Machine Building

Technical Articles

Inspecting for contaminants: nuts about snack satisfaction

Midnight cereal snacks, energy sports bars and on-the-go breakfast replacements are shaping the snacks market with UK consumption expected to reach £3.8bn this year. Given this increasing demand for healthy convenience, snacks producers are turning to efficiency driven automation and utilising the latest machinery to deliver consumer satisfaction and maintain safe, high-quality snacks. Sarah Ketchin, managing director at Fortress Technology explores the varied challenges of inspecting for contaminants and the options available.

12th February 2016

Thermal ink jet comes of age

Thermal ink jet (TIJ) is emerging as an affordable and practical coding option for food and other FMCG manufacturers, on the back of game-changing ink technology advancements and falling machine prices. Richard Pether, Director, Rotech, presents an overview.

11th February 2016

Wireless I/O vs wireless distributed I/O

One of the biggest challenges to connecting legacy or remote equipment to a network is the cost of running wires. If you have an indoor application, you have to run conduit and wires to the devices you want to monitor or measure. In most cases it is just too painful and expensive. Outdoors, there are trenches to dig, cables to bury underground and the permits (do not underestimate the time it takes for permitting). What if the equipment you need to connect to is across a major street or parking lot? That would mean more costs and permits to tear up city streets. Often it just is not feasible to run conduit between items like water pumps, generators or chillers and your control room. But, how are you supposed to get to the data in this equipment?

11th February 2016

BS EN ISO 14123-1:2015, guarding against hazardous emissions

Machine guards are normally designed to prevent workers from accessing hazardous parts of machinery and to protect against ejected parts. However, there is another risk that is not always given adequate consideration, namely hazardous substances emitted by machinery, which is covered in BS EN ISO 14123-1:2015.

9th February 2016

Automated palletising systems avoid injury from manual handling

Stack "˜em high, sell "˜em cheap was once a palletising tactic confined to wholesale outlets. Yet nowadays, it's not uncommon to see pallet loads, especially around busy seasonal periods, carefully positioned on supermarket floors. More complex patterns, combined with revisions by the Health & Safety Executive (HSE) to the L23 manual handling guidance (Manual Handling Operations; Regulations 1992), is proving to be catalyst for automating palletising operations.

4th February 2016

The Android operating system in industrial applications

When Google bought a small mobile software company in 2005, there was no way of knowing how prosperous the acquisition would be. Although the mammoth technology company has a habit of hoovering up exciting start-ups that tend to go on to become prestigious success, there have been a few not so awe-inspiring purchases - namely Motorola and dMarc Broadcasting. However, that tiny mobile software company has gone on to produce the most popular operating system (OS) in the world, as of 2015. The name? Android, of course. Here, Jonathan Wilkins, marketing director of industrial automation parts supplier European Automation, takes a look at the growing popularity of Android and the role it plays in industrial applications.

1st February 2016

Tips for mitigating harmful harmonics

The rise of non-linear loads in industrial environments over the last two decades has resulted in the growing problem of harmonic currents and utility-level voltage distortion. Facing a lack of awareness, the industry has struggled to implement effective mitigation techniques. Here, global business development manager of CP Automation, John Mitchell, discusses offers useful tips for mitigating harmonics.

27th January 2016

Cloud-based machine remote-access: how secure is it?

For machine builders that offer remote access support and diagnostics for their installed machines, security is obviously a major concern. Security is also a concern for the IT staff at the end-user (end-customer) sites, where these machines are located. Dave Hammond, Product Manager for Ethernet & Communications at M.A.C. Solutions, explores this topic.

26th January 2016

Gas control for metal surface treatments

In recent years there has been significant growth in the use and diversity of different techniques for metal surface treatment, thanks to the ability of these processes to alter the surface properties of a material without affecting the bulk characteristics. In order to gain maximum benefit from these techniques it is essential that the process systems employed on the application machines use highly precise and dependable gas control and flow measurement equipment. Tony Brennan, Field Segment Manager gas at Bürkert Fluid Control Systems, looks at the some of the techniques and technologies behind precise gas flow control and how it can benefit OEMs and end users alike.

21st January 2016

Protecting your production line

Back in June 2010, malware computer program Stuxnet hit the headlines as the first computer worm to target modern supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) and programmable logic controller (PLC) systems. Industrial control system (ICS) users became aware of how software hackers and malware could affect operation. Back then, you'd be forgiven for thinking that as a regular ICS or SCADA user, you had nothing to worry about. Five years on, everything has changed. Here Jonathan Wilkins, marketing director of industrial automation parts supplier European Automation discusses advances in malware and why smaller manufacturing businesses might be in danger.

19th January 2016