Featured Articles

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National Apprenticeship Week: Two Future Engineers Describe Their School-And-Work Lives

Siemens’ success depends on skilled workers around the world—not just within their own company, but among their suppliers and customers, too. Siemens wants to help fill the 870,000 open positions in America’s manufacturing sector. They want to connect veterans with jobs that are a perfect match for their skills. They’re listening to voices on the factory floor that are seeking opportunities to reskill or upskill and move to higher roles.

 

 

 

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Do You Know Your First Step When Choosing a Cabinet Cooler?

When cooling an electrical enclosure, the airflow is an important factor to consider. However, to add to the complexity, different cooling products use air differently.Here is a  “must know” concept to ensure success for your application.  In order to make this distinction, it’s important to know the difference between open and closed-loop cooling, and why one system may be the better option for a specific application:

 

 

 

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Rittal & EPLAN Pump out a Powerful Solution for Metro Vancouver

One of Canada’s largest wastewater treatment plants at Annacis Island provides secondary treatment to approximately 175 billion litres of wastewater every year for over 1 million residents in 14 municipalities. After almost 20 years in operation, the variable frequency drives supporting the critical pumping systems for the primary treatment and secondary treatment facilities had to be replaced.

 

 

 

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ABB Technology Helps Fulfill City of Baltimore’s Commitment for Safe, Reliable Wastewater and Water System

ABB has secured a contract, valued at more than $10 million, from the City of Baltimore, Maryland, to upgrade the automation, electrical and power management of its Patapsco Wastewater Treatment Plant to improve reliability and sustain water quality for the city’s residents. The three-year project will upgrade the plant by implementing the latest technology with the highest safety standards.

 

 

 

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UCEC Is Your Partner For Efficient OEM Control Panels

UCEC is skilled in managing the entire process of building OEM control panels. They partner with their clients to deliver a final product that is efficient on cost, delivery and operation. Considering the volume demanded by OEM and the challenges of today’s global supply chain, a partner who can deliver a quality product efficiently is a critical business advantage.

 

 

 

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RS Components Launches Activist Engineering Program Urging DesignSpark Online Community to Engineer for a Better World

RS Components (RS), a trading brand of Electrocomponents plc, a global omni-channel provider of product and service solutions, has launched its DesignSpark #ActivistEngineering program, further strengthening the company’s commitment to engage and inspire design engineers across the globe to ‘make amazing happen for a better world’. The DesignSpark #ActivistEngineering program gets underway with a pilot project addressing the challenges of rising air pollution.

 

 

 

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How to Choose The Right Safety Network For Your Production Line

Safety networks have been around for a while. Devices are getting more connected, leading to a greater need to collect and share data. In tandem with this, safety networks are acquiring a more significant role in enabling flexible manufacturing and supporting Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) initiatives. On the factory floor, where assembly lines need to change in accordance with consumer demand, adding or removing a part to the process can be a challenge.

 

 

 

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Wastewater Treatment Plant Improves Equipment Reliability Through Industrial Automation

A wastewater treatment plant that serves a town of over 50,000 was experiencing frequent pump failures at lift stations around the city. To prevent them from backing up, plant staff had to visit every other week and clean out pumps and motors by hand. Richie Miller, the plant’s Graybar sales representative, reached out to industrial automation specialist Steve Lacy to see if he could help the plant reduce time-consuming maintenance.

 

 

 

Membrane switches for highly specialized HMI applications
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Membrane switches for highly specialized HMI applications

 High-quality membrane switches are characterized by their reliability in all applications and their environmental conditions. Membrane switches used in highly specialized HMI applications such as in an industrial automation environment or for medical technology require more in-depth experience in development and design.

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Fiix: 10 Benefits of a CMMS

Fiix’s computerized maintenance management system (CMMS) helps maintenance and operations teams schedule, organize and track equipment maintenance digitally, connect to business systems and make data-driven decisions while leveraging the power of AI. There are over 3000 maintenance teams in 90+ countries using Fiix to improve efficiency, asset health and even sustainability.

 

 

 

Four Questions to Ask When Selecting a Guard Locking Safety Door Switch

Four Questions to Ask When Selecting a Guard Locking Safety Door Switch

Machine safety can be challenging, particularly when you need to pick a technology for your risk reduction strategy. In this article, four key concepts will be covered relating to safety interlocks that will help you fully understand the technology before you select a part number. Question 1: Do you need power-to-lock or power-to-unlock? The difference between power-to-lock and power-to-unlock has to do with whether energy is needed.

 

 

 

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Allied Electronics & Automation’s Parent Company Electrocomponents’ Unveils Global 2030 ESG Action Plan: For a Better World

Allied Electronics & Automation’s parent company, Electrocomponents plc, a global omni-channel provider of product and service solutions, recently announced For a Better World, the Group’s comprehensive and robust 2030 Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) action plan to support a more sustainable and inclusive world. Electrocomponents’ ESG action plan is integrated within the company’s Destination 2025 strategy.

 

 

 

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Manufacturer Significantly Reduces Downtime with Mitsubishi Electric PLCs

Mitsubishi Electric is highlighting the experience of a major semi-trailer manufacturer that wanted to replace a PC-based control system with a programmable logic controller (PLC) system. The manufacturer’s legacy control system had begun to fail too often, leading to costly downtime and the need for a number of manual repair tasks and paperwork.

 

 

 

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Lockout/Tagout Procedures – What You Need to Know

No one should get hurt at work. Unfortunately, in 2019 there were 5,333 worker deaths in the U.S. – an average of 15 deaths every day. While many types of incidents result in worker injuries and fatalities, among the most frequently cited are lockout/tagout violations. As with most work-related incidents, lockout/tagout related accidents and deaths are avoidable.

 

 

 

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Choose the Right Combination Motor Controller Type for Your Next Panel

Of all the pieces of equipment in a production or process facility, the electric motor is the most fundamental and is probably the most critical. Nothing gets made or moved without a motor. So, it’s only logical that plant operations personnel must maintain the safety of those motors. Panel builders provide that protection via a number of protection and control systems.

 

 

 

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PC-Based Control Optimizes Oil and Gas Production

Since FourPhase was founded in Norway in 2012, it has been committed to optimizing and enhancing the efficiency of established oil and gas extraction processes through modern technologies. Through its work, FourPhase paves the way for its customers to increase their production and remain consistently profitable. When it comes to implementing its innovative concepts, FourPhase puts its trust in Beckhoff components.