Robroy Industries, manufacturers of Stahlin, a major brand of fiberglass electrical and industrial enclosures; and AttaBox, the most durable, extensive family of polycarbonate enclosures, has recently announced that Roger Schroder has been promoted to Operations Manager for the company’s enclosure manufacturing facility in Belding, Michigan.
PROFIBUS is a veteran serial Fieldbus, while PROFINET represents the Industrial Ethernet protocol, a future-proof solution. Both standards emerge from the same organization, PROFIBUS and PROFINET International, yet their characteristics markedly differ. Introduced in 1989, PROFIBUS rapidly expanded throughout the 1990s as a pioneer in fieldbus technology. However, the monumental shift towards Industrial Ethernet took place around 2000. In response, PROFINET was developed to meet the new demands. Commencing in the early 2000s, PROFINET has consistently evolved to suit the needs of the modern industry.
A recent article on the challenges manufacturers will face in 2024 highlighted that the continued shortage of skilled labor remains one of the biggest obstacles in the way of productivity and growth. What’s more, consumer demand for new, innovative products — electric vehicles in the automotive space, or plant-based foods in the food and beverage industry — is pushing manufacturers to diversify production programs, and the more specialized skills required to facilitate these variable production programs only exacerbates the current labor shortage.
Weidmuller USA is pleased to introduce Distributor Connect – a highly customized distributor training experience. This unique program is designed to elevate training for Weidmuller USA’s partner distributors to an unprecedented level of immersion into the company’s extensive lines of smart industrial connectivity products and solutions. Distributor Connect sessions are held at The Weidmuller Application & Training Center located at the company’s U.S. headquarters in Richmond, Va.
The material handling industry is projected to eclipse $300 billion in market size by 2029. Couple this with a recent report that found up to 25% of material handlers are currently experiencing labor shortages and you have a pathway for evolving warehouse automation to help material handlers process increased parcel quantities while also overcoming their staffing challenges. But there’s more to this story than a fast-growing market and labor shortages. Let’s look at a couple of other reasons why material handlers are retrofitting distribution centers for warehouse automation, and what automation designers and engineers should consider when retrofitting existing facilities for an industrial automation framework.
binder presents the Power Bayonet Connector PBC15. Its size corresponds to an M15 thread. Thus, in the field of power supply connectors, the PBC15 bridges the gap between the widely used M12 and M23 designs. The compact, yet robust connector is suitable for power supply particularly to three-phase motors or frequency converters. It features 3 power pins, for example to supply the 3 live phases of a 3-phase motor, 2 additional pins for signal transmission, as well as a Protective Earth (PE) contact.
Littelfuse, Inc. has recently launched its AF0025 series, a cost-effective arc-flash protection solution in our most compact package for OEM applications. The arc-flash relay significantly reduces arc-fault damage in AC and DC compartments by detecting the light from an arc-flash and rapidly providing a trip signal. With a depth of only 1.82” (46.23 mm), the compact design can be surface or DIN-rail mounted in the smallest places.
Molex has recently released a new industry report that highlights opportunities and obstacles facing product design engineers as the future of connectivity continues to unfold. The report, “Predicting the Connectivity of Tomorrow: Innovations Driving the Connected World,” offers compelling insights into the transformative powers of next-generation connectivity, which is poised to unlock ground-breaking product innovations.
Intelligent power management company Eaton is collaborating with facilities and maintenance management solutions provider FMX to help industrial customers implement preventive maintenance programs in their facilities. The Eaton and FMX smart maintenance solution enables customers to automatically react to predictive maintenance data from electrical equipment to simplify maintenance and boost productivity.
One of the challenges panel builders and systems integrators face is the time-intensive nature of their manual panel modification processes. The labor intensive nature of manual modifications already results in extended throughput times, and recent market forces like labor shortages and supply chain disruptions only serve to exacerbate these issues. This is part of the reason why manufacturers are moving to a more connected ecosystem in order to unify the parts of their panel modification process.
Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) Technology has been making great strides in expanding the capabilities that manufacturers have in Traceability. Due to its industry-proven, robust, short, and long-range design to identify, track, and trace products and carriers, RFID offers solutions beyond optical barcode reading. It can also be easily integrated into automation platforms using standard Network protocols like EtherNet/IP.
A recent update from the Biden Administration revealed that there are more than three million EVs on the road in the U.S., and more than 130,000 EV charging stations currently in use. The President’s goal is for EVs to make up 50% of all new car sales by 2030, and this benchmark also calls for a nationwide network of more than 500,000 EV charging stations. IP and NEMA ratings certify an enclosure’s capacity to perform in harsh environments, but the unique nature of EV charging stations can leave designers a little unclear as to which rating system carries more weight for this kind of application.
The IP rating indicates to what extent an electrical device is protected against the penetration of foreign objects and moisture. In this blog post, you can find out which IP codes there are, what the differences are between them and what you need to pay attention to when choosing a power supply. Environmental influences such as dust or moisture can prevent the electrical components in a power supply from functioning correctly. In addition, the interior of the power supply may need to be protected from penetration by foreign objects, such as tools, screws and wires, and from accidental contact by the user.
Southwire’s long-held commitment to sustainability has been evident throughout its history and was formalized with its first official sustainability report in 2007. Reflecting that commitment, the company recently launched its 2022 sustainability report. The report highlights all areas of sustainability at Southwire and showcases the company’s most significant impacts by focusing on its five core tenets – Growing Green, Living Well, Giving Back, Doing Right and Building Worth – which include actions to enhance safety performance, strategic initiatives, team member engagement, community involvement and diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI).
Poultry has been one of the food and beverage industry’s biggest growth areas in recent years, and projections indicate this growth shows no signs of slowing down — in fact, a recent report estimates the poultry market will grow by more than 6% annually through 2028. This is just one example — pet food and plant-based foods being a couple others — of why food and beverage producers need to unlock new levels of productivity and efficiency to meet customer demand and seize opportunities in new or emerging markets. With this in mind, let’s look at a couple of reasons why design engineers should consider energy-efficient enclosure climate control units when designing an automation infrastructure for food and beverage manufacturing sites.
Simpson Gumpertz & Heger (SGH) is pleased to welcome Alex Kosis back to the firm as an Associate Principal, bolstering their expertise in building enclosure engineering consulting and sustainable building practices. He joins SGH’s Building Technology group from Denver, Colorado, partnering closely with SGH colleagues in the San Francisco Bay Area; Chicago, Illinois; and throughout the United States. Alex brings more than fifteen years of experience in the industry, specializing in roofing and waterproofing system design and repair, and thermal analysis for optimal building performance.
