Systems

From Industry Week   The subscription economy is taking business by storm. Entire industries have moved to subscription-based pricing, leaving behind some of the slow movers but also giving new life to companies that were struggling. Some talk about the end of ownership and the start of usership. It is a real revolution. Industrial companies […]

  Tired of the cumbersome and tedious task of documenting DeltaV Documentation for Phase Classes, Operations and Unit Procedures? This firm has developed a framework to overcome the tedious task of documentation of batch objects from DeltaV inport/export (FHX) files. Editing these objects is slow, so Batch-A Tools developed a method to export straight to […]

Casio calculates that ‘Made in Japan’ is possible at Thai-level costs by YUMA IKESHITA, Nikkei staff writer TOKYO — Japanese manufacturers that spent decades expanding their footprints in Asia and beyond are bringing production back home, with the help of robotics and artificial intelligence.  The latest example is Casio Computer. The company is automating operations at […]

Avoid startup surprises in control system migration

by Bill Fester on November 7, 2017

in DCS, Systems

Take advantage of some cutover commissioning tips and tricks You’re ready. Installation is complete. Your distributed control system (DCS) modernization project nears its end. The control loops of the distillation column have been in manual for the last four hours to allow a hot cutover to the new DCS. The project engineering team said the […]

Submitted by Joe Weiss on Wed, 11/01/2017 – 09:24 From Control Global The 17th ICS Cyber Security Conference was held 10/23-26/17 in Atlanta. The detailed agenda can be found at www.icscybersecurityconference.com. CyberWire covered the Conference and provided daily commentary – https://thecyberwire.com/events/ics-security/safety-and-availability.html   Enclosed are my thoughts on selected issues: – This is the largest ICS […]

The greatest source of process control knowledge

by Bill Fester on October 26, 2017

in DCS

A tribute to thought leader and Control Process Automation Hall of Fame member Greg Shinskey   Home / Articles / 2017 / The greatest source of process control knowledge The greatest source of process control knowledge A tribute to thought leader and Control Process Automation Hall of Fame member Greg Shinskey The teachings and writings […]

From Control Online Submitted by Joe Weiss on Wed, 10/18/2017 – 15:21 October 13, 2017, Andy Greenberg from Wired Magazine wrote an article: “Hacking a Power Grid in Three (Not So Easy Steps)”.  The gist of the article was that it would take a significant amount of work and even then it would be difficult […]

WASHINGTON —  The recent WannaCry computer virus infected more than 230,000 computers in more than 150 countries. It is not yet clear who was behind the ransomware attack that affected organizations, hospitals and telecom companies worldwide, but it was hardly unexpected. Months earlier, filmmaker Alex Gibney released his documentary Zero Days, in which he warns […]

Cyberattacks on Industrial Controls

by Bill Fester on June 8, 2017

in Industries, SCADA, Systems

by Armani Ballesteros Recent statistics have shown that, on average, over half a million cyberattacks occur every minute. The most recent attempts being on a global scale. SCADA (Supervisory Control And Data Acquisition) is architectural software used to control and monitor industrial plants. Unfortunately, most of SCADA software used is hosted in Windows OS. This […]

New IIoT- and cloud-enabled digital tools and services give petroleum refiners new avenues to increase profitability and safety, but also require greater attention to cybersecurity By Scott Jenkins While several forces are creating conditions in which U.S. petroleum refiners can thrive in 2017 and beyond, success and profitability are not guaranteed (see U.S. refining outlook […]