ABB announced Sept. 25, 2017 the acquisition of GE Industrial Solutions, GE’s global electrification solutions business. Important points from ABB: Shaping leadership in electrification Acquisition will strengthen ABB’s #2 global position in electrification Non-core GE business with significant value creation potential within ABB Expands ABB’s access to the North American market through deep customer relationships, […]
Forgoing a couple of vacation days, I headed out to Folsom (Sacramento), California this week to attend the gathering of SCADA geeks known as the Inductive Automation Ignition Community Conference. This was the fifth conference for the company and my third. This is the second straight sell out. The venue was packed, energy level high, […]
Just when I thought I’d never write about Controllers, here comes a very interesting announcement from Emerson Automation Solutions [note new name]. Taking direct aim at its competitors who have moved aggressively from discrete control into process systems, Emerson announced launch of the DeltaV PK Controller. This controller targets fast-growth industries traditionally less reliant on […]
A new Gary on Manufacturing Podcast has been unleashed to the wilds. Talking about the Internet of Things and perhaps some of the misunderstandings that keep making the rounds. The Internet of Things is not a “thing” in itself. In fact, asking what it is misses the point. The real question is what is […]
Whether it is the Industrial Internet of Things or Industry 4.0 or Smart Manufacturing no benefits are garnered at the end without a superb analytics engine. Recently I talked with Humera Malik, CEO of Canvass Analytics, about a new analytics company and product that brings Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) to the field. […]
Internet of Things platforms are all the rage these days. Seems like every company either has one or is building one. On the other hand, recent news about GE Digital’s Predix and discussions on LinkedIn have thrown a cautioning light on the efficacy of platforms. When a technology supplier releases a platform the common thread […]
In this era of magazine and media transitions, here is an automation magazine that has published its 400th issue, which translates in its case to more than 36 years. In Italian, it’s Automazione Oggi. In English, Automation Today. When I was yet the editor of Automation World and I was trying to put the “world” […]
Looks like there are some technology changes coming that established technology suppliers won’t like. But that has been the way of the world for centuries. One of the goals of the Open Process Automation Forum includes the idea of decoupling control hardware and software. With that in the back of my mind, this news item […]
Here is some news regarding control and networking. Bedrock Automation is a recent entrant into the control and automation space, while Time Sensitive Networking (TSN) holds great potential to be a disruptive force. Control I seldom write about automation company “wins”, but this one shows some direction for a new company. Bedrock Automation is a […]
A little consolidation in the industrial software space. Remember when Schneider Electric was shopping its software division a couple of years ago and came up with a reverse acquisition with AVEVA? And the deal fell apart almost a year ago? Well, it seems that Schneider spent the year internally restructuring such that it could pull […]
