Achema Frankfurt 2018 Achema , Frankfurt 2018 Achema 2018 is where the worlds process engineering industry showcases its best gear and this year was no different. What a great show. Of particular interest to process automation engineers were the themes of Pharma 4.0 and Modular automation. Pharma 4.0 is mostly just marketing spin, but serialisation is […]
We know that process engineers are busy and possibly don’t have time to learn yet another simulation modelling package.With Spike, you don’t have to . Python is there if you need it, but videos and the use of the macro recorder to record behaviour will get you quite far very quickly. See our video website […]
Why does prototyping make sense? “Measure twice; cut once.” This old adage is relevant to more than just Carpentry. Automotive companies wouldn’t build a car without first prototyping. Prototyping allows for a ‘hands-on’ feedback opportunity in order to correct errors before going to product manufacture. Almost all industries that produce products routinely use prototyping. One of […]
Another interesting article on AutomationWorld (http://www.automationworld.com/mes-and-competitiveness) highlights the loss of key factory process insight when older generations retire. One way to prevent this loss is to map out the ‘as is’ business process workflow before the resources leave. Easier said than done of course. The attempt to extricate a lifetime of process knowledge from an impending […]
How can software development divorce hardware platform? There’s a lot to not be happy with regarding Industrial Automation software development, in comparison to our modern Internet software development colleagues. No automated unit testing. No equivalent of the JVM (Java Virtual Machine) whereby software development is largely independent of the target hardware platform. Incomplete implementation of […]
