

Asian NFC Landscape In 2014

IAA visited the National Instruments plant in Penang, Malaysia, to speak with executives and be introduced to the company’s latest instrument. By Mark Johnston

IAA interviewed Patrick Couzinet, executive VP of business development, Veolia on his company’s technology and trends in the water/waste water sector.

By Mark Johnston

As 2D semiconductor device scaling approaches its limit, the third dimension offers the means to extend scaling by leveraging precision materials engineering.

3D technology holds the promise of lowering costs by enabling higher bit density, a fundamental requirement for memory. By Er-Xuan Ping, Applied Materials.

Near Field Communications (NFC) is a versatile technology, used at Point-Of-Sales (POS) for quick payments and on transportation networks for convenient travelling. IAA interviewed Kenji Nishi, field marketing director, South Asia & Japan, Gemalto on the 2014 Asian NFC landscape. By Mark Johnston

EVENTS

66

65

BuildTech Asia 2014

66

Manufacturing Solutions Expo 2014

REGULARS 08

Industry News

18 Profibus

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Redefining RF and Microwave Instrumentation with open software and modular hardware

Achieve speed, accuracy, and fl exibility in your RF and microwave test applications by combining National Instruments open software and modular hardware. Unlike rigid traditional instruments that quickly become obsolete by advancing technology, the system design software of NI LabVIEW coupled with NI PXI hardware puts the latest advances in PC buses, processors, and FPGAs at your fingertips.

WIRELESS TECHNOLOGIES National Instruments supports a broad range of wireless standards including: 802.11a/b/g/n/ac CDMA2000/EV-DO WCDMA/HSPA/HSPA+

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EDITOR’S PAGE

A NEW ERA FOR MANUFACTURING

Published By:

EASTERN TRADE MEDIA PTE LTD (A fully owned subsidiary of Eastern Holdings Ltd)

SENIOR EDITOR

Joson Ng

josonng@epl.com.sg ASSISTANT EDITOR

Mark Johnston

markjohnston@epl.com.sg

Industry 4.0 is the new buzzword in the manufacturing landscape, and refers to the fourth industrial revolution, which could be a reality in about 10 to 20 years. Other initiatives exist in the world, but it is ‘Industry 4.0’ which has captivated the landscape and is beginning to symbolise a movement to transform the manufacturing sector. A likely reason why the term ‘Industry 4.0’ has gained so much mindshare recently is primarily down to the strength of the German manufacturing sector, particularly the proliferation of German engineering companies on the international stage as these are ambassadors to the cause.

Industry 4.0 aims to computerise traditional industries, such as manufacturing. Other terms, such as Smart Factory, are part of this strategy. What underpins the technological aspect of Industry 4.0 and the Smart Factory are cyber-physical systems and the Internet of Things (IoT).

However, there are some challenges that exist that currently impedes progress, these being a lack of adequate skill-sets to expedite the march towards the fourth industrial revolution; the threat of redundancy of the corporate IT department; and general reluctance to change by stakeholders. These challenges are being addressed, but it will take time, as the industry readjusts itself to this new reality.

Other than Industry 4.0, another revolution is happening in the manufacturing sector, this time in the way products are made.

Additive Manufacturing (3D printing), is advancing at an ever quickening pace. The Technology has developed to the point where it is transforming the industry.

The next industrial revolution is opening up manufacturing to the whole world — where everyone can participate in the process.

This democratisation of the manufacturing sector will not be much different than what happened with computing, which changed from a few, big, centralised mainframes to something we now hold in our hands.

Industry 4.0 and 3D printing are both mentioned in this issue of IAA, other topics discussed include Alarm Management, Robotics, and Linear Drives & Encoders. As always, we welcome your feedback and wish you a productive month a head.

EDITORIAL ASSISTANT

Sharifah Zainon

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Peh Loon Chin

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Derick Chia

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Joey Peh

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Chiang Hui

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Nurulhuda Binte Suhaimi nurulhuda@epl.com.sg CONTRIBUTORS

Sebastian Broady, Kevin Brown, R.A Padmanabhan, Chai Kah-Ming, Allison McNulty, Avi Cohen, Er-Xuan Ping, Ulrich Kreutzer EDITORIAL CONSULTANTS

Jim Pinto

Industry Analyst

Alastair Ross Director, Codexx Associates Ltd

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ENQUIRY NO. 751

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INDUSTRY NEWS Panasonic Contributes To Singapore’s Self-Sufficiency Level Of Vegetables With First Indoor Vegetable Farm Singapore: Panasonic Factory Solutions Asia Pacific has announced its pilot commercial supply of locally-harvested vegetables to Japanese restaurant, Ootoya. The premium Japanese crop varieties: mini red radish, red leafy lettuce, and mizuna (potherb mustard), are cultivated in the country’s first licensed indoor vegetable farm with controlled and optimised conditions.

In land scarce Singapore where only eight percent of vegetables consumed are grown in local farms, the company aims to contribute to the Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority’s (AVA) vision of raising self-sufficiency level for leafy vegetables through its technology and harvest. It also targets to increase its contribution to local production from the current 0.015 percent to five percent by FY2016, fiscal year ending March 2017.

The 248 sqm indoor agriculture facility currently produces 10 types of vegetables. Both leafy and root vegetables are cultivated in the controlled soil-based environment with LED lighting.

At present, total production capacity is at 3.6 tonnes annually. Through this local indoor cultivation, customers can potentially gain significant savings

In land scarce Singapore where only eight percent of vegetables consumed are grown in local farms, the company aims to contribute to the Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority’s (AVA) vision of raising self-sufficiency level for leafy vegetables through its technology and harvest.

The company will assess market demand for commercial expansion to restaurants and supermarkets within this fiscal year. Currently, it supplies on average, 0.3 tonnes of vegetables to all three Ootoya outlets in the country per month. It also aims to double this amount in the next two years and supply wider varieties of premium Japanese crops that are not cultivated locally to the restaurants.

compared to purchasing similar premium Japanese produce that are imported.

The company is strengthening its research and development efforts to accelerate harvest, such as increasing shelf capacity (vertical farming), shortening cultivation lead time from 35 days to 28 days, improving area productivity and expanding crop variety.

By FY2016, it aims to grow more than 30 crop varieties.

Element14 Signs Agreement With Swissbit Singapore: Element14 has signed a direct agreement with Swissbit, an industrial DRAM module and Flash storage company.

The world-wide agreement

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covers EMEA, North America, APAC and Japan regions. The company’s products are particularly targeted at the industrial computer markets including embedded computing,

automation, measurement, communication, network, military, aerospace, transportation, casino gaming and medical equipment.

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Industry News

Janet CSIRT Automates Incident Response With Codenomicon AbuseSA simon stratford, London, UK

Cummins Power Generation To Provide Hybrid Power Solution In Myanmar

Singapore: Janet Computer Security Incident Response Team (Janet CSIRT), provided by Jisc, has announced that it is to adopt Codenomicon's AbuseSA solution to report cyber threat information to its members.

Janet CSIRT is intended to safeguard current and future computer security, with a primary function to monitor and resolve any security incidents that occur on Janet, the UK's national research and education network, provided by Jisc.

AbuseSA automates abuse handling enabling Janet CSIRT to process more threat information in less time. It is already used by the Cyber-Security Information Sharing Partnership (CiSP), which is a collaborative initiative between industry and government to share cyber threat and vulnerability information, increase overall situational awareness and to reduce the impact of cyber-attacks on UK business.

Cummins Power Generation has secured a contract to provide a hybrid power solution consisting of solar hybrid, battery hybrid and diesel generator solutions to over 750 cell-tower sites to be rolled out by Irrawaddy Green Towers (IGT) in Myanmar over the next 12 months.

S i n g a p o re : C u m m i n s P o w e r Generation has secured a contract to supply a hybrid power solution to Irrawaddy Green Towers (IGT) in Myanmar. Under this contract, the company will supply solar hybrid, battery hybrid and diesel generator solutions to over 750 cell-tower sites that IGT will roll out in Myanmar during the next 12 months.

IGT has been selected by Telenor Myanmar to build and operate telecom towers for the telco’s large scale, countrywide mobile network. In early 2013, Telenor and Ooredoo won a license to launch a mobile network in Myanmar. The company is already

one of the suppliers to Ooredoo, and with this new supply contract with IGT, two of the nation’s largest mobile service provider’s network will be powered by the company.

The company’s advanced hybrid power systems are engineered to optimise capital expenditure while lowering total cost of ownership and ensuring uninterrupted operations.

Myanmar remains one of the last greenfield opportunities in the telecommunications industry and the company has established a strong service and support network to meet the unique challenges of the country.

FCI And Samtec Enter Strategic Partnership Singapore: FCI Electronics and Samtec, suppliers of high speed connectors and interconnect systems, have signed a second-source agreement under which Samtec is licensed to manufacture, market and

sell FCI’s next generation ExaMAX high speed connector product portfolio.

Officials from both companies expressed their excitement in this new partnership. “This second-source

agreement pools technology and manufacturing capabilities of both companies to provide for FCI’s new ExaMAX high speed connector solutions” says Alessandro Perrotta, CEO of FCI.

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Industry News

Singapore: Gemalto has been selected by NTT Docomo for its mobile NFC services. The company will provide NTT Docomo with an end-to-end solution featuring its Allynis Trusted Service Management (TSM) service, as well as the UpTeq NFC UICC embedding both the SIM and contactless applications. This collaboration reinforces the longstanding partnership between both companies, which includes Japan’s first Long Term Evolution (LTE) high-bandwidth wireless connectivity in 2010.

The launch will deliver a variety of contactless services encompassing mobile payments, loyalty programs, e-ticketing and access control. The company’s solution aims to provide convenience and security for NFC deployment and sensitive data management to all service providers.

Its UpTeq NFC UICC enables the use of NFC mobile phones to access services requiring fast processing and high security, like payment, and all other valuable future NFC services, due to its scalable capacity and postissuance management capability.

Philippe Ramakers, Köln, NRW, Germany

Gemalto Selected By NTT Docomo For NFC Services

With NFC, mobile handsets can replace credit cards at POS terminals.

Honeywell To Train Next Generation Of Refinery Technicians In Vietnam Hanoi, Vietnam: Honeywell Process Solutions has announced that it would train technical personnel at Nghi Son Refinery and Petrochemical Limited Liability Company’s (NSRP) 200,000 barrel-per-day complex being built in Thanh Hoa Province, Vietnam.

The company will be responsible for helping to prepare the workforce for the refinery’s 2017 start-up as well as the ongoing operational and business readiness of the facility. Nghi Son Refinery will be the country’s second, and largest, refinery and will meet about 30 percent of Vietnam’s growing demand for refined petroleum products, such as motor fuel and petrochemicals.

Vietnam is a net exporter of crude oil, producing more than 350,000 barrels per day of crude oil. But with limited refining capacity, the country currently imports more than half of its refined products to meet demand.

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On projects such as the NSRP refinery, the company is able to implement a standardised training strategy, which includes a targeted, cost-effective program that addresses gaps in experience and competency of the recruited workforce. The company’s in-country experience also enables it to identify and empower local educational institutions to provide a large share of training deliverables.

Industrial organisations can also leverage its training management services to integrate instruction provided by industry experts for advanced-level training. This approach blends classroom instruction, including eLearning, with simulation, hands-on experience and on-the-job components.

The program also measures each employee’s progress and provides remedial intervention for those needing additional help.

Industrial organisations can also leverage its training management services to integrate instruction provided by industry experts for advanced-level training.

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Industry News

Tokyo, Japan: Yokogawa Electric Corporation has announced that it will supply the control system for unit 5 of the Kamojang geothermal power station in Indonesia. The order for this project was received through Tokyo Denki Sangyo, a Yokogawa sales agent, and was placed by Fuji Electric, which is responsible for manufacturing and delivering the unit’s steam turbine and generator.

This geothermal plant is owned and operated by PT. Pertamina Geothermal Energy (PGE), the geothermal arm of the state-run oil and gas company, Pertamina, and is located in a Garut, a city situated approximately 40 km from Bandung City, West Java, Indonesia.

Unit 5 will have a 35 MW power generation capacity, and its construction is scheduled to be completed by July 2015, whereupon it will be commissioned and enter service.

For the monitoring and control of unit 5’s steam turbine and auxiliary facilities, The company’s subsidiaries

Meghan Anderson-Colangelo, Albuquerque, New Mexico, US

Yokogawa Wins Control System Order For Kamojang Geothermal Power Station In Indonesia

Yokogawa Engineering Asia and Yokogawa Indonesia will supply the Centum VP integrated production control system, InsightSuite AE plant asset effectiveness optimisation services, PRM plant resource manager, Exaquantum plant resource manager, simulator.information management system (PIMS), and a plant operation training simulator. In addition to being responsible for the delivery of these systems, these companies will provide support during the engineering and commissioning phases.

Tata Consultancy Services Partner With Cloudera For Big Data Mumbai, India: Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) has announced a partnership with Cloudera, which deals in enterprise analytic data management powered by Apache Hadoop, certifying TCS' global team of Big Data experts through the Cloudera Certified Professional (CCP) program.

The company’s products are also validated through the Cloudera Certified Technology Program (CCTP), which was created to simplify technology buyers' adoption of Apache Hadoop platforms and applications that have been tested, validated and certified to work with a Cloudera enterprise data hub.

Hadoop is one of the platforms used for Big Data analytics and by partnering with Cloudera, the company aims to pair its domain knowledge, Big Data products and engineering strength with its partner’s distribution, innovation and expertise, to provide cost effective Big Data analytics.

This includes the ability to leverage on Cloudera Enterprise data hubs through solutions that include strategy definition, use case identification, infrastructure setup and management, application development and maintenance, testing, advanced analytics, and predictive modelling.

Global Consortium To Build Cable System Connecting Indonesia, US And The Philippines Manila, the Philippines: A consortium of seven global telecommunications companies has agreed to cooperate in the construction and operation of a new submarine cable system that directly connects Southeast Asia and the US with NEC Corporation as the system supplier.

The Southeast Asia — United States ‘SEA-US’ consortium consists of PT. Telekomunikasi Indonesia International (Telin), Globe Telecom, RAM Telecom International (RTI), Hawaiian Telcom, Teleguam Holdings (GTA), GTI Corporation (a member of the Globe Telecom group of companies) and Telkom USA. The SEA-US submarine cable system links the five areas and territories of Manado (Indonesia), Davao (Philippines), Piti (Guam), Oahu (Hawaii, US) and Los Angeles (California, US).

The system will be approximately 15,000 km in length, avoiding earthquake prone areas in East Asia, thereby helping to ensure stable connectivity.

When completed in the fourth quarter of 2016 at an approximate cost of US$250 million, the cable system will provide an additional 20Tb/s capacity, connecting Indonesia and the Philippines to the US with 100G technology.

This capacity will cater to the exponential growth of bandwidth demand between both continents.

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Industry News

Industry News

Big Data Pushes Smart Buildings’ Development London, UK: The convergence of next-generation IT solutions such as the Internet of Things (IoT), cloud computing, big data and data analytics will open up new business opportunities for both building technology and ICT companies.

More importantly, these platforms are expected to become the pillars of smart building evolution in terms of technology, business value and customer satisfaction.

A n a n a l y s i s f ro m F ro s t & Sullivan, Big Data as an Enabler for Smart Buildings, finds that

urbanisation, the connectivity and convergence of smart technologies, and communication between smart devices are the three big trends that will drive the development of the smart buildings industry.

In addition, big data provides an open platform that enables the integration of data from different systems. The technology's scalability is another crucial benefit that will underpin its value in the smart building space.

The integration of ICT and building technologies to satisfy the

technical demand for big data and analytics applications will lead to new partnerships between data analytic and building technology providers in the near future. Tier I building technology participants, in particular, will welcome strategic alliances with data analytic vendors.

As a result, organisations involved in both big data and building technologies will be at the frontline of the smart building space when the two industries merge into a single platform.

Paris, France: In a frequency response study on wind power and grid resiliency

by GE’s Energy Consulting business, it was found that when equipped with the appropriate modern plant controls, wind applications can substantially enhance grid resiliency.

Sponsored by the US National Renewable Energy Laboratory and modelled after the country’s Eastern Interconnection — one of the largest electrical systems in the world — the study was set up to answer how US electrical systems would respond to a large-scale interruption of generation.

This includes multiple power plants tripping offline, for example, which could result in significantly lower frequencies on the system, customer interruptions, or even large-scale blackouts.

The study explored in detail how the grid could respond to a major event and maintain its resiliency with significant wind power added to the

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generation mix. The conclusions of the study found that wind can be more effective than thermal generation in controlling frequency on the grid due to its ability to respond more quickly.

It modeled a scenario where there was an instantaneous penetration of 25 percent wind generation in the Eastern Interconnection — a scenario that is an aggressive case in the eastern US today. It showed that at these levels of penetration, there will be operating conditions where traditional frequency responsive resources are scarce. This is typical in systems with high levels of wind penetration.

"While GE's study considered the impact of wind power on the Eastern Interconnection of the US, the lessons we have learned can be applied in Europe and around the globe," said Nicholas Miller, lead author of the study and senior technical director for the company’s Energy Consulting business.

"The conclusions demonstrate that

B Cleary, Ireland

Wind Power Enhances Grid Resiliency

The conclusions of the study found that wind can be more effective than thermal generation in controlling frequency on the grid due to its ability to respond more quickly.

wind power can be more effective in maintaining frequency than thermal generation when wind farms are equipped with grid friendly controls.

These findings should show that the future of wind energy is bright and it will continue to play a larger role in the power we consume," he added.

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Industry News

ABB Enters Collaboration To Commercialise Algae Production For Renewable Fuels Zurich, Switzerland: ABB is to collaborate with Renewable Algal Energy (RAE) on the commercialisation of integrated algal production systems that will produce algae-based products for the nutraceutical, animal nutrition, and renewable fuels markets. The OEM systems were developed and tested at RAE’s facility in Tuscon, Arizona; the first commercial application is scheduled to be operating in Q4, 2014.

RAE will produce the equipment that harvest and extract algae and its co-products, including oil, for renewable fuels, as well as proteins and carotenoids for animal feed and nutritional supplements. The scalable systems are designed for medium to large scale algae farms, up to 2,000 hectares (10,000 sqm).

The compamy will supply 800xA control systems, instrumentation,

RAE will produce the equipment that harvest and extract algae and its co-products, including oil, for renewable fuels, as well as proteins and carotenoids for animal feed and nutritional supplements.

low voltage electrical equipment and variable speed drives that will help those integrated algal production systems operate efficiently and reliably.

In addition to process control, 800xA provides remote access to the base

control room on each algae farm, so that multiple locations can be viewed and managed by one operator. The variable speed drives help the pumps and motors operate at their peak energy efficiency, using up to 10 percent less electricity.

Market Forecast To Add US$2.5 Billion To Market Size For Process Instrumentation Virginia, US: The 2014 Market Forecast published in May by the Measurement, Control & Automation Association (MCAA) provides a five year market forecast for Process Instrumentation & Automation (PI&A) equipment segmented by major process industries that shows the total US market value will grow to US$13.6 Billion by 2018. The report, which has 80 pages of detail on 12 product categories, 12 industry segments and estimates for both the US and Canada, also includes a spotlight on the technology displacement o f e l e c t ro n i c v s m e c h a n i c a l flowmeters and a spotlight on market developments in Mexico.

In July, market analyst, Paul Rasmusson, president of Global Automation Research, reviewed the

highlights of the Forecast during a webinar for MCAA members and prospective members. During that webinar, Rasmusson noted, among other developments, the continuing investment by the Chemical industry in unconventional gas as a feedstock and the construction of fertiliser and ethylene plants which will make the US an exporter, for the first time, of these products instead of a heavy importer.

Prepared annually for MCAA members jointly by the market research firms of Global Automation Research and ReMap Sales Planning, the Forecast predicts a 5 Year US CAGR of 4.2 percent with the Oil & Gas, Chemicals, Refining and Pharmaceutical industries projected as growing at above-average rates while Water & Wastewater, Electric

Utilities, F&B, Cement and Mining will remain below average due to factors such as price pressure, cyclical downturns or over capacity. Global Automation Research notes that the Oil & Gas Industry which had record high spending in the 2012-13 period will have slow growth in the early part of the forecast period but will recover by the end.

On the PI&A product side, the products with the best growth rates will be flow, level, control systems & remote I/O growing at above average rates. The report highlights that tank level gauging will grow at 9 percent per year over the forecast period, primarily because of increased construction of holding tanks at each end of the growing crude oil transport business.

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Industry News

Schlemmer Group Opens New Production Facility In South Korea

Mitsubishi Electric Further Bolsters Presence In Turkish Market

Ratingen, Germany: Mitsubishi Electric Corporation’s local subsidiary Mitsubishi Electric Turkey has completed the integration of its former air conditioning distributor Klima Plus, acquired earlier this year. The move will strengthen the company’s market share in the region as the business evolves to fully incorporate Klima Plus into the fold.

As of June 2014, Mitsubishi Electric Turkey now comprises of two business units, the Factory Automation Systems business and the Air Conditioning business with a projected annual turnover of approximately 270 million Turkish Lira (US$125 million) in 2015.

capacity of around 12 million metres of corrugated tube per year.

Corrugated tubes and other special components offered by the Group are required not only in the automotive sector, but also in other areas of industrial manufacturing.

The plant will be supplying products primarily to customers from the railway, mechanical engineering and

shipbuilding industries.

Having a local production site in Asia saves transport costs, which enables the group to stay competitive. The plant will also support the business relationships that the group has established in the region over the past few years, through a joint venture that it has with a South Korean company.

Smart Card Research Project Successfully Completed Neubiberg and Berlin, Germany: In order to adequately address new use scenarios already during the design phase of smartcards and in order to enable better testing and assessment conditions, Bundesdruckerei, Infineon Technologies and the Fraunhofer Institute for Reliability and Microintegration IZM have joined forces as partners in the two-year SeManTiK project (‘Secure and long-life eID applications for human/machine interaction’). They developed realistic test methods and simulation models and explored new methods of integrating the chip into the card body.

More than 35,000 cards were packaged, tested, analysed and evaluated in 20 different test

combinations. The new test sequences developed in the project made it possible to obtain reliable and precise confirmation of failure rates and patterns which have been observed in international smart card projects with more than 50 million cards in day-to-day use. Thanks to SeManTiK, card manufacturers can simulate the life of the documents better than before and adjust the design as required.

The SeManTiK project was sponsored by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) with €1.8m (US$2.37m) over a term of 2.5 years. The ‘human/machine interaction’ research topic addresses new technologies in an interdisciplinary research and action plan.

Sharlene Jackson, UK

Poing, Germany: The Schlemmer Group has announced the opening of its 22nd production site. A plant with a production area of around 1,000 sqm officially went into operation in Daegu — South Korea’s fourth largest city — on June 28, 2014. The site, which has been set up for the group’s industry business segment, offers an initial production

The transportation sector is a major user of Smart Card technology.

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Industry News

Pentair Engineers Its Largest Wedge Gate Valves For Middle East Petrochemical Plant

Intel Pushes IoT With Smallest Standalone 3G Modem

The specialist carbon steel bodied valves measure 78 and 84 inches in diameter with ANSI class 150 pressure rating.

UK: Pentair Valves & Controls has supplied its largest ever bolted bonnet flanged wedge gate valves for an integrated petrochemical plant located in the Middle East. Engineered and manufactured under the Fasani brand, the specialist carbon steel bodied valves measure 78 and 84 inches in diameter with ANSI class 150 pressure rating.

Designed for wet flare line applications within the plant, the team worked closely with the project engineering

and procurement contractor to design, manufacture, and test the customised valve solution. For this project, the company’s wedge gate valve design offered an improved fluid passage and optimised flow compared with other valve technology options.

The company’s production facility in Rescaldina, Italy, features one of the largest test benches in Europe with stringent and extensive testing for customised wedge gate valves of this size and capacity.

Qualcomm Broadens Support For The Internet Of Everything San Diego, US: Qualcomm Incorporated has announced that its subsidiary, Qualcomm Atheros is broadening support for developers to simplify the design of products that use Wi-Fi to connect the Internet of Everything (IoE).

The company has opened worldwide distribution channels with Arrow Electronics and Codico to streamline access to the company’s low-power Wi-Fi platform, the QCA4002/4004.

The company also is offering a new IoE development kit, which enables fullfeatured, low-power Wi-Fi in a diverse

set of connected products – from light bulbs and remote controls to home automation and security systems.

As consumers, service providers and others see great value in the IoE, developers need access to the latest tools and technologies to create the devices and services for the IoE ecosystem. As such, advanced Wi-Fi solutions are being provided by the company, in addition to a development platform that provides the tools, resources and value-added features required for this new class of IoE devices.

By integrating the power amplifier and transceiver, design is simplified and device development costs are minimised, resulting in cost efficiency and a faster time to market.

California, US: Inspired by the Internet of Things (IoT), where computing and connectivity converge to provide the tiniest devices massive computing capability and intelligence through a cloud connection, Intel has launched what is purportedly the world’s smallest standalone 3G modem.

“We commercially launched the XMM 6255 modem to provide a wireless solution for the billions of ‘smart’ and connected devices that are expected in the coming years.

At about 300 sq mm in size, it is the world’s smallest standalone 3G modem, making it perfect for networked sensors and other IoT applications such as wearables, security devices and industrial equipment,” said Stefan Wolff, VP of the Product Engineering Group and COO of the Wireless Platform R&D, Intel.

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INDUSTRY UPDATES

All Power To The Terminators TRAINING, installation and design guru Andy Verwer provides more essential information for installing Profibus networks correctly and efficiently. Good training can really help, he says.

It is widely known that P ro f i b u s c a b l i n g m u s t b e properly ‘terminated’ in order to stop reflections on the cable that can corrupt telegrams and give bad communication, or even worse, give intermittent problems. The terms ‘terminated’ and ‘terminator’ refers to resistor networks that are placed at the ends of the cable to absorb the energy of the signal and so avoid any reflections.

Termination Is Not Unique To Profibus Any high speed or long cabling is subject to reflections. However, it is only really a problem with high frequency signals and/or longer cable lengths. On Profibus DP (RS485 wiring) we use a simple network of three resistors that is powered by a 5V supply. The resistors are normally in the connector, but they can also be at the device itself.

The resistor values are chosen to match the characteristic impedance of the Profibus cable (nominally 150Ω) and the 5V power produces a bias across the wires of about 1V which 18

gives immunity to up to 0.5V of interference or pickup on each wire.

Do Not Succumb To ‘General Ignorance’ There are many problems that can occur caused by general ignorance of the rules for where and how to apply terminations.

The rules for termination are very simple: 1

2

Each segment should be terminated at the two ends and nowhere else.

The terminations must be powered at all times.

A segment here means a section of cable that is isolated from other sections by repeaters, fibre optics or other such devices.

Common Problems We will have a quick look at one or two problems that are commonly seen. Firstly, it is not unusual to see resistors incorrectly switched on in the devices. This will give additional termination, which could be in the middle of the segment or even give double

Figure 1: Andy Verwer

termination at the end. Neither will it cause significant reflections.

Another more subtle misunderstanding involves what are called spur lines or stub lines.

This is where a Tee junction is used to branch off the main segment line. Spur lines are generally to be avoided in high-speed networks, but short spurs can be used at lower speeds.

U n f o r t u n a t e l y e a c h Te e junction that is introduced in a segment gives us another cable end. The rule says terminate at the

Baud Rate

1.5MBd

500kBd

187.5kBd

93.75kBd

192. and 9.6kBd

Length

6.6m

20m

33m

100m

500m

Capacity

0.2nF

0.6nF

1.0nF

3.0nF

15nF

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‘two’ ends, but now we have more than two. These spur lines, if used must not be terminated. Never have more than two terminations on a segment. Better still, avoid using spurs. Spur line length is only allowed to a certain length, as the higher the baud rate the lower the spur line length. This applies for the length of all spurs in the segment.

Figure 3: Active Bustermination.

Power Issues A more subtle problem occurs with the power to the terminators.

If the last device on our segment is powered down or unplugged (for example when isolating a drive, or replacing a device), the missing power on the termination network will cause reflections and also the 1V bias giving noise immunity will disappear.

An example of this last problem was recently found on a wind turbine installation. The turbine employed a Profibus network to communicate with sensors and

actuators in the turbine head where the blades are mounted.

This turbine was showing occasional control system errors which caused the generator to fail fairly regularly.

To locate the problem the engineers lowered the mast and did a check on the system.

The checks were carried out by connecting an engineer’s panel to the end of the Profibus cable.

Upon checking the system each time no problems were found.

So the engineer’s panel was

unplugged and the turbine raised again to operational position.

Unfortunately the problems continued. What was going on?

Well the engineer’s panel was supplying the power to the terminator at the segment end, but of course only when it was connected. As soon as the panel was unplugged they had an unpowered terminator.

This was actually easily solved by introducing a separate terminator that was permanently powered and independent of the engineer’s panel.

ENQUIRY NO. 6101

100th Meeting Of The Advisory Board PI (Profibus & Profinet International) has taken steps to ensure that many manufacturers participate in developing the technology. The Advisory Board was established to guide this technology development. It is made up of the Board of Directors, the committee leaders, and elected members. To fulfill its responsibility, the Advisory Board has held regular meetings. As such, the 100th meeting of the Advisory Board took place at the end of June 2014.

The Advisory Board members took the opportunity of its 100th meeting to catch up on the latest concrete findings on the issue of Industry 4.0 from inside experts.

Evaluation of the effects on PNO technologies and definition of next steps has been started.

Figure 2: Termination directly at the connector must to be powered from the end device.

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THE Boards of Directors of the Fieldbus Foundation and the HART Communication Foundation have announced that they have approved unifying the two Foundations into a new industry organisation dedicated to the needs of intelligent devices and their integration in the world of Process Automation.

The combined power of both organisations will serve to protect the investments that end users in Process Automation have made in HART and Foundation fieldbus communication technologies.

The mission of the combined organisation will be to develop, manage, and promote global standards for integrating devices into automation-system architectures, providing functional solutions for process automation suppliers and end users. Suppliers will also profit from the increased efficiencies in resource utilisation, procedure consistency, and member service and support improvements.

History Of Cooperation The Fieldbus Foundation and HART Communication Foundation have a long history of cooperation.

For example, the two worked together to develop common international standards, such as Electronic Device Description Language (EDDL) specifications and Field Device Integration (FDI) technology.

Combining the organisations offers significant potential for harmonising the procedures and efforts supporting the two protocols, as well as simplifying each technology’s implementation while better delivering their full benefits in plant operation and maintenance.

The Foundation fieldbus and HART specifications will continue to exist individually, and to evolve into the future. Each protocol will retain its own brand name, trademarks, patents, and copyrights.

The new organisation will continue development, support, and promotion of the two existing protocols, and will direct the development, incorporation,

Mike Johnson, Des Moines, IA, US

Fieldbus Foundation And Hart Communication Foundation Boards Support Joining Together

The new organisation will continue development, support, and promotion of the two existing protocols, and will direct the development, incorporation, and implementation of new and overlapping technologies. and implementation of new and overlapping technologies. As such, the new organisation will eventually serve as the single source for FDI, the sole integration tool for HART and Foundation fieldbus technologies. The name of the proposed organisation is not yet finalised.

The Next Step The next step will be to complete the membership ballot by the end of summer 2014. Following a successful membership vote, legal filings for the creation of a new not-for-profit entity will take place in September 2014. As a final step, it is expected that the new organisation offices will be consolidated and be located near Austin, Texas, in early 2015.

ENQUIRY NO. 6102

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Support For

EtherCAT Intensifies In Asia Almost 200 participants invited by the EtherCAT Technology Group attended the 2014 ETG Member Meetings in Japan and South Korea.

RECENTLY, the EtherCAT Technology Group (ETG) conducted the 2014 ETG Member Meetings in Japan and South Korea. Almost 200 participants received updates with results from the different ETG Working Groups, ETG marketing activities as well as the numerous events held by the organisation during the past year.

Local ETG representatives organised the first meeting in Seoul. Many Korean ETG member companies supported the event with their presentations about EtherCAT implementation in their solutions. For instance, Jaehwan Park from the Cultural Technology Convergence R&D Group at the Korean Institute of Industrial Technology introduced EtherCAT applications in international concert venues which contain motion control sequences for actor flying effects and as such are very demanding with regards to safety requirements.

Over 100 Attendees In Japan In Japan more than 100 attendees came to the ETG Member Meeting to listen to presentations from the Japanese ETG representative as well as those offered by the ETG Regional Committee in Japan. Kenichi Mukai from Applied Materials demonstrated why they chose EtherCAT as their system bus. He noted that after thorough evaluation, Applied Materials

is now convinced that EtherCAT offers exactly the high performance required to support the next technological steps in wafer processing.

Applied Materials supports numerous teams within the ETG Semiconductor Technical Working Group, which has recently helped specify a set of device profiles to reduce system integration costs for the semiconductor industry. A second highlight was the presentation given by Shinya Hirano from the notable Riken Institute introducing a new EtherCAT-based humanoid service robot project. It is their second generation of service robots based on EtherCAT, with the technology already having been successfully implemented in a number of previous Riken projects.

Milestones The ETG celebrated its 10th anniversary at the end of 2013, and the content for both ETG Member Meetings covered this special topic. The initial presentation at both events given by Martin Rostan, executive director of the ETG, began with a journey through the first 10 years of the ETG. During this presentation, Mr Rostan reflected on the many milestones of EtherCAT technology and the ETG. ENQUIRY NO. 6103 September 2014 | industrial automation asia

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Newsdesk

CAN-Beagle-Cape As Open-Source Hardware CAN in Automation (CiA) has established the Interest Group ‘Open-source hardware’. The group’s first project will be a Beagle-cape with an active CAN interface. ‘Capes’ are addon boards, which can be mounted on a Beagle-board. Even though the Beagle-board comes with a processor with a CAN interface, it does not offer a transceiver chip.

The developed CAN-cape will be based on the STM32 microcontroller in a 64-pin housing. The CAN interface will be connected via a 3,3-V transceiver on a 9-pin D-sub connector.

Optionally a second transceiver and a second connector will be available, which will enable access to the CAN interface of the Beagle-board.

“All development and production documents will be published on our website,” said Holger Zeltwanger, MD, CiA. The CAN-Beagle-Cape is meant for evaluation purposes, but can also be used for low-volume series. “Apart from professional tinkerers, we expect to see interest from academic circles,” explained Mr Zeltwanger. The cape will also be usable without the Beagle-board.

CANopen SIG Item Detection CiA has established the CANopen SIG item detection.

This group develops a generic CANopen device profile for detecting, measuring, and evaluating any kind of object. This includes cameras with preprocessing and other high-tech sensor devices. The group’s chair is still vacant.

In the first meetings, the SIG members agreed on a generic approach. This means the CANopen profile for item detection is not limited to a certain sensor technology.

Besides process data, this profile will specify in particular the configuration and parameterisation of CANopen devices.

ENQUIRY NO. 6104

ENQUIRY NO. 6105

Chaleerat Ng, Leuven, Belgium

CANopen And The Internet Of Things

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This is the aim: accessing objects via the Internet. This could mean accessing information to see an object’s status or giving commands to change the status. But if you want to access devices in a CANopen network system it is necessary to know the address of the network and the device. To clear this hurdle, the CANopen Special Interest Group (SIG) ‘Internet of Things’ is specifying a method for functional addressing.

The working group, which was founded in June 2014, wants to establish a CANopen framework, which will enable CANopen devices to access any function available in a network. The user does not need to know the network or device address. “With a CANopen device that offers a WLAN or Bluetooth interface, it is for example possible to open or close the kitchen blinds with a smartphone or a tablet,” explained Holger Zeltwanger, MD, CiA. “This is of course also possible via the internet.”

ENQUIRY NO. 6106

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ISSUES & INSIGHTS

Industry 4.0:

Towards A Smart Factory William Picard, New York, US

Bosch was co-chair of the Working Group on Industry 4.0, and is now involved in a process that aims to revolutionise Germany’s manufacturing sector. IAA interviewed Thomas Jakob, MD (Asia Pacific), Bosch Software Innovations on this and more.

By Mark Johnston

I

n the future, Cyber-Physical Production Systems (CPPS) will allow industry to manufacture more flexibly and efficiently. Made up of intelligent machines, storage systems, and operating resources, these systems can autonomously exchange information, trigger processes, and control each other. An important foundation still missing for CPPS, however, is an integrated information and communication infrastructure that connects the entire system and other CPPS to each other, even between companies.

IAA: You are in the process of developing a communication infrastructure that connects entire systems and other CPPS to each other and also building a demonstrator. What stage are you at this process?

Thomas Jakob (TJ): Bosch was co-chair of the Working Group on Industry 4.0, which put together the set of recommendations to the German federal government for the implementation of Industry 4.0.

We combine our industrial knowledge of domains with our expertise as a provider of industrial

solutions. As a supplier of connected industry, we see ourselves as a provider of technology and solutions to OEMs and users. Bosch Rexroth, for instance, supplies both manufacturing equipment and components to the mechanical engineering sector. Our Bosch Packaging Technology division builds entire packaging machines for the food and pharmaceuticals industries, as well as assembly and testing equipment for our own needs. And then there are the software solutions created by our software and systems unit, Bosch Software Innovations.

The key motivation in building a demonstrator is to show how the implementation of Industry 4.0 could be effected as a first step. The implementation requires interfacing with machines crucial to production, and allowing relevant information to flow between numerous systems and the central backend platform (ie: the communication infrastructure).

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ISSUES & INSIGHTS

support plant engineers with a single point of access to perform daily tasks like quality control and checks, tracking of machine health and maintenance status, as well as to address operational issues centrally.

This includes smart monitoring functionalities based on configurable thresholds, which both help to manage machine health as well as production quality.

By tying such infrastructure and services together across extended production systems, companies will eventually be able to manage plants spread out across the globe much more efficiently.

IAA: CPPS is said to allow industry to manufacture more flexibly and efficiently. It connects factories and production processes, right down to individual sensors across locations. Could you explain how this will work in a manufacturing environment?

TJ: In the manufacturing environment, CPPS comprise smart machines, end-to-end ICT based integration and production facilities capable of autonomously exchanging information, triggering actions and controlling each other independently. Processes that have only controlled production workflow are now being extended to objects (or devices).

These objects become a part of a process, and processors are embedded into objects. For instance, in the area of predictive maintenance, uniquely identifiable smart sensors are installed inside critical/ specialised equipment which will monitor if any parts have exceeded their designed thresholds, and will automatically send reports to owners and manufacturers if that occurs.

Early predictions on equipment malfunctions can be made and maintenance can be automatically scheduled ahead of an actual part failure. This will reduce downtimes. CPPS goes beyond present-day production systems which typically are comprised of many disparate systems operating on their own databases and communication buses.

For example, it would allow production volumes to be configured more flexibly (batch size of 1).

Solutions like predictive maintenance can make an important contribution to cost reduction by reducing downtimes, and as such will be even more important in the future.

IAA: This technology is being developed as part of Industry 4.0. Are there similar initiatives outside of Germany that you have learned from and also what are the range of benefits for Germany that this initiative hopes to enable?

TJ: While Germany has taken a lead in the development of next-generation manufacturing systems, there are a number of similar initiatives

A smart factory like this can be flexibly expanded. Different production elements can be connected using cloud computing.

around the world. This includes South Korea’s ‘3.0 Strategy for Manufacturing Innovation’ that was recently announced as well as China’s draft 10-year plan for the manufacturing sector entitled ‘China Manufacturing 2025’. It includes initiatives for high end machine tools, new energy vehicles, industrial robot and intelligent equipments and others. In Japan, the ‘Monozukuri’ approach is being further developed to include smart manufacturing principles similar to Industry 4.0. Bosch is also part of the Industrial Internet Consortium in the US. For Germany, the importance of staying ahead in the development of manufacturing technology is crucial to its continued lead in this sector globally.

Eventually, we are foreseeing a future where the things being produced communicate interactively and where the shop floor can react dynamically to changes in the supply chain as well as to issues arising in the machinery park.

IAA: How do you see this technology evolving into the future as industry trends become more prominent, such as, Internet of Things, Cloud Computing, Big Data, Mobility, Collaboration, Security, and so on?

TJ: Industry 4.0 is not an isolated approach but leverages on exactly these technological advances to achieve its objectives of a more flexible and efficient production system. Internet of Things principles will be applied to connect into any kind of production assets and developing relevant applications (or services) in a more agile fashion with such applications residing in cloud environments and taking advantage of big data and collaboration capabilities.

Obviously, security and data protection is a crucial enabler for such implementations and are as such a key focus also in our implementations of Industry 4.0 (or CPPS) solutions.

ENQUIRY NO. 6201

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What Is The Internet Of Things?

The IoT is the next generation of the internet. It is a global system of IP-connected computer networks, sensors, actuators, machines, and devices.

Merging this physical world with the virtual world of the internet and software enables companies and consumers to create and enjoy new services that are founded on web-based business models.

database of the analyst firm Machina Research is expected to deliver around 14 billion of those connected things by 2022. Second, the ITU predicts that by 2015, 75 percent of the world’s population will have internet access. And third, the omnipresent mobile revolution: according to the mobile forecast from Cisco’s Visual Networking Index, more than three billion smartphones and tablets will be in use globally by 2017.

Business Models At Stake Three industrial revolutions that have brought epic changes to the world of business are steam engines, mass production, and internet technology. Today, we are in the midst of what is often called the fourth industrial revolution — the convergence of physical things with the world of the internet: The Internet of Things (IoT).

Managers Must Create IoT-Based Business Models Managers need to envision the valuable new opportunities that become possible when the physical world is merged with the virtual world and where potentially every physical object can be both intelligent and networked. And, starting now, they must create the organisations and IoT-based business models that can turn these ideas into reality.

Fourteen Billion Of Connected Things By 2022 ENQUIRY NO. 6202

ENQUIRY NO. 757

First, consider the number of IP-enabled devices such as cars, heating systems or production machines. The research

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ISSUES & INSIGHTS

Infrastructure For A Smart City Singapore continues to be seen as an ideal test bed for the implementation of Smart City technologies.

In this regard, IAA interviewed Anthony Elvey, MD, Service Providers, VCE (Asia Pacific & Japan) on smart cities and the advantages of Singapore as a test bed. By Mark Johnston

V

CE is a company that was formed by Cisco and EMC with investments from VMware and Intel. This is its fourth full year of business. The company was set up to accelerate the adoption of converged infrastructure and cloud-based computing models that aim to reduce the cost of IT while also improving time to market.

IAA: How do you define a Smart City?

Anthony Elvey (AE): The challenge of a Smart City is that there are going to be so many end points for data collection. Dealing with the amount of data collected from these endpoints is going to be difficult. However, it is not just about the volume of data, but the range of new applications that are going to be needing to use that data. Many of those applications still have not been written yet. The environments in which that data will be collected and the way the applications will interact with those endpoints is also to a certain extend undermined.

We are in the infrastructure business and what we know how to do is make infrastructure that is very predictable, very scalable, and is reliable. We have infrastructure that has been designed specifically for that kind of very intense volume of transactions. For example, in a smart city you may find that an iPhone takes on a whole new meaning in the transport system or the healthcare system, and so on.

What is required from an infrastructure provider is to make it possible to process that volume of data in a way that would make the city smart. For us, the

definition of smart city is somewhere where there are dozens of end points, dozens of data points for collection, and a whole range of new applications that are completely dependent on our infrastructure in order to run the city.

IAA: What specific technologies would you say are crucial to building a Smart City?

AE: The next really big challenge for everybody is to think differently about the relationship between applications and the network. Typically, networks have originally predominantly been defined as coming from a telecommunications point of view. The next really big challenge is to do three things.

First of all, it is to make multiple data centres in multiple locations perform as a single entity. As such, to look at the network as a fabric that holds together multiple data centres in one of the key things. There is a core technology from Cisco that is built into our Vblock product, called application centric infrastructure, which is going to improve the capability of doing that. This leads us to the second important thing, which is the technology that makes it possible for applications to move themselves dynamically throughout that fabric of infrastructure. This is going to be particularly important for a smart city because you are going to want to have high levels of site resilience, you are going to want to have high levels of application resilience, and you will want to be able to transport workloads from one part of that infrastructure to

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Another thing is it does not have a very high level of physical catastrophe risk. As such, it is not as if you are building on a fault line in Japan or it is not like you are putting yourself in a situation where there are some unexpected risks that are going to destabilise the infrastructure. Therefore, I think Singapore has a lot going for it. It also has a number of other things, such as a good rule of law, a good legal basis, a stable government, and it also has a very good public-private partnership in the way infrastructure is invested, which is a common characteristic of anybody trying to build a smart city. This is because you have to be able to engage on the public and the private side equally because otherwise you do not get the end user consumption. Meaning you do not get the economy of scale, and as such you do not get to roll out the technology.

another depending on peak loads. For example, traffic in Singapore behaves very differently in Orchard Road on a Saturday than it does on a Sunday or in the middle of the week. As such, how do you make sure that the data centres that are looking after traffic or human population movement have the capacity on those certain peak periods of time to move the applications or the computing requirements across additional data centres to give you more capacity.

The third technology that is really going to be critical is the way all of the assets are being used. As such, the network, the computer and the storage are virtualised across the network, so that it is possible for things that are no longer physically dependent on each other for them to be virtually dependent on each other. That means the infrastructure itself has to be virtualised across the network, and that technology exists in VMWare Software defined data centre/Software Defined Network.

Timo Balk, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

IAA: Over the next 5 to 10 years, what trends do you expect to see in data centres and networking?

Singapore is an ideal test bed for Smart City technology and strategy.

IAA: What are the unique advantages to those who want to experiment with Smart City technologies inside Singapore?

AE: Singapore has some fantastic advantages, first of all it is physically a very convenient size. It also has a lot of reliable infrastructure and so many of the things you would want to have as a base standard for a smart city already exists in Singapore. Also, you have probably noticed there are a lot of people relocating their data centre assets here to Singapore. One of the things you are certainly going to need, depending on the type of application — if it needs to be supported in an active environment, like an air traffic control system or something to do with public security — is adjacency of data centres. You need them a fairly short distance apart so there is no latency in the active environment.

AE: There are a few things. From a data centre point of view one of the things that enterprises have got to decide is what do they expect data centres to do, where does it sit in the function of their IT consumption? Do they need to look at the data centre based on a service provider or do they need to have their own data centre or what combination of that do they need to have? Also, what does it mean in terms of legislative and security and governance issues, within their IT consumption? In addition, you are going to see much more intensity or compute in a single rack.

The other things you are going to see in data centres is them turning up in places where there are very interesting forms of alternative energy. If you are talking in terms of national competitiveness, one of the challenges is going to be how do you put yourself in an energy efficient environment?

For example, Iceland sees itself as a major data centre provider in the future because it has unlimited geothermal energy, which is entirely sustainable. They consider that they will be able to bring to the table a data centre solution that is absolutely carbon neutral. That might not be the case for everybody who is getting into the data centre business.

ENQUIRY NO. 6203

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PROCESS CONTROL

Optimising Encoder Performance With

Advanced Filtering Optics

Effective optical filtering is essential for ensuring dirt immunity, signal stability and low cyclic error. Evidence shows that well-designed optical schemes lead to increased up-time, greater reliability and reduced cost-of-ownership for the end-user.

By Sebastian Broady, technical writer, Renishaw

A

n encoder system comprises a sensor/ readhead paired with a scale that encodes position. The sensor reads the scale in order to convert the encoded position into an analogue or digital signal, which can then be input into industrial drives and controllers as part of a closed-loop system. Encoder readhead packages vary in size, according to the application, from large to miniature.

Position encoders are typically based on optical, magnetic or inductive principles. Optical-type encoders dominate the high-end market and are capable of resolutions as fine as one nanometre.

There are many different considerations when determining what type of encoder to use for a particular motion control application.

One of the most critical features of an ‘open’ optical encoder is immunity to dust, grease, oil and other contaminants common to industrial environments. Well-designed optical encoders read badly contaminated or even damaged scale without issue and thereby help to maximise machine up-time and life-cycle performance.

Filtering Optics An optical filtering scheme is required to ensure the highest levels of dirt immunity in metrology applications. Renishaw’s system of optical filtering is effective and eliminates scale undulation error, which is often a feature of low-profile metal scales.

This optical scheme is illustrated as follows: an Infra-Red (IR) LED irradiates a linear or rotary

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(angle) scale, which is a plane reflective Ronchi grating of either 20 µm or 40 µm period. The beam is then diffracted on reflection and transmitted through an index (phase) grating prior to sensing by a photo-detector.

The principle applied in the design of this system is an application of the Talbot-Lau effect and analogous to Abbe’s theory for lens systems. The diffraction pattern of the scale is filtered by an index grating, which results in a pure sinusoidal fringe field at the detector. The photo-detector is segmented to preferentially detect the spatial frequency of the scale period and produce photo-currents in the form of four symmetrically phased signals. These are subsequently combined to remove Direct-Current (DC) noise components and output quadrature sine and cosine signals.

Industrial Applications Semiconductor The company’s encoders are used by suppliers of semiconductor wafer assembly and packaging equipment. A wide variety of encoders have been installed on linear and rotary axes of various wire-bonding and die-bonding machines. Their requirements include excellent dirt immunity, compact package size and low mass. These features guard against airborne contaminants, minimise machine footprint and allow rapid acceleration of low inertia axes.

The requirement of low mass scale for highspeed applications of up to 3 m/s is met by the company’s RGS stainless steel tape scales with a profile thickness of just 0.1 mm and a mass of 15 g/m. Airborne contaminants, such as silicon residue (Silovane), adhere to the scale and are a particular nuisance in the semiconductor industry. Effective filtering optics, therefore, are essential for minimising maintenance costs and machine downtime.

Flat-Panel Display (FPD) Inspection Air-bearing transfer systems are an essential component of FPD manufacturing and the monitoring of various defects. Inspection by high–resolution cameras begins with the raw glass substrates and is repeated at every stage of the manufacturing process prior to final assembly. Air-bearing carriages are required to move each of the FPDs through the inspection process and offer excellent accuracy, precision and repeatability.

The company’s encoders have been installed on the linear axes of these transfer systems, which are typically controlled by linear drives. Precise x-y positioning during inspection is essential for

maximising image quality, measurement accuracy and FPD throughput.

Optical filtering regimes, in this case, are beneficial for enhancing dirt immunity, reliability and improved positional stability.

Direct-Drive (DD) Rotary Tables A DD rotary table consists of housing, bearings, a spindle and an encoder mounted directly on the spindle to provide position feedback. DD rotary tables add a 4th or 5th axis to a CNC machine and are designed primarily for manufacturing complex aerospace parts. These versatile DD tables are capable of automating intricate processes with simultaneous rotation and tilt. Equipped with highly efficient brushless DC motors, DD tables are virtually maintenance free.

The company’s optical encoder products have been successful in rotary table applications. Dirt immunity, enhanced by filtering optics, is clearly advantageous in a machine tool environment with metal swarf, oil and coolant. Higher signal purity and lower jitter (noise) also lead to smoother velocity control and better surface finish of a machined workpiece. Overall, the effect of optical filtering is to enhance machine performance over the whole life-cycle.

Optical filtering scheme in ATOM.

Conclusion In conclusion, the performance of optical encoders depends on an effective optical filtering regime to provide high accuracy with low cyclic error, low jitter, high signal stability and longterm reliability. Consequently, optical filtering is applied across the company’s range of optical incremental encoders.

ENQUIRY NO. 6301

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SOFTWARE & NETWORKS

Transforming An Industry IAA interviewed Chang Thai Nam, VP, Discrete Automation & Motion business, ABB on the opening of the company’s regional robotics packaging application hub in Singapore, and on the changing nature of the manufacturing sector. By Mark Johnston

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he robotics sector is growing at an increasing pace, with great demand from Asian nations, especially China. In tandem with this trend ABB has opened its regional robotics packaging application hub in Singapore. “This robotic application centre is basically a test lab for industrial applications, designed to test a solution’s suitability for our end customer. This is the main purpose,” remarked Chang Thai Nam, president, Discrete Automation & Motion business, ABB. “We have a smaller lab for Picking, Packing, and Palletising applications. These applications, otherwise known as the three Ps require the most human workers. However the new generation of workers do not want such jobs, and so automation is naturally taking over their roles. I believe that is why we wanted to start this application centre,” he added.

The hub is intended to be a platform to develop novel robotics manufacturing solutions in hardware and software to benefit growing industries, such as, food and beverage, pharmaceutical, consumer electronics, and solar photovoltaics.

The new 600 sqm workshop features demo units for picking, packing, and palletising processes.

The facility will also allow end customers, channel partners, and the company to run trials with actual products, assemble robotics systems and conduct factory acceptance tests before delivery.

Investing In The Future With the manufacturing sector going through

significant change, and terms such as ‘Industry 4.0’, Internet of Things (IoT), Additive Manufacturing, and so on, are being spoken about with increased volume and at a more frequent rate, it is time to take notice and invest in the future.

“When you do an application, you need to be the best at it. As such, the real investment here is more on the human resource side; much more expertise investment. However, expertise needs time to develop. For each application we may need about two or three specialists,” remarked Mr Chang, on his company’s investment strategy for the regional application hub.

“It is also important that we invest in this together with partners. For example, the Singapore government may invest, not necessarily in ABB, but in a research centre or a University. The customer may also invest. We all need to work together,” concluded Mr Chang.

The application hub has about 30 employees presently, but as Mr Chang points out they are looking to expand to between 40 to 50 employees in about two years time, and beyond that, 60, Mr Chang stated. However, as Mr Chang points out: “We are talking about the professional grade employee, not the technician level.”

In terms of roles these employees would be involved in, Mr Chang remarked: “Software programming would be one, another would be gripper design, and a third would be system design.”

He went on to explain that application engineers, software engineers, and design engineers, would

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Robot Sales Reached Record Levels Almost 100,000 new robots were installed in 2013 in Asia/ Australia, 18 percent more than in 2012. The European market increased by five percent to more than 43,000 units almost reaching the all-time-high of 2011. Robot supplies to the Americas continued to increase by eight percent to more than 30,000 units. More than 700 industrial robots were sold in Africa, 87 percent more than in 2012.

China Biggest And Fastest Growing Robot Market

The hub is intended to be a platform to develop novel robotics manufacturing solutions in hardware and software to benefit growing industries, such as, food and beverage, pharmaceutical, consumer electronics, and solar photovoltaics. be required. However, for large projects, project managers would also be required.

The new hub will also serve as a live learning and collaborative environment through research and problem-solving from real industrial cases.

Through training industry partners and educational institutions, the company intends to aid the development of highly competent engineering talents to serve the region, accelerating the growth of technical competencies locally and regionally.

As Mr Chang remarks: “we collaborate with research centres, with customers, and with education partners.” Explaining that the company’s collaborations are with the likes of ITE, Singapore Polytechnic, NTU, SIMTech, Rolls Royce, and so on.

“The nature of these collaborations will have to be defined by the business model,” he added.

China is by far the biggest robot market in the world regarding annual sales and it is also the fastest growing market worldwide. For the first time ever, the sales figures of Chinese robot suppliers are included in the IFR statistics survey. Almost 37,000 industrial robots were sold in 2013 in China. Thereof, Chinese robot suppliers installed about 9,000 units according to information of the China Robot Industry Alliance (CRIA).

Their sales volume was almost three times higher than in 2012. Foreign robot suppliers increased their sales by 20 percent in China. Between 2008 and 2013, total supply of industrial robots increased by about 36 percent per year on average. In 2013, every fifth robot sold in the world was installed in China.

Japan, USA, South Korea and Germany represent 50 percent of the global robot market Japan was the second largest market regarding annual sales, but it still has, by far, the highest number of industrial robots in operation, more than 300,000 units. It is the most automated country in the world. Japan is the predominant robot manufacturing country. More than half of the global robot supply of 2013 was produced

by Japanese companies. In 2013, sales of industrial robots decreased by nine percent to about 26,000 units due to reduced investments of the automotive and the electronics industries in Japan. However, exports of Japanese robots increased.

In 2013, Robot sales to the South Korea increased by 10 percent to more than 21,000 units due to increased investments of the automotive industry. The electronics industry which is the main customer of industrial robots in South Korea, reduced its robot orders.

Robot sales to the German market were four percent higher in 2013 compared to 2012 and reached more than 18,000 units, the second highest level ever recorded.

The automotive industry was again the driver for the growth. Between 2008 and 2013, robot sales to Germany increased by four percent on average.

ENQUIRY NO. 6401

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SOFTWARE & NETWORKS

The Brains There are a number of software packages used by the company to program, control, and monitor the robots. The following is a summary of these:

PalletPack 460 - Function Package A package of pre-engineered products configured for endof-line palletising that is designed to improve ease of use for integrators and lowers the hurdle to entry into automation.

The function package is available for either high-speed bag palletising or compact end-of-line case palletising.

An Evolving Industry “Manufacturing has to be evolved as a whole. The Singapore government is quite smart in this regard.

The entire ecosystem that drives manufacturing needs to be developed. If you ask me, we are heading towards a future where fewer people are needed in manufacturing because of the increasing rate of automation. As such, the future will be less labour intensive and more productive,” stated Mr Chang.

He also went on to explain that “technology is going to be more integrated. Jobs will mostly be reserved for highly skilled employees only, who will have a multidisciplinary approach to their job.”

The hub will employ contactless robotics technology meaning the robots will be suitable for jobs that require a high degree of hygiene, accuracy, and consistency in their production. The robots can also be used to meet customisation demands because of their speed and flexibility. Installing them in hazardous environments without lighting, heating or air-conditioning also enables businesses to be more efficient in their energy usage, while lowering employee exposure to potential hazards and risks.

PickMaster PickMaster is the company’s standard software solution for integrating cameras, vision system and conveyors with picking, packing and palletising robots. It is specifically designed for easy integration of the company’s robots to a wide range of random material flow handling applications making it suited for running combined high-speed picking and case packing systems.

This software solution integrates up to eight cameras and eight robots and multiple conveyors for each robot.

The software can handle multiple in-feeders and multiple out-feeders in simultaneous production and houses quality control and inspection capabilities, as well as functions for advanced mixing and sorting of different products.

RobotStudio Palletising PowerPac This program, which runs on a PC, allows users to configure, simulate and program the company’s robots and grippers for palletising solutions, with little or no robot programming experience required.

ENQUIRY NO. 6403

ENQUIRY NO. 6402

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14 - 16 October 2014 | Singapore EXPO Halls 3 & 4 | www.buildtechasia.com

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INSTRUMENTATION & MEASUREMENT

Alarm Management:

Practicality Of A Phased Approach An alarm management improvement program not only supports the industry’s best practices, but also delivers it in a practical and cost-effective manner. By Kevin Brown, global alarm management best practices leader, Honeywell Process Solutions

I

t is not only in the process industries for which alarm management is crucial. In April 2013, The Joint Commission, a US non-profit which accredits the country’s hospitals, warned that doctors were increasingly desensitised, immune or overwhelmed by constant hospital medical alarms — ‘alarm fatigue’, as researchers put it.

Between January 2005 and June 2010 the US Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) Manufacturer and the User Facility Device Experience (MAUDE) database revealed that 566 alarm-related patient deaths were reported.

The issues will be wearily familiar to all those who have tackled industrial alarm strategies: Staff are faced with thousands of alarm signals from a myriad of medical instruments on every unit, up to 99 percent of which require no clinical intervention.

As a result, the report found, physicians were prone to turn down alarm volumes, turn them off, or adjust the alarm settings outside safe parameters — with serious, potentially fatal, consequences.

Despite their experience, the process industries may have less to offer newcomers to this space than one would expect. That is because too often approaches to alarm management have been dictated by, and even restricted to, the capabilities and functions of specific tools or local site knowledge. Investments in software tools, for example, while an essential part of any alarm improvement program, can do little to resolve underlying problems if the results and findings are not actioned in a structured and timely way.

Even where process companies take a wider view to include software tools, formal standards and procedures, a framework

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• Phase 2 — Identification and elimination of bad actors • Phase 3 — Alarm rationalisation At the very outset of this program, it is important for the process company to be clear about their reasons for embarking on an alarm management project. These will vary between businesses, but without clear agreement on the benefits sought, it is impossible to tailor an effective program to the organisation’s needs, or to achieve buy-in from those tasked with implementing it. There are a number of common drivers: • • • • • • •

executed alarm management program. Other observed benefits included three percent increased capacity utilisation, five percent better energy utilisation, and a five percent improvement in mechanical availability.

What these figures suggest is that the primary goal of alarm management is not to reduce the number of alarms. A reduction will occur, but it is the result of a good system put in place to achieve business and operating goals,

rather than the aim in itself. The quality and clarity of the alarms presented, not the number, is the most important aspect of any alarm management program.

There are, in fact, few areas of business improvement where better alarm management cannot have an impact. Whether the object is better reliability, productivity or performance, safeguarding the plant or reducing costs, alarm management is an important contributor. Consider Vannmarie

to tie these otherwise disparate elements together is usually lacking.

T h e f o c u s h e re w i l l b e phases two and three of alarm m a n a g e m e n t i m p ro v e m e n t process:

Regulatory compliance Safety improvement Operator efficiency Insurance premiums Reduction of trips Increased production Reduced maintenance costs

The impact of the insurance industry is an interesting driver.

No insurer wants exposure to a Texas City or Milford Haven, and underwriters are increasingly insistent that clients demonstrate a proactive approach to alarm handling before agreeing to provide coverage.

M o r e o v e r, all the aforementioned drivers are reasons enough in themselves to embark on an alarm improvement program, and there is convincing evidence to show measurable benefits can be achieved.

H o n e y w e l l ’s o w n re s e a rc h suggests plants can, on average, cut in half both unplanned downtime and the number/cost of incidents with an effectively

The process industry is a common victim to bad alarm management.

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Vee TEC, US

INSTRUMENTATION & MEASUREMENT

Good alarm managment is paramount to safety.

one example: the challenge of an aging workforce and the skills gap that exists between them and the next generation workforce.

An effective alarm management system will capture the knowledge of experienced staff, cataloguing causes, consequences and corrective actions for each alarm, and retain this information for the benefit of less experienced recruits.

In all cases, the key to developing an effective alarm management strategy is to first understand why it is being developed. Within the same development framework, different requirements will drive different solutions.

Program Ingredients Techniques, standards, tools and best practices all play a role in alarm management. Most plants will be familiar with, and employ a range of these.

• Standards and guidelines: The EEMUA 191 guidelines are widely used in Europe; the ISA 18.2 standard in the US and across Asia.

• Best practice: This comes from a variety of sources, but the work of the Abnormal Situations Management (ASM) Consortium, founded

by Honeywell, has been particularly important in driving best practices in the area of alarm management.

• Tools: Software, databases and written procedures are all commonly used. Among the most frequently found are alarm management metrics, re c o rd i n g a n d a n a l y s i s s o f t w a re , m a s t e r a l a r m databases, and alarm response manuals.

A study presented to a meeting of the ASM Consortium by oil and gas giant Total in this respect is interesting. It looked at all of these areas — standards, techniques, procedures and tools — to see if any one of them had an overwhelming impact on the effectiveness of the alarm management program. The conclusion: there was no ‘silver bullet’. No single, specific action had the desired result; instead, a combination of actions made a positive and significant impact. An effective solution requires such a combination — a model.

The alarm management program provides the framework to ensure the various contributors are applied in a coordinated and coherent way in order to achieve the business goals (Figure 1). It ensures lessons learned in one area of a plant or facility can be

captured and applied elsewhere.

It also ensures the strategy is resilient: by building alarm management around a program rather than a specific tool, process or workflow, the strategy — the goal — is never undermined.

Human Factors Human factors are, of course, crucial to effective alarm management. The operator is the important link in the chain in any alarm system. They are the vital supercomputer, without which no system can be effective, regardless of how technologically advanced it may be.

H u m a n f a c t o r s a re n o t included as a distinct element of this model simply because they are integral to every part of it.

Established best practice and research should inform every step within the program. If we know that it takes on average, one to two minutes for an operator to read an alarm, understand the consequences and take corrective action, then there is little point.

For example, in an alarm system that relies on alerting an operator with two emergency alarms at the same time. How do you prioritise the emergencies?

Operators should be engaged at every stage of the improvement plan, in part to ensure buy-in to

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Phase 1: Identification And Elimination Of Bad Actors This phase should focus on the areas of biggest risk and greatest returns first, while generating EEMUA, ISA-compliant KPI assessment reports with quantifiable deliverables. EEMUA and ISA-compliant metrics are used because most regulatory or management bodies want to benchmark their assets against agreed upon best practices.

The focus is to address the problem alarms as they occur so that the facility can stay within the KPIs as listed in these guidelines and standards. The software tools employed should be easy to use, while generating webbased, KPI reports that provide a snapshot of current alarm system performance.

In practice though, reporting on KPI metrics is only one part of the solution. Improvement comes from the action taken on the information provided by these metrics. In this phase to drive improvement, action clearly needs to be taken.

Bad Actors can range from faulty transmitters, to inadequate on/ off delays or dead-band timings, leading to repeat offenders and chattering alarms, all of which provide unnecessary ‘noise’ and ‘fog’ to the board operator.

The improvement plan can start simple. Identify the top three

alarms each week, engage with Maintenance and Operations to have these problems addressed, build this weekly process into the workflow of the organisation to ensure ownership and continued delivery of the improvement plan.

Do this at the same frequency throughout the plan and results

show it is possible to achieve an 80 percent reduction in overall alarms in a very short space of time.

Do not let these quick wins make you think you can short circuit the rest of the model however, solving the alarm problem takes completion of several component parts (or Phases), but at least

ENQUIRY NO. 755

the program, but also to capture their knowledge and insight into human limitations.

Alarm management improvement is achieved through a phased approached. The two phases that have the largest impact on the program are the identification and elimination of bad actors and alarm rationalisation.

As each phase is successfully accomplished, the overall number of daily alarms will reduce, as will the alarm floods.

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INSTRUMENTATION & MEASUREMENT

A metrics and reporting dashboard.

this phase allows you to see quick improvement, fast returnon-investment and confidence that you are moving in the right direction.

Phase 2: Alarm Rationalisation Alarm rationalisation is commonly misunderstood. Effective alarm rationalisation can only take place when the ‘noise’ caused by the mass of nuisance alarms has been eliminated. Alarm rationalisation is not specifically about reducing the number of alarms, but rather more about the quality of them by ensuring the design of the alarm is correct in the first place.

The process involves analysing each alarm and looking at its cause, potential consequences and any corrective actions that are required: an alarm is only an alarm if a defined operator action is specified. If there is no operator action it is not an alarm. Operator alerts may be more beneficial in these circumstances, however evaluating the need for each is

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recommended otherwise alerts will become the next problem to solve.

Alarm Rationalisation will include review and approval changes from Phase 2: grouping, cloning, and a tag-by-tag review, as well as addressing standing alarms and operating modes, alarm priorities and so on.

This should lead to an end of assessment review, summary and training, highlighting the changes made and reasons for them.

Essentially, plants must determine if alarms have the correct priority, whether operators know what to do, and what the action(s) associated with each alarm are. The purpose of priority is to indicate to the operator which alarm to respond to first when one or more alarms ring in at the same time. An alarm’s priority should conform to the guidelines set out in the alarm system design document — the Alarm Philosophy Document (APD). A typical alarm priority matrix will take into account the

severity of the incident as it relates to company priorities, against the time it takes an operator to safely respond.

For example, if the consequence of the alarm is severe and the time the operator has to respond is less than two minutes, the alarm priority will most likely be critical.

An alarm with relatively minor consequences and greater than 30 minutes of time allocated to respond will have a lower priority.

The consequences and response time will be site-specific and detailed in the APD. It is also critical at this stage to document findings in a master alarm database and alarm response manual. This will ensure the change management process is followed and that the knowledge of the rationalisation exercise is captured.

And certainly one of the most important cautions to convey is that, for added alarms due to new equipment or changes in operations need to be rationalised prior to implementation, otherwise all the effort in this phase of the alarm management improvement program will be lost — results will eventually erode.

Conclusion These two phases will have a positive impact on the alarm rate and improve the overall performance of the alarm system.

Software tools are key enablers to managing, monitoring and maintaining the alarm system.

Using the tools continuously will guarantee long term success of the alarm system and improvement of operator reaction to alarms.

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INSTRUMENTATION & MEASUREMENT

Current State Of

Alarm Management And Future Trends

James Knight, UK

Alarm management is crucial in today’s power plants. The current state of alarm management solutions and future trends will be discussed. By R.A Padmanabhan and Chai Kah-Ming, Process Solutions Centre, Advanced Solutions Division, Yokogawa Electric International

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he advent of the intelligent Distributed Control System (DCS) and its capability to integrate various packaged sub-systems via OPC (OLE for Process Control) communication standard, enables panel operators to have total monitoring and control of all equipment in their plants. As Control Systems becomesmore complex and increase in size, the potential of alarm flooding, caused by unsteady process conditions such as process upset or cascading alarms due to equipment faults, has also increased in tandem.

By definition, an alarm warns operators of an abnormal situation in a process and urges them to respond to it. However, excessive alarm rates may cause operators to overlook critical alarms and as such not able to take timely recovery action.

This will increase probabilities of incidents and losses. According to the investigation report on the explosion and fire at a refinery in Milford Haven, Britain in 1994, numerous alarms were announced for five hours before the explosion. The operators overlooked alarms indications that led to the incident. The safety of a plant can be maintained only when the right alarms are annunciated to operators at the right timing.

Today, the majority of Oil & Gas, Petrochemicals, chemicals and related companies are embracing alarm management for safe and uninterrupted

plant operations. We also begin to see trends of companies operating non-hazardous processes, eg: food & beverages and water plants, adopting alarm management for better equipment reliability, asset utilisations and product qualities.

Alarm Management Portfolio Multi-tiered alarm management solutions can be offered to meet the requirements of owners from a different quadrant of alarm performance benchmarking. Alarm performance benchmarking is part of Yokogawa Comparative Effectiveness Analysis services, which helps to identify improvement opportunities and prioritise the improvement implementations by comparing owner’s plant performance with similar plants in the industry.

Alarm management solutions can be organised in three tiers: Tier 1 – Alarm Management Platform Tier 2 – Alarm Management Implementation Services Tier 3 – Alarm Management Consultancy Services Figure 1: Alarm Management Solutions Hierarchy.

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Tier 1 – Alarm Management Platform Yokogawa introduced the very first alarm analysis tool, Exaplog, in the 90s. This tool started out as a software printer for control systems, replacing line printers in control rooms, and today it is still a popular basic tool for alarm and event analysis.

The current flagships are Alarm Management Packages based on the Exaquantum Plant Information Management System and Advanced Alarm Manager (AAM) System. These platforms have all the functions required to support the Alarm Management Lifecycle, which is recommended by ISA18.2 and sustained alarm rates at manageable levels recommended by EEMUA Report No. 191.

The key features are: Integration To Control System Via OPC Alarm & Event (A&E) Server The prerequisite of alarm management is the ability to integrate alarm sources with control systems.

The standard approach is to use OPC A&E Server of target control systems. Using OPC A&E interface, the company’s alarm management packages integrate seamlessly with its control systems as well as third party systems.

Master Alarm Database & Alarm Advisory Master alarm databases are populated during alarm rationalisation. A tag uploading function will ensure that all tags in the DCS are defined in the database.

Users can determine alarm priority using alarm priority matrix which is subjected to the type of alarms,

consequence/severity and operator’s response time.

Each alarm record contains information of alarm cause, consequence and recommended action, which can be accessed by users as alarm advisory.

The built-in Management of Change feature ensures proper handling and tracking of the changes.

Role-Based Access Control The Client Application allows the user to interact with plant workflow process. User logs to AAM client by the area of responsibility and different authorisation level depending on the different functional roles.

Alarm Enforcement Alarm enforcement is an enhanced alarming technique that can verify and restore alarm attributes in the control system to the values in the master alarm database. Enforcement action allows DCS alarm settings to be consistent with the Implemented Alarm Database (IAD) alarm settings. The alarm management software can be configured for automatic or manual enforcement mode.

The shift handover reports inform users of the differences between the IAD and actual DCS alarm settings during shift handover or on an ad-hoc basis. Users have the flexibility to enforce the IAD or override the enforcement, with their judgement.

The system also provides traceability and accountability to changes in alarm settings. All changes to the alarm settings to the tag will be recorded with the reason(s) and MOC#, these changes can be traced via reports.

Figure 2: Alarm Performance Report Templates.

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INSTRUMENTATION & MEASUREMENT

Alarm Analytics And Reporting Plant operators or engineers can define different criteria (dates, time, plants and areas) in accordance with the plant-defined metrics. All events logged by the DCS are captured and critical metrics surrounding operator performance and loading levels are generated. The available data can be used for comparison against the KPI target values and benchmarks as recommended by EEMUA pub. No. 191.

There are more than 20 report templates ready for use and are easy to configure:

Figure 3: Screenshot of CAMS - real time alarm handling feature in Centum DCS.

• System Alarm Configuration Report: This report shows the distribution of high, medium and low priority alarms configured in the DCS. • System Alarm Setting Change Report: This report displays the changes to the alarm settings in the DCS. • Monthly KPI Report: This report displays the key performance index defined in the AAM. These include the number of days where the total daily alarms exceed a pre-set limit, the number of 10-minute intervals where alarm count exceeded a pre-set number of alarms, the total number of alarm suppressions, the total number of chatter alarms, the total number of stale alarm count.

• Operational Statistics Report on Calibration Mode: This report shows the list of tags that are in calibration mode.

• Operational Statistics Report on Digital Output Change: This report shows a list of digital tags with MV changes. The count on the number of changes and the last value is displayed.

• Operation/System Responses Repor t: This report displays the list of tags which as alarms active during the reporting period and satisfies the criteria of exceeding the specified time limit for acknowledgement and return to normal.

The time of acknowledgement and return to normal is displayed.

• PID Mode Change Statistics Report: This report displays the percentage of time that a PID controller is in auto, manual, cascade or other modes. The count of entering each mode shall also be displayed.

• PID SP Intervention Statistics Report: This report displays the number of times that the set point of PID controllers are changed. The maximum, minimum and last set point values are displayed in this report.

• PID MV Intervention Statistics Report: This report displays the number of times that the MV of PID controllers are changed. The maximum, minimum and last MV values are displayed in this report.

• Alarm Rate by Priority Report: This report displays information about the daily priority distribution of alarms. The daily alarm count and daily peak alarm rate shall also be displayed.

• Peak Alar m Repor t: This report displays information about alarm occurrences by time slices. The maximum, average, and minimum occurrences of alarms for each selected unit are presented. Default interval for time slicing shall be 10 minutes but the user may specify any other interval.

• Top Frequent Alarm Report: This report displays the frequent alarms for the reporting period. The numbers of frequent alarms to be displayed are user-selectable.

• And other reports, such as Alarm Histor y Search Report, Consequential Alarm Report: Alarm Flood Report Count, Alarm Flood Duration, Chattering Alarm Report, Stale Alarm Report, Suppressed Alarm Status Report, Suppressed Alarm Count Report, Trip Report, Alarm Events Report and Alarm Audits Report.

For Centum VP control systems, the operator enjoys the benefits from the built-in Consolidated Alarm Management System (CAMS). CAMS is realtime alarm handling tool in DCS Human Machine Interface (HMI) optimising alarm visualisation using techniques recommended by EEMUA Report No. 191, which is sorting, filtering, eclipsing, shelving and load shedding. Shelving and suppression of alarms in CAMS will also be reported to reflect actual alarm rates presented to panel operators.

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Tier 2 – Alarm Management Implementation Services

: not spurious or of low operational value

Unique

: not duplicating another alarm

Timely

: not long before any response is needed or too late to do anything

Prioritized

: Indicating the importance that the operator deals with the problem

Understandable : having a message which is clear and easy to understand Diagnostic

: identifying the problem that has occurred

Advisory

: indicative of the action to be taken

Focusing

: drawing attention to the most important issues

Figure 4: Characteristics of a good alarm.

advanced alarm processing using the Consolidated Alarm Management Software (CAMS) that runs on the Centum VP and CS 3000. In addition, the Operational State-based Alarm Management enables dynamic alarm management for changes in operation states, in such operations as startup of a plant or change in types of products.

All the ser vice procedures of the Alarm Rationalisation are defined in accordance with the DMAIC steps of Six Sigma, and tasks for the individual

ENQUIRY NO. 754

On top of the alarm management platform, there are also associated implementations services for customers who need professional services to deploy alarm management systems. Fundamental Nuisance Alarm Reduction (PNAR) is the basic service for first timer facing alarm flooding issues.

In many instances, FNAR effectively reduced alarms by up to 60 percent. This service collects and analyses A&E logs recorded during operations to identify the root causes of individual alarms and works out the solutions. The key is how to distinguish nuisance alarms from good ones. ‘Alarm Systems,’ EEMUA Publication No. 191, is the de facto standard for alarm management, providing the characteristics of a good alarm as shown in Figure 4. In this service, eliminating nuisance alarms is investigated while keeping these characteristics in mind.

Alarm Management Implementation Services also offers the EEMUA #191-based Alarm System Design and Operational State-based Alarm Management.

The EEMUA #191-based Alarm System Design enables

Relevant

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INSTRUMENTATION & MEASUREMENT

Philosophy

Identification

Rationalization Management of Change Detailed Design

Audit

Implementation

Operation Monitoring and Assessment Maintenance

Figure 5: Alarm Management Lifecycle in accordance to ISA18.2.

steps are clarified. The services are provided only by qualified engineers who have been trained through a training system with a virtual plant utilising a dynamic process simulator and who have passed the qualification test.

Tier 3 – Alarm Management Consultancy Services Services by Alarm Consultants are available for the development of Alarm Philosophy Documents. The Alarm Philosophy Document (APD) is a must-have specification document for organisations adopting the ISA18.2 standard. APD provides guideline for development, implementation, and the modification of alarm systems.

It provides a consistent basis for alarm selection, priority setting using priority matrix, configuration, response, guidance, handling methods, system monitoring, and documentation of alarm causes and consequences.

Having APD approved for use, alarm rationalisation and documentation workshops can be conducted.

Alarm consultants can also be provided that shall function as the role of workshop facilitators, lead a multidisciplinary team from Operators to rationalise the list of potential alarms..

In the workshops, alarms are qualified and prioritised, and other information such as operator guidance, static or dynamic suppression rules are approved. Alarm rationalisation workshops are done in iterations until alarms from all selected process area/units are reviewed. It could take several sessions during the initial phase, and later would be conducted ad-hoc based on the availability of core team members of alarm rationalisation. All data shall be documented in a file or master alarm database in the alarm management system.

Figure 6: Core Components of Advanced Decision Support.

Future Trends The market trend is moving towards enterprise alarm management, where companies operating from multiple countries or sites can monitor alarm performances centrally at its Headquarters.

This requires an alarm management system that is scalable for enterprise-wide alarm monitoring. Current IT technologies such as VPN and virtualisation enable data from different geographical areas to be consolidated and synthesised into management KPIs. Critical alarms and events can also be integrated into shift handover systems, to provide assurance that in-coming shifts are alerted. Alarms have also been used in new ways. For example, alarms could trigger an operator instruction with guidance, checklist, and reference materials from a Document Management System. This workflow automation will standardise operating procedures and reduces human mistakes.

Alarm management is a continuous improvement process and requires dedication from the alarm task force. There is also a concept called Advanced Decision Support, which is a solution to provide the next generation of high performance operation environment to enhance safety, reliability and efficiency. Alarm Management will be integrated with Advanced Operator Graphics (AOG) based on ISA101, and also procedural automation system based on ISA106.

Research and development efforts will continue to ease the implementation and maintenance of alarm systems, with greater integration and analytics of various applications to enhance reliability, safety and operation management.

ENQUIRY NO. 6502

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ENERGY

Case Study:

Advanced Optimisation And Visualisation Refinery upgrade helps drive better decision making through enhanced performance, visualisation, and evaluation. By Allison McNulty, worldwide product manager, AspenTech

E

ssar is engaged in the exploration and production of oil and natural gas, refining of crude oil, and marketing of petroleum products. The company operates several refineries in multiple countries with a global crude-refining capacity of 750,000 barrels per stream day.

For its 296,000-barrel-per-day refinery in Stanlow, UK, the company wanted to achieve the highest profitability and so they upgraded their refinery.

Refiners worldwide are faced with challenging market conditions and Europe is no exception.

Refining margins are razor thin as crude costs continue to rise, demand weakens and refinery capacity expands. It is now more critical than ever to maximise solutions by choosing the most profitable crudes as quickly and efficiently as possible.

This is just one of the multiple reasons the company chose Aspen PIMS-AO and aspenONE PIMS Platinum for their refinery needs.

Of the many possible benefits, just one has been the reduced run times for crude cases. What used to take 48 hours, now only takes about 4 hours.

With these solutions, the company now has the power to be more selective with their crude slate — choosing the most robust crudes — with more optionality, flexibility and ultimately more confidence to meet the refinery plan.

Inherent Case Run Complexities Prior to the company’s acquisition of the Stanlow refinery in 2011, PIMS had been the solution of choice at the refinery, but the company was worried about performance and wanted to better understand its solution. They turned to a solution that would utilise the latest technology to drive even better results.

N o t o n l y a re r u n s t i m e consuming but time bound as well in terms of where it starts and ends. And in this time bound parameter, the company must quickly identify the constraints and changes involving numerous runs and make them clearer.

Additionally, the analysis of the runs needs to be faster and easy to communicate to the stakeholders.

More Efficient Case Runs And Solution Dissemination The company upgraded to these solutions to achieve faster, more reliable results. With the possibility of parallel processing, the company can now evaluate multiple scenarios simultaneously in a fraction of the time used by traditional methods. Coupled with the Multi-Start function, a planner can easily achieve Global Optimum with ease.

The company also upgraded to answer the question of identifying constraints and hastening crude run analysis in addition to easily communicating the results to stakeholders.

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Sam LeVan, Philadelphia, US

Essar Oil - Petroleum Challenge: To increase profitability by selecting a global optimum for crude selection as quickly and efficiently as possible.

Solution:

It is now more critical than ever to maximise solutions by choosing the most profitable crudes as quickly and efficiently as possible.

Benefits Gained This solutions performance and Global Optimisation capabilities enabled the company to reduce local optima, thereby improving reliability in the plan.

According to the company, the multi-start option provided a robust tool for determining global optimums and is now a standard for all new releases and model updates.

Additionally, because of the parallel processing feature, the company can now run cases for their more than 150 crudes in a fraction of the time.

Total time for indifference is now less than a halfday end-to-end versus the previous two or more working days.

The company also leveraged the intuitive interface offered to improve its crude selection. The company can now quickly identify the constraints and changes across a large number of runs as they became more visible and understandable. For example, the company said this solutions flowsheet not only provided them a list of all constraints, but also highlighted the important ones based on tolerance limits set by the user. The easy-to-use interface also enabled faster analysis and simpler dissemination of the results to key stakeholders.

Another piece of the solution included upgrading to Microsoft SQL Server database. Running aspenONE PIMS Platinum on the SQL Server provided scalability and performance, supporting very large databases and making it possible for numerous concurrent users to access planning models and share real-time enterprise data across the organisation for faster results generation and analysis.

ENQUIRY NO. 6601

Aspen PIMS-AO and aspenONE PIMS Platinum combined provided a planning solution that improved crude selection and provided an efficient method of communicating the solution to shareholders.

Benefits: • Faster run times.

• Virtual elimination of local optimum.

• More effective communication with shareholders and better understanding of the model behaviour and constraints.

• Easy to use and visualise the planning model in a flowsheet.

• Faster results generation, sharing and analysis with MS SQL Server.

ENQUIRY NO. 6602

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Tel. +65 6487 1411 info@igus.com.sg September 2014 | industrial automation asia 47

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SECTOR SPOTLIGHT

Perfecting Dental:

3D Models & Dies 3D printing holds great promise, and has many applications across multiple industries, including the medical and dental fields. By Avi Cohen, director of Global Dental, Stratasys

T

he art and science of dentistry has evolved over the past few years as clinical and laboratory workows have progressed from an analogous, manual manipulation of materials to a systematic, digitally verifiable process. Today, these digital processes are being embraced as a means of elevating the total quality of dental offerings so that patients may benefit from enhanced treatment procedures; clinicians can treat patients faster, more smoothly and with greater consistency; and dental labs can provide dependably superior products.

The case study presented herein illustrates the ease of utilising consistent and reproducible 3D printed verification protocols as a means of ensuring the success of the restorative treatment plan.

Emerging Technologies Forward-thinking dental professionals, clinicians and laboratories are actively pursuing emerging digital dentistry technologies and quickly realising the benefits. These advancements have yielded new, high-quality materials that are industrially pre-fabricated, tested and controlled, as well as a standardised process for the creation of exacting treatment solutions, both of which help the dental professional construct dental devices of higher quality and consistency.

Traditional ways of creating dental casts have multiple opportunities for discrepancies.

Technique, material behaviour and material properties can generate substandard results. And because techniques are individualised, noteworthy discrepancies can be seen from day to day, and person to person. Traditional materials exhibit expansions and shrinkages that are challenging to counterbalance and often difficult to control. These discrepancies prevent validating the cast within the oral cavity, potentially making the dental treatment stressful for both the clinician and the patient, since more chair time is necessary to address issues related to fit.

By employing digital dentistry technology, dental laboratories can accurately and rapidly produce a range of dental and orthodontic appliances, eliminate the bottleneck of manual modelling, and help the lab grow and stay ahead of the competition.

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3D imaging software and 3D printed dental casts constitute the foundation of digital dentistry.

With them, dental professionals are able to follow a controlled verification process that duplicates the topography of the intra-oral cavity precisely so that the actual seating of the device is fast and anxiety-free.

Finally, by employing digital dentistr y technology, dental laboratories can accurately and rapidly produce a range of dental and orthodontic appliances, eliminate the bottleneck of manual modelling, and help the lab grow and stay ahead of the competition.

3D Printed Removable Dies The removable die is an important component of the model system. Previously, dies were cut out individually to gain access to the prepared margin and accurately fit the restoration inter-proximately. This process was time consuming and often imprecise.

The use of 3D printing helped address these issues but new challenges arose. While CAM software could segregate the dies from the main cast and print them separately, a large mass of dies were generally printed on one tray at the same time. These dies then needed to be cleaned, labelled and matched to each specific model. Furthermore, this method produced a slight horizontal shift or inconsistency in the die socket which frequently led to discrepancies in the final fit.

For these reasons, Stratasys set to work rethinking the printed model. A simple manipulation within the CAM software now allows the preparation to be duplicated and the removable die to be attached to the external cast, which can be used for verifying the margin. Additionally, now that the removable component has been eliminated within the un-sectioned solid cast, there is no potential for horizontal discrepancy shifts in fit.

Print job

Case Study Clinical Considerations A patient presented worn dentition, defective amalgam fillings and visible cracks in the molar regions. The patient, a bruxer, requested a conservative treatment rather than a full-mouth reconstruction to rebuild lost vertical dimension.

A treatment plan was proposed to replace the defective amalgams with tooth-coloured direct composite fillings, and place full-coverage zirconia Lava Plus (3M ESPE) crowns where needed. Fullcontour zirconia was chosen for the full crown material based on its strength, minimal reduction requirements and its ability to provide the desired tooth-coloured appearance.

Treatment began on the mandibular lower right quadrant. Teeth #28, 29 and 31 received new composite fillings. A composite core was placed in tooth #30, and the tooth was prepared for a fullcontour zirconia crown. The gingiva was retracted to reveal the margin for the digital impression. Itero (Align Technologies) was used to scan the operative quadrant, the opposing arch, and finally, the patient’s bite. The resulting digital proposition produced a virtual cast for evaluation of complete capture of data and an accurate rendering.

Laboratory Considerations An open-formatted STL scan file from Itero was imported into the Dental Manager (3Shape) CAD software. Dental Designer (3Shape) software was used to annotate the location of the proposed crown for tooth #30, and both a sectioned cast and unsectioned cast. Model Builder software (3Shape) was used to reorient the scan data, set the plane of occlusion and identify the prepared tooth’s margins.

Additionally, it proposed bases for both arches and a separated die was virtually extracted from the arch. STL files were generated for each cast part accompanied with an operative arch, opposing arch and an unsectioned model with attached die. The crown was designed with 3Shape design software, then milled and sintered overnight according to the material manufacturer’s recommendations.

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SECTOR SPOTLIGHT

Digital dentistry is rapidly becoming the norm within the profession, and serves as a valuable business tool for dental laboratories by cutting production times, lowering labour costs, and increasing efficiency, accuracy and profitability. What is more, digital dentistry offers dentists the use of consistent, state-of-the-art dental devices, and their patients a superior healthcare experience.

ENQUIRY NO. 6701 Designed restoration

CAD software program. A small rectangular shape was created and used to bridge the space between the solid arch and the detachable die. The three individual shapes were combined into one file and sent to an Objet Eden260V 3D Printer (Stratasys) along with other casts.

Restoration Seating Once sintered, the crown’s margins were easily finished on the printed detachable die, and contacts were subsequently fitted to the solid model, thereby providing validation of the device while still in the lab.

The crown was then stained, glazed and advanced to the clinician for seating.

In the dental office, the Lava Plus zirconia crown was received from the dental laboratory and evaluated again on the model. The fit of the crown on the detached die was perfect, with no rock or rotation, and the margins were undetectable. Interproximal contacts were validated on the solid model as broad and firm. Minimal adjustment was required and the crown was bonded with Scotchbond Universal with RelyX Ultimate Adhesive Resin Cement (3M ESPE).

This verification protocol was utilised systematically in the laboratory, and then subsequently in the dental office to produce a superior, verified and consistent dental treatment.

Conclusion As shown in this case study, the new cast CAD/CAM method ensures accuracy and precision by confirming the fit of the crown in the patient’s mouth, before it leaves the dental lab. All horizontal inconsistencies, which previously led to chair-side adjustments, have been alleviated by using a new verification protocol with the detached die for margin finishing, and the unsectioned solid model for contacts.

Visit us on our website at

Stratasys Opens 3D Printing Experience Centre In Singapore

Singapore: Stratasys Asia Pacific has opened a 3D Printing Experience Centre at its new office located in Toa Payoh, Singapore, providing local support to serve the growing needs in South Asia and Pacific region.

This Centre was inaugurated on 30 July, 2014 at a grand opening event with customers, channel partners and alliance partners in attendance. The Centre features the company’s 3D printing technologies — PolyJet and Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM), showcasing the full product portfolio ranging from desktop 3D printers to large, advanced 3D production systems, as such enabling designers and engineers to create models and prototypes for new product design and testing and to build finished goods in low volume. The Centre also exhibits the company’s specially engineered 3D printing materials — PolyJet photopolymers and FDM thermoplastics.

ENQUIRY NO. 6702

www.iaasiaonline.com

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FEATURES

A

utomation has helped to reduce costs in areas such as time, materials and manpower. With the introduction of automation, the industry has also been able to cut down on wastage in the form of defective products.

However, defects within assembly lines still occur and this can result in significant losses in terms of money and opportunity costs. Siemens’ recent innovation can potentially make defective products a thing of the past.

The Siemens’ Amberg Electronics Plant (German abbreviation: EWA), which was established in 1989, produces Simatic Programmable Logic Controls (PLCs). The devices are used to automate machines and equipment in order to save time and money and increase product quality. They control ski lifts and the onboard systems of cruise ships as well as industrial manufacturing processes in sectors ranging from automobile production to pharmaceuticals.

Siemens is a supplier of PLCs, and the EWA is the company’s showcase plant for these systems.

Production quality is at 99.9988 percent, and a series of test stations detect the few defects that do occur.

“I do not know of any comparable plant worldwide that has achieved such a low defect rate,” commented professor Karl-Heinz Büttner, who heads the EWA. The factory manufactures 12 million Simatic products per year, about one unit every second.

Machines and computers handle 75 percent of the value chain on their own; while the rest of the work is done by humans. Only at the beginning of the manufacturing process is anything touched by human hands, when an employee places the initial component (a bare circuit board) on the production line. From that point on, everything runs automatically. What is notable here is that Simatic units control the production of Simatic units. About 1,000 such controls are used during production, from the beginning of the manufacturing process to the point of dispatch.

Defects:

A Vanishing Occurrence?

The manufacturing industry in Singapore has grown over the years to become one of the largest sectors in the country, contributing 21 percent of Singapore’s GDP in 2013, an estimated US$60 billion. In this time, the manufacturing process has become more automated, paving the way for greater efficiency. By Ulrich Kreutzer, editor - Pictures of the Future, Siemens

Over 60,000 Customers Worldwide At the beginning of the manufacturing process, conveyor belts take the bare circuit boards to a printer, which uses a photolithographic process to apply a lead-free solder paste. In the next step, placement heads mount individual components, such as resistors, capacitors, and microchips, onto the circuit boards. The fastest production line can mount 250,000 components per hour — a process that is controlled by Simatic units.

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FEATURES

Machines and computers handle 75 percent of the value chain on their own; while the rest of the work is done by humans.

inspects the quality of the soldered connection points. Next, each printed circuit board is mounted into a housing. It is then retested and sent to a delivery centre in Nuremberg. From there, the PLCs are shipped to more than 60,000 customers all over the world.

Although production in Amberg is highly automated, human beings ultimately make the decisions. For example, Johannes Zenger, 26, supervises the test station for populated printed circuit boards, even though he himself does not test the components and circuitry. “My workplace is the computer,” he says.

Like his colleagues, Mr Zenger can monitor the entire value chain from his workplace. That is because each circuit board has its own unique barcode that lets it communicate with the production machines.

More than one thousand scanners document all of the manufacturing steps in real-time and record product details such as soldering temperature, placement data, and test results. As this happens, around 50 million pieces of process information are generated each day and stored in the Simatic IT manufacturing execution system.

Software defines all of the manufacturing processes and commands so that production can be recorded and controlled from start to finish. The system is also closely networked with the R&D department.

NX and Teamcenter, both of which are Siemens PLM software solutions, directly supply the manufacturing processes with the latest Simatic updates. Because the Amberg plant manufactures a thousand different products, very close cooperation with the plant’s R&D department is essential.

Talking Products The Amberg Electronics Plant is an advanced example of Siemens’ Digital Enterprise Platform — a production environment that may become the

Products and machines will determine among themselves which items on the various production lines should be completed first in order to meet delivery deadlines.

standard 10 years from now. Here, products control their own manufacturing processes. In other words, their product codes tell production machines what requirements they have and which production steps must be taken next.

This system marks the first step towards the creation of Industry 4.0. In this vision of a fourth industrial revolution, the real and virtual manufacturing worlds will merge. Factories will then be largely able to control and optimise themselves, because their products will communicate with one another and with production systems in order to optimise manufacturing processes.

Products and machines will determine among themselves which items on the various production lines should be completed first in order to meet delivery deadlines. Independently operating computer programs, known as software agents, will monitor each step and ensure that production regulations are complied with.

The Industry 4.0 vision also foresees factories that will be equipped to manufacture one-of-a-kind products profitably, as they will produce items quickly, inexpensively, and in top quality. In spite of its highly automated processes, EWA nevertheless relies on people for the development and design of products, production planning, and the handling of unexpected incidents. That will not change in the future.

“I doubt there will be any machine in the foreseeable future that can think independently and work intelligently without human aid,” explains Mr Büttner. This assessment is confirmed by a glance in the EWA hall. Approximately 300 people work a shift, and the EWA has a total of about 1,100 employees.

One of them is Sabrina Scherl, who exemplifies why human beings are still indispensable, even in highly automated production facilities. Ms Scherl is a trained photo lab technician who has worked at the EWA as a machine operator for the past nine

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The Industry 4.0 vision foresees factories that will be equipped to manufacture one-of-a-kind products profitably, as they will produce items quickly, inexpensively, and in top quality. years. In addition to loading a machine with rolls, on which individual components are lined up, Ms Scherl is responsible for quality testing. She visually checks the populated printed circuit boards on a computer to make sure they are complete. Without Scherl, the fully automated machine would be unable to proceed.

Human Beings As A Success Factor

“By contrast, the three sensors can determine the components’ front and back edges as well as any twisting,” says Mr Zenger. As a result of this idea, previously undetected faults no longer occur.

Although the EWA is highly automated, its appearance has not changed much since 1989. “The plant now has more and bigger machines than it did 25 years ago,” explains Norbert Eckl, head of Factory Planning at the EWA plant. However, a closer look reveals that work processes and results have also changed considerably. Even though the production area has remained unchanged and the number of employees has hardly increased, the plant now manufactures seven times as many units as it did in 1989.

More importantly, quality has increased substantially as well. Whereas the production facility had 500 defects per million (dpm) back in 1989, it now has a mere 12 dpm. “That is an impressive achievement,” says Mr Büttner with pride.

“We are not planning to create a workerless factory,” says Mr Büttner. After all, the machines themselves ENQUIRY NO. 6801 might be efficient, but they do not come up with ideas for improving the system.

Mr Büttner adds that the employees’ suggested improvements account for 40 percent of annual productivity increases. The remaining 60 percent is the result of infrastructure investments, such as the purchase of new assembly lines and the innovative improvement of logistics equipment. The basic idea here, says Mr Büttner, is www.turck.com that “employees are much better than management at determining what works or does not work in daily operation and how CONTACTLESS processes can be optimised.”

Absolutely wear-free thanks to contactless www.turck.com CONTACTLESS www.turck.com CONTACTLESS RLC measuring principle www.turck.com In 2013, the EWA adopted INDUCTIVE ENCODERS INDUCTIVE ENCODERS 13,000 of these ideas and INDUCTIVE ENCODERS IP67/IP69K lasting protection thanks to rewarded employees with Absolutely wear-free thanks to contactless fully potted and seamless design Absolutely wear-free thanks to contactless RLC measuring principle CONTACTLESS payments totaling approximately www.turck.com Absolutely wear-free thanks to contactless RLC measuring principle €1 million (US$1.31 million). In More thanlasting 100 characteristics RLC measuring principle IP67/IP69K protection thanksand to INDUCTIVE ENCODERS IP67/IP69K lasting protection thanks to confipotted gurations can bedesign parametrized fully and seamless 2012, for instance, Mr Zenger IP67/IP69K protection thanks to fully pottedlasting and seamless design suggested that his test station’s fully andcharacteristics seamless design Morepotted than 100 and Highest resolutions even at More than 100 characteristics and confi gurations can be parametrized collision needle be replaced Absolutely wear-free thanks to contactless More than 100 characteristics and confi can be parametrized highgurations rotation speeds RLC measuring principle with three collision sensors. confi gurations can be parametrized Highest resolutions even at Highest resolutions even at His suggestion was a big Award-winning high rotation speeds IP67/IP69K lasting protection thanks to Highest resolutions even at high rotation speeds Turck Singapore Pte Ltd success because the needle fully potted and seamless design high rotation speeds 25 International Business Park Award-winning #03-22/23 German Centre, Singapore 609916 Award-winning could only roughly determine Turck Singapore Pte Ltd+65 6562 8716, Fax. +65 6562 8719 Tel. 25 International Business Singapore Pte LtdParksingapore@turck.com Award-winning E-Mail: Sense it! than Connect it! Busand it! SolveTurck it!

More 100 characteristics #03-22/23 German Centre, Singapore 609916 25 International Business Park a component’s position on a Tel. +65Singapore 6562 8716,Pte Fax.Ltd +65Singapore 6562 8719609916 Turck #03-22/23 German Centre, E-Mail: Sense it!

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Award-winning Turck Singapore Pte Ltd 25 International Business Park #03-22/23 German Centre, Singapore 609916 Tel. +65 6562 8716, Fax. +65 6562 8719

8/9/14 10:26 pm

FEATURES

A

utoCAD is a well known product. Less, however, may be known about Autodesk the company. As Chris Lee, senior sales leader, Autodesk (ASEAN) explained: “In the last 23 years especially, the company has evolved into providing solutions for three distinctive industries.” The first industry is the construction industry.

“What we do in the construction industry is we provide our 3D modelling technology, called Building Design Suite. It allows a rc h i t e c t s , e n g i n e e r s , a n d construction companies to visualise the building and simulate the performance of the building, then optimise it, all before they actually build it,” he explained.

The benefit of this is: “They can actually make a lot of design corrections upfront without having to make the error on site and then incur added costs.”

Another benefit as Mr Lee explained, is you get to test and optimise the performance of the building, whereby you can get a green building certification, for example, due to the building design. The company allows you to create reports of the performance of the building in a way that you do not have to build the building before you can actually get the intelligence of the building.” The second industry the company is involved in is media and entertainment, and the third, the manufacturing industry.

An Open Future For 3D Printing IAA interviewed Chris Lee, senior sales leader at Autodesk (ASEAN), on manufacturing, 3D printing and his company’s open source platform to help accelerate the field.

By Mark Johnston

Design For Manufacture In the manufacturing space, as Mr Lee puts it: “We are not looking at just 3D CAD anymore. This is the industry that has evolved from just doing design to simulation, to optimising the product through digital data management and doing factory design.” And as he goes on to explain: “It also involves how to produce the parts in the most optimal, efficient, most cost

effective way.” As a company, Mr Lee states: “We have around 7,000 people. In Singapore, we have one of the biggest presence, with a large R&D team located here.”

The company also leverages the cloud, especially for its mobile apps. As Mr Lee explained: “The Cloud is basically accessing infinite computing power.” This of course enables design that could

not take place on a mobile device otherwise.

Accelerating Adoption The company has developed ‘Spark’, which is an open 3D printing software platform that is designed to make it easier for hardware manufacturers, software developers, materials scientists, product designers, and others to

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participate in and benefit from this technology.

Mr Lee explained: “Spark is a platform, it is not a 3D printer. A lot of people do not understand that. Spark was Autodesk’s attempt to accelerate the

Mr Lee speaking at Autodesk’s Manufacturing Conference 2014.

adoption of 3D printing.” He also stated: “3D printing is not new, It has been more than 15 years as a technology. However, what has changed is it versatility and usages. What used to be exclusive to the industrial environment has now moved into my house.”

As he explained further, Spark connects digital information to 3D printers making it easier to visualise and optimise prints without trial and error, while broadening the range of materials used for printing. And because the Spark platform is open, everyone can use its building blocks to further push the limits of 3D printing and drive fresh innovation.

In terms of the growth of 3D printer, he explained: “Over the last five years, consumers have started to adopt it. When I say consumer, I am talking about home based designers, not about

the average person on the street.”

As stated, Spark is designed to accelerate the adoption of 3D printing. It does this by making it an open software platform, which is designed to make reliable yet simpler to print 3D models, and to make it easier to control how that model is actually printed.

Mr Lee also explained that the company will introduce their own 3D printer that will serve as a reference implementation for Spark. This is to demonstrate the power of the Spark platform and is aiming to set a new benchmark for the 3D printing user experience.

Adding that together, these will provide the building blocks that product designers, hardware manufacturers, software developers and materials scientists can use to continue to explore the limits of 3D printing technology.

ENQUIRY NO. 6802

3D Printing Market Worth US$8.41 Billion By 2020 According to a recent market research report, the 3D printing market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 23 percent from 2013 to 2020, and reach US$8.41 billion in 2020. The elements behind the rapid upsurge in the 3D printing market are the innovative and advanced technologies, customised products, governments funding, wide unexploited application market, rapid development of the products at a low cost, and less time-to-market. In addition, the upcoming (in 2014) expiration of patents with respect to Selective Laser Sintering (SLS) is also believed to provide a further impetus to the growth of the 3D Printer market.

As of 2013, the Americas hold the largest revenue share followed by Europe — in 3D printer machines, materials, and related services. However, Europe is also expected to surpass Americas in terms of the 3D printing market revenue by 2020. The foremost factors accountable for the expansion of 3D printing market include new and improved 3D printing technologies, wide range of materials (polymers, metals/alloys, sand, ceramics, living tissue), government funding, broad application scope, and

increased awareness regarding the benefits of 3D printing over traditional techniques (injection molding and CNC machining). However, APAC is the fastest growing and most promising market for 3D printing due to high industrial growth, technological awareness, supportive government policies, and financial investment by the governments in R&D. The 3D Printing market is broadly categorised into: technology, materials, application, and geography.

The major driving factors for the 3D printing market are: ease in the manufacturing of low volume production of complex geometry components, and rapid manufacturing of customised products with regards to various applications such as aerospace, automotive, consumer and healthcare. In the report, different technologies such as stereolithography, laser sintering, electron beam melting, fused deposition modelling, and laminated object modelling are discussed.

The materials market includes polymers and metals. The 3D printing market finds its application in the aerospace, automotive, consumer, healthcare, government, defense, industrial machines, and education and research sectors.

ENQUIRY NO. 6803

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FEATURES

Joel Shapiro

Aashish Mehta

Reshaping Instrumentation IAA visited the National Instruments plant in Penang, Malaysia, to speak with executives and be introduced to the company’s latest instrument. By Mark Johnston

I

ntegration is a major trend in today’s world. No longer is a phone just a phone, or a camera just a camera. Most likely, it has many functions, and in today’s world it could even be platform agnostic, as is the case with the Android platform, for instance.

App developers can develop once and deploy to multiple handsets with varying degrees of hardware.

This is not just a trend in the consumer space however, integration, ease of use, and versatility are all desirable attributes in the industrial space too.

An example of this is the National Instruments’ VirtualBench, which is designed as an all-in-one instrument, which integrates multiple gauges and sensors. This device does not have its own screen however, instead it connects to a tablet, which in our demonstration happened to be an iPad. As Joel Shapiro, leader of emerging markets marketing, National Instruments, stated: “One of our biggest visions is we wanted to bring the hardware and software approach together, where software really is the instrument into the benchtop instrumentation market. This is a place where software and hardware

integration has not happened yet and we think there is going to be a big adoption of this methodology in this space.”

The Functions This all-in-one instrument integrates a mixed-signal oscilloscope, function generator, digital multimeter, programmable DC power supply and digital I/O. When asked why these particular instruments were chosen, Aashish Mehta, marketing engineer manager, NI, explained: “We arrived at these five instruments by studying what the most commonly used instruments were, and by speaking to our customers, and these were the five we arrived at.”

“Each one of these instruments has a screen, it has knobs, it has buttons, it has a mechanical enclosure.

Then inside of that of course there are processors.

As such, there are a lot of duplicate components. Not only is it a very big physical space it also has a lot of redundancy within it,” added Mr Shapiro.

With the use of the iPad, multitouch gestures come into play, something most people would be

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used to. Users can also connect the instrument to a PC or laptop if they choose. “Consumer electronics is having an impact like never before on the industrial field. With the advent of multi touch and consumer devices such as those that run Android or iOS, it is really making an impact on how we design and use our instruments,” explained Mr Mehta.

The device measures 10 by 8in (250 x 200mm), fitting all five instruments into its compact shell, reducing footprint, but also production costs. Once the device has been switched on, it is apparent that the location of the instruments on the screen mirrors their location on the front of the product itself.

Aashish Mehta demonstrating VirtualBench using an iPad.

When asked about the possibility of adding more instruments in the future, Mr Mehta explained: “Yes, it is possible if that is what the consumer wants.

However, we have designed this product with these particular instruments in place, based on feedback.

As such, whether we add more instruments or not will depend on what type of feedback we get.”

Interaction with the display was through multi touch, but using a mouse or the standard laptop controls is also possible depending on what device you are connected to.

The Applications As was explained, during our tour of the facilities, the company’s approach to software-based instrumentation has its roots in the original LabVIEW system design software years ago; now the concept extends to benchtop instruments.

“Our vision when we really set out to go after the benchtop instrument market was to create a device

With the use of the iPad, multitouch gestures come into play, something most people would be used to. Users can also connect the instrument to a PC or laptop if they choose. that was significantly smaller and more compact and to create a device that had all of the modern expectations and capabilities of consumer electronics and mobilities. All integrated into one platform, so our vision was software based,” commented Mr Shapiro.

On feedback from engineers, Mr Shapiro remarked: “At first glance it looks radically different, however, what engineers are telling us that have used it, and what we have seen is that it is actually quite familiar for them to use. It is also much more intuitive and quite functional in what they are trying to do.”

The product itself took several years to develop, and is particularly useful to new customers, or those in the education field, who want a low price point but all the required basic functionality of the most common instruments. There has been a push over the last 30 years towards complexity, adding an ever increasing number of buttons and dials to an expanding set of instruments. Whilst some of the more advanced features may be useful, mostly they go unused by the majority of customers. Most consumers want simplicity, and usability, and would rather not see complexity.

“One of the things we think would be the biggest advantage and one of the reasons we are expecting it to be so successful, especially in the emerging markets, is the drastic reduction of price,” added Mr Shapiro.

As was remarked by Mr Shapiro, buying these five instruments separately would cost about US$6,000, whilst buying them integrated into this single product costs US$1,999. The product will also be provided free software upgrades several times a year. Those sectors most interested in this product, primarily because of space savings and the lower cost, would be start-ups, the education sector, and the hobbyist.

ENQUIRY NO. 6804

VISIT US ON OUR WEBSITE AT

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FEATURES

Resourcing Asia IAA interviewed Patrick Couzinet, executive VP of business development, Veolia on his company’s technology and trends in the water/waste water sector.

By Mark Johnston

A

s mentioned by Mr Couzinet, when asked about his company’s most important sector presently, he stated Oil & Gas as his company is investing a lot in this sector. “In the Southeast Asian market you have a lot of leaders in Oil & Gas. Those companies are a very important target for us.” Other markets important to the company are the Power sector, and the Electronic sector, which is good in Singapore and Taiwan.

In the past, offshore meant there was a fixed platform. However, nowadays, there is a trend towards Floating Production Storage and Offloading (FPSO), which is basically a boat, and in essence, a mobile platform.

The company is allegedly the only one in the world that is able to design the same treatment unit and use it on the FPSO. The boat is moving, so the system has to be adapted to be able to work constantly, but at the same time be very reliable, because if it does not work, the oil does not come out. “When you understand what the cost of oil is, and if your system does not work, then potentially you could lose millions of dollars.”

We can produce bioplastic from the sludge that comes from the waste water of a municipality, and that is the idea, to recover in waste all kinds of waste raw material that you can reuse in the world today.

Regional Operations The company has a good presence in Southeast Asia, “We have operations and contracts in Taiwan, Malaysia, Vietnam, and we are also trying to enter Myanmar,” explained Mr Couzinet. When asked about the challenges of entering a new market such as Myanmar, he explained: “It is more of a political issue. This was a country that was not already open, so today they are changing the government regulations. This gives us a lot of hope. The country has some huge investment.

They are building new infrastructure, such as power plants, and so on.”

It is becoming more difficult to find raw materials, and as Mr Couzinet explained: “We know that because of climate change, because of an increase in population (within 20 years we will be nine billion people), you need to feed all those people, you need to continue to also have modernity. For 58 industrial automation asia | September 2014

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jtuhtan, Germany

sherry wil, Columbus, Ohio, US

Wastewater treatment is a necessary component in any modern society. In undeveloped societies the lack of adequate wastewater treatment is a major cause of illness and disease.

example, everyone is big about oil. However, there may come a time when you will not have oil, and it will be difficult.”

As he explained further: “That is the reason we try to resource the material and to extract it from waste and waste water. For example, raw material that you can recycle and reuse. As an example, we can produce bioplastic from the sludge that comes from the waste water of a municipality, and that is the idea, to recover in waste all kinds of waste raw material that you can reuse in the world today.”

Expansion “Today we have a good market share in Southeast Asia. I think this region is booming and I think that we need to do more. I feel we can have much more market share,” he added.

The company covers a large range of technology.

“When we do not have the technology, we acquire it. We are well known because we are covering all kinds of technology that you could need in water,” he explained.

ENQUIRY NO. 6805

Water, Energy And Waste: A Winning Combination At Stockholm, Sweden, on August 31, 2014, the debate organised by Veolia on the occasion of the ‘2014 World Water Week’ went beyond the mere saving of water to slotting this resource into the new dynamic of the circular economy.

Representatives of Veolia, the World Bank, McKinsey, WWF, the Nature Conservancy, industrial companies such as Shell and Nestlé, and various public entities, exchanged their respective experiences and strategic choices.

They underlined the crucial place of water, transporting material and energy, in the implementation of the circular economy.

For Veolia, who organised the seminar, as well as for the participants, a panel of solutions already exists to deal with growing water stress and meet the challenge of the circular economy, from the integrated management of the resource to the recycling of used water. The traditional linear approach for each water silo needs to be broken, not envisaging the management of waste, water and energy separately, but favouring partnerships.

Several examples were cited to back up the implementation of an industrial and economic approach in a virtuous cycle.

Veolia shared its experience with oil refineries in the US, with a technology, allowing the recovery of 95 percent of the potassium hydroxide (KOH) used by nearly half of them in their refinery. This solution does not entail any dangerous waste escaping into the water, and reduces the resources needed for production of new KOH. Result: 34 percent of energy and 50,000 sqm of water saved each year.

This integrated approach to water-energy waste resources is, according to the group, a key to the success of the circular economy, but it must be combined with a strategy allowing economic and social synergies to be developed.

For that, the debate also covered the role of places, and in particular towns, in this paradigm shift. Bringing together all the protagonists — citizens, industries, public infrastructures — the towns have a unique opportunity to guide this effort of coherent integration.

ENQUIRY NO. 6806

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FEATURES

As 2D semiconductor device scaling approaches its limit, the third dimension offers the means to extend scaling by leveraging precision materials engineering. 3D technology holds the promise of lowering costs by enabling higher bit density, a fundamental requirement for memory. By Er-Xuan Ping, MD, Silicon Systems Group, Applied Materials.

Developing Piotr D, Warszawa, Mazowieckie, Poland

3D NAND

Architecture F

ulfilling Moore’s Law, the semiconductor industry has gone through 40+ years of rapid scaling and is now approaching the 10nm range, a dimension in which atoms are counted by the hundreds. Consequently, well-established CMOS technology — especially memory, for which array architecture is typical — will face an exponential increase in challenges.

In the early 2000s, DRAM led the scaling trend; by the end of the decade, NAND Flash had surpassed DRAM by scaling beyond the 20nm node. However, given its fundamental limitations, the 2D NAND device is expected to reach its limit at the 10-12nm node. Besides dimension scaling, higher speed and lower power are vital for memory devices in the new mobility and connectivity era.

3D Vertical Architecture In recent years, several approaches to scaling that do not rely on increasingly costly high-resolution lithography have been proposed. Each basically rotates the NAND string from planar to vertical to increase bit density. As the number of cells in the string grows, so does bit density.

The unit string device layout is typically 6F2 (2F*3F) for 3D architecture, in which the 2F direction is the vertical channel and the 3F is the lateral Word Line (WL) and isolation. Table 1 compares the effective bit areas of 2D NAND MultiLevel Cell (MLC) and 3D NAND Single-Level Cell (SLC) at 50 and 40nm nodes with 24-, 32-, 48-, and 64-cell vertical strings.

2D NAND Node (nm)

30

20

15

12

10

Bit Area (nm2)

1800

800

450

288

200

24

32

48

64

50nm

625

469

313

234

40nm

400

300

200

150

3D NAND Cell Number Bit Area (nm2)

2D NAND bit area = 4f2/2, where f is the half pitch and also the node.

3D NAND bit area = 6F2/n, where F is the half pitch and n is the number of the cells in the string.

Table 1: Bit area comparison between MLC 2D NAND and SLC 3D NAND.

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Bit Cost As NAND has scaled, the manufacturing cost of the bit has decreased. Manufacturing experience has also improved efficiency (high device yield and lower operation costs). New architectures will require new learning for high device yield and new equipment will be introduced as needed. This naturally leads to higher manufacturing cost. However, new architectures should ideally lower existing costs by 30 percent.

Therefore, the first generation of the new architecture must be 30 percent cheaper to manufacture for the same die size or, if manufacturing cost remains constant, the die size must be 30 percent smaller.

Transitioning to a 3D vertical architecture has shifted lithographic scaling requirements to materials-enabled etch and deposition technologies to drive scaling. Among the primary challenges posed by vertical scaling is extreme HARs. While these additional processes, such as new material deposition with extreme step coverage and HAR structure postetch cleaning will initially increase manufacturing cost, ultimately as process technology improves, the manufacturing cost of HAR structures is expected to be reduced.

Armin Hanisch, Landshut, Bavaria, Germany

Challenges In New Memory Architecture

Conclusion By using established devices, stacking 2D NAND is effective in increasing bit density. But the fundamental requirement for thin crystalline silicon formation reduces its commercialisation potential, minimising the cost savings of this approach compared with others.

3D vertical architecture offers an effective path to reduce bit manufacturing cost without depending on Extreme Ultraviolet (EUV) lithography. Implementation will entail overcoming challenges that fundamental device requirements of such architecture pose for processes (novel material properties) and equipment (accurate control to the atomic level).

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Performance Currently, NAND device performance improvement is achieved largely by system-level solutions, such as programming algorithms and controllers. The 3D NAND structure can overcome 2D NAND limitations, such as cell-to-cell interference, as the device shrinks.

It also uses the charge trap approach rather than floating polysilicon gate approach to overcome the scarcity of electrons at smaller geometries.

However, the structure itself has introduced the fundamental issue of channel mobility. Similar to 2D NAND, as channel size decreases, resistance grows and reading becomes more difficult, slowing performance. In 3D NAND, the polycrystalline silicon channel is more resistive and has less mobility. As such, better circuitry, algorithms, and controllers will be needed to match 2D NAND performance.

In computer systems, DRAM is used as buffer memory for the central processing unit and NAND is used for storage, such as Solid State Drives (SSD). The entire system operates at optimum speed when these components are properly balanced, stage-by-stage.

Today, the biggest gap (often called the ‘memory wall’) is between DRAM and SSD — DRAM operates at tens of nanoseconds while NAND operates at hundreds of microseconds. This mismatch induces speed and power inefficiencies that could be greatly reduced by incorporating additional non-volatile memory operating at microsecond speeds.

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FEATURES

Asian NFC Landscape In 2014

Near Field Communications (NFC) is a versatile technology, used at Point-Of-Sales (POS) for quick payments and on transportation networks for convenient travelling. IAA interviewed Kenji Nishi, field marketing director, South Asia & Japan, Gemalto on the 2014 Asian NFC landscape. By Mark Johnston

IAA: How do you see the NFC landscape evolving over the next 5 to 10 years?

Kenji Nishi (KN): As mobile payments continue to be NFC’s main utility today, its growth is strongly tied to the rise of mobile payments. Javelin Strategy & Research predicts that Point-OfSales (POS) mobile payment is poised to grow by approximately 10 times, from US$0.5 billion in 2012 to US$5.4 billion in 2018 and traditional payment, such as cash and check, is increasingly losing its value and appeal to consumers.

We believe that NFC has the foundation in terms of penetration, ecosystem and infrastructure to fill up a significant portion of this gap. The annual global sale of NFC-equipped handsets is set to increase from 30 million devices in 2011 to 700 million units by 2016. In addition, one in six users worldwide will have an NFCenabled mobile phone while NFCbased mobile transactions are expected to reach nearly US$50 billion worldwide by this year.

The NFC ecosystem has also

reached a robust and mature phase as mobile manufacturers, telecommunications operators, financial service providers as well as government bodies are rallying together, in countries like Singapore and US, to establish the infrastructure and to push for adoption within the retail and merchant community.

With all these success factors in place, we believe that NFC can become one of the conventional payment methods in the next five to ten years if players in the NFC ecosystem continue to promote public awareness on NFC and help build the consumers’ acceptance and trust of this new mode of payment.

IAA: In terms of Singapore, what are the government doing right and how could they improve the uptake of NFC technologies?

KN: As par t of the iN2015 Next Generation e-Payment Programme, IDA together with a Gemalto-led consortium of six other financial intuitions,

payment service providers and telecommunications operators launched the NFC infrastructure in Singapore in August 2012.

This marks a new milestone in Singapore’s payment industry as the rollout gives consumers the choice to pay with different types of contactless mode using their NFC phones. Businesses also can now deploy new innovative and secured mobile services in a timely and cost-efficient manner.

Today, Singapore is one of the most mobile payment ready nations in the world.

There are more than 30,000 NFC acceptance points — including taxis, supermarkets and fast food chains — island-wide and seven additional NFC mobile payment and value-added services will be available by end 2014.

It is evident that Singapore has done a great job in helping the NFC ecosystem grow and mature over the last two years as well as create a trustworthy payment system that consumers can use with ease-of-mind.

However, just like how credit

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cards were when they were first introduced to the market, mobile payment is still not the default way of payment for many Singaporeans. NFC stakeholders in Singapore, such as the retailers and payment service providers, will need to continue to raise awareness and promote NFC’s benefits to the consumers before this payment mode becomes a part of daily life for Singaporeans.

IAA: Do you see any ‘game changer’ in terms of the mass adoption of NFC technology, and what would this ‘game changer’ be?

Natalia Pankova, Canada

KN: We believe that NFC usage in public transport will be a game changer in the mass adoption of NFC technology. Transport is one of the sectors that is most ready for NFC, with over 650 cities already using contactless technology.

By 2015, it is estimated that 500 million people around the world will use their mobile devices as travel tickets on metros, subways and buses, and these transactions will reach US$74 billion.

In 2013, we partnered with PCCW, one of Hong Kong’s major mobile network operators, to roll out a mobile NFC ticketing solution that enabled its subscribers to load their Octopus transit cards into their mobile device using

In Singapore, smartphone penetration has reached a high of 88 percent and has 30,000 contactless POS installed.

our UpTeq multi-tenant NFC SIM. This SIM is a secure and scalable multi-applicative SIM that enables the widespread adoption and rapid rollout of NFC services and this partnership allows Hong Kong commuters to take public transport with just their mobile devices. At the same time, they can use their devices for small value purchases and collect reward points.

We believe that by getting the people familiarised with the concept of contactless payment through daily commutes while incorporating multiple applications beyond transport ticketing, we can steadily ease consumers into making contactless payments in other areas of their lives.

IAA: What challenges do you see ahead for NFC, and what are the possible solutions to these challenges?

KN: The main challenge for NFC in Singapore and many other developed countries is that NFC is still not the default mode of payment for the consumers. As mentioned, although we have a strong and secure infrastructure as well as a robust NFC ecosystem, most consumers are still sticking to cash or card due to habit or because they are not aware that the contactless payment is available.

In order to increase the consumers’ familiarity with NFC payments, a concerted effort from industry players and retailers to educate and promote NFC use is essential. The range of activities we can do include having advertisements to create awareness, pushing retailers to recommend NFC payments at the point of transaction, using promotions and rewards to galvanize people, and even implementing contactless payment in schools so that we can cultivate the familiarity with

contactless payment in the next generation.

In parallel with advertising the benefit of contactless payment, simplifying the service enrollment process fully leveraging the TSM infrastructure in place will dramatically augment its service adoption rate.

Once consumers have successfully tried out an NFC service it is highly probable that they will continue using it as NFC or a ‘tap’ experience is undisputedly convenient and intuitive. We just need a small trigger to let the consumers experience it once.

Another major issue surrounding today’s mobile payment is security and many are concerned that the money and personal information might be misappropriated by criminals during transactions or unlawfully extracted if their mobile phones are physically stolen.

One of the safest methods to mitigate such threats is to adopt solutions based on the UICC/SIM card as the secure element as it safeguards both the hardware and software. This provides bankinggrade security within mobile phones and enables consumers to initiate secure data exchange and payment while ensuring that their personal details are well-protected and locked in their devices.

IAA: There have been a number of trends within the industry, namely, Cloud Computing, Big Data, Internet of Things, and so on, how do you see these trends and others affecting the evolution and adoption of NFC? KN: The Internet of Things (IoT) is one of the fastest growing and most impactful technology trends today. Cisco predicts that the number of devices will grow from 12.5 billion in 2012 to 50 billion in 2020, bringing about massive changes to our physical September 2014 | industrial automation asia 63

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FEATURES

Colin Brough, Dundee, Angus, UK

NFC offers boundless ways for us to interact with devices and, at the same time, makes connectivity easy and cost effective.

By 2015, it is estimated that 500 million people around the world will use their mobile devices as travel tickets on metros, subways and buses, and these transactions will reach US$74 billion.

surrounding — from ubiquitous sensors to smart labels. NFC’s short-range wireless technology will become increasingly attractive with the growth of IoT as it enables human-to-device interactions and makes device connectivity easy.

W i t h I o T, m a n y h o m e appliances, industrial equipment and public infrastructure will evolve to become intelligent and software-based devices.

Many of them, such as sensors and smart meters, will not have user interfaces. NFC-enabled smartphones can be used as a service interface that will enable users to configure the devices, retrieve diagnostic data and update firmware.

NFC offers boundless ways for us to interact with devices and, at the same time, makes connectivity easy and cost effective. These factors will enable NFC to become a key driver of IoT and its adoption will most likely accelerate significantly as more and more things become smart and connected.

In a similar way, Cloud Computing and Big Data will also

make NFC services more attractive as it will help the service provider offer a pinpoint NFC service to a consumer in the most relevant context at the most appropriate time and location.

IAA: Which industries and markets are ripe for NFC adoption and how would they benefit from this technology?

KN: As mentioned previously, the transport sector is already ripe for NFC adoption and it has the potential to push NFC usage to new heights.

In terms of markets, developed countries such as Singapore, Japan and South Korea, already have the right mix of ingredients in terms infrastructure, environment and smartphone penetration all of which can enable NFC adoption to take off very quickly.

For example, in Singapore, smartphone penetration has reached a high of 88 percent and has 30,000 contactless POS installed. In addition, the idea of contactless payment is not a foreign concept to Singaporeans, particularly for public transport, as 12 million contactless transport cards have already been issued and 15,000 taxis accept contactless payment.

The island-nation has also been rolling out many different NFC services that go beyond payment. For example, Starhub has expanded its NFCbased SmartWallet service by

collaborating with movie theatre operator, Shaw Theatres. This NFC mobile ticketing service allows subscribers to browse and book their favorite movies on-the-go, with the added convenience of collecting their movie tickets with a single tap of their NFC smartphone.

Another initiative that Singapore launched recently is My EZ-Link Mobile, the first mobile application in the world to provide top up services to a physical stored value card using NFC technology. This application will allow NFC smartphone users to transform their phones into a personal top up device for all EZ-Link issued cards.

As the NFC ser vices in Singapore begin to diversify and go beyond payment, consumers who embrace and utilise the NFC’s functionalities will not only obtain a secure and speedy payment option, but they can also enjoy unparalleled convenience as their smartphones become a one-stop platform that can deliver a suite of services at the touch of a finger.

Besides Singapore, Japan is another country that can benefit greatly from NFC adoption.

Japan has recently embraced the world’s first commercial NFC airline boarding service, which is supported by our Allynis Trusted Service Management (TSM) solution.

This new boarding service will enable Japan Airlines (JAL) to facilitate quicker and more convenient flight boarding for the 37 million passengers who fly with them each year, and at the same time, reduce operational costs. This is an excellent example of how NFC can provide convenience to consumers while helping corporations improve their efficiency and bottom-line.

ENQUIRY NO. 6808

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EVENT PREVIEW

BuildTech Asia 2014 e BuildTech

Asia, the 4th edition of this trade exhibition for the building and construction industry that addresses the challenges of building and construction across different vertical industries such as power generation, pharmaceutical, petrochemical and manufacturing.

Empowering Innovations THE fourth Singapore Construction Productivity Week (SCPW) opens from October 13 to 16, 2014 at the Singapore Expo Max Atria, and Halls 3 and 4.

Held during the National Productivity Month (NPM) 2014 and hosted by the Building and Construction Authority (BCA), this annual event aims to attract over 6,000 industry practitioners as well as academics from around the world to share and learn about advanced construction technologies and trends in construction productivity.

The theme for this year’s SCPW, ‘Build Smart for a Future Ready Singapore’, demonstrates the built environment sector’s initiatives in raising productivity notably by adopting more gamechanging technologies to reduce the sector’s reliance on foreign workers.

Key Highlights Key highlights of SCPW include: a Build

Smart Conference, a two-day conference where prominent local and international speakers share construction productivity trends and modern technologies and processes. b Inaugural Workshop on Game-Changing Construction Technologies, where international experts and local specialists share the technicalities of advanced construction technologies and how they enhance productivity. c Skilled Builders Competition for skilled construction tradesmen to compete in productive trades. d Building Information Modelling (BIM) Competition and BIM Shoot Out targeted at students, to use 3D BIM software to put together a building design. The Productivity Race will also have tertiary students compete on their knowledge of construction productivity concepts.

BuildTech Asia 2014 is the regional trade show that brings to life technologies and innovations that are reshaping the future of the built environment. Held as part of SCPW, hosted by BCA and organised by Sphere Exhibits, this event takes place from October 14 to 16, 2014 at Halls 3 and 4, Singapore Expo. The much anticipated trade show aims to help companies as they cope with the demands of an evolving industry facing a tightening supply of foreign workers and higher standards.

This year, the event focuses on advanced productive technologies that have been identified to play important roles in transforming construction productivity. These include BIM, Prefabricated Prefinished Volumetric Construction (PPVC), Cross Laminated Timber (CLT) and Prefabricated Bathroom Unit (PBU).

To date, close to 200 exhibiting brands from nine countries including Australia, China, Germany, Ireland, Hong Kong, Malaysia, South Korea, Singapore and Taiwan will be showcasing a wide array of products, machineries and technologies from Autodesk, Bonco Enterprise, Higa Trading, Hydro Dynamic Engineering, Shinhan Tech-Engineering, Straits Construction, and Zuuse Australia amongst many others.

Singapore companies at BuildTech Asia include global providers of fully integrated project consultancy and management solutions systems such as Crown Systems; excavation machinery companies, such as Hitachi Construction Machinery; and suppliers of mixers and concrete pumps such as ACME Equipment, to name a few.

October 14 - 16, 2014 Singapore Expo Max Atria Singapore ENQUIRY NO. 6901 September 2014 | industrial automation asia 65

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EVENT PREVIEW

Manufacturing Solutions Expo 2014 THE inaugural Manufacturing Solutions Expo, jointly organised by the Singapore Manufacturing Federation (SMF) and Sphere Exhibits, a subsidiary of Singapore Press Holdings, will be held from October 8-10, 2014 at the Suntec Convention & Exhibition Centre.

This event is supported by local and regional government agencies including Employment & Employability Institute (e2i), Federation of Malaysian Foundry and Engineering Industries Associations (FOMFEIA), GS1 Singapore, IDA Singapore, IPI Singapore, Singapore Industrial Automation Association (SIAA), Singapore Infocomm Technology Federation (SiTF), Singapore Institute of Manufacturing Technology (SIMTech), Singapore Logistics Association (SLA), SPRING Singapore, Waste Management & Recycling Association of Singapore (WMRAS), and Workplace Safety & Health Council (WSHC).

Targeted at manufacturing professionals, policy makers and business leaders, this trade exhibition

aims to showcase the industry’s best ideas, innovative technologies and cost effective solutions to raise productivity within the entire value chain of the manufacturing sector. More than 3,000 trade and professional visitors from Singapore and around the region are expected to visit the trade fair to

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establish new business partnerships, network and engage potential distribution agents with some 100 exhibiting brands from around the region over the three-day event.

Redefining Business Productivity And Innovation By 2017, the shift of machiner y production to Southeast Asia is expected to deliver a total compound annual growth rate of 7.5 percent. In addition, the move of chemical and petrochemical plants to lower-cost, higher-output countries in Asia provides significant opportunities for automation manufacturers in these countries.

Lam Joon Khoi, secretary-general of Singapore Manufacturing Federation, said: “The manufacturing landscape in Singapore is transforming from a labour-intensive sector, to one that is innovation led and productivity driven. We will continue to bring international, regional and local manufacturers and suppliers together to propel the industry further and to showcase quality productive and innovative technologies that are relevant to Southeast Asia’s growing manufacturing sector.”

This event will also feature a comprehensive platform that integrates industry trends, technology and trade into six segments, offering diverse solutions in industrial automation, enterprise system, resources management, transport and logistics, packaging and storage, and consultancy and training from noteworthy exhibiting brands such as AEB, Artec Delcam, FANUC, IFM, Hiwin, Honeywell, KUKA, M1, Motorola Solutions, OGP, PBA, Pandora ERP, QAD, SMC and Tsubaki.

Chua Wee Phong, chairman of Sphere Exhibits, said: “Sphere Exhibits is indeed very honoured to be in partnership with Singapore Manufacturing Federation to jointly stage this inaugural event for the manufacturing sector. Manufacturing Solutions 2014 provides a timely response to meet the growing demands and needs of the manufacturing industry.

The shift in economic growth from Europe and the US to Asia reflects the region’s robust economy and we are excited to pioneer this trade exhibition which is set to give decision makers the opportunity to discover the latest developments in their field and network on an international platform with some of the industry’s best suppliers.”

The inaugural exhibition promises opportunities of networking, thought leadership, industry collaboration and sharing of ideas that inspire learning. Visitors will gain new perspectives that will enable them to adapt to the fast-changing industrial environment, as well as discover new technology trends and markets, given the rising demand for fully integrated capabilities.

Transforming Businesses Co-located with Manufacturing Solutions Expo 2014 is the Singapore Innovation and Productivity Conference (SIPC) 2014 where companies can leverage to identify business problems and offer innovative solutions in improving their businesses. Themed ‘Transform to Perform’, SIPC focuses on the need for companies to transform through innovation and productivity to achieve business growth and sustainability.

Organised by the Singapore Innovation and Productivity Institute (SiPi), a Centre of Excellence under SMF, the two-day conference from October 8-9, 2014 will feature more than eight industrialists, academicians and researchers with plenary and panel sessions to share and exchange their knowledge and experience.

Key speakers include Douglas Foo, CEO of Sakae Holdings; Lai Ah Keow, president of Yokogawa Electric Asia; and Dr Wolfgang Baier, Group CEO of Singapore Post. In addition, the findings from two SiPi-commissioned national studies — ‘The National Benchmarking Study on Productivity in Various Industries’ and ‘Findings from The National Research Study on Business Model Innovation (BMI)’ — will be presented during the conference.

Another highlight of SIPC 2014 is the focus on BMI to transform the way business is done to create new competitive advantages. This conference serves as a great platform for companies to learn more about BMI and the benefits they can reap from implementing innovative business models.

October 8 - 10, 2014 Suntec Convention & Exhibition Centre Singapore

ENQUIRY NO. 6902

VISIT US ON OUR WEBSITE AT

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PRODUCTS & SERVICES Allied Vision Technologies:

Ametek: Surface

Allied Vision Technologies’ Goldeye infrared camera delivers infrared images while also being industry-compatible. The new generation of the company’s Goldeye infrared camera series is now shipping.

Like its predecessor, this camera is a Short-Wave Infrared (SWIR) camera. With its InGaAs sensor, its sensitivity ranges from 900 to 1,700 nm. This makes it a good choice for demanding industrial and scientific vision applications beyond the visible spectrum ­­— for example quality inspection in the photovoltaic or semiconductor industries and multispectral imaging.

A precision surface measurement tool featuring a high-speed column drive, precision positioning and 4mm roundness and contour gauge has been introduced

by Taylor Hobson, a unit of Ametek. The Talyrond 500H measures roundness, profile and surface finish on a single platform with high accuracy due to an extremely low noise floor.

Applications include automotive & parts, aerospace, bearings, machine tools, metalworking, medical, optics, agricultural machinery, and marine. It is ideally suited for high-accuracy measuring applications including precision bearings, fuel injectors, crankshafts and turbocharger parts.

Numerous specialised accessories allow the instrument to accommodate the industry’s most demanding applications.

Infrared Camera

ENQUIRY NO. 6903

Measurement Tool

ENQUIRY NO. 6905

Altium: Compiler

Baumer: Conductivity Sensor

Altium Limited, a Smart System Design Automation, 3D PCB design and embedded software development company has announced an addition to its Tasking C compiler solutions for automotive application development, providing support for the RH850 architecture from Renesas Electronics.

This product is the latest automotive microcontroller family from Renesas to offer high performance balanced with very low power consumption over a wide and scalable range of products.

This family provides rich functional safety and embedded security features needed for new and advanced automotive applications. It offers a range of CPU core structures (single, multiple, lock-step and combination thereof) to support high performance and/or high reliability requirements.

Baumer is expanding its CombiSeries to include a new conductivity sensor. CombiLyz is the name of the newest sensor, which was developed primarily for precise analysis and differentiation of media in the food and pharmaceutical industries and in water treatment technology. The sensor features the compact housing that comes with the series. In addition, the sensor comes with IP 69 K protection class and an entirely stainless steel design.

The standard version includes the CombiView display, which can display multiple process variables at the same time.

This includes the concentration, temperature, current output, switching states and device status in addition to conductivity.

ENQUIRY NO. 6904

ENQUIRY NO. 6906

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PRODUCTS & SERVICES

Belden: Variable Frequency

Harting: RFID Tag

Variable frequency AC motor drive output cables are subjected to harsh operating environments characterised by high voltage spikes, high noise levels and adverse environmental conditions.

Using the proper cable when connecting the VFD drive to the motor can significantly influence the reliability of a system.

On the other hand, a generic motor supply cable can increase problems and lead to premature failure. Belden now offers Marine certified, ABS approved, VFD cable with thermoset LSZH jacket.

Harting has launched the Ha-VIS RFID Sensor Transponder, an RFID tag intended for sensors and Han HPR RFID, heavy duty connector equipped with RFID transponder. In a Smart Factory, components and sensors are networked and provide information of the object itself, its condition and circumstances.

RFID technology that enables to record, save and read data plays an important role here.

This product, connected to a sensor, enables the ability to save the identification of the object as well as information of its condition in an RFID tag, amd to read and provide the data via wireless transmission using RFID reader.

Drives Cable

ENQUIRY NO. 6907

ENQUIRY NO. 6909

Check Point: Gateways

Moxa: RISC Computers

Check Point Software Technologies has launched two security gateways that extend the company’s data centre network security portfolio. The 13800 Appliance extends the 13000 line while the 21800 augments the 21000 Appliance family.

The 13800 offers security protections and advanced performance, with up to 3,800 SecurityPower Units (SPU) and 6.5 Gbps of real-life IPS throughput. The 21800 Appliance delivers up to 4,300 SPU and 7 Gbps of real-life IPS throughput, supplies the low latency required by the most demanding network environments, and provides high reliability and serviceability to minimise maintenance costs.

Moxa has launched a small form factor UC-8100 wireless Linux computer, specifically designed for large scale, big data WAN computing solutions. The UC-8100 is built around an ARMv7 Cortex-A8 processor, and comes with up to two RS-422/485 serial ports alongside dual 10/100 Mbps Ethernet LAN ports.

Finally, these computers also feature a Mini PCIe socket that supports a cellular interface and other modules.

These versatile communication capabilities let users efficiently adapt the UC-8100 to a wide variety of complex communication and processing solutions, useful both as a communications platform in large-scale distributed applications, and as a reliable and secure gateway for data acquisition and in-the-field processing.

ENQUIRY NO. 6908

ENQUIRY NO. 6910

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PRODUCTS & SERVICES

Prosoft Technology: Cellular Gateway

Sierra Instruments: Thermal Mass

The ICX30-HWC, Industrial Cellular Gateway by Prosoft Technology, allows remote site access and communication to PLCs, RTUs, and other Ethernet and serial devices. You can now have remote monitoring of devices where WiFi is not possible. The industrial cellular gateway provides secure wireless Ethernet and serial connectivity to remote devices and equipment over 3G cellular service.

These include PLCs, RTUs, DCS systems, instruments, electronic billboards and communication towers. The industrial cellular gateway is suited for programming and maintenance, remote data collection, location-based monitoring and SCADA applications.

Sierra Instruments, a global mass flow meter manufacturer, has developed its QuadraTherm 640i and 780i with full device description Foundation Fieldbus digital communication protocol.

This essentially makes the flow meters suitable for industrial applications, including oil and gas.

The company’s suite of digital communications solutions allows flow meter integration into automation and control systems, providing engineers and systems integrators with a turnkey solution.

The company’s digital communications solutions include HART, Profibus DP, Modbus RTU, Foundation Fieldbus, and BACnet (DeviceNet pending).

ENQUIRY NO. 6911

Flow Meters

ENQUIRY NO. 6913

Ruckus Wireless: Outdoor Access

Universal Robots:

Ruckus Wireless has launched the first two models in a line of new Ruckus ZoneFlex T300 Series outdoor 802.11ac access points (APs), the ZoneFlex T300 omnidirectional and ZoneFlex T301n narrow band models. These are concurrent, dual-band APs featuring the industry’s smallest and lightest form factors.

Both are designed specifically for high density user environments such as stadiums, railway station platforms, dense metro/urban hot zones, and other outdoor venues such as outdoor college campuses, business parks, and town squares.

The ZoneFlex T300 Series access points are the only outdoor 802.11ac APs on the market to integrate Ruckus BeamFlex+ technology for optimal performance and interference mitigation in challenging RF environments as well as ChannelFly for predictive channel selection based on realtime capacity analysis of all RF channels.

Universal Robots has announced its third generation of the lightweight robots UR5 and UR10.

Special features of the revised robot arms are the true absolute encoders, the eight new adjustable safety rated functions, twice the number of built-in I/O’s and the improved possibilities for connecting equipment to the control boxes.

The safety system of this generation is now certified by TÜV. The robot arms are now equipped with added features.

The visual appearance of the six-jointed arm with a payload of 5/10 kilos, remain unchanged.

Points

ENQUIRY NO. 6912

Lightweight Robots

ENQUIRY NO. 6914

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Calendar Of Events 2014/15

9 – 11 Metalex Vietnam 2014

4 – 8 Industrial Automation Show 2014

Saigon Exhibition & Convention Centre (SECC) Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam Reed Tradex Email: nutcharee.rata@reedtradex.co.th Web: http://www.metalexvietnam.com/

Shanghai New International Expo Centre Shanghai, China Hannover Milano Fairs Shanghai Email: ias@hmf-china.com Web: http://www.industrial-automation-show.com/

14 – 16 BuildTech Asia 2014 Singapore Expo Halls 3 & 4 Sphere Exhibits Pte Ltd Email: buildtechasia@sph.com.sg Web: www.buildtechasia.com

16 – 19 IGEM 2014

sep 17 – 19 Electric & Power Vietnam 2014 Saigon Exhibition & Convention Centre (SECC) Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam Hong Kong Exhibition Services Email: exhibit@hkesallworld.com Web: http://electricvietnam.com

17 – 19 Industrial Automation Vietnam 2014 Saigon Exhibition & Convention Centre (SECC) Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam Hong Kong Exhibition Services Email: exhibit@hkesallworld.com Web: http://electricvietnam.com

17 – 19 Green Build Asia 2014 Putra World Trade Centre (PWTC) Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia UBM Email: norman.zainal@ubm.com Web: http://www.ecobuildsea.com/

17 – 19 Thailand Lab 2014 BITEC Thailand, Bangkok VNU Exhibitions Email: thailandlab@vnuexhibitionsap.com Web: http://www.thailandlab.com/

3 – 5 Semicon Japan

Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Expomal International Sdn Bhd Web: www.igem.com.my

Tokyo Big Sight Tokyo, Japan SEMI Email: jeventinfo@semi.org Web: http://www.semiconjapan.org/

22 – 24 Electrical Power Automation & Smart Grid 2014

3 – 6 Manufacturing Indonesia 2014

China International Exhibition Centre Beijing, China China Electrical Council, Adsale Exhibition Services Email: power@adsale.com.hk Web: http://www.epchinashow.com/epa

22 – 24 EP China & Electrical China 2014 China International Exhibition Centre Beijing, China China Electrical Council, Adsale Exhibition Services Email: power@adsale.com.hk Web: http://www.epchinashow.com/

22 – 24 Oil & Gas Vietnam 2014 Indoor Sports Complex Vung Tau City, Vietnam Fireworks Vietnam Email: viet@asiafireworks.com Web: http://www.oilgasvietnam.com/

27 – 31 Singapore International Energy Week Sands Expo & Convention Centre Singapore Energy Market Authority Email: ema_siew@ema.gov.sg Web: http://www.siew.sg/

28 – 30 HVACR Indonesia 2014

oct

dec

Jakarta International Expo Informa Exhibitions Email: hvacrps.marketing@informa.com Web: www.hvacrseries.com/indonesia

The Jakarta International Expo Jakarta, Indonesia Pamerindo Indonesia Email: maysia@pamerindo.com Web: www.pamerindo.com

feb 26 – 28 India Automation Technology Fair 2015 Bombay Exhibition Centre Mumbai, India MMI India Email: tarun.marwah@mmi-india.in Web: http://www.iatf.in/

mar 9 – 11 SIAF Guangzhou 2015 China Import and Export Fair Complex Guangzhou, China Guangzhou Guangya Messe Frankfurt Email: sps@china.messefrankfurt.com Web: http://www.siaf-china.com/

08 – 10 Manufacturing Solutions Expo (MSE 2014) Suntec Convention & Exhibition Centre Halls 401 – 403 Sphere Exhibits Pte Ltd Web: www.ms-expo.com

nov 4 – 6 China International Industry Fair 2014 Shanghai New International Expo Centre Shanghai, China Shanghai Eastbest International (Group) Email: office@shanghaiexpogroup.com Web: http://www.ciif-expo.com/

COE (2).indd 71

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