Leaping into Global Markets

Exporting offers a huge upside potential, but many small companies still find that many challenges arise when they first stretch beyond national borders. When PCT Engineered Systems redesigned a product and targeted Europe, technical issues, certification and cultural understanding were among the challenges that arose. During its first 20 years, PCT rarely sold outside the U.S. But an acquisition in 2003 set the stage for an expansion that began last year. That’s when PCT completed... Read More

Ethernet networking: The values and the pitfalls

Industrial Ethernet has been the source of a great deal of discussion over the past few years. Proponents, and there are many, seem to believe it is the shop floor equivalent of a perfect world. Everything changes; you reduce — or even eliminate — cabling, you get more diagnostics, more control, it’s cheaper, it’s less proprietary. Ethernet also has its opponents. They claim Industrial Ethernet is too new to be trusted on the plant floor, or that it’s too expensive... Read More

ET200 Pro IWLAN

Industrial Ethernet, which is rapidly becoming the automation network standard has, dramatically reduced the amount of cabling required for industrial applications. Wireless technologies are already taking the next step by all but eliminating cables altogether, promising a boon to environments that regularly destroy cabling through excessive heat, airborne particulates or high levels of electromagnetic interference. The ET 200Pro IWLAN machine mount I/O system from Siemens Energy... Read More

Component Based Automation Widget

Interlocking multiple pieces of equipment in an automation system is often a time consuming, expensive and inflexible task. Component Based Automation alleviates these issues. “CBA” stands for Component Based Automation – it represents a very simple and modular way of implementing machine to machine communications based on Ethernet technology. CBA is implemented using a Siemens software tool called “iMap” that uses a very simple, graphical editor that allows the user... Read More