by Gary Mintchell | Feb 11, 2025 | Industrial Computers
Ever since technicians and others wanted to take their iPhones into hazardous areas, technology developer companies have been making compute and communication products specifically for those areas.
This news comes from a seemingly unlikely pair—Pepperl+Fuchs and Rockwell Automation (identified in the press release by a product it acquired Automation Control Products in 2016—ThinManager).
This headline is marketing not at its best—being the first solution for a specific product:
Pepperl+Fuchs and ThinManager Unveil the World´s First ThinManager-Ready Tablet Solutions for Rugged and Hazardous Areas
Be that as it may, here is a tablet compute product specifically made for hazardous areas. That, in itself, makes it useful.
Pepperl+Fuchs and ThinManager – a Rockwell Automation technology – announced that they have partnered to provide operators and technicians an even easier and safer experience working with ThinManager software. Originally launched (sic) by Rockwell Automation more than 25 years ago, the ThinManager device management and content delivery platform is used by plant operators and maintenance technicians in manufacturing and process industries to centralize thin-client device management.
Together, Rockwell Automation and Pepperl+Fuchs now offer a complete portfolio of ThinManager-Ready products designed to meet the needs of any customer application. This includes everything from dedicated HMIs and industrial box thin clients to a newly introduced range of tablet products by Pepperl+Fuchs. The Tab-IND and Pad-Ex tablets are available with the ThinManager BIOS onboard and no other pre-installed OS. This allows users to boot firmware directly from ThinManager and transforms the tablets into centrally managed endpoints that provide mobile visualization for frontline workers—in harsh industrial and even hazardous environments. It also increases the cybersecurity of the solution. Pepperl+Fuchs offers hardware solutions for two application areas: non-hazardous and hazardous areas.
Tab-IND Features: (Non-Ex Areas)
- Available in 8” and 10” industrial-grade tablets with a bright, 700 and 800 cd/m2 display for outdoor use including glove and pen support
- Shortcut button and fingerprint sensor for fast authentication
- Rugged unit—designed for a life cycle of at least 5 years—offers extended -20 °C to 50 °C temperature range
- SmartBack technology allows easy USB accessory integration
- Accessories include scanner frames, docking stations, holders, and power supplies
Pad-Ex Features: (Hazardous Areas up to Class I, Div. 2 / Zone 2)
- 11” field mobile tablet and desktop PC with up to 8.5 hours of battery life
- Intel Core i5-1235U, 12 Gen processor with 16 GB of RAM and 256 GB of internal memory with NVMe, PCle and SSD
- Connects to a docking station via a 35-in. Pogo connector
- I/O ports include one Thunderbolt 4, one USB 3.2 Gen 2 (Type A), one micro-HDMI, one audio in/out (combo jack), one microSD card (microSDXC), and one DC-in jack
- Supports 4G LTE / Intel Wi-Fi 6E AX211 (802.11 ax), augmented reality, and Bluetooth 5.3
by Gary Mintchell | Feb 11, 2025 | Business, News
This corporate reshuffling should not have surprised anyone. Honeywell may be the last of the now “old-fashioned” conglomerates. No one could argue the famous “synergies” justification for keeping these divisions together.
In brief from the news release:
- Honeywell Automation will be a pure play automation leader with global scale and a vast installed base
- Honeywell Aerospace will be a premier technology and systems provider enabling the future of aviation globally
- Advanced Materials, previously announced to be spun, will be a leading provider of sustainability-focused specialty chemicals and materials
- Separation of Automation and Aerospace to be completed in a manner that is tax-free to Honeywell shareholders in the second half of 2026
We are mostly interested in what happens with Honeywell Automation. GE had been like a “twin brother from different mothers” company. It sold part of its old automation business to Emerson. It kept software including the legacy industrial iFix which overlayed Intellution and Cimplicity, plus an MES. But GE buried that business within GE Energy. I seldom hear from them anymore.
Honeywell had launched a software business a few years ago with much hoopla. I attended a conference a couple years ago. Since then I’ve not been able to get any news or information. I heard from a marketing person who was newly installed (after letting go of the agency) in the Security group. She said she’d put me in touch with an unnamed source in automation. Never heard from her again. Haven’t had a word from Connected Enterprise.
Once before Honeywell put many projects on hold while GE pursued a takeover. Maybe they have been on hiatus while the board figured out the future direction of the entire company.
The legal and logistics and personnel work to be done pushes the date into 2026. It’ll be interesting to hear from the company in the upcoming months. They have scheduled a Honeywell User Group (HUG) for this summer. Perhaps we’ll learn more then.
by Gary Mintchell | Feb 10, 2025 | Manufacturing IT
Manufacturing and process automation news has become sparse. News from the warehouse and fulfillment sector continues to grow. These items typically combine software, autonomous mobile robots, communications devices for connected workers, and (of course) a dollop of AI.
This news comes from Zebra Technologies. This company’s acquisitions has rendered it as a completely different company from the one whose products I recommended and sold earlier in my career. They say this new solution unlocks fulfillment potential for warehouse operations with advanced collaborative robotics-assisted picking technology.
Zebra Technologies announced the expansion of Zebra Symmetry Fulfillment, a comprehensive solution that utilizes the company’s new Zebra Connect Fulfillment autonomous mobile robots (AMRs), wearable technologies, software, and analytics designed to increase productivity and reduce costs in warehouse operations. This AI-powered solution combines the functions of a warehouse execution system (WES) with robot fleet management and powerful analytics.
Using the new Zebra Symmetry Connect Fulfillment AMR, the solution enables frontline workers to load and unload orders to and from carts without requiring the AMR to remain permanently attached to each cart. This increases utilization and reduces the number of AMRs required in the fulfillment system. Fueled by Team Intelligence, this solution enables workers – also referred to as pickers – to pick more items in less time by coordinating each picker with a team of robots in a precise, directed workflow. This innovative approach improves throughput and empowers operational decision-making in fulfillment workflows.
Team Intelligence improves throughput by routing robots ahead of pickers, so the right AMR is always where it needs to be when a picker arrives. Using detachable carts with increased cubic capacity allows pickers to handle a wider range of product sizes and up to 300% more volume; it also boosts pick density and eliminates AMRs wait times. In addition, the ability to decouple AMRs from carts at key points in the operation such as induction and packout allows AMRs to immediately return to supporting the picking operation without waiting for orders to be unloaded or inducted. All these efficiency improvements result in reducing the total number of robots required by up to 30%.
Some of the Zebra customers who are using Zebra Symmetry Fulfillment to increase picking efficiency within their warehouse operations include CTL Global Solutions and Encore Fulfillment. These third-party logistics providers have selected the solution over other companies’ pick-assist fulfillment technology and are deploying it in early 2025.
Powered by AI for sequencing and allocating work, Team Intelligence is designed to improve AMR-assisted picking through intelligently planned order-picking paths. This eliminates the time pickers waste trying to find the right robots and minimizes the time robots spend waiting for pickers to find them. As noted in Zebra’s Warehouse Vision Study, almost 70% of warehouse decision-makers are planning to automate their workflows with the use of collaborative AMRs, and over 88% agree that implementing robotics will help attract and retain skilled workers.
by Gary Mintchell | Feb 7, 2025 | Automation
You call it “Visual AI”; I call it AI-powered vision systems. Which I find interesting since industrial vision systems have had embedded AI ever since I played with them in the mid-90s. Technology does advance, and AI means something different today. Plus, it, like partnerships, are all the rage right now.
This news reveals a partnership between Fuji America and Cybord to provide vision inspection systems at a new level for surface-mount technology printed circuit board manufacturing. This partnership should enhance productivity and efficiency for SMT manufacturers.
Cybord, a provider of advanced AI-powered component analytics, has partnered with Fuji America Corporation, a global leader in surface mount technology (SMT) equipment. As part of the agreement, Cybord becomes one of Fuji America’s preferred technology partners, delivering cutting-edge AI solutions to SMT customers.
Problem statement.
Product recalls in the US, for example, are expected to surge this year, and many will be due to faulty, damaged, or inauthentic electronic components. Electronic component analysis is thus crucial for manufacturers to reduce costly recalls, rework, and scrap, and to ensure product quality for their customers and end-users. The Fuji America-Cybord solution provides a way to inspect 100% of the components on an assembly line to mitigate against these disruptions.
Cybord’s visual AI-powered solution provides real-time inspection of 100% of electronic components during PCBA assembly with 99.9% accuracy, preventing defective, counterfeit or non-compliant parts from being placed on the printed circuit board (PCB). Leveraging its immense database of nearly five billion components, Cybord analyzes components with exceptional precision, enabling manufacturers to vastly limit the scope of recalls, reduce their exposure to supply chain vulnerabilities, and reduce rework and scrap rates – thereby safeguarding both their reputation and profitability.
by Gary Mintchell | Feb 6, 2025 | Asset Performance Management, Generative AI
AI contributes at least 50% of the content of news in my area of interest. No surprise that Yokogawa has harnessed some AI expertise for its Asset Performance Management.
Yokogawa Electric and UptimeAI announced a strategic agreement aimed at enhancing asset performance management in industrial plants. The agreement is underscored by a capital investment in UptimeAI by Yokogawa.
Under the agreement, the companies will integrate UptimeAI’s AI-powered platform into Yokogawa’s OpreX Asset Health Insights service. The combined solution will provide customers in the oil and gas, chemicals, cement, power, and renewable energy industries with a seamless and powerful approach to optimize plant operations, reliability, and maintenance.
Specifically, the bundled offering will merge the capabilities of OpreX Asset Health Insights as an OT/IT data enablement engine with UptimeAI’s flagship modules, “AI Expert: Generative AI” and “AI Expert: Reliability & Process,” bringing advanced LLM-based AI agents, subject matter knowledge, self-learning workflows, maintenance analysis, and industrial asset library models into a comprehensive AI assistant for plant operators. This solution will enable users to achieve a significant positive return on investment in a short period of time by reducing maintenance and operational costs with predictive insights, root cause analysis, and recommendations driven by automated learning processes.
