Dig into the specs and story of an innovative DC power solution that works with every AC input for DC powered components. Sponsored by Altech Every industry faces challenges with consistent power supply. When facilities lose power unexpectedly, a variety of problems can ensue. Altech, a leader in automation and control components, addresses these issues…
AMUG Conference: AM Users Sharing Experiences and Initiating Collaborations
By Shannon VanDeren, AMUG President, and Ed Graham, AMUG Director, Education and Conference The 2024 AMUG Conference is rapidly approaching. The five-day event opens on March 10, 2024, in Chicago, Illinois, to host additive manufacturing (AM) users in ways that advance their skills, broaden their horizons and ignite new collaborations. On the surface, the AMUG…
Get More Done Faster with CAD360
By Kate Nadeau, Marketing Manager CAD360 – Custom Conveyor Models in Minutes CAD360 is an all-in-one online conveyor modeling platform; providing 2D and 3D models and images within minutes. Registration is simple and free; and once registered you can access over 30 different conveyor platforms; in addition to a dozen pre-configured conveyor system layouts. CAD360…
Predictive Maintenance vs Preventive Maintenance
Balancing Costs & Risks for Optimal Machine Performance By Jared Worth, Content Writer Any maintenance schedule serves the purpose of keeping machinery running as long as possible and without defects. However, there are different types of maintenance schedules that take various approaches to the process. Two of the most common are predictive maintenance and preventive…
Automate In-Line Packaging OCR with Easy-to-Use AI
Many industries face increasing compliance requirements, consumer demand for detailed lot-level package information, and competitive pressures for supply chain speed and efficiency. Faced with strict traceability and anti-counterfeiting regulations, the pharmaceutical industry has led the way in using optical character recognition (OCR) to ensure security end-to-end in its supply chains. This required significant investment, the…
SAFER Workplace
The SAFER Workplace initiative promotes workplace safety to reduce the potential of near misses, accidents, and injuries. The SAFER acronym is based on the 5 fundamental steps used to conduct a risk assessment and stands for STOP, ASSESS, FORMULATE, EXECUTE, and REVIEW. These steps are fundamental to properly addressing any concerns such as unsafe operations…
Calculating Safety Distances
Requirements for the proper placement of safety guards and presence sensing devices Applying safeguards to equipment and machines may lead to a false sense of safety if not applied correctly. This paper explores the often overlooked practice of determining the minimum safe distance or height at which a hard guard or protective device should be…
Sanitary And Hygienic Design Standards
An overview of US and Canadian standards for food industry Hygiene and sanitation are key issues in the food processing industry to prevent food borne illnesses. It influences the design of machines used in areas that need to be constantly cleaned. It is important when selecting safety devices or command devices for food processing machines…
Selection Guidelines For Safety Light Curtains
The four main options to consider in selecting the right Safety Light Curtain for your application. Safety light curtains are a viable safeguarding option for point of operation or perimeter guarding. Choosing the right one is not terribly complicated, once a thorough risk assessment is performed. It helps to define the Type, Resolution, Protection field,…
Workplace Safety: Safeguarding Robots and Robot Cells
Protect personnel working directly with or around robots. Learn which standards are relevant for robot applications, understand robot functionality and limitations and how they affect typical methods of safeguarding robots, and review safety considerations for Collaborative Robots. Sponsored content by Schmersal
WAGO TOPJOB® S Terminal Block Variants: What is Best for Your Application?
By Barry Nelson, Public Relations Coordinator, WAGO Corporation Push-In Connection with tool operation: With any push-in terminal block, solid or ferruled wires can be inserted into the block without the use of any tool in order to make a connection. This actuation style requires the insertion of a tool only for the introduction of stranded…
LFA Precision Conveyor used in Medical Device Manufacturing
In automated medical device manufacturing, the implementation of precision link indexing conveyors presents a multitude of advantages from an engineering perspective. In regards to the medical industry in particular, the LFA precision link conveyor could be one of the best fits for its application. This is due to the very clean design, high accuracy, high…
LATC Precision Link Conveyors
Motion Index Drives, Inc. line of precision link conveyors are built to be the heart of a linear manufacturing machine requiring high accuracy, speed, and quality. The precision link conveyor is a conveyor designed to have an automation process done on it, from start to finish. The conveyor indexes a precise stroke (from a few…
Electric Vehicle Battery Manufacturing
Motion Index Drives is here to help manufacturers adapt in this progressive shift into Electric Vehicle Production with a variety of precise and flexible solutions to improve the efficiency of EV battery manufacturing. The new RTX350 high speed cam indexing rotary table is our newest and smallest indexer of our extensive line of cam indexers.…
How to Increase Rotational Capacity for a Retaining Ring
Importance of Retaining Ring RPM Performance By Justyna Rapacz, Marketing Engineer With rotational capacity requirements of modern applications higher than ever, many engineers struggle to find retaining rings that can withstand high speeds. If an engineer settles for alternate solutions to retaining rings, it often results in more assembly time and costs more money, or even worse,…
How to Approach Your Automated process with a LFA Precision Link Conveyor
Is there a manufacturing process that is being automated that needs to move a product from station to station? If so, there will be a multitude of choices to accomplish this movement or transfer between stations. For engineers, designers, customers, and managers, the questions on what product to use always arise. Making a decision on…
Invention, History and Timeline of the Wave Spring
By Justyna Rapacz, Marketing Engineer Brief History of Springs Springs have been helping the world go around for thousands of years. In fact, spring technology goes back to the “bow and arrow” ages. A non-coiled spring was used in a bow and arrow dating back 64,000 thousand years ago. The first coiled spring was invented…
Tuned mass dampers help FORTiS™ encoders achieve class-leading vibration resistance
By Renishaw The problem: Machine tools can produce significant vibration during operation and high levels of machine vibration can adversely affect the enclosed position encoders installed on these machines, leading to measurement inaccuracies. The quality of axis position measurement can directly impact aspects of process quality, such as feature accuracy and surface finish. Position measurement…
7 Reasons to Consider Swapping Your Pneumatic and Hydraulic Actuators for Electric Cylinders
Introduction For decades, pneumatic and hydraulic actuators have been go-to technologies in the industrial automation space, but they have as many drawbacks as advantages, particularly pneumatic actuators. Meanwhile, electric cylinders have made great strides, to the point where OEMs and system integrators are increasingly choosing them whenever possible. Compared to pneumatic and hydraulic technologies, electric…
Why Choose an IO-Link Ecosystem for Your Next Automation Project?
By Adis Halimic By now we’ve all heard of IO-Link, the device-level communication protocol that seems magical. Often referred to as the “USB of industrial automation,” IO-Link is a universal, open, and bi-directional communication technology that enables plug-and-play device replacement, dynamic device configuration, centralized device management, remote parameter setting, device level diagnostics, and uses existing…
Using Guided Changeover to Reduce Maintenance Costs, Downtime
By Blake Gieseler A guided changeover system can drastically reduce the errors involved with machine operation, especially when added to machines using fully automated changeovers. Processing multiple parts and recipes during a production routine requires a range of machines, and tolerances are important to quantify. Only relying on the human element is detrimental to profits,…
Tackling the Most Demanding Applications With Precision Sensors
By Rob Crumley Standard industrial sensors can solve a lot of automation challenges. Photoelectric, capacitive, and inductive technologies detect presence, distances, shapes, colors, thicknesses, and more. To satisfy these general applications, there are a few reputable manufacturers in the market that design and produce such products. In many instances, it is possible to interchange them…
Miniature Sensors With Monumental Capabilities
By Jack Moermond The requirement for miniature optical sensors to meet the demands of medical and semiconductor automation equipment often exceeds the capabilities of standard self-contained optical sensors. In some cases, other industry application requirements can be best solved by these same miniature optical sensors with advanced capabilities. So, what do these optical sensors offer…
Considerations When Picking UHF RFID
By Nick Bach If you’ve attempted to implement an ultra-high frequency (UHF) RFID system into your facility, you might have run into some headaches in the process of getting things to work properly. If you are looking to implement UHF RFID but haven’t had the chance to set things up yet, then this blog might…
WAGO’s pluggable Multi Connection System (MCS) MAXI 16
The versatile option for wire-to-board and wire-to-wire connections The MCS MAXI 16 Pluggable Connection System with its innovative lever is ideally suited for your power electronics application. These connectors offer a wider conductor range (18-4 AWG) and higher current carrying capacity along with 100% protection against mismating. The lever actuation with WAGO’s patented Push-in CAGE…